Blogger Buster - PostRank (PostRank: Great)

How to create a contact form for Blogger using Kontactr

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Contact forms enable visitors to our sites to send us emails without having to expose our email address to potential spammers.

I've been using Kontactr to embed a contact form in this site for years now, and still believe it is the most ideal solution for those using the Blogger platform. However, it seems my previous tutorial is now out of date!

Recently, Kontactr added CAPTCHA functionality to their forms which makes even more difficult for spammers to abuse the facility. We can also now customize the appearance of the form to match the design of our sites.

Here is a comprehensive tutorial to help Blogger users embed a functional, customizable contact form for their blog using Kontactr.

How do I find a blog on Blogspot?

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Many blogging services and social networks allow visitors to search for sites and users hosted on their service by keywords or tags.

For example, those visiting Tumblr can search for posts tagged "Blogspot", or visit Wordpress.com to search for posts tagged with Google.

Unfortunately, there is no built-in feature to find posts or blogs which are hosted on Blogger. So in this post I'll explain methods you can use to connect with like-minded people and find interesting blogs to read on Blogspot.

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Adding threaded comments to a customized blog (Updating my Blogger Template)

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Since deciding to update my Blogger template, one of the features I've been most looking forward to using is threaded comments. This enables us to reply directly in response to comments left on a post.

After diving into reams of code and going a very long way about updating my template to include this feature, I stumbled across a very simple way to add this functionality to older Blogger templates.

To help anyone else using a custom Blogger template include threaded comments for their site, I've written this quick tutorial which (unlike my original method!) should get you up and running with comment replies in no time!

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Updating My Template to use Blogger's New Features

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:20:00 GMT

As many of you may have noticed, I've not been actively using Blogger for some time due to illness and maternity leave. So many updates have happened in my absence and until now I have barely had time to update my own sites.

Looking through all of Blogger's recent updates and settings, I've realized there are lots of tweaks I need to perform to update this site. Since I haven't already written about most of these Blogger customizations, I'll be documenting my progress for anyone else wishing to update their sites to use Blogger's new features over the next few days.
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Redirecting from Blogspot.com to country specific domains

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

In efforts to country specific laws, Blogger have begun redirecting blogs hosted on blogspot.com subdomains to country specific domains (ccTLDs).

For example, if you are in the UK and viewing a Blogger hosted blog which would usually have be hosted on a *.blogspot.com subdomain, you'll be redirected to *.blogspot.co.uk.

This is happening to enable Blogger to censor content on a country-specific level. For example, if the UK asked Blogger to remove a page of content from a blog, the page would no longer be available to view by visitors in the UK; it would however be available to view in other countries.

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Blogger rolling out local domains?

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:57:00 GMT

While creating a site for a local company on Blogger today, I noticed the blogspot domain the site is hosted on suddenly changed from blogspot.com to blogspot.co.uk.

The site can still be accessed using the dot.com url I originally created, though it's automatically redirected to the dot.co.uk version.

So far I haven't been able to find any information about this new enforcement of local sub-domains, and may only assume this is a new feature the Blogger team are rolling out.

Have any of you noticed a new local domain extension for your Blogger hosted site? Please let us know what you think about this update in the comments below.

Image credit: The Booklight

Get the Blogger App for your Android Device

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:26:00 GMT

Blogger App for Android

Blogger have released an official Android application, enabling Android users to post quickly and easily from their device:

We are excited to announce our first version of the Blogger Android App. Using the app you can easily compose a post, attach a photo that you just took with your phone, and either save it as a local draft for later or immediately publish it to your blog - via Blogger in Draft

Android users can download the app for free from the Android Market.

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Add Facebook "Like" Box Beneath your Blogger Posts

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:39:00 GMT

Facebook has become one of the most popular tools among Bloggers for syndicating blog posts. By adding a stylish Facebook "Like" box beneath your articles in Blogspot, you offer readers a temptingly easy means of sharing your posts with their friends.

Aneesh of Blogger Plugins has developed a simple, customizable way of installing a Facebook Like box for each page of your Blogger-based site. This tool is based on the original code and design developed by Mia of Dezign Matterz. I'm using a slightly altered version of this widget here on Blogger Buster.

In this post, I'll offer an overview of how to install Aneesh/Mia's stylized Facebook Like box, and an additional method for adding a simpler "Like" widget to your Blogger/Blogspot site.

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How to Add Post Titles to Read More Links in Blogger

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:00:00 GMT

Add interest to your "read more" links by including each post's title

Blogger's Jump-Link (Read More) feature enables us to display summaries of our blog posts on the home page (and all non-item pages).

We can configure the text displayed for the Jump Link (which links to the post's item page) by editing the Blog Posts gadget in Design>Page Elements. However, I've also found it useful to add the title of the post beside the Jump-Link text to clarify the title of the post to which it links.

If you're reading this post on the Blogger Buster home page, you'll see an example of this in action a few lines below.

This is a very easy customization and the modified Jump-Link will inherit any current style you've applied to this section. Here's how to add this featre in a single, simple step.

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5 New Dynamic Blogger Templates for us to Preview

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:29:00 GMT

We can now preview 5 dynamic new Blogger template styles for our blogs which use AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3. These new templates will soon be made available for us to use as the default views for our sites, and will be customizable so we can preserve our blog's individuality.

The "Snapshot" view is an ideal choice for photo bloggers