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Monday, April 25, 2011

Tips for Finding the Perfect Blogger Template

Some of readers mailed to me ask for which template should they use for blog? or ask me the template they are using good or not ? In fact ,choosing a template is up to the blog owner ,not me ^^ Angela Quint from Ultrasound has some advice for you in this case .This is a guest post from Angela Quint



Did you know there are more than 10 million blogs online today? If you’re a beginning blogger, there are probably almost that many questions going through your head. One of the first questions you probably have is how to choose the right blogging template. There are thousands of templates available, including ones that are free and ones for which you pay. It’s a crucial decision, so here are a few tips that will help you pick the perfect template for your blog.

1,To Pay or Not to Pay?

Should you pay for your template? That depends on two things: how serious are you about your blog and how much computer experience do you have? If your blog is a business venture, you need it to look as professional as possible, especially if you want to monetize the site. Some premium templates are ad placement ready, which makes formatting easy.
Another big advantage of purchasing a template is that you normally get better support. If problems arise, you’ll have help at the ready and you won’t have to be a techie to keep the site functioning properly.
If you decide to buy a template, think of it as in investment in the future wellbeing of your blog.

2,Start with 2 Columns

Although there are many one and three column templates available, most bloggers agree that a two-column format is easiest to manage. One column is too simplistic and three columns gets complicated. Two columns allows you to keep the site clean but functional, with the current post on one side and the search, ads, and other elements on the other.

3,Make it Relevant to Your Niche

You have a few seconds to capture your reader’s interest. That’s why the header you use is vital. Think about the focus of your blog and the people you want to read it. Make the graphic in the heading relate to the topic. You might love kittens, but if your blog is about golf, that adorable kitty graphic isn’t relevant. If your reader loves golf but isn’t in to cats, you’ve lost him as soon as he clicks on the page.
After you have more experience, you may learn to change the heading picture, but when you’re just starting out, it’s wisest to pick a template with a relevant graphic.

4,Functionality is Key

Do you want your readers to be able to leave comments? Do you want to add pictures to each post? Is there a search function? You need to narrow down what features your blog needs and then eliminate templates that don’t offer those elements. Make sure you test each of the features and check for broken links. Your blog needs to flow smoothly from page to page to keep readers happy.
Most importantly, know what the purpose of your blog is. By keying in on your goals, you’ll be better prepared to select the perfect template for your blog.

About Author

Angela Quint is an ultrasound technician by day and a blogger by night. She enjoys writing to share her love of health and wellness with others!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Make credit box for each author in a multi-author blog

You have a blog with many authors who contribute content ,and you want to show their short bio in credit box at the end of each post . This idea was in Wordpress for a long time ,but not in Blogger . I tried several times ,but none of them work . Thanks to comment of ابن الملكـة

He gave me a code that work in a comment ,and now I want to share this code here .Both of me and ابن الملكـة hope this code helpful to you all ,and make Blogger to be the best of blogging platform .


 Here is what we need to do :

1,First ,you find this line <data:post.body/>
and then paste the following code right after the line above.
<div style='clear:both'/>        
                                    
                                      <div id='creditbox'>
                                          <!-- Author Bio info start-->
                                          <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
                                       
  <!-- First Author Info -->
                                             <b:if cond='data:post.author == "NAME OF FIRST AUTHOR"'>
                                                 <img class='authoravatar' height='39' src='IMAGE URL FOR FIRST AUTHOR' width='39'/>
                                                 <div class='postauthor'>                                                     
                                                     <h3><a href='FIRST AUTHOR'S URL'>NAME OF FIRST AUTHOR </a></h3>
                                                     <p> NOTES ABOUT FIRST AUTHOR </p>
                                                 </div>
                                                 <div style='clear:both'/>        
                                             </b:if>

<!-- Second Author Info -->
                                             <b:if cond='data:post.author == "NAME OF SECOND AUTHOR"'>
                                                 <img class='authoravatar' height='39' src='IMAGE URL FOR SECOND AUTHOR' width='39'/>
                                                 <div class='postauthor'>                                                     
                                                     <h3><a href='SECOND AUTHOR'S URL'>NAME OF SECOND AUTHOR </a></h3>
                                                     <p> NOTES ABOUT SECOND AUTHOR </p>
                                                 </div>
                                                 <div style='clear:both'/>        
                                             </b:if>

.......................
                                         </b:if>
                                         <!-- Author Bio info End-->
                                     </div>
<div style='clear:both'/>       

Notes :
1- NAME OF FIRST AUTHOR : replace this with name of your first author . Name of author must be as exact as name showed in profile .
2- NAME OF second AUTHOR :replace this with name of your second author
3- IMAGE URL FOR FIRST AUTHOR :Replace this with the link to your first author avatar or image .
4- IMAGE URL FOR second AUTHOR :Replace this with the link to your first author avatar or image.
5- NOTES ABOUT FIRST AUTHOR : Replace this with author short bio ,profile ...
6- NOTES ABOUT second AUTHOR : Replace this with author short bio ,profile ...
7- FIRST AUTHOR'S URL :Replace this with link to author profile page or link to a social network account.
8- SECOND AUTHOR'S URL :Replace this with link to author profile page or link to a social network account.

In case of there are more than one <data:post.body/> in the search result ,you can paste this code right after all the results  .
If you have more than two authors ,you can duplicate the code of first author's information or second author's information and then change the name,link,bio...

2,Add this CSS code before <body> to decorate the credit box :
<style>
                                     #creditbox {
                                       background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #EDEDED;
                                       padding: 10px;
                                       margin-top:10px;}
                                       .authoravatar {float:left;margin-right:10px;padding:4px;background:#fff;border:1px solid #f0f0f0;}
                                       .postauthor {float:left;}
                                     </style>

This is an example .You can add more CSS tags to make the credit box display as you want .
 Here is my credit box in Simplex Celebrity template



That's all for making credit box in a multi-author blog .Thanks ابن الملكـة again for this helpful tip .

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Beyond Design: 5 Tips for Making Your Blog More Reader-Friendly



This guest post was written by Alvina Lopez of accredited online colleges

For those of you bloggers who are knowledgeable about the ins and outs of website design, you definitely have a leg up in the blogosphere, as most bloggers aren't completely aware how much a blog's layout and color scheme affects a reader's attention. At the same time, however, there are a few other considerations that design-centric bloggers might want to keep in mind, especially in terms of writing. Here are just a few:

1. The title is more important than you think.

Titles are something that some bloggers put more emphasis on than others. But we could all do with placing a particular importance on making each title something special. It is, after all the first thing our readers lay their eyes on. When thinking of titles, consider your own browsing history. When you read the news online, which articles do you tend to click on? How are their respective titles worded? Checking articles that top the most popular lists is also a good way to improve your blog titles.

2. Paragraphs and blog posts that are too long turn off lots of net readers.

Paragraphs and articles that are too short make you look lazy.
Obviously, most bloggers know that writing paragraphs that are too long can tire readers out. Remember, the Internet is a veritable breeding ground for ADHD. At the same time, however, articles or paragraphs that are super short make your material look skimpy. Find a happy medium, and remember that most Internet readers especially like list posts.

3. Justified paragraphs are pleasing to the eye.

Some may disagree with me on this one, but having justified paragraphs like they do in newspapers is an aesthetic consideration that makes things easier to read. You can do this by hitting the "justify" button on Word if you do take write your first drafts on a word processor. It gives your blog articles a cleaner appearance. Off-setting quoted material in a different-colored box works well, too.

4. The placement of good hyperlinks is absolutely instrumental in drawing and keeping a reader's attention.

Hyperlinks that link out to related material are one of the hallmarks of good blog posts and Internet writing in general. But be careful. Placing too many hyperlinks can overwhelm your readers, and placing too few makes your blog post come off as not very authoritative and lacking supporting sources. Be sure to include links to quality material (i.e. stay away from content farm type stuff).

5. Cycling between the pyramid and inverted pyramid, depending on circumstances, keeps things fun and unpredictable.

Traditional journalists hew to the inverted pyramid when it comes to structuring their articles. That is, they place all the most relevant and important information in the first paragraph, and put unnecessary details further down the article. While this is a good practice for news stories, with blog posts you can shake things up a bit. By doing a right-side up pyramid, in which you tease readers with the more important info toward the bottom, you can effectively get your audience to read with bated breath till the very end. Be careful with this style, however, because it can easily turn into an exercise in boredom. Be sure to make each paragraph interesting and suspenseful in its own right.

About Author

Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Blogger offer five dynamic views for readers

Blogger has offered five dynamic views for readers . Now ,we can browse a blog with not only normal blog design ,but also in five different views .With the latest in web technology, including AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3 ,in these views we can :
-Read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page .
-Read posts in different layout (flipcard,sidebar,mosaic,snapshot and timeslide )
-Browse a page faster because images only load when we view ,not all at once .
......
When seeing my blog in these views ,I have to say "Oh,that's so cool"  .

See SimplexDesign blog in different views here



To enable different views to blog:
-Your blog is public. Your readers don’t need to sign in to view your blog.
-Your blog has feeds fully enabled. In the Settings | Site feed tab, you have enabled either Full or Jump Break for your Post Feed.
-You have not disabled dynamic views. In the Setting | Formatting tab, the option for Enable Dynamic Views is set to Yes.

To see a blog in different views , simply add a  /view at the end of blog url . For example ,to see SimplexDesign blog in additional views ,you can go to this address : http://simplexdesign.blogspot.com/view

In all views, search is available in the upper right hand corner. Clicking on the ">" arrow in the very top left of the header bar will slide the header bar across and allow you to choose different views for the current blog as well as type in a new blog URL.

An important thing that these views require modern browsers such as Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 3.5+, Chrome or Safari. Many elements of these views will not work if you have an older browser.

Please note that these views do not currently support many of the features your original blog may have, including displaying advertisements. Blogger team said that they will let user personalize these views, including providing an option to set a particular view as the default and displaying advertisements over the coming months.

Here is SimplexDesign blog in new views

Sidebar view

Flipcard view

Timeslide view

Mosaic view

Snapshot view