New Blogger Custom Layout Feature! OMG

I think I squealed when I realized that Blogger has FINALLY stepped it up and come up with a way for you to custom design your blog layout EASILY. Practically every single other new blogging system allows you to customize freely and so after more than 10 yrs blogger has beat them all with the new features! This is actually the best WYSIWYG platform I've seen so far. It stands for What You See Is What You Get. The term refers to designing webpages with drag and drop or point and click- no coding required.

Introducing the Blogger Template Designer

How do you access this amazing new feature? You have to be signed in through http://draft.blogger.com/
For people new to blogger draft:
If you are already signed in you may need to sign out first and then sign back in at that link.

For people using blogger draft:
You should already see a new link under the Layout tab. 

You can test it out on a spare blog but I would test it out on your main blog to see just how awesome it is. Nothing saves unless you hit the final big button "apply to blog"

and shall I mention
NO LOST WIDGETS. Yes, all your widget info remains intact.

FREELY RESIZE your columns.

Don't be scared. If you can scroll and click you can do this! 

Watch the video below to see it in action if you're still scared.



If that's still not good enough, read this post by the blogger team with all the details.

http://bloggerindraft.blogspot.com/2010/03/blogger-template-designer.html

A couple things:
You'll need to be using IE 7 or newer, Firefox, or Chrome. Some effects won't be visible in preview mode for IE 8 but it will be when you publish.

The only thing left for blogger to fix now is an improved comment system! Then it's golden! :)

So I've changed my blog a little as you can see. I'm gonna be playing around with it more when I have more time. I think it's ugly with the yellow but I wanted something fresh cuz I'm HAPPY! :D I've been wanting to change it for some time but became lazy. I was browsing templates for a friend who I thought needed a blogger makeover. (cough, cough, MEGAN)

If you end up changing your layout comment below and let me know!! I want to see!

new Blogger Feature, Pages

One of the many differences between Wordpress and Blogger is the ability to add PAGES to your blog. What exactly are pages? Have you ever wanted to link to certain info on your blog, such as a Blog Sale, FAQ, wishlist or About Me page? Now you can! Basically you're adding a menu system to your blog.

Warning: this new feature may only be available to those using Blogger Draft. http://draft.blogger.com/ Try logging in from there.

Previously savvy bloggers had to create a new POST, type in the information, and link the post to their header by editing the HTML. There were some drawbacks about this. 1) the POST was still time stamped, and 2) it showed up in the archives.

Now, how do you create your own page?

Right here under the Posting tab is the new blogger feature I'm talking about. Click that! It's just like creating a blog post.

Now type some info temporarily and give it a Title.
Click Publish, and you'll be given 3 options on where to publish the LINK to the page.
1) Placing it in the sidebar - this will add a gadget to your sidebar and list your new pages. You must remember to go to the layout section and rearrange this if you choose it.
2) Placing it in the header- this will work only if you have a default layout (not some customs). Just try it to see or not. It will add it to the top of your header. (Scroll to the bottom for how to use this new feature with custom layouts.)
3) No link yet - for custom layout bloggers. It won't post the link anywhere. you'll need to view the page, copy the link, and paste it by editing the html layout you have. The blog I have here- that's what I did.

There is a new PAGES widget where you can organize you new pages and where they show up.

Here's an example of what I did when following the instructions for adding this feature for custom layouts. If you notice, the menu pages were added below my custom menu and attached to the top of my main blogger. I do not like this, so I went with option 3. http://stephlayouttester.blogspot.com/

If you want to know the difference between the old method of linking posts and this new pages- check out my menu bar. The link "blog sale" is using the old method in my second paragraph. The link "blog sale new page" is using the new feature and option 3. I will leave both links up for a little to demonstrate the difference.

Go HERE for blogger's explanation of it.

Sorry if this post is not cohesive and confusing. I just wanted to try to share this new feature with you.