Under the Hood with Blogger Beta
Given that Blogger has arbitrarily altered the code for my existing “classic” template and making it go wonky, it seems that I have no choice but to switch over to Blogger Beta sooner rather than later.
Over the weekend I have been peeking under the hood and discovered there is a lot more than meets the eye with this “major” upgrade.
But with the good news also comes the bad. Getting used to “widgets” will take some doing for a hands-on guy like me. But what really disturbs me most is that it seems my hacks will no longer work, so this is going to take some re-thinking.
For me I was quite happy with the old Blogger. By using third-party software and with the help of a few nifty hacks and tweaks my template was already cool enough thank you very much. But now it seems I’m spending most of my time reworking my templates instead of posting. Who the he@$ needs the hassle? I sure don’t.
So it’s back to the drawing boards once again, but I digress. There is a plethora of new code in Blogger Beta that can seem daunting, but Banana Stew has kindly created a breakdown of the code to make it a little easier for us to understand. There is also of course the Blogger Beta Help section.
So if you are into modifying your beta template (like you should) I recommend that you bookmark both of them.
I still can’t help but wonder if it is worth the effort and if I should be making the switch to Wordpress and be done with it. I mean, if Blogger is trying to make their service more robust and Wordpress-ish, why then am I wasting time with the imitators? Is that logical? I wonder. I’m also really (really) fed up with Blogger pulling the rug out from under me.
It would be nice to have a Wordpress account to make comparisons but unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to find a free hosting solution that will allow me to play with the html code.
So if anyone out there who knows where I can find such an account I will be very appreciative.
UPDATE: Hold the phone! I just noticed that Blogsome might be offering HTML editing features. Stay tuned…
Filed under: blog bloke, instabloke, blog, weblog, blogging, blog tools, blogtech, blog resources, blogger beta
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Thanks Bloke - I’ve already secured my name at Blogsome and testing it. ARE YOU RESTING??!
Glad to see you’re back but take it easy. Teri
I wish. Blogger won’t let me.
I always liked the look of wordpress blogs so this new version of blogger was better for me…it took me some days to understand the widgets but i was able to “tweak”?? (my english sucks) my template to look more “me”.
So if you like altering the html and get into deep code then blogger beta is for you (Wordpress has the template separated in parts and its too easy to change it)
I will keep reading you ^^ (I´ll try to understand it)
Ps: I have use this free hostings to use wordpress without a problem:
http://www.pandela.com (aparently the new accounts are in hold)
http://www.ifastnet.com (perfect…in the control panel wordpress come pre-installed and other softs like phpbb forums - joomla - etc)
http://www.phpnet.us (works perfect too but the server its slower)
http://www.awardspace.com (another choice)
There you go….now try wordpress
Thanks for the info extinction!! I will check it out.
I have found Beta Blogger to be quite workable platform for “tuning” my blog.
Here is my humble example how to get little pics with links to show up in the sidebar for your most important postings.
I blog in Finnish but I do have English summaries (with bad grammar) at the bottom of my postings - sometimes.
I’ve been enjoying your blog, Blog Bloke, keep up the good work!
Thanks Lurker, and greetings to everyone from Finland. BTW, you’re english is excellent!