![]() |
| Home RSS Directory F.A.Q Try Custom Feed Sonneries Portable |
Latest Flows from this sub-category: data recovery blog, hard drive recovery utility,access repair tips, data recovery software resources random selection from this sub-category: |
Here are some of the best tutorials and sites for Blogger users which have caught my attention this week:
1. Customized Feedburner Subscription Box After reading a thread on the Blogger Buster forums about customizing Feedburner's email subscription box, Doug Cloud has written an excellent tutorial to explain how he created a version to match his template design using Photoshop and CSS styling. If you haven't already visited Doug's blog, I really do suggest you pop over to see a beautiful Blogger powered design... 2. Add Yahoo! Buzz Buttons to your Blogger template Over at Woork, you can read how to add Yahoo! Buzz links to your Blogger template to benefit from this new social bookmarking system. While you're there, check out the amazing new design! 3. Utilize Blogger to reduce email overload As part of an article explaining methods of reducing email overload, Digital Inspiration suggests using Blogger! I won't explain the details here as the post itself is an excellent read :) 4. iBlogSpot with Lifecast (iPhone App Review) Over at The Blog Herald, you can read a review of Lifecast: an iPhone application for those using Blogger. 5. Weebly (An alternative to Google Pages) As many of you may be aware, Google Pages will be phased out by the end of the year. So if you're looking for a free alternative host for your scripts and template files, Weebly is an excellent option. (Thanks to Fernandoo1 for the tip!) 6. Wowzio Widgets Alisha of the Wowzio team let me know about this new service which automatically produces useful widgets for your blog based on the content from your blog feed. It certainly seems easy to use, and you can preview your widgets right away. 7. Show the current date in your blog Over at ThemeLib, you can find a useful tutorial to display the current date in your blog with only minor tweaks to your template. 8. Show off your followers (new feature for Blogger) I'm dying to try out this latest new feature for Blogger, but my dashboard hasn't been updated yet! If you'd like to know more, head over to Blogger Buzz to read this introductory post. 10. Ratings Widget for Blogger (With Popular Posts Widget for your Sidebar) Although Blogger has recently introduced "star ratings" for our posts, this still lacks a fundamental function which I'm sure we'd all love to use: a popular posts widget for to showcase the most popular posts as determined by our readers. Yellow Turnip has developed a ratings widget which you can add to your template with ease. There's no need to register, AND you can use a popular posts widget too! 11. Blogger Showcase This Blogger powered site showcases the best of Blogger designs and is well worth a visit just to see how well it's been designed! You can vote for your favorites and submit your own designs for consideration:
"Blogumus" is an Flash based tag cloud widget which uses scripts converted from Roy Tanck's WP Cumulus plugin for Wordpress. I fell in love with Roy's original Cumulus plugin when I saw it, and simply had to learn how to convert this for use in Blogger powered blogs. The result is the widget you can see in action at the top of this post. Hover your mouse over the Flash object to see the animation begin.
In this post, I'll explain how you can add Blogumus to your own Blogger layout with ease!
Update: Improved Widget CodeI have updated the code required to run this widget to activate links in the tag cloud Flash movie. If you have already installed Blogumus, please replace your widget code with the new updated code, or reference the additional lines to modify your existing installation.How it worksThis widget uses a combination of JavaScript and Flash animation to parse and display your blog labels. Once installed in your template, it should work "out of the box" without any additional tweaking required, though of course you may prefer to change the variables for color, background and size if appropriate :) You should also be able to move the Label Cloud widget through the Page Elements page of your dashboard if you prefer display in a different layout location. To see Blogumus in action, both Flash and Javascript must be installed and enabled for your internet browser. However, it does degrade relatively gracefully, and label links will still be clickable (though not animated) for those who do not use JavaScript of Flash (including search engine spiders).How to install Blogumus in your Blogger layoutInstalling Blogumus in your Blogger layout is surprisingly simple! You should only need to copy and paste a section of code to your Blogger template, though any tweaks for the style of display will require some manual editing. Here are the steps required to install Blogumus in your Blogger layout: Go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard, and search for the following line (or similar):<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar' preferred='yes'>Immediatly after this line, paste the following section of code: <b:widget id='Label99' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'>Then preview your template. If installed correctly, you should see the tag cloud appear in your sidebar. Then you are free to save your template, edit the colors and dimensions as required, or move it to a different location. That's all! Customizing BlogumusIn this default installation, Blogumus includes the following preset variables:
var so = new SWFObject("http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/tagcloud.swf", "tagcloud", "240", "300", "7", "#ffffff");The width (currently 240) is highlighted in red, while the height (300px default) is highlighted in blue. These numerical values specify the width and height in pixels, so you can alter these of you prefer. Editing background color You can change the background color from white to any other color by altering the hex value in the same line: var so = new SWFObject("http://halotemplates.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-cumulus-example/tagcloud.swf", "tagcloud", "240", "300", "7", "#ffffff");For example, if you prefer a bright red background, you may replace #ffffff with #ff0000. Take a look at this page for a list of commonly used hex color codes. Alter the color of text By default, the text is set to display as dark grey ( hex value #333333). You can alter this variable in the following line: so.addVariable("tcolor", "0x333333");Be aware that "tcolor" is a Flash variable and doesn't include the usual hash symbol of hex color codes. Be sure to only replace the numbers! Adjust the font size The maximum font size of tags is specified in this line: so.addVariable("tagcloud", "<tags><b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'><a expr:href='data:label.url' style='12'><data:label.name/></a></b:loop></tags>");You can alter this to ensure tags are displayed in a bigger or smaller font if you prefer by changing "12" to a larger or smaller number. While making any of these changes, you should be able to preview your widget and be certain that your new choice of color, dimensions and background are suitable for your needs. Credits, support and requirementsBlogumus is based on the original WP Cumulus plugin by Roy Tanck, and was converted for use with Blogger layouts by myself. Please leave the credit links in the widget code intact. These will not be seen by the majority of your blog readers (as they will only display if JavaScript and Flash is not activated) but leaving these links intact is a great way of passing some link love on to Roy for all his hard work, and to inform other Blogger users that they can find the widget codes on this site.Support/IssuesIf you have any problems installing or using this widget, please leave your comments below or direct these to the Blogger Buster forums as Roy will be unable to provide support for installation in Blogger blogs!RequirementsFor Blogumus to display properly in your template, you will need to have Flash Player 7 or higher. You can download the latest Flash Player plugin for your browser from Adobe. I'm not sure that this installation will support special characters as tags (only Latin characters supported at present). If you do experiecce issues with labels displaying incorrectly, please let me know. I'll try to add more support, but have very little experience using Flash!Your thoughts?I hope that you enjoy using Blogumus in your own Blogger blogs! Please feel free to share or syndicate this page with your favorite bookmarking service if you think it is worth a mention, or subscribe to the newsfeed to learn of more great Blogger tutorials as they are posted. This week, I seem to have had a great spurt of creativity, and now have quite a few new tutorials/templates in progress which I have not yet had time to document!Those of you who follow my updates on Twitter may already have some ideas of what's in store for Blogger Buster over the next few weeks. In any case, I am so excited about some of these new developments that I feel I ought to write a quick update to offer some insights of what I'm working on, and when these projects may become available as tutorials. New templatesI have two (possibly three) new templates which are almost ready to be released. These are original, "made for Blogger" designs which I hope to perfect and upload within the next week or two.I've taken a lot of inspiration from grid based designs for these new templates: the first is a minimalist template (with many options for customization), while the second is much more stylized and color-rich. As some of you may have noticed, I'm still experiencing problems with my file host, though once I've been able to move everything over to the new server, I'll be able to complete and distribute these themes. Creating an "Asides/Sideblog" section for BloggerI've always envied the Wordpress function which allows bloggers to display a "sideblog" in the sidebar (a list of posts separate from the main section which often refer to recommended links or very short updates).Luckily, I've managed to tweak the Blogger template code to allow certain labels to be filtered from the main display of posts on the homepage. This will enable us to display these particular posts as a "sideblog" in the sidebar without being replicated elsewhere on the page. This method does have some caveats (and a few minor issues, which I'm working on now), but for anyone interested in developing a sideblog I'm sure this will be a useful addition to the arsenal of Blogger hacks available ;) A improved method of posting excerpts on the home pageFor over a year now, I've been using Ramani's excellent hack to display excerpts of my posts on the homepage of Blogger Buster.However, I must admit that this has never satisfied my desire to display a true excerpt (based on the number of words/characters) which does not rely on editing the HTML code for each post. So after MUCH searching, experimentation and tweaking, I think I have found a much more preferable solution which uses JavaScript and minimal editing of the template code. At present, the JavaScript is quite bloated and the results differ between browsers. But at least it works! Once I am happy with the overall functions, I'll begin to use this function here on Blogger Buster and will of course write up a full tutorial for you to use this in your own Blogger template designs. Animated tag cloudThis is the function I am most excited about! Thanks to Roberto, I learned about a beautiful animated tag cloud plugin which had been made available for Wordpress users. Needless to say I was fascinated by this, and was able to convert for use in Blogger templates:As many bloggers have experienced troubles using the original recent comments widget, I've been researching new methods we could use to add this function to our blogs. To my surprise, I realised that we can alter the code of the default Blogger Feed widget to accomodate our need to display recent comments in the layout. By simply manipulating the code, we can create a widget to display the name and a summary/full content of the 5 most recent comments posted to our blogs!
There are several advantages to using this method:
At present, you would need to edit the contents of your Blogger template to add this new version of the "recent comments" widget due to current problems with Blogger's "Add widget" API. As soon as I am able to access the API successfully, I will work on a widget installer which will enable you to add this new widget with ease. For now, here are the instructions to add this widget to your template by customizing your blog's HTML code. How to add the new "Recent Comments" widget to your Blogger layoutStep One: Back up your template!Firstly, you should make a full back-up of your existing template. This will enable you to restore your template to it's original composition if you accidentally make a mistake. To make a back-up of your blog template, go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard, and click the "Download full template" link near the top of the page. This allows you to save a copy of your template to your computer as an XML file. Rename your template to help you find it easily, being sure to retain the ".xml" extension. Step Two: Add new code to your templateIn this step, we will add a complete widget (including the widget template) by adding HTML code.For this, you will need to access the Edit HTML page for your Blogger template. Do not click the "Expand widget templates" box as this may make it more difficult for you to see where the code should be added. Using your browser's search function (CTRL+F or CMD+F) locate the following line of code: If you cannot locate this exact section, find a line which begins with <b:section which references the "class" or "ID" of sidebar.Immediately after this line, paste this entire section of code: <b:widget id='Feed99' locked='false' title='Recent Comments' type='Feed'>Then preview your template. If you have made any errors in pasting this section of code, you will notice the error in your preview, or will receive an error message. If this is the case, click the "Clear Edits" link near the bottom of the page to revert your template back to normal, then begin again. To offer a better understanding of where to paste the above section of code, here is an annotated screenshot: Once you have correctly pasted this code, save your template. At first you will not be able to see the recent comments widget appear in your blog layout. We need to add the URL for your comments feed and tweak a few options before the widget will appear. Step 3: Add Comment Feed URLThe final step to adding this new recent comments widget is to add the Feed URL for your comments feed.To do this, go to Layout>Page Elements where you should see a new "Recent Comments" feed appear at the top of your sidebar. Click on the "Edit" link for this widget, where you will be presented with the regular pop-up screen for a Feed Widget: You need to add the URL of your blog's comment feed in the "Feed URL" box. The default URL for your blog's comment feed will be something like this: http://yourblog.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default Where "yourblog.blogspot.com" is the URL of your blog. If you use a custom domain, change this to the actual URL of your blog. For example, the URL for the Blogger Buster comments feed is http://www.bloggerbuster.com/feeds/comments/defaultYou should also tick at least the "Item Sources/Authors" box as this field will be used to display the commenter's name. Optionally, you could also tick the "Item Dates" option if you would prefer to display the date when comments were added. Once you have added the URL to your comments feed and ticked the appropriate options, click the "Save" button and take a look at your blog. You should now see your new "recent comments" widget appear in your blog layout. When this widget is installed, you can move it around to a different part of your layout on the Layout>Page Elements page. As each entry of the comments feed is presented as a list item, the widget should take on the appearance of other list-type widgets in your layout. Comments? Suggestions?I hope this new version of the recent comments widget will be suitable for most needs and is easy to install in your Blogger template. Please let me know if you experience any problems when using this widget, or if you have any suggestions for how it may be improved, by leaving your comments below.Initial photo by Rightee (Flickr Creative Commons). In recent months, Blogger templates have increased in number and quality. After last week's 125 Excellent Blogger Templates post, many more remarkable templates have been released.
So from today and each Friday from now on, I'll be posting a new feature for Blogger Buster: a pick of the week's new Blogger template releases. Here are 10 of the best free Blogger templates which have been released over the past couple of weeks, with links to the demonstration blogs and the author's download page. Vista 84 by 84 ProductionsThis is a sleek, three column template based on the theme of Windows Vista. It's among the first Blogger templates to include pagination by default, and features stylized icons for important links and sidebar lists. Demo | Download Borboleta by Templates Nova Blogger[Image removed due to concerns of copyright permissions with a photo on the demonstration blog] A dark, two column theme with beautiful backgrounds for links in the header section.Demo | Download Blue Weed by Template GodownThis template features a split column sidebar, and areas in/beneath the header section for your widgets and ads. Demo | Download Vibrant by GosuBloggerSimple and beautiful, this themeis presented in shades of blue and green making it ideal for a technical or professional style blog.Demo | Download DF Marine by Blog and WebA stunning conversion of the original Wordpress theme by Deziner Folio, this design features unique Ajax functionality in the sidebar and a striking header section. It may require some editing of the template for your links and other information, but is otherwise an excellent theme. Demo | Download Brooklyn by Our Blogger TemplatesThis is a minimalist template in which most of the fonts and colors can be altered easily through the Blogger dashboard. There is no working demonstration blog of this template though from the screenshots I can say it does look very interesting and is ideal for the blogger who prefers to customize their theme. Download Sunshine by Our Blogger TemplatesHere is another flexible theme from Our Blogger Templates which includes a beautiful header banner and styled layout. Again, there is no working demo blog, though the overall appearance is bright and stunning. Download Date Night by Suck My LollyA pretty feminine theme made especially for Blogger users. Demo | Download White Space by ThemeLibAnother minimalist and wholly customizable template by ThemeLib. This is a conversion of Brian Gardner's original theme for Wordpress and is useful for any style of blog or niche subject. Demo | Download Blogsmith by Aborregate This is a simple, two column theme which was converted from a design by Free CSS Templates. A striking use of contrasting colors which should be useful for many styles of blog. Demo | Download Genesis by InfoCreekI was waiting for this beautiful theme to be converted for Blogger after reading the teasing preview on InfoCreek's blog! This is an elegant dark theme which is ideal for bloggers posting vibrant images as the color scheme really helps photographs stand out. There are two columns in the sidebar and an integrated calendar icon for each posting date. Demo | Download Do you design templates for Blogger?I would like to make the Friday Showcase a regular feature here on Blogger Buster so readers can find the latest themes.If you would like me to showcase our latest designs in future Friday listings, feel free to drop me a line or post your new themes in the dedicated forum thread and I'll do my best to include your designs in these regular showcase posts. Please feel free to let us know what you think of this post and the selection of recent Blogger templates by leaving your comments below. As many of you have expressed in your comments and emails, there seems to be an issue with installing widgets using the Blogger Widget API (widget installers).
From what I have read in various forums all widget installers are affected by this, including even the Feedburner widget to add an email form or blog list to a Blogger blog. As yet, I'm unable to devise a solution for this problem, but I can offer a workaround for those who need to add a new widget to their layout. Here are the details of the problem and a temporary solution until the issue is resolved. The issue with adding widgets to Blogger layoutsMany of us have been experiencing problems when trying to add a widget using a third party "widget installer" such as the recent comments widget, Feedburner's email subscriptions code and even Amazon widgets.We are able to follow any steps nescessary to add the widget to our blogs until we are redirected to Blogger's "Add a new widget" page, where we can customize the title, content and choose the blog where the widget will be installed. At present, clicking the "Add widget to your blog" link results in a screen like this: The top half of the screen explains that there is a missing required field in the form used to add the widget to our blog: While the lower half includes a bX error code. It seems that the API for adding new widgets may either be in the process of an update or has a temporary error as everything up to this point seems to be working fine. There are already several threads in the Blogger help group regarding this issue and many of us are trying to work out a solution to the problem. I will of course update this post when the problem is resolved or when we have discovered a working solution, but in the meantime we can use a temporary workaround. A temporary work-around for the problem adding third party widgetsAs far as I can tell, the API for adding new widgets works just fine up until the point of adding to a specific blog.This means that when we arrive at the "Add Page Element" page, the code included in the "Edit Content" section should already be configured and suitable for our needs. If you click the "Edit Content" link on the "Add Page Element" page, this will reveal the code which should be added as the widget content. You can then copy this code to your clipboard, and paste inside a regular HTML/JavaScript gadget through the Layout>Page Elements page in your regular Blogger dashboard. While this will take longer (and is certainly more troublesome) than the regular method to add a new widget, it is certainly preferable to being unable to add a new gadget at all! Your thoughts on the problem?If you have any suggestions or know of a solution we could use for the widget installation problem, please let us know about this by leaving a comment or sending me an email.Once this issue is resolved or documented further, I will be sure to update this post with the new information so we can begin using (and developing) widgets for our Blogger blogs! Blogger have added a new feature for us to use in our post: Reactions. This widget acts like a mini-poll beneath each of your blog posts and offers the ability for readers to leave feedback quickly.
The "Reactions" add-on is currently available through Blogger in Draft, though looks set to be moved over to the regular Blogger interface soon enough. It can be moved around like other elements in the post-footer and will adapt to the color scheme of your blog template. You can customize the buttons and labels through the "Blog Posts" widget in your dashboard if you prefer to use something different to the "funny/interesting/cool" labels which are implemented by default.
How to add "Reactions" to your Blogger templateTo add this new function to your Blogger layout, you will need to activate the feature through Blogger in Draft. Once logged in to your Draft dashboard, go to Layout>Page Elements and click the "Edit" link for the "Blog Posts" widget. In this pop-up window, you will see the option to add "Reactions" to your posts: Tick the options box and edit the labels for your buttons as required. Then finally save this setting.Adding the required code to your templateDepending on the type of template you are using, you will need to use one of two methods to add the required code to your template. If you are using a default Blogger template with no modifications to widgets or the post layout... Go to the Layout>Edit HTML page in your Blogger dashboard, and look for the "Revert Widget Templates to Default" link near the bottom of the page. Clicking on this link will replace all of the widget templates with the updated code. All of your existing widgets will remain, so don't worry about losing any data! Instead, this will simply replace outdated code with new code, and ensure you can add all of Blogger's new features with ease. If you use a customized/third party template... You will need to add the required code to your template manually. In this case, go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard and check the "Expand widget templates" box. Next, search for the following line of code (or similar):<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>Immediately after this line, add the following section of code: <span class='reaction-buttons'> <b:if cond='data:top.showReactions'> <table border='0' cellpadding='0' width='100%'><tr> <td valign='center'><span class='reactions-label'> <data:top.reactionsLabel/></span> </td> <td><iframe allowtransparency='true' class='reactions-iframe' expr:src='data:post.reactionsUrl' frameborder='0' name='reactions' scrolling='no'/></td> </tr></table> </b:if> </span>Preview your template to see the "Reactions" add-on appear beneath each of your blog posts, and finally, save this new addition to your template. If you cannot find the "post-footer-line" in your blog template, search for <p><data:post.body/></p> instead, and paste the code immediately after this line.
Color Schemes for the Reactions Add-onThe colors for the reactions add-on are taken from existing variables in your color scheme:
Generally I prefer to design Blogger templates from scratch than convert existing themes, but for Grid Focus, I made an exception.This beautiful, grid based design is among one of the best and most customizable themes I have ever used. Converted from the original Wordpress theme by Derek Punsalan of 5thirtyone.com, it features a neat three column layout, an amazing navigation bar and integrated links for the home, main-content and blog feeds. Take a look at this theme in action in the demo blog, or read on for download and installation details. Here is a full page screenshot of the Grid Focus theme for Blogger: All of the colors in this template can be changed from the Fonts and Colors section in your Blogger dashboard. So if you prefer to have a bright pink background and electric blue links, you can change these features with ease! In the download package for this theme, I have included both the XML template and a text version of the template. Full instructions for upload and editing of links in the navigation bar are also included in the download. If you have any problems downloading this theme, please let me know by leaving a comment below. Full support is offered in the Blogger Buster forum if required. Credits and Copyight NoticeThis theme is conveted from Derek Punsalan's original Grid Focus theme for Wordpress and is released under a Creative Commons Non Commercial Attribution License.This means that you can use this theme in your own personal projects, but you cannot sell this theme! Please remember to give credit where credit is due! The credit link to 5thirtyone.com must remain intact in this template (this is a condition of use from the original designer). Over to you!I hope you enjoy this Blogger template and find the customization options to be suitable for your needs. Feel free to tell me your thoughts and opinions by leaving your comments below. The ability to 'paginate' Blogger blogs has been a long requested feature. Pagination allows us to number blog pages like those of a book, offering readers the ability to navigate deeper into the archives with ease when compared to the 'newer' and 'older' post links.After many failed attempts, I was almost ready to admit defeat with this function until I discovered this excellent script by Mohamed of Blogger Accessories. This script replaces the default blog pager (links to newer, older and home pages) with numbered page navigation. Furthermore, it offers the ability to customize the number of page links and the number of posts displayed on each page. Mohamed's Blogger pagination script may be installed using two different methods:
Here is how the finished installation will appear in your blog: Once installed, these "page numbers" will appear on your home, archive and labels pages, allowing your readers to easily access pages in your archives. However, the page numbers will not appear on individual post pages. I've noticed many blogs which use pagination like this, and among them none displayed these page links beneath individual posts. To learn more about using the numbered pagination script for Blogger, pop over to Blogger Accessories to read the useful tutorials Mohamed has posted. My Slightly Modified VersionAs you may have noticed, I'm using a slightly modified version of this script here on Blogger Buster. When customizing the style of Mohamed's original version, I noticed a few elements which I preferred to change for my own preferences, and also modified the CSS for how the numbered links are displayed.If you would prefer to use this slightly different version instead, here is what you should do. Add the CSS code to your style sectionFirstly, copy all of the code below and paste this just before the closing</b:skin> tag in your template:This should change the colors of text and links in the pagination to match the styles already present in your blog template. So if your default text is white against a dark background, the "Pages (#)" section of the script should appear the same way. The color for the background and hover effects of the numbers can be altered according to your preferences by editing the hex values to match the style of your own template. Add the JavaScript code beneath your postsThe second part of the installation is to add the JavaScript code beneath your posts which will locate and replace the existing "Newer/Older Posts" link. To add this script, go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard, and do not tick the "expand widget templates" box (it's much easier to add the code while the widgets are contracted). Then find this section of code (or similar) in your template:Immediately after the closing </b:section> tag, add the following section of code:Once you have added this code, attempt to preview your template to ensure there are no code errors. You will not be able to see the script in action on the preview, but this step ensures no adverse effects to your layout. In the code above, you will notice that I have highlighted three sections of code in bold red. You may need to customize these sections to better suit your preferences: On line 5, you may need to change the ".com" to reflect your domain extention if you use a custom domain. var isFirstPage = thisUrl.substring(thisUrl.length-5,thisUrl.length)==".com/"; This default installation should work fine for anyone hosted on Blog*Spot or a dot.com domain, but you will need to alter this section if your custom domain ends in .co.uk or .info for example. In lines 19 and 20, you can change these values to alter how many posts are displayed on each page, and how many links will be visible at the same time. The var pageCount = 5; section defiines the number of posts displayed on each page, while var displayPageNum = 5; defines the number of links which are displayed (eg: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5) beneath the posts section.Once you have added this JavaScript code and made any changes nescessary for your needs, save your template and open up your blog in your browser. Now you should see the pagination links appear beneath your main posts section, and also on Labels and Archive pages. Your thoughts?I hope this post has helped you learn about how numbered page navigation can be achieved in Blogger powered blogs using Mohamed's original methods or my slightly modified script.Please let me know what you think of these methods, or if you experience any problems, by leaving your comments below. If you are looking for a fresh and beautiful design to complement your Blogger blog, here is a treat in store for you! This list of 125 free Blogger templates features some of the most beautiful and functional designs for Blogspot that I've ever seen! I have organized this list by style with links to the demo and download pages to help you find the perfect design for your blog, and hope you enjoy this inspirational list of Blogger templates as much as I did in finding them! Colorful/Elaborate DesignsThis selection of free Blogger templates are colorful, beautiful or ornate and are guaranteed to make your blog have a strong visual impact.1. Butterfly (Vector Three Column) by Blogger Tricks I was so amazed to see this beautiful theme appear in my feed reader today! This is a stunningly beautiful template with three columns and icons beside important links. Based on the original theme by Templates4all.com. Demo | Download 2. Japanese Fleur by Blogger Tricks A simply stunning Wordpress conversion from the original design by Lorelei. 3. Chasmogamous by Template Godown A simple but effective template with a left-hand sidebar. Demo | Download 4. New Morning by GosuBlogger A fresh and lively theme, converted from the original design by WP Free Themes. Details and download 5. Freedom Wall by GosuBlogger This distinctive two column template features integrated navigation tabs and a unique calendar style. Demo | Download 6. Art Imagination by Jackbook This vivid three column template was converted from the original Wordpress Theme and features a beautiful background image which would be ideal for artistic or feminine blogs. Demo | Download 7. Astro by ThemeLib A colorful and beautifully stylized template with an ethereal theme. Converted from the original WP theme which was designed by UnoDesignStudio. Demo | Download 8. Glass by Blog and Web A subtle two column theme, based on the original design by Free CSS Templates. Demo | Download 9. Lemon Twist by Jackbook This is a truly awesome template with many sections in the footer and stylized throughout. Converted from the original WP theme by Far From Fearless. Demo | Download 10. Agenda 02 by Blogs Made in Spain A three column template with a notepad style appearance. Demo | Download 11. Agenda 03 by Blogs Made in Spain This template is styled like an artist's desk and is a wide two column layout. Demo | Download 12. Agenda 04 by Blogs Made in Spain This rustic theme is a two column design with a beautiful header image. Demo | Download 13. Made in Spain by Blogs Made in Spain Of all the notebook style templates I've seen, this is my favorite one of all :) Demo | Download 14. Jonga by Layout for All This two column template has an orange color scheme. Sorry there's no demo blog for this one, but from the screenshots it looks very good. Download 15. Snow Crystals by El Blog de Lui An unusual design with beautiful vector snowflakes, adapted from the template design by Free CSS Templates Demo | Download 16. Vintage Style by Templates Para Novo Blogger This tasteful theme is in hues of dark red. Demo | Download 17. Capung by Template Godown This single column template has a feminine appeal and is perfect for photobloggers. It includes a widgetized footer section for ads and other content, also a navigation bar for your important links. Demo | Download 18. Florascent by Blogger Tricks A beautiful blue toned theme with one sidebar to the left and floral design in the header. Demo | Download 19. The Hobbit by Blogger Templates (Itmag) This beautiful template has an ethereal presence. Demo | Download 20. Galera Curtindo by Emporium Digital A bold three column theme with centralized navigation buttons beneath the header. Demo | Download 21. Bronzed by Testing Ground An elaborate and original two column design. Details and Download 22. Field of Dreams by Blogger Tricks A truly stunning and colorful design with tabbed navigation in the header and a built in search function. Originally designed by NotSoBoringLife. Demo | Download 23. Totally Lost by Our Blog Templates Here is a great example of how beautiful imagery in the header can totally transform a basic design. Details and Download 24. The Maldivian by Testing Ground An elaborate fantasy theme with two sidebars to the right. Details and download 25. Snail Blogger by Template Godown Snail is an invigorating theme with split columns in the right hand sidebar. Converted with permission from the original design by Cinila. Demo | Download 26. Cairo Concept by Testing Ground A narrow, two column theme with a vivid header image. Demo | Download 27. Sad Fish by ThemeLib A simple two column theme with an aquatic feel. Demo | Download 28. Creation by Blogger Tricks A beautiful theme which includes an integrated navigation bar and calendar icons. Based on the design originally by Ophelia Nicholson. Demo | Download 29. Vector Lover by Blog and Web How stylish is this theme? It features a two column layout with integrated search function, and is converted from the original template by Styleshout. Demo | Download 30. Rainbow Garden by Jackbook An ornate and colorful three column template, based on the original design by Web Hosting Geeks. Demo | Download 31. Assassins by Made in Spain A two column template themed on the popular video game, Assasin's Creed. Demo | Download 32. DH Theme for Blogger by STRA Mirage A stunning template which was converted from the original WP theme. Demo | Download Dark TemplatesThis selection of Blogger templates use a dark color scheme.33. Dreamwork Redux by Jackbook Stunning use of color and many great features make this one of the best dark Blogger templates I've ever seen. Based on the original design by Vinh Le. Demo | Download 34. Graydient by Aborregate A smooth dark design with pale area for the main blog content. I love the contrasting colors in the header logo which really sets this theme alight. Converted from the WP theme by Free WP Layouts. Demo | Download 35. Funky Zine by Blogger Tricks Adapted from the Wordpress theme by Chiq Montes, this dark design features a wide sidebar and integrated navigation links. Demo | Download 36. Renewed by Ramdomness This dark theme is based on the Minima template, but includes a much wider area for posts. Sidebar titles are highlighted in red, and the layout is hugely customizable. Demo | Download 37. BT Dark Green by Blogger Buster and Blogging Tips A wide two column theme with integrated navigation and search, plus mouseover effects in the sidebar. Converted from the Wordpress theme by Blogging Tips. Demo | Download 38. Blue Greens by Our Blog Templates This template makes stunning use of color contrasts and has a segmented footer for extra widgets. Details and download 39. Dark World by akOOgle A simple but professional dark template, ported from the original design by Hive Designs. |