Blogging For Novice » Blogger

Google Chrome Blog Theme

Apple — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:07:46 +0000

What’s the hot topic in the Internet recently? Yea, no doubt a lot of people, especially tech bloggers, are talking about Google Chrome. What is Google Chrome? It’s a browser by Google! That’s really a buzz, isn’t it? I have not yet fully tested this new browser, but what I found impressive is the simple and clean interface. It supports tab browsing, and several features which you can learn more about it here.

Guess what? Some kind souls out there have made such simple and clean interface into a blog theme which you can use for your blogs! If you are a fan of 2 columns, white and clean layout, this is a theme that you will definitely suit your taste.

Take a look at this Google Chrome Wordpress theme. Isn’t it just nice and neat?

Common Features

2 columns fixed width
Widgets ready
Gravatar ready
Works on Wordpress v2.5 and above
Tested on IE6/7, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and of course Chrome
XHTML & CSS Validated

Download Google Chrome for Wordpress.

Not a WordPress user? No worries, Google Chrome is also available in Blogger / blogspot blogs!! It’s pretty much the same like the WordPress version. This is a Blogger template which is available for XML new blogger layout.

Download Google Chrome for Blogger.

Have fun with the Google Chrome theme. All credits go to the original authors.

Wiki of Blogger Hacks

Apple — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:19:57 +0000

Just like Wikis, blogs are part of Web 2.0. WordPress blogs have a development team and forum discussion as the backup support. Whereas, for Blogger, if you want to have those extra features / widgets, you will have to search around the web. Now, here is a great site where Blogger meets Wiki – the Blogger Hack Wiki.

You can search of almost all of the possible Blogger hacks there in a Wiki style, from A to Z. Oh, what is Blogger hack? It’s the changes of source code that enable your blog to have extra functionality rather than the default ones.

Are you running a Blogger / blogspot.com blog? Are you interested in:

Get all your answers at Blogger Hack Wiki.

Note: These hacks are available for the new blogger or known as Blogger Beta or xml Blogger.

Happy blogging.

Adding Contact Form

Apple — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:02:02 +0000

Be friend and get close to your readers. Let them be able to contact you easily. Your readers want your feedback, so do follow the comments left by your readers. If your readers are asking question, make sure you get back to them (replying their comments). People need information and that is why they go to your blog to search for answers. Be honest with your readers, try to offer help when applicable.

Posting up your email for readers to contact you is the most basic way of letting your readers contact you besides leaving comments/feedback in your blog (comment section or chatbox widget). However, it will be much more easier if you can provide a “contact form” feature in your blog.

This will facilitates your readers to contact you just by filling the contact form.

Why Contact Form?

[1] Readers can contact you easily.

[2] Ensure the message is successfully delivered to you.

[3] Having a more professional feel (impression wise).

Adding a contact form nowadays is not difficult at all. You don’t need to have HTML knowledge to have this done. There are free services or plugins available to help you add a contact form to your blog.

How to Add a Contact Form?

For WordPress user, you can install the Enhanced WordPress Contact Form plugin. Once you activate this plugin in your WordPress blog, you can set the configuration under the “Settings” tab (for WordPress 2.5). The settings is quite straight forward. Take a look at the sanpshot which is quite self explained below.

Then you will have to create a Page, and add in the following code and publish your page.


        
			
				Your Name: (required)

				Your Email Address: (required)

				Your Website:

				Your Message:

The sum of 6 and 12 is: 

CC yourself on message:

For more support on this plugin, click here.

For Blogger (Blogspot) user, you can add a contact form to your blog too! No, you don’t need to code the contact form yourself. All you have to do is to sign up for a FREE account at WebFormDesigner. Follow the instructions and you can get a simple yet functional contact form like this:

I will not go into detail on how to generate a contact form like the above. Instead, you can read read this detail tutorial on adding a contact form in your Blogspot blog.

Do you have a contact form in your blog? If you haven’t, try to add one now.

Last Update: 24th September 2008

22 Beautiful New Blogger Templates

Apple — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:54:41 +0000

Previously, I have listed some very nice Wordpress themes for download. Still, we cannot ignore bloggers who still have their blogs hosted in Blogger (blogspot.com). If you are having a blogspot.com blog, and is using the xml new Blogger (previously known as Blogger Beta), here is a list of beautiful, nice, neat XML templates that you may want to try them out.

Before listing those templates, I would like to remind you that, please backup a copy of your current Blogger template. Just in case you want to change back to your current template later. And also please bare in mind that once you have upload a new template, all your widgets data configuration might be lost. So do whatever backup that you need to do before upload and try out the new templates.

How to upload a new template? (in XML new Blogger)

Download and unzip the template file.
Login to your Blogger Dashboard.
Go to Layout > Edit HTML.
Browse for the XML template file that you have just downloaded and unzipped.
Click on the Upload button.
Save template and you’re done.

Okay, here is a list of 22 beautiful Blogger template (for XML new Blogger). Hope you enjoy them.

Birdie

Column: 2
Download: Birdie
Review: This is a very neat template with a very cute yellow bird on the left. This template is created by Gis.

Birdie Secret Garden

Column: 3
Download: Birdie Secret Garden
Review: Another birdie template, clean and cute.

Sweet Blog

Column: 2
Download: Sweet Blog
Review: Brown birdie template, neat and cute as well.

Pretty Roses

Column: 2
Download: Pretty Roses
Review: Very girlish template, suitable for girls.

DFire

Column: 2
Download: DFire
Review: Dark theme with light background.

Trees

Column: 2
Download: Trees
Review: Green natural template.

Photoshop

Column: 2
Download: Photoshop
Review: If you are a Photoshop fan, maybe you can make your blog feels like one too.

Pinkstar

Column: 2
Download: Pinkstars
Review: Soothing pink template, suitable for girls.

Dilectio

Column: 3
Download: Dilectio
Review: This is a popular theme in Wordpress. Now, a Blogger version is available too.

Illacrimo

Column: 3
Download: Illacrimo
Review: This is also another popular Wordpress theme. Now available in Blogger.

Darkspark

Column: 2
Download: Darkspark
Review: Blue and black is a very nice color blend.

The Second Thing

Column: 2
Download: The Second Thing
Review: Soothing green is always nice for the eye.

Column: 3
Download: o2
Review: This is the current theme of this blog. However, this is a Blogger version. Inside the zip file, font and psd files are included for customization.

Mosaico

Column: 2
Download: Mosaico
Review: Very artistic.

Happy Spring

Column: 2
Download: Happy Spring
Review: Another soothing green theme. Cute flowers on top.

Simpress

Column: 3
Download: Simpress
Review: I personally like this template very much. It’s very clean and it has 3 columns.

iPlantilla

Column: 2
Download: iPlantilla
Review: This is also a quite popular theme. Feel the Mac.

Glass

Column: 2
Download: Glass
Review: Clean blue template.

Parchment

Column: 2
Download: Parchment
Review: An antique feel template.

Top Secret

Column: 2
Download: Top Secret
Review: A document-like template. Artistic.

Magic Paper

Column: 3
Download: Magic Paper
Review: A mysterious feel template.

Restaurant

Column: 2
Download: Restaurant
Review: If you own a food blog, maybe you would love this.

All these templates were tested in Blogger by myself. They are working well. If you find any broken links, please let me know.

p/s: This is my first port after upgrading to Wordpress 2.5. I still need some time to get use to it. The multi upload function seems a bit laggy. (maybe due to connection problem?)

Skin Your Blog

Apple — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 07:44:33 +0000

A rich content blog will gain more traffic. If you want your blog to be popular among the blogosphere, you will have to put in more afford to produce something original, unique and interesting. This is not an easy task. One of the factors that make your blog unique is your blog interface or design.

Psychologically, most readers will pay more attention to a blog with beautiful or simply impressive design. However, you have to make sure the way you customize your blog is almost ‘lag-free’. [Tips: Don't make your blog loaded with too many flash components.]

Normally, your blogging platform will provide several default layouts. You would want to change your blog layout (template, skin or theme) to something different that can brighten up your readers’ eyes. However, to customize your blog layout, you will have to be able to understand codes like CSS, HTML, XML, PHP (Wordpress), etc.. This is a nightmare for beginners!

Instead of going too deep into customization, you can first try to use some ready-made customization done by other designers. There are plenty of resources available for FREE in the world wide web.

For own-hosted Wordpress platform, you can find more themes at:

www.wpthemesfree.com

Note: If you have a blog in Wordpress.com and you want to use themes other than those that are provided, you have to pay.

For Blogger (blogspot) platform, you have to know one thing before you choose your desire blog template.

There are 2 types of template for Blogger:

XML Template
Classic Template

“What’s the difference?” Some of you may ask.

XML template is also known as template for Blogger Beta or New Blogger. By default, if you create a blog in Blogger, the template is an XML template. This kind of template enable you to use the built-in widgets to add on components to your blog – making it easier for you to add contents to your blog.

Classic template is the template used in Blogger before it was in Beta mode. If you are using classic template, you will not be able to add components to your blog by using the built-in widgets. You will have difficult navigation (link to older post or newer post, this is done automatically in the XML template) around the blog. You will not be able to have a “category” unless you add in manually. However, most impressive template is made for Classic template.

“How to know which template I’m using?”

If you have the trouble of differentiate which template mode you are currently using, there’s a simple way to differentiate it.

Login to your Blogger account and under the “Dashboard“, you can see all your blogs. If you spot the word “Layout” means it is using XML template. Whereas, the word “Template” indicates that your blog is using the Classic template.

Now, you already know what template mode you are using, you can start choosing your beautiful templates.

Here are some good sites for you to get FREE Blogger templates.

freeskins.blogspot.com
blogger-templates.blogspot.com
geckoandfly.com/blogspot-templates/ (Wordpress theme for Blogger)

Tired of your old blog theme? Let’s make a change today!