Upgrade to New Blogger template from old classic template

I would recommend bloggers still using old classic Blogger template to a New Blogger template. They are so much easier to use, especially for those not comfortable with HTML, CSS, etc., more robust, etc. I will try to discuss some of them below:Advantages of New Blogger templates compared with old classic Blogger templatesPublishing a post is much faster. New Blogger templates uses dynamic pages

Business Blog: Online Pharmacy

Sometimes bloggers request help for setting up online business with minimal expenses. It is possible to make money online by setting up business blogs. A good example will be Good Pharmacy Online. It is planned, among others as an affiliate for Online Canadian Pharmacy Escrow Service.

When you set up a business blog, you should pay particular attention to the template such as things like having

Blogging services and web hosts

There are many blogging services, also referred to as blogging platforms, which can enable anyone to quickly start a blog. Some are free, some you have to pay, some have both free and paid versions. Also, blogs are used for different purposes of which I will be writing about later, but I just want to mention one of them - business blogs.

Google Blogger blogging platformBlogger is a blog

All about graphic Header for your blog, also grahic post title

I get lots of questions about graphic Headers for blogs as bloggers seem to like graphic (image) instead of plain text blog Header. Here is where I put links to all posts connected to graphic blog Header and also one on graphic post title.Whatever it is, I for one is very reluctant to delete a text Blog title as to me, it is very important from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as search engines

Report Blogger TOS violation

TOS is short for Terms of Service which you should read before you use any services for your own security or getting into problems with the service providers. Refer to Google Blogger TOS (Terms of Service).If you have problems withDefamation/Libel/SlanderSomeone stealing your content Spam (Learn more.Adult or pornographic imagesHate or violenceImpersonationIllegal/OtherYou need to contact

Advantages of Custom Domain for New Blogger

I have used Google Blogger (blogspot.com) for years and have been very happy so far. Google Blogger is extremely generous. Now Google Blogger have become even more generous by introducing New Blogger Custom Domain which allows you to register your own domain names so that you can have a URL which is your very own property (not a sub-domain of Blogger) and do not have the .blogspot.com at the end

HTML Color Codes, color charts and color tools

If you are a blogger fussy with appearance of your blog, or you get involved in activities like Blending colors of your advertisements with the colors of your website or Blending color of your search box with the colors of your website or Change main background color of Rounders template blog, you will have to be familiar with hexadecimal HTML color codes. HTML color codes are codes with a # in

Haloscan commenting system: Problems

I used the Haloscan commenting system in one of my blogs Natural Remedies because someone asked and I need to get some experience so that I can respond. However, I have been having problems because I set the comments for moderation, but each time I get an email notification, click on the link, I get to a page to post a comment. This has been going on for some time, but I got another 3 Haloscan

Does meta tags need to be closed? (or do meta tags occur in pairs?)

The majority of HTML tags occur in pairs, an opening tag and an closing tag. Example, the opening tag for an unordered list is

will be followed by a list, and at the end of the list, you must have the closing tag

.However, some tags do not need a closing tag. Examples are the line break tag (to force a line break)
and the image tag . These tags do not need

AdSense ads below post for old classic Blogger template

There are still bloggers who use the old classic Blogger template, some because they have too much customization and too attached to it, and some because they choose to use custom domain and host on their own. Got a guestion on how to add adsense text link ad in below some specific posts.You cannot add AdSense ads only below the post you choose. There is a way to add ads below the post, but you

Homepage, archive pages and individual post pages (permalinks) of a blog

Responding to a blogger question "What is a homepage?"The homepage (index or main page) of this blog is Dummies Guide to Blogger (click BACK button to get back to this page) and a surfer will get to the homepage by clicking on the above link or by typing or copy pasting the blog URL of this blog which ishttp://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com into the address bar of a web browser like FireFox, my

The fastest way to get indexed by search engines

The fastest way to get indexed (to have information about your site in the search engine database) and to be "findable" or "searchable" by search engines is to get a link from a website that already has been indexed and regularly spidered (crawled or having a kind of robotic program that enables search engines to read what is in your website), preferably by a high PageRank website like this one

Page Source: How and why

A blogger asked, so here is the answer.How to view page source (source code of a web pageThis part is easy. FireFox browserFor FireFox browser, my favorite browser, at the top of the browser, click on VIEW > PAGE SOURCE in the menu bar. To make this clearer, see screenshot below:When you click "Page source", a new window will open with the source code used to display that web page. Actuall, the

Polls for Blogger

Polls for blog direct from BloggerThe New Blogger (formerly Blogger Beta) has a new feature recently - polls. In the LAYOUT, you can click "Add a Page Element" and select "Polls", then click "Add to blog" and you will see the following "pop-up" for setting the poll:Note that you can allow either only single vote or multiple vote, plus you are not limited to just 4 answers (choices), but by

Apple Quicktime to make MP3 player work

I have previous published a way to add an MP3 player to your blog so that you can have music for your blog at Adding Music to your blog. I received one comment from a blogger: "hey peter thanks for posting these topic...but i dont know why it doesnt work for me!...i have tried a thousand times, and i cant make it work!"One of the problem may be you do not have the proper plugin in your computer,

Why I never use custom domain

I have published a post Custom domain for New Blogger, however, I myself never use it for my blogs.Reasons: In the first place, I don't want to bother myself with renewals. More important, I am now 57 years old, going on to 58. If I am lucky and live to 100, there will be still 42 years for doing the things I enjoy. But I know there must come a time when I will no longer be around to renew domain

Save money on tools you need for blogging

For simple blogs, you don't need much - a basic computer, a modem for access to the Intenet and a suitable blogging platform. I use the free Google Blogger and use sub-domains of blogspot.com and Blogger host my blogs for free. Very generous of them. I use free photo editors like Irfanview in conjunction with Paint that comes with Windows for screenshots and for editing photos and creating images

Content Management Systems and blogs

Blogging platforms for blogsBlogging platforms like Google Blogger, Wordpress (free version), etc., makes it easy for anyone to start a blog irrespective of background. He or she may know nothing of HTML, CSS, etc., but with the easy interface provided by such blogging platforms, can start a blog under 10 minutes and immediately start publishing posts to the web. If you are a complete beginner,

Are static pages or dynamic pages better for search engines?

Blogger Beta (now New Blogger) touted its major improvement over the old classic Blogger as New Blogger being dynamic. This means you don't need to republish each time you edit something in the template or change some setting. Just save and the changes will be immediately be reflected on the web. No more having to save and then republish and get that dreaded rotating arrow that sometimes really

Change blog background color and others

With New Blogger, it is very easy to change colors of various thing, and that include the blog background color. All you need to do is to sign into blogger.com (Dashboard) where you will see a list of all the blogs you have in your Blogger account. Click on LAYOUT for the relevant blog, then click on the "Fonts and colors" sub tab. You will then see a page to change the colors of various things

Attract non-English traffic to English language sites

I have previously published adding site translator to blogs (and normal websites as well) at Add translator to your blog (or website) (click BACK button to get back to this page). One reader also wants to know if she publish a blog in English, how can she attract non-English visitors. The only thing I can think of is to ping non-English as well as English servers each time the blogger creates a

Add translator to your blog

Got a question from a reader who is now doing her blog twice, once in English and once in her language. She asked if it is possible to do it only once, and have something to click on to read the site in another language. I know of 2 reputable possibility - AltaVista Babelfish and Google Translator widget. You can see example of implementation of this at the bottom of the left sidebar of these two

Embed Powerpoint presentation into your post

There is a site Scribd that will enable you to embed PowerPoint presentations into your post. An example can be seen at Malaysians have to change attitude to succeed. I shall now describe how I did it. First, you must have a PowerPoint (ppt) file stored in your computer. At Scribd, you can either register first before you upload the ppt file or register first. The advantages of registering is you

Relocate to Alabama and continue to blog from there

I am an avid blogger, and spend most of my waking hours in front of the computer, connected to the Internet. However, I have complained about adverse developments in my country, including threats by the Government to use the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows detention without trial, against bloggers. I am unsettled by creeping Islamisation with the former Prime Minister and now the current

Blogger wants to visit United States of America

While I was still working, I visited United States of America. The flight ticket was courtesy of MAS (Malaysia Airlines), so I had only to take care of my food, lodging and internal transport. For transport, I used Greyhound buses. The ticket was to Los Angeles. I will like to visit United States again, Previously, I had to fly to Los Angeles via Tokyo Narita International Airport. Now there is

Blogger wants to take vacation

I have previous written a long post about my frustration on what is going on in my country and not being able to do much about it except blog. I have talked of my dream about retiring to paradise Hawaii and blog from there. However, that is likely to remain just a dream, for relocation is not an easy thing.

I have been sitting in front of my computer nearly all my waking hours since my

Blog from Hawaii

The mainstream mass media (newspaper, radio, television) is tightly controlled by my country's Government. Newspaper need to renew a license every year and the license can be revoked anytime without any reason given. My daughter recently spoke to a journalist who confessed they have to practice self-censorship to survive. Much of the negative news never make it to the press and the Government

How to get a good PageRank?

Yes, how can one go from no PageRank to a PageRank of 5? Before I answer that, for those who don't know, you can easily get the PageRank of a site: refer to How to get the PageRank of your blog or any other sites.BLOG CONTENTWhen a blog is first started, it is given no PageRank, not even zero. Keep writing good, useful and interesting content that surfers will like to read. That is number one.

Easy way to add picture to sidebar

I have published posts on how to add pictures in the sidebar, includingOld classic Blogger template: add picture to sidebar (click BACK button to get back to this page)Old classic Blogger template: add picture to sidebar Part 2New Blogger template: add picture to sidebar.There is now (it has been available for quite some time already) an easier way to do it. Sign into Blogger (Dashboard), click

A demonstration post to demonstrate posting a Google Docs document to Google Blogger post for the post Add documents, spreadsheets and PDF files to blog.

Centering text, pictures, advertisements, banners, search boxes

Previously, when you need to center "something" (which may be text, pictures, advertisements, banners or search boxes), all you need to do surround that "something" with the and tags, that is, what you have is"something"

First alphabet of post in large uppercase and color plus background color

Most magazine style website have the first alphabet of the post larger than the rest of the post and often in different color as well. An example is Good Health Magazine. Some have a colored background as well like Podcasting Magazine. Here is how you can do it:First alphabet of post large and coloredThis was how Good Health Magazine was made to have the first alphabet colored and colored. After

Shoutbox for your blog

A blog reader asked for visitor's registration. The only thing I can think about is either a Guestbook or a Shoutbox. I have written about Guestbook at Guestbook for your blog with an example at Natural Remedies. Clicking on the links in Guest will take your visitors away from your site (though you may chose to have the new site open in new window). If you want visitors to remain on your site,

Ways to display HTML tags in posts and comments

NOTE: All the below instructions are for posting comments or for preparing posts in the EDIT HTML mode, not the COMPOSE mode.There are some bloggers who may want to post HTML tags in comments or posts but don't know how. If you try to type the HTML tag to display an image, for example:exactly as you see it above in the comment or post, you will just get an empty box. I have

Cannot see blog in Dashboard

This seemed to be a common complaint. A blogger is logged into his/her Google account but when he/she goes to the Dashboard, cannot see the blog in the Dashboard. It is not uncommon that a blogger have many Blogger account, or may have created a Blogger account, but have forgotten the username used for that account. Note that whenever you are logged into Google account (that means if you are

How to delete a blog

New bloggers often miss this as the delete button is not displayed in a prominent place. If you want to delete a blog, sign into Blogger (Dashboard) and you should get a lists of all your blogs (obviously you will see only one blog if you have created only one). Click SETTINGS at the right of the section for the relevant blog, and by default your will be in the BASIC sub-tab. Scroll right to the

Add Label (category or tag) List to blog using old classic Blogger template

If you are using an old classic blogger template, you will have the new Label (category of tag) feature in the New Blogger, but you will not be able to add a Label List in the Sidebar. The labels will only appear at the bottom of the post. If you want to have a Label List in the sidebar like those using the New Blogger template, you will have to add it manually. For example, you will find the

Asking for help, particularly in respect to Blogger, AdSense, others

We get frequent requests for help, particularly via the comments in Blogger Tips and Tricks, via email, and also athttp://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help/http://groups.google.com/group/adsense-helpFrequently, the subject is stated as "Help" or something vague. It would be good to give a more descriptive subject like "How to track visitors to my blog?" or something like that. It will also

How you can help Blogger Tips and Tricks

First, whatever follows are completely voluntary and no one should feel obliged to take up any suggestion.A reader asked how to get smiley face for his blog and I did a post Free Smiley Face for your blog. The animated graphic for that post was obtained from a site but they said their graphics are free to use, but a link back to their site will be greatly appreciated, which I have duly done. I

Change cursor (mouse icon)

To change the cursor or mouse icon, click START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL > MOUSE > POINTERS. Double-click on any one of the cursor in the COSTOMIZE window, and select a cursor in the pop-up. Click APPLY.

Free Smiley Faces for your blog

Got an email from a blog reader:

"Great blog you have there. Really lots of helpful tips. Thanks !

There's this one thing that I've always wanted Blogger to have and that's the ability to add smileys to my blogs. I've searched your blog and wasn't able to find any tips there. Googling for this topic also didn't yield anything fruitful."

One way I can respond could be:

Hi XXXX,

Thanks for

Hyperlinks in Profile (About Me)

A blog reader comment in the post Making "About Me" a single line (hyperlink) that link to the full profile. For your convenience, I paste the relevant part of the comment below:I see that you have embedded links into the demonstration profile. Can you tell me how you do it? I've gone so far as to try and figure out how to make a completely new and separate profile (and suppress the old profile)

Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents by Reporters without Borders

In many countries like mine, the press are not free and subject to harsh rules and regulations. In mine, the newspapers need to renew their publishing licence every year, and it can be taken away anytime. For survival, the journalists have to practice self censorship. It has been relaxed very slightly in my country, but the draconian publication rules are still there. There are many political

Diversion from blogging: Save money

Bloggers are human, not robots. We have a life to live. That means there will be time we need to make purchases. Some of the bloggers might be filthy rich, but I'll bet the majority are just getting along. That means if there is any opportunity to save money, we should take that opportunity.

Here is a site Coupon Chief that offers just such an offers such opportunities. You can read more about

Testing to see if post title in blogs using classic template is clickable or not.

I am in a hurry to test. Will edit this post later.Update: I have done the test. Link field is enabled for this blog. I was thinking that if you enable link field, the post title with New Blogger template and old classic template should be clickable. This is true for New Blogger (haven't tested whether for New Blogger the post title is clickable if you have not enabled link field). I published

How to add a clock to your blog

Someone asked for it, so I might as well answer in a post. There are many sites offering such clocks. One such site is ClockLink. Just click "Get HTML" and in the pop-up, you can select the color to match your site, the time zone. Then just copy the script and paste it into HTML/Javascript of Add a Page Element in the LAYOUT. You can see an example of the clock generated this way at the bottom of

Convert your blogs into eBooks and sell them via PayLoadz

Ever thought of earning money from your blog by participating in e-Commerce selling digital products? The product may be an e-Book (a PDF version of your blog for example) or digital versions of your songs or music, a movie (video), digital art, software, manuals or anything that you can download. If you have any intention of doing this, PayLoadz can help you. Signing up for an account to sell

Is my blog indexed, and if not, how to get it indexed quickly

Many new bloggers are impatient. They just start a blog and then immediately expect to find their blog in search engine result pages. It takes time for a site to be indexed. To find out if your blog have been indexed by a search engine, typesite:blog URLinto the searchbox and press the enter key. To make it clearer, to see if this blog has been indexed, typesite:http://

How to remove labels

Update: Blogger has introduced an easier way to delete labels. Sign into Dashboard, go to POST > EDIT POST which will cause all the posts to be displayed. At the top, next to the LABEL ACTION drop-down box (see screenshot below), click SELECT ALL, click the drop-down arrow, scroll to the lower half where you can see REMOVE LABELS with the list of labels below it. Click on the label you

Special fonts for your blog clickable graphic header without removing the important text blog title

Important. Font is mentioned below. Don't ever try to make the font invisible by making font color same as background as that can get your blog banned from search engines for practicing black hat SEO

Want a special font for your graphic header like this blog: Anything Chinese? You can get special fonts from urban fonts. That is where I got that "Chinese Takeaway" font for the graphic header.

Broadband Guide

With the introduction of VoIP, embedding of video, audio, podcasting, a simple dial up connection is no longer viable. One need broadband. This is true also for a blogger who upload lots of photos to his blog.

What exactly is broadband? This UK Broadband Provider also has a page explaining what you need to know about broadband in a Broadband Internet Guide.

This Cheap Wireless Broadband Best

What to do when you can't get the domain name you wanted

Now that the New Blogger have introduced custom domain which enable bloggers to have their own domain name, and still host their blogs with Blogger, many bloggers may be encouraged to seek after their own domain name rather than having a subdomain like myblog.blogspot.com which they do not own. However, the Internet has been around for quite some time already, and many desirable names have been

Want your own domain name rather than having a sub-domain?

If you start a blog with Blogger with its default choices, you will end up with a subdomain with an URL like yourblog.blogspot.com. This subdomain is not your property, but a property of Blogger, and Blogger can do whatever they want to do with it, including deleting it if they so choose. Further, some have the opinion that using a sub-domain is like using a home address for a business - it will

Free pixels advertisement for Blogger for Dummies

There is a site offering both free and paid image ads for blogs which I might as well try before the page runs out. Only thing is, free image ads are limited to 60x20 pixels. So I am forced to reduced the title of this blog to just "Dummies". I also used the free button generator. In return for the use of both these free services, I am putting image links to their sites. You can find them below:

How to migrate from an old classic Blogger template to the New Blogger template

We get frequent complaints about bloggers not being able to see the Blogger Layout. If you have migrated from an old Blogger account to the New Blogger (formerly Beta) account, your blogs will still be using the old classic template. To check whether your blog is using the old classic template or the New Blogger template, refer to Old classic Blogger template or New Blogger template?.If you are

Mobile phones

Bloggers aren't stuck to their computers 24/7. They have a life to live. They have people to keep in touch with. It is good to have a mobile phone to stay in touch. But there are so many mobile phone providers. Which one to choose?

For this task, Wirefly can make your task easier. You can find information about the various available plans on line from Wirefly. There are Family Plans which if you

New Blogger: How to remove the text Title

IMPORTANT NOTE: This post gives instructions on how to remove the blog title, but also gives reasons why you should not to it after the instructions. I hope you read the rest of the post first before you remove the blog title. Also, whenever you edit the template, it is always wise to backup the current template PLUS whatever Page Elements that can be backed up. See How to backup and edit

Testing a hyperlink for my blog reader

Someone commented that when using the target="_blank" attribute with a blogspot site in Blogger, the window does not open in a new window. That is a suprise to me. I am a retired scientist, and I like to experiment, so I am going to make a hyperlink to the post where my blog reader made that comment: How to make a clickable linkThe HTML I used to make the above hyperlink is in the scroll box

Where is my blog posted (or what is the URL of my blog)

Some people have problem knowing what is the URL of their blog. If you are in the post editor or any other page where you can see the "Posting", "Settings" and "template" tabs, then beside that will be a "View Blog" (see screenshot below, circled in white):Right click on that and select "Copy Location" (for FireFox, wording will be different, but similar for other browsers), and the URL ("address

Blog*Star 2006 Award

The package containing the goodies for my Blog*Star Award arrived today. It comprises a Blogger T-shirt, a Google water bottle and 5 Google ballpoint pens. Below is a photo of me wearing the Blogger T-shirt at my computer, with the water bottle and the pens in the foreground:

Click to enlarge

Thank you Google for the honour bestored. See the official announcement at Blogger Buzz: Blog*Star

Centering the text and putting a centered caption below the photos

Centering TextThis post is to answer a question for a reader of my blogs who want the text centered and to have a caption below the photos. The easy way to center text is to work in the Compose Mode by clicking on the COMPOSE tab in the top right-hand corner of the post editor. Prepare your post in the Post Editor window in the normal way, and then when you are finished, highlight all the text,

Migration to the New Blogger (previously beta)

I finally made the decision to migrate my old (classic) Blogger account to the new (formerly beta) account dispite many horror stories of not seeing blogs in the Dashboard, problems editing post, taking hours or even days to migrate, etc. Fortunately the migration went smoothly and this blog is now in the new Blogger account, but still using the classic template. The reason why I am still using