Test Spin

How are you all making out with the new Blogger interface? Yeah... me too.  Just writing this post I accidentally deleted my signature several times.  I'm not sure what it is exactly, the vastness of all that white as it plays upon aging eyes *waves to Linda* or simply the fact that everything feels like I jsut stepped off Apollo 11. I've stuck with it through the week though hoping it would grow on me a bit more, or at least I'd learn a little more about where things are, but each morning I enter blogland a resounding "sigh" can be heard from my studio.

Those of us diehard "old interface users" will probably never fully embrace this new look, kind of like letting go of those clunky 70s sandals I wore into the ground but, I've been through enough changes in life to know that soon enough this learning curve will be behind us. I've never liked being a negative nelly so I'm doing my best to keep a positive outlook on the changes and I must admit there are some nifty additions.

Take the Blogger Template Designer ~

This handy tool really puts customizing a blog into the average user's hands.  From changing your font (color and style) to easily altering the width and layout of your blogs, Blogger has made these changes an absolute breeze.  Altering these key aspects used to be handled exclusively in the Html code area of our blogs and that's never a good place for any newbie to venture.  Now, it's easy as pie and I like that!

If you haven't tried some of these features out yet give them a spin.  The best part is you can "try on" and preview any changes without actually applying them to your blog and that's a wonderful plus ~ especially for those of us who air on the side of caution when it comes to blog changes.  To access the font features just click on the "Advanced" link and see what's available.

The only caution is to avoid clicking on the blue "Clear" link at the bottom of each menu ~ this won't recent the changes you just made ~ this will reset ALL of your blog settings, so avoid clicking.

Let me know how you do and what you think and most importantly have fun!

Setting Up Mobile Viewing for Your Own Blog

I've just learned that Blogger is currently testing a new feature for viewing blogs on mobile devices. Up until this point, if you tried to view a blog through your mobile device, it appeared huge and was difficult to read in such a large state. This new feature reduces blogs down to a more readable size and organizes postings in a cohesive manner.

To set up this feature on your own blog follow the simple steps below...

First you'll need to log into your blog and then click on this link: http://draft.blogger.com/home This area is called "Blogger Draft" and appears to be a duplicate of the regular "Dashboard" area of our blogs.

There you will click on the "Settings tab" and then the blue "Email & Mobile" link...

At the top of this page you'll see a new section titled "Mobile Template (beta)"...

*In the online world "beta" usually denotes something new and in the testing stages.*

In this area you'll want to click the small button next to "Yes, On mobile devices, show the mobile version of my template"...

Be sure to scroll down the to the bottom and click the orange "Save Settings" button...

Once saved, you can then return to the top of the page and preview a sampling of your blog by clicking the blue "Mobile Preview" button...

Something else I noticed in this preview is that certain features, like the image navigation area at the top of my blog, will not show up in mobile view so some of the navigation is missing however is does display a nice reduced version of blog and that's pretty sweet!

Enjoy~