How to Choose a Custom Blogger Template to Avoid Problems

So you have downloaded a custom Blogger template from the internet and now you want to customize it to the needs of your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). Before you expend all that energy check under the hood to make sure the Blogger template isn't a lemon and that you are not going to be wasting your valuable time.

Blogger has been around for some years now and has gone through many changes. Before the most recent default templates were introduced, the choice of default templates was not that great leading many developers to crank out a heap of custom templates to meet the demand of bloggers looking for a theme that matched their blog. The problem was however, that many of these Blogger themes had missing code and many had hard coded fonts, color schemes, gadgets etc requiring coding knowledge to make alterations to the template.

Many of these custom templates are still around to download. Some are good, some not so good. Be aware if you use a custom template on your Blogger blog it will not perform as well as a default template and some may potentially have problems further down the track as Blogger introduces new features. In preference it is usually better to use a default template and customise it to your own specifications. In future posts I will talk a lot about how to go about this so watch this space.

In the meantime if you have downloaded and installed a Blogger custom template and you want to check it out before going ahead with making changes look for these three features immediately on installation of a custom template. If any are missing there are fixes available but it does mean an edit to the template code. Also bear in mind that if gadgets like these are missing the template was probably created a few years ago and it may be better to find something more recent.

1. Check that the Blogger quick edit wrench is working. That is the crossed wrench symbol that appears next to each installed gadget in the Blogger blog sidebar, header and footer when you view your blog and are logged in. The best place to check for this on installation is in the sidebar. Each gadget will have its own wrench symbol if this feature is working properly.
   
   If you really like the template but this feature is not working please check out my instructions to fix this issue Fix the Missing Quick Edit Wrench in Blogger
   
   


2. Check that the Blogger quick edit pencil is working. The quick edit pencil is the pencil that that appears beneath the post in the post footer when you are logged in and viewing your blog. It does not display in post preview mode. It must be enabled under Configure Blog Posts (Go to layout and then click on edit on the blog post gadget). If the quick edit pencil feature in Blogger isn't working once you are sure it has been enabled then try this fix
   
   


3. Check that the Blogger default share buttons are working. These appear in the post footer at the bottom of each post. You can see these in the image above. Make sure these are enabled by going to layout and then clicking on edit blog post gadget and then ticking enable the share buttons option.
   
   
   

Other Blogger Custom Template Checks
Also check that slideshow or image sliders are working first before you do anything else to the template as often template creators do not give instructions about how to get these working. If you are not going to get good support from the template creator think carefully about using the template.

Another factor to keep in mind with custom templates for Blogger is that you may not be able to remove the links below the footer because of copyright reasons. Sometimes template authors put several of these at the bottom of the template which can be annoying.

In this article I have provided a few tips to help you choose a custom Blogger template and hopefully prevent you from investing time and energy in a template that has been poorly coded and may not be worth the effort to customise in the long run.

Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
No Quick Edit Wrench Problem in Blogger Fix
No Quick Edit Pencil Problem in Blogger Solution

How to Access Old Style Templates in Blogger (Blogspot)

"Can I still use the old default templates for my Blogger blog (Blogspot blog)?" is a frequent question I am asked on Blog Know How pretty often. Other people have asked me about the template I am using and how to get it. In answer to the first question as you can see older style templates do work on Blogger. And with respect to the second question the template I am using on Blog Know How is an enhanced version of the Rounders 3 Blogger template which is one of the older style default Blogger templates available from 2006 onwards.

In today's Blogger tutorial I am going to show you how to access the older style default Blogger templates (Blogspot templates) and activate them on your Blogger blog. This tutorial is mostly written for those new to Blogger who might not realise that there are a number of default Blogger layouts released in 2006 that are still perfectly usuable. Also there may be some of you who would like to revert back to an older style Blogger template but are not sure how to find the old templates on Blogger.

A Word of Warning First
At the outset I need to say that by applying an older style Blogger template to an existing blog you may lose some of the advanced design and layout features in the Blogger Template Designer. This may not be a drawback if you are happy to do a bit of tweaking and may actually be a far better alternative than downloading a free custom Blogger template that may have a host of compatibility problems with Blogger especially if it was released a while ago. There are some pretty good free custom Blogger templates out there and there are some which were thrown together and have all sorts of problems which are not easily solvable unless you know how to code in CSS.

So please be warned that you may potentially lose some features in converting to an older Blogger template. For instance if you are using the Simple default Blogger template and already have a three column layout selected with a 2 or 3 column footer then you will find that Blogger will revert to a two column layout and place all your widgets in the sidebar if you select an older style template. You will then need to manually add the footer and the extra sidebar. See my tutorials on how to add a 3 or 4 column footer to Blogger and how to manually add an extra column to Blogger for help with this.

I suggest before you start that you download a full back up of your template and that you upload this to a test blog to see how it looks rather than trying it out on a live blog. However if you decide go ahead and later change your mind and want to revert back to the one of the newer Blogger templates you will need to manually shift your widgets out of the sidebar using the drag and drop feature in Page Elements

How to Access Older Style Blogger (Blogspot) Templates

Note: These instructions assume you are using the updated Blogger interface. If you are using the old Blogger interface (you will have a message at the top of your blog "Try the updated Blogger interface") then start at step 3.

1. From Overview in the updated Blogger interface click on the wheel icon at the top right which will give you an array of Blogger options
   
   
2. Select the Older Blogger Interface from the drop down menu
   
   
   
   
3. The older style Blogger Dashboard will now be visible and displaying a list of blogs if you have more than one otherwise just the one. Click on Design from the list of links under the blog title you wish to apply the older Blogger template to.
   
   
   
4. Click on the Edit HTML link located under the Blogger tabs menu
   
   
   
   
5. Once on the Edit HTML page scroll to the bottom of the page and on the left you will see a heading entitled Old Templates. Click on the Select Layout Templates from the list. Avoid the Classic templates as these date from Blogger's first inception and are really too old to be of use.
   
   
   
   
6. You will now be on the older style Blogger templates page and can scroll through and select a template. Use the preview link to see how your blog looks with one of the older style templates applied. I use the Rounders 3 for Blog Know How by the way although I have adapted it to a 3 column layout.
   
   
   
   
7. Once you are sure you want to change over to an older style template click on the save button to apply the older style default Blogger template to your Blogspot blog.
   
   
8. Click on View Blog at the right of the menus tabs to view your changes and navigate around your blog.
   

Today I have shown you how to change your Blogger blog over to one of the older style Blogger templates. Remember that in doing so you may sacrifice some of the advanced layout and design features available in Template Designer but it will give you the option of more template options and a time-saving alternative to having to download and try out heaps of free custom Blogger templates available on the internet only to find they don't work properly. And remember that even with free custom Blogger templates most do not work with Blogger Template Designer. Having to manually add a footer or an extra column to your Blogger blog are really minor changes if everything else is working fine.

Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs

Add Profile Images to Blogger Comments

Today I will show you how easy it is to have Blogger (Blogspot) display profile images in the embedded comments section of your blog even if you are using a custom template.

About a month ago Blogger announced that it was enabling profile images (profile avatars) in the embedded comments section on Blogger (Blogspot) as part of its 10th birthday feature series. The new profile image feature which has been available on other commenting options has now been extended to the embedded comments option. This is good news if you are using a default template as you will now see a small avatar next to your visitors comments and your own avatar if you have uploaded a profile image.



Default Blogger Templates - Enabling Profile Images
Profile images work on default Blogger templates and have been automatically enabled by Blogger. If you are using a default Blogger template with embedded comments enabled and have recent comments on a post you will see a profile image to the left of visitor comments (provided they have uploaded one that is). Your profile avatar will also display when you respond to visitor comments again provided you have uploaded one. (To upload your profile photo click on Add Photo at the Dashboard). If profile images are not displayed enable them by going to Settings > Comments and checking the Yes radio button at the bottom of the page which says Profile Images Enabled.

Custom Blogger Templates - Enabling Profile Images
If you are using a custom template you may still be able to see profile images in your embedded comments section. Check out Settings > Comments to make sure Profile Images are enabled. If you can't see profile images you can still add this feature by tweaking your Blogger template. Follow the instructions below to have Blogger display profile images in the embedded comments section of your custom Blogger template.

Add Profile Images to Comments Section of a Custom Blogger Template
If you are using a custom Blogger template you can use the following method to add profile images to the embedded comments section of your Blogger template.

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in
   
   
2. Go to Design > Edit HTML
   
   
3. Back up your Blogger template as a precaution by downloading the full template to your computer
   
   
4. Expand Widget Templates by checking the box on the right hand side
   
   
5. Find the following line in your Blogger template by using CTRL + F:
   
   

   <dl id='comments-block'>

   
   
6. Change the above line to the following:
   
   

   <dl expr:class='data:post.avatarIndentClass' id='comments-block'>

   
   
7. Scroll down a few lines and find the following line in your Blogger template:
   
   

   <a expr:name='data:comment.anchorName'/>

   
   
8. Directly before the above line paste the following code block:
   
   

   <b:if cond='data:comment.favicon'>
   <img expr:src='data:comment.favicon' height='35px' style='margin-bottom:-2px;' width='35px'/>
   </b:if>
   <a expr:name='data:comment.anchorName'/>
   <b:if cond='data:blog.enabledCommentProfileImages'>
   <data:comment.authorAvatarImage/>
   </b:if>

   
   
9. Click Save Template
   
   
10. Click View Blog and navigate to a page with commenting to see avatars next to comments in the embedded comments area
    

Tips and Troubleshooting

• If you have added the author commenting highlight hack to your Blogger template there will be 2 instances of the code at Step 7 to change
  
  
• If your template does not have the code mentioned in Step 5 and Step 6 check that dl has not be replaced by div. In this case leave the div as is and replace the rest of the code in the line.
  
  
• Blogger has only enabled profile images for Blogger and Google profiles so if your visitors comment using identities such as "Anonymous" or "Name/URL" their image profile will not be displayed. If OpenID, AIM or other identities are used these favicons will be displayed instead.
  
  
• Profile avatars load last so they will not prevent visitors viewing your content if you have a lot of comments on some pages

In today's Blogger tutorial (Blogspot tutorial) you have learned how to enable profile images in the embedded comments section in Blogger. If you are using a default Blogger template this can be achieved by enabling profile avatars in your Blogger template. If you are using a third party custom template I have shown you a Blogger hack that will display profile images next to comments on your blog. As always I am interested in how you get on with this tweak. Good luck!


Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
Add Missing Embedded Comments Section to a Blogger Template
Embed Comments Form in a Blogger Template
How to Get More Comments on a Blogger Blog

Add CSS Styling to Blockquotes in a Blogger Template

Today I continue the series of Blogger tutorials (Blogspot tutorials) by showing you how to apply CSS styling to blockquotes in a Blogger template. Other articles I have already published on the subject of CSS styling include:

How to Add, Delete or Remove Blogger Image Borders
How to Align and Justify Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Divider Between Blogger Posts
How to Add or Change a Background Image in a Blogger Template.

Today's tutorial on Blogger blockquotes will be useful if you are using a default Blogger template or a third party custom template. It will show you how to change your blockquote area in the following ways:

• Add a background color to the blockquote
  
• Add a border around the background of the blockquote
  
• Add or change the color of the blockquote text
  
• Add or change padding around the text
  
• Add or change the margin
  
• Add a background image

Blogger beginners you can relax as I have written this Blogger tutorial with you in mind. I will walk you through the steps of styling the blockquote section and you will see that it is not as daunting as it first appears. This Blogger tutorial assumes no knowledge of CSS styling. I have rated the difficulty level as easy to medium because it does involve making adjustments to your Blogger template.

How to Change the Blockquote Section of a Blogger Template

First of all let's take a look at the CSS Styling for the blockquote section of a default Minima Blogger template.

.post-body blockquote {
line-height:1.3em;
}

.post blockquote {
margin:1em 20px;
}

.post blockquote p {
margin:.75em 0;
}

As you can see the blockquotes area of this Minima template has minimal styling. Apart from line height and margin indentation there has been no additional code added to improve the look of the template.


Let's go ahead and give the blockquotes in your Blogger posts some styling. I will use the Minima template to show you but you can do the same for another default template or custom template. As always back up your Blogger template by downloading it to your computer before you begin to make any changes.

1. CSS Styling to Add a Background Color to Blockquotes
   Adding a background color to the blockquote area can be achieved in 1 of 2 ways.
   
   
   1. One way is to enter the hex color directly into the styling as I have done below. This code will add a light grey background to the blockquote area.
      
      

      .post-body blockquote {
      line-height:1.3em;
      background-color: #cccccc;
      }

      
      
   2. Another way to add a background color using CSS styling for the blockquote area is to make use of the variable names already set up. The border color is light grey #cccccc by default in a Minima template. The advantage of this option is that if you decide to change the border color under Layout > Fonts and Colors the blockquote color will automatically change to the new color too.
      
      

      .post-body blockquote {
      line-height:1.3em;
      background-color: $bordercolor;
      }

      
      If you wanted the background color to be the same as the blog title color rather than the border color you would write this instead
      
      

      .post-body blockquote {
      line-height:1.3em;
      background-color: $titlecolor;
      }

   
   
2. CSS Styling to Add a Border Around Blockquotes
   You have your background in place now let's add a narrow border around the background to add some more definition. The following will add a 1px solid border around the outside of your blockquote area in your Blogger posts.
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: #cccccc;
   border: 1px solid #cc6600;
   }

   
   or if using variables
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: $bordercolor;
   border: 1px solid $titlecolor;
   }

   
   
   
3. CSS Styling to Add Padding Around Blockquotes
   Now if we were to leave the styling at this point one of the problems would be that the text would butt up against the background which is not a good look. To create some space between the text and the background edge all the way around we use CSS styling to add some padding like this:
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: #cccccc;
   border: 1px solid #cc6600;
   padding: 20 px;
   }

   
   or if using variables
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: $bordercolor;
   border: 1px solid $titlecolor;
   padding: 20 px;
   }

   
   
   
4. CSS Styling to Add or Change the Text Color of Blockquotes
   If you want to accent your blockquote area in your posts one effective way to do this is to make the blockquote text color a different color from the text color of your pages. We do this by picking a color and adding the following line to the code:
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: #cccccc;
   border: 1px solid #cc6600;
   padding: 20 px;
   color: #cc6600
   }

   
   or if using variables
   
   

   .post-body blockquote {
   line-height:1.3em;
   background-color: $bordercolor;
   border: 1px solid $titlecolor;
   padding: 20 px;
   color: $titlecolor;
   }

   
   
   

Tips and Troubleshooting
If you want to add further modifications to the blockquotes area of your Blogger template here are several other possibilities.

1. CSS Styling To Change the Margin of Blockquotes
   You can increase the margin from 1em to 1.5em by changing the margin line to
   

   margin: 1.5em 20px;

   
   
2. CSS Styling to Add a Background Image to Blockquotes
   You can have your own image as a background in your blockquotes area of your posts by adding this line:
   
   

   background: url(http://URL of your image.jpg);

In today's Blogger tutorial (Blogspot tutorial) you have learned how to add CSS styling to the blockquotes area of your Blogger posts. I have shown you how to add a background, a background border, change the text color, add padding, change the margin and add a background image to the blockquotes code block. If you have a moment please let me know how you got on customizing your own Blogger template. Any questions please ask.


Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
How to Add, Delete or Remove Blogger Image Borders
How to Align and Justify Posts in Blogger
How to Add a Divider Between Blogger Posts
How to Add or Change a Background Image in a Blogger Template

Blogger Post Image Borders Change or Remove

Sometimes you may want to remove, delete or change the image border of a custom Blogger template or default Blogger template (Blogspot template). In this Blogger tutorial you will learn how easy it is to make changes to your template so that you can get rid of unwanted image borders around all the images that appear in your blog posts or around a single image in a blog post.

You will also learn how to enhance your Blogger template (Blogspot template) by changing the line color and line style of the existing image borders.

Note this Blogger tutorial applies to custom templates and the previous generation of Blogger templates. If you are using the new default Blogger Template Simple please refer to my Blogger tutorial How to Remove the Image Border in Blogger template Simple for instructions

This Blogspot tutorial is rated easy. It involves making minor alterations to your Blogger template (Blogspot template) but this is well within the capabilities of beginner bloggers and newbies. The changes will take less than 5 minutes to complete and can make the world of difference to your Blogger template.


How to Delete, Remove, Get Rid of the Image Border in Blogger Posts
The following instructions will remove the little border around the images in your Blogger posts.

1. Login into Blogger if not already logged in
   
   
2. From the Dashboard navigate to your blog. Go to Design > Edit HTML by clicking on the Design tab and then choosing the Edit HTML link
   
   
3. Back up your existing Blogger template by clicking on the Download Full Template button
   
   
4. Find the following code in your Blogger template (no need to check the Expand Widgets Template box as we are only working with the CSS Style Sheet). Note: the code in Blogger templates varies but this is the code you will find on a Blogger Minima template and most other default Blogger templates.
   
   

   
   .post img {
   padding:4px;
   border:1px solid $bordercolor;
   }

   
   If you do not have this code look for the following:
   
   

   img{
   padding: 4px;
   border:1px solid $bordercolor;
   }

   
   
5. There are two ways to get rid of the unwanted border image code. You can either:
   
   
   • Remove the following line:
     
     

     border:1px solid $bordercolor;

     or
     
     
   • Change it to the following
     

     border:0px;

   
   
6. Click on the Save Template button
   
   
7. Click View Blog to admire your post images minus any image border.
   

How to Change the Color of the Image Border Around Posts in a Blogger Template
The following instructions will show you how to change the color of the border which appears around images in your Blogger posts

1. Follow Steps 1 to 4 as per removing the image border from Blogger posts.
   
   
2. There are several methods to change the color of the image border but the easiest is to
   
   
   • Change the following line:
     

     border:1px solid $bordercolor;

     
     to
     

     border:1px solid #6698FF;

     
     The above change will make the border line color sky blue. To change the color (in red) to your own color choice replace with the hex color code for your chosen color
   
   
3. Click the Save Template button to save your changes
   
   
4. Click on View Blog to admire the new color around the images in your Blogger posts

Tips and Troubleshooting

• To change the image border line style from a solid line to a dotted line change the word solid to dotted eg
  
  

  border:1px dotted $bordercolor;

  
  
• To change the image border line style from a solid line to a dashed line change the word solid to dashed eg
  
  

  border:1px dashed $bordercolor;

  
  
• To increase the width of the image border change the size from 1px to 2px or 3px eg
  
  

  border:3px solid $bordercolor;

  
  
• To Remove The Image Border Around Only One Image paste the following into your image code in your Blogger post:
  
  

  style="border:none"

  eg
  <img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 22px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vLeiVavkV_M/SrRp2wb1I_I/AAAAAAAAAAA/XXXXXXXXX/s200/download-now.png" border="0" style="border:none" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_XXXXXXXXXXXX" />
  

In this Blogger tutorial you have learned how to remove, delete and get rid of the line border which appears around images in your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts). You have also learned how to change the line color of the border image to your own chosen hex color. In addition I have shown you how to change the line style from solid to dotted or dashed and to remove the border around a single image. As always any problems with making these changes please let me know. Good luck!


Related Articles
List of Blog Know How Tutorials for Blogger Blogs
How to Remove the Image Border in Blogger Simple Template

Add 3 Column or 4 Column Footer to Blogger

In this Blogspot tutorial you will learn how to convert your existing Blogger footer (Blogspot footer) into a 3 column footer or a 4 column footer. With more columns in your Blogger footer you will be have the extra room to accommodate more widgets such as Flickr photos and Twitter updates. Also you will be able to put less frequently used widgets such as recents comments, archives, followers, About Me etc at the bottom of your template so that only the most important widgets are loaded first.

This tweak involves adding code to the footer section of your existing Blogger template to change it to 3 columns or 4 columns. The tutorial is not beyond the capabilities of Blogger newbies and webmasters with intermediate skills but care needs to be taken when modifying your Blogger template so back up before you start. For best results a Blogger template with a width of around 900px is best.



How to Add a 3 Column Footer to Blogger

1. Log in to Blogger if not already logged in
   
   
2. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements
   
   
3. Move any existing widgets out of the footer section and place them in the sidebar temporarily and save changes
   
   
4. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML
   
   
5. Back up your template as a precaution by downloading it to your computer
   
   
6. Find the following section in your Blogger template
   
   

   <div id='footer-wrapper'>
   <b:section class='footer' id='footer'/>
   </div>

   
   If you are having difficulty finding this section trying searching for footer-wrap or something similar as sometimes this section is called something else in some templates.
   
   
7. To Add a 3 Column Footer to Blogger
   Replace all the code located in Step 6 with the following
   
   

   <div id='footer-columns'>
   <div id='footer1' style='width: 30%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col1' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer2' style='width: 40%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col2' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer3' style='width: 30%; float: right; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col3' preferred='yes' style='float:right;'/>
   </div>
   <div style='clear:both;'/>
   </div>
   

   
   To Add a 3 Column Footer to Blogger with a Lower Footer Section
   Replace all the code located in Step 6 with the following
   
   

   <div id='footer-columns'>
   <div id='footer1' style='width: 30%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col1' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer2' style='width: 40%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col2' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer3' style='width: 30%; float: right; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col3' preferred='yes' style='float:right;'/>
   </div>
   <div style='clear:both;'/>
   <p/>
   <div id='footer-bottom' style='text-align: center; padding: 10px;'>
   <b:section class='footer' id='col-bottom' preferred='yes'>
   </b:section>
   </div>
   <div style='clear:both;'/>
   </div>
   

   
   
   To Add a 4 Column Footer to Blogger
   Replace all the code located in Step 6 with the following
   
   

   <div id='footer-columns'>
   <div id='footer1' style='width: 25%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col1' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer2' style='width: 25%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col2' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer3' style='width: 25%; float: left; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col3' preferred='yes' style='float:left;'/>
   </div>
   <div id='footer4' style='width: 25%; float: right; margin:0; text-align: left;'>
   <b:section class='footer-column' id='col4' preferred='yes' style='float:right;'/>
   </div>
   <div style='clear:both;'/>
   </div>
   

   
   
   
   
8. Save changes to your Blogger template.
   
   
9. Navigate to Layout > Page Elements. You will now see a 3 column footer, 3 column footer with a lower section or a 4 column footer depending on what option you chose.
   
   
10. Move the desired gadgets to the new Blogger footer columns. Create new widgets to fill up the footer columns if necessary. Save your changes.
    
    
11. Click View Blog to admire your new footer section
    

Tips and Troubleshooting

1. To Add Padding Between Footer Columns in Blogger
   To create some padding between the columns add the following code to the style section of your Blogger template - before </b:skin> tag.
   
   #footer-columns {
   clear:both;
   }
   
   .footer-column {
   padding: 10px;
   }
   
   
2. To Add a Border to the 3 or 4 Column Blogger Footer
   
   
   • For Top Border Only of the 3 or 4 Column Footer
     Paste the following code before the </b:skin> tag
     
     #footer-columns{
     border-top:1px dotted $bordercolor;
     clear:both;
     margin:0 auto;
     }
     
     Replace $bordercolor with a hex color if default color is not displayed. Change this color to suit your template. For example
     
     
     #footer-columns{
     border-top:1px dotted #113355;
     clear:both;
     margin:0 auto;
     }
     
     
   • For a Box Border Around the 3 or 4 Column Footer
     
     #footer-columns{
     border:1px dotted $bordercolor;
     clear:both;
     margin:0 auto;
     }
     
     Replace $bordercolor with a hex color if default color is not displayed. Change this color to suit your template. For example
     
     #footer-columns{
     border-top:1px dotted #113355;
     clear:both;
     margin:0 auto;
     }
     

In today's Blogger tutorial you have learned how to add a 3 column footer or a 4 column footer to your Blogger template (Blogspot template). You have also learned how to add some styling such as a border above the footer and around the footer. As always I am available to answer questions if you need assistance. Good luck!

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Customize Blogger Tips

Show Date Above Blogger Post Title

Sometimes you may download a Blogger Blogspot template which does not display the date header above the post title. I recently struck a free Blogger template like this and it took some time to find the right part of the template to fix the date. Plus the answer was not as far as I could tell listed in Blogger help. So to help anyone desperately struggling to find the solution to this problem I have decided to share this information in this article.


To Display the Date Header Above Post Title

1. Log in to Blogger

2. Go to Layout > Edit HTML

3. Back up your template before attempting any changes

4. Type the following into the search box (CTRL + F) to find the block of code beginning with this line:

<data:adStart/>

5. Paste the following lines of code

<b:if cond='data:post.dateHeader'>
<h2 class='date-header'><data:post.dateHeader/></h2>
</b:if>

into the code block as shown here:

<data:adStart/>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.dateHeader'>
<h2 class='date-header'><data:post.dateHeader/></h2>
</b:if>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<b:include data='post' name='comments'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:post.includeAd'>
<data:adEnd/>
<data:adCode/>
<data:adStart/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:post.trackLatency'>
<data:post.latencyJs/>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<data:adEnd/>
</div>

7. Click the Save Template button

8. View Blog to see the date above the header


Today's Blogger Blogspot tip has shown you how to add the date above the post title on a Blogger Blogspot blog. The date above the post is often missing among slightly older Blogger templates but thankfully the fix is fairly easy.


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Add Missing Embedded Comments Form to Blogger

Today I will show you how to fix your Blogger template if the embedded comments feature is missing or not working. I decided to write this article because I have noticed that the embed a comment below the post feature is often not working in many Blogger custom templates available for download. This is usually because many of these templates were released prior to Blogger enabling embedded comments.

If you have downloaded a custom template that has embed a comment missing then read on as I will show you how to insert the code for embed a comment form into your template. Inserting code into a blog template can be challenging for some but if you follow these instructions it is not beyond even virtual beginners.

1. Login to Blogger if you are not already logged in

2. Navigate to Settings > Comments. Under Comment Form Placement make sure the Embedded below Post radio button is set. Save any changes you make.



3. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

4. I strongly recommend you back up your template by downloading it to your computer before proceeding

4. Check Expand Widget Templates

5. Use CTRL + F to bring up the Blogger Toolbar

6. Look for the following code block by entering <span class='paging-control-container'> into the find box on the toolbar. Note if you don't have this code look at the alternative option below #7 in this post

<b:if cond='data:post.commentPagingRequired'>
<span class='paging-control-container'>
<a expr:class='data:post.oldLinkClass' expr:href='data:post.oldestLinkUrl'>
<data:post.oldestLinkText/>
</a>
<a expr:class='data:post.oldLinkClass' expr:href='data:post.olderLinkUrl'>
<data:post.olderLinkText/>
</a>
 
<data:post.commentRangeText/>
 
<a expr:class='data:post.newLinkClass' expr:href='data:post.newerLinkUrl'>
<data:post.newerLinkText/>
</a>
<a expr:class='data:post.newLinkClass' expr:href='data:post.newestLinkUrl'>
<data:post.newestLinkText/>
</a>
</span>
</b:if>

7. Paste the following code into your template immediately after the code block above and before this line of code <div id='backlinks-container'>

<p class='comment-footer'>
<b:if cond='data:post.embedCommentForm'>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowNewComments'>
<b:include data='post' name='comment-form'/>
<b:else/>
<data:post.noNewCommentsText/>
</b:if>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:postCommentMsg/></a>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</p>
</b:if>

Alternative Option
If you don't have the code as mentioned in #6 you will likely have the following:

<p class='comment-footer'>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:postCommentMsg/></a> </p>
</b:if>

In which case replace with this code:


<p class='comment-footer'>
<b:if cond='data:post.embedCommentForm'>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowNewComments'>
<b:include data='post' name='comment-form'/>
<b:else/>
<data:post.noNewCommentsText/>
</b:if>
<b:else/>
<b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'>
<a expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl' expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><data:postCommentMsg/></a>
</b:if>
</b:if>
</p>
</b:if>


8. Click on the Save Template button to save your template changes

9. Click on the View Blog link and test your embed comment feature by clicking on the number of comments link found at the bottom of each post. Notice that the post will now be displayed along with the embed a comment form below the post



Troubleshooting
As there are many variations amongst templates neither of these options may work in which case try this solution from Blogger Buster:

Find: <b:include data='post' name='comments' />

Immediately below this line add the following line:
<b:include data='post' name='comment-form'/>

In this tutorial I have shown you how to add the embed comments form into your custom Blogger template if it is missing so that visitors can comment easily.

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How to Add a Subtitle to Blogger Posts

This Blogger tutorial shows you how to easily and quickly add a subtitle to your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) so that both search engines and readers will have more information about your post. I also discuss the benefits of adding subtitles to Blogger articles. This is an easy tweak to your Blogger blog that anyone can carry out in a couple of minutes.



Benefits of Using Subtitles in Posts
Adding a subtitle which appears below the title of your post can be both eye catching and informative. For instance a titling schema for this post could be:

Title: Add a Subtitle to a Blogger Blog

Subtitle: Make Your Posts More Search Engine Friendly and User Friendly

If you craft your titles and subtitles carefully you will encourage more targeted readers of your blog as they will be able to see at a glance what your post is about rather than reading the whole article. Your traffic therefore might be slightly less but they will be far more targeted to the content of your site resulting in a lower bounce rate.

If the subtitle you choose for your Blogger post is keyword rich then you are also improving your chances of gaining a higher position in search engine result pages because search engines give added weight to headings and to text early on in an article. By adding a subtitle to a Blogger post you have a SEO tool which if used effectively could result in more visitors finding your site because of higher keyword density.

You can of course add a subtitle manually to each post and format it everytime. The advantage of this method over doing it manually though is that all the formatting is in the stylesheet section of your template so you only have to change the colour scheme and font variables in one location and Blogger will look after the rest. Any change will be reflected in each and every post that has the subtitle <div> tags.


How to Add a Subtitle to Blogger Posts
This tutorial guides you through the steps to take to add a subtitle to your Blogger blog. The trick requires only takes a few short minutes and requires only a small snippet of code to be added to your template. Provided the instructions are followed anyone can do this including beginners and new bloggers. Interestingly it is not widely known or written about in technical blogs that a subtitle can be added to your Blogger Blogspot blog posts yet the advantages are considerable.

1. Log in to Blogger and navigate to Design > Edit HTML

2. Find the </b:skin> tag in your template. If you are have difficulty finding it use CTRL + F to bring up the Blogger toolbar at the bottom of your blog and enter the tag </b:skin> into the search box on the toolbar

3. Copy and paste the code below into your template making sure that it appears before the </b:skin> closing tag.

.subtitle{
font-family:Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif;
font-size:15px;
color: #ca1717;
line-height:20px;
}

Update November 14, 2010. This code inserts a subtitle in red. You will need to change this color to match your template. See later in this post for information on how to add styling or change the color of the subtitle. If you wish to use a known variable as shown in the above image you can. color: $dateheadercolor; could be used for example provided this variable had already been declared in the variables section of the template.

4. Save Template

5. Go to the post you wish to add a subtitle to by clicking on the Posting tab and then the Edit Posts link.

6. Copy and paste the following code into your post ahead of any other text.

<div class="subtitle">Subtitle Text. Please Substitute for your own text</div>

7. Substitute your own text between the <div> tags

8. Navigate to Settings > Formatting and under the last option Post Template enter the following into the box:

<div class="subtitle"></div>

This will mean that every time you create a post you will have the tags appear automatically. All you need do is place the text of your subtitle between the tags. If you don't want to use a subtitle for a particular post just delete the tags.

9. Save Changes to Post and click on View Blog to admire your new subtitle.



Customizing the CSS Styling of a Blogger Subtitle
It is easy to customize your subtitle for a different font type, color and size. Just change the code you added before the </b:skin> tag. If you want a specific color for instance you could change the color I have chosen for another color, increase the font size, and change the font face to Times Roman for instance. Thus your code would become something like this:


.subtitle{

font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif;
font-size:16px;
color:#ff6600;
line-height:20px;

This Blogger tutorial has shown you how to add a subtitle to your Blogger posts (Blogspot posts) quickly and easily. I have discussed the benefits of inserting a subtitle feature on a Blogger blog including how this might assist search engines to correctly index your blog articles. I have also shown you how to customize your subtitle to your own individual requirements using CSS styling


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