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How To Add SWF Flash Files in Google Blogger Blog

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:50:24 +0000

To simply put it, you can not upload SWF files directly from Google Blogger dashboard as you would have done for video or image files. But if your main purpose is to embed the Flash file in your blogspot blog and show the animation in your blog post, there is a work around for it. You need to upload the SWF flash file in your own web server or free file hosting service and then use the below HTML code to embed it to your Blogger blog post.

Change the src attribute value to add direct url of your SWF file. And you may need to experiment with height and width attributes to suit the size of the flash animation according to your blog theme.
That’s all. As you know you can directly put the HTML snippet using Edit Html view while writing the blog post. Or you can take help of Page Elements in Google Blogger to add the flash animation as part of your blogspot blog page. To use second option, from your Blogger blog dashboard go to Design > Page Elements and then select a gadget of HTML/JavaScript type.

A Nice Little Firefox Add-on to Grab A Screenshot

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:58:01 +0000

As a blogger you might feel the need of capturing screenshots of web pages very frequently and show them as reference to your readers. It always gives your blog a good visual look and feel. I have to admit I don’t add that many screenshots myself in this blog. But I am not claiming that this blog looks great or you should follow my example. I am just too lazy

But as least I have found an impressive screen grabbing Firefox add-on called Abduction!. It is tiny in size, just around 22 kb. That means it won’t slow your Firefox load time. And yet it provides the basic but most essential features that you would use frequently.

After you install the Firefox add-on, just right click on the webpage that you want to take a screenshot of and select “Save Page As Image…” option.

After that just drag and select the page or part of the page. Then save it. Just click a few times and you are done.

Why clutter something with this and that features when you simply need to capture a screenshot

77 Cool Fonts From Google For Your Blog

admin — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:59:26 +0000

I don’t care much about styles and fonts. I just want to keep it as simple and easy to navigate as possible. But a bit of experiment might do some good. Anyways, I don’t have enthusiasm to do it. So I will rather tell you about a cool Google resource that you may use better than me

Have you seen Google font gallery? It has been available in Blogger Draft for a couple of months now, and has been included to Blogger just a few days ago. I didn’t have much interest, but I took a look today at the fonts. And, those fonts really looked cool. I would rather prefer the word eye-catching

If you are in Blogger, you perhaps have already seen the feature. But if you still need to know how to implement it, go through this blog post from Google Blogger official blog.

And if you are in WordPress like me and wondering whether you can implement it in WordPress, then you are at the right place. I have found out the WordPress plugin that can let you use these cool Google fonts in your WordPress blog with almost full control just like Blogger.

Hope it would make your blog more vibrant

How to Get The Old Templates in Blogger

admin — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:53:48 +0000

Recently, after a long time I logged in to my Blogger dashboard. And when I created a new blog, I was somewhat taken aback. I got only 5/6 templates to choose from. I thought what the hell had happened there. Then I surf a bit and found out that only the templates that are compatible with new Template Designer are shown by default. I am and have always been a big fan of Minima template and was pretty sure that there must be some way I could find the old Layout templates. And I did find the whole gallery of old templates

So to find Layout Templates go to Design tab from Blogger dashboard. Then select Edit HTML. There at the bottom of the page you will see option to select Old Templates. Now pick whatever template you want. You can even find the Blogger Classic Template there. That’s also my favourite. And if you are a minimalist you will surely love it. But just a quick remainder, unlike Layout Templates Blogger Classic Template doesn’t have any Page Element option. You are on your own with the HTML there

Some Popular Blog Directories Where You Can Submit Your Blog

admin — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 09:40:45 +0000

You will get plenty of blogs where you can get this kind of list. But the old posts get outdated. And some blog directories or blog networks might not work anymore. One of my blogger friends has compiled a list of 25 directories and networks where you can show off your blog. The best thing is that it is a very recent list published 1st instant. So most of them are working except a few ones from the links which are yet to be fully reviewed.

And I have checked the list. It truly contains some popular blogging networks like Blog Top Sites or Blogged. A few of them require paid submission. But others are free. And he has given short description for most of the links. So you can quickly decide whether you want to submit you blog on that particular site or not.

Just check it. And if you have missed some of them, just submit your blog

Automate Your Blog Update in Facebook

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:13:56 +0000

If you are looking to feed your blog automatically in Facebook as you do in Twitter, here is a service from OnTopList blog directory that makes you able to do just that. Like other Twitter blog update services including FeedBurner itself, you will get the option to choose how to show your feed like only the title, only the description or the whole post. And you can determine the frequency of checking your blog for new posts. OnTopList offers this service for both Twitter and Facebook. But as I already use FeedBurner to automate my blog update in Twitter, I only use the Facebook service here

Just create an account there and enjoy their service for free.

Blogger Introduces 15 New Highly Customizable Templates

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:54:23 +0000

So now you have a few more templates to choose from if you strictly use blog templates from Blogger’s own gallery. But what is more important, all these 15 new Blogger templates are highly customizable giving you more control over the style and look. Each of these templates come with one, two and three column layouts and you will have complete control over the size and arrangement of the columns. Then you can choose any color or make your own custom color to apply it to your new Blogger template. Not only the color, you can also change the whole background with any picture from iStockphoto. There are hundreds of images to choose from. And the best thing is that you do it without affecting your blog live online. Just select the “Template Designer” tab to have a live preview while editing.

Here is a cool and short video from Blogger that will take you through a quick tour.

This new feature is only in Blogger Draft right now. So if you want to try it to your blogspot blog you just have to login there. And why not? It is your chance to make your blogspot blog more beautiful

Think Twice Before You Add Pictures to Your Blogger Blog Posts

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:41:37 +0000

Especially, if you are new to blogging and using Blogger as your blogging medium then you should be aware of this limit in Blogger blog. You can only upload up to 1 GB of photos in total for your blog. Blogger uses the Picasa Web Album to store the photos that you upload for your blog posts. The maximum size limit is 1GB for free account. So if you post high-resolution photos from the beginning indiscriminately for your blogspot blog posts, you will run out of space in the long run. Then you have to buy extra space to accomodate your new pictures or you have to delete pictures from your old blog posts.

So obviously you will try to make your blog look good and attractive by showing pictures. But if you intend to use the blogspot blog for long time & don’t intend to pay at all, use your space cautiously.

1 GB is quite a large space at least for pictures

Now Automate Your Blog Update in Twitter From FeedBurner Itself

admin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:33:30 +0000

I don’t know how many of you noticed it. Google has recently introduced its own url-shortening service. But it is not a standalone service right now. You can use it only from Google Toolbar & more importantly we, bloggers can use it in FeedBurner service. So I was checking what functionality has been added to my FeedBurner account. And I just saw Google has added option to socialize your feed automatically with Twitter with the new url shortening service. From your FeedBurner dashboard go to your feed & then click “Publicize” tab. There you will find “Socialize” option. Add your Twitter account there giving your Twitter usename & password. Change options to set what part of your feed that you want to show in your Twitter upadates like blog post title only, post body only or both title and post body.

It is similar to free services like TwitterFeed that I am currently using. But then you don’t have to rely on third-party url shortening services like tiniURL, bit.ly etc. You can manage whole thing from one single Google FeedBurner account. Besides, one main feature of Google’s own url shortening service is to enhance security. So, as in Google web search, if Google finds out that your http://goo.gl url is redirecting to a malicious url that can harm a computer it will show warning to the user. That means new users will have less fear clicking on the feed link in Twitter. So it may be easier to attract some new clicks.

I am thinking of moving to FeedBurner automatic Twitter update service for my blog. But I am having trouble accessing my TwitterFeed account using my OpenId. I will have to contact them & turn the feed off for Twitter there. Can’t serve double Twitter updates for a single blog post update

Blend Navbar With Your Blogger Template Using New Transparent Colour

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:38:23 +0000

For a long time I have seen people crying fouls over Blogger navbar. There are mainly two reasons for these objections. Bloggers don’t want to show Google branding on their blog. They want to show it more like a standalone blog to give it a more professional look. And the second thing, the colour scheme consisted of only four default colours namely Blue, Black, Tan, and Silver. It often became a mismatch to a Blogger template especially if you have a custom Blogger template.

Personally I never have had any problem with the blogspot navigation bar when I used to blog on Blogger. My idea was if I am using a Blogger blog, then why not show it. It is like a mark that distinguishes your blog from other blog platforms. And I used to like default blue navbar as it was prominent yet soothing to the eye.

But it is at least good to see that Google have listened to the bloggers demand. End of the last month they have added two new color schemes that are transparent. And so the navbar will blend with the background color & pattern of your blog template. The “Transparent Light” colour has a semi-transparent white background giving away subtle pastel colours.

And the Transparent Dark” colour has a semi-transparent black background giving it a shaded look.

If you were always complaining about the navbar, the time has come to try this new option

To choose a new colour scheme for Blogger navbar, go to Layout> Page Elements from Blogger dashboard & click Edit next to navbar widget.