Official Blogger Blog: 2008

Your blog, your data

December 10, 2008

Import and Export

Merge two or more blogs into one. Have a few scattered blogs and want to get a fresh start? Now you can combine comments and posts from multiple blogs into a brand new blog.

Move individual posts from blog to blog. Cross-publish your posts on multiple blogs, or transfer large batches of posts from one blog to another with a single click.

Back up your blog to your own storage. It's never a bad idea to create backup copies of your own content, and now you can easily export an archival copy of your blog to your hard drive with a simple tool.

Move your blog somewhere else. Our standard Atom XML export format will open up new blogging channels between providers, and let you take your content with you should you decide to move somewhere else. And of course, if you decide to come back to Blogger, importing your export file will get you back up and running in seconds.

You can access Import and Export from the Blog Tools section on the Settings | Basic tab.

For some more detailed info on all of the things you can do with Import and Export, please check out our accompanying help article.

A couple caveats

Currently we only support importing Blogger blogs. We don't yet support importing from WordPress, Typepad, LiveJournal or any other blogging platforms.

Before importing a blog for the first time, we recommend that you create a new, throwaway blog to import into so you get a sense for how the process works. Once you’re comfortable, import into your public blog.

If you have enabled a content warning for your blog, then you will have to remove it before your blog can be exported.

iLike: Add a soundtrack to your blog

December 05, 2008

iLike gadgetiLike

playlist editor'Done!''Add to Blogger''Add Widget.'

quick survey

Reactions: easily engage your readers

November 06, 2008

Reactions

With Reactions, readers can easily respond with one click, increasing feedback on posts.

Photo by Kevin SteeleLayout > Page ElementsEditBlog PostsReactionsSave

switch to LayoutsEmbedded Comment Form<3Updated, 2:30 PM:

Blogger.com - more like a big truck, less like a series of tubes

November 06, 2008

big truckTuesday’s election That being said, there were definitely some hiccups (potholes?) along the way. Our favorite political and polling analysis blog, FiveThirtyEight.com, received an order of magnitude more visitors than the next most visited blog. They also received more than 50 times as many comments as the next most commented-on blog. Unfortunately, this traffic caused some publishing delays for Nate and Sean as well as some intermittent slowness on their site.After we got word of the trouble, we were able to shift some resources around to keep things running fairly smoothly for the rest of the night. Now that traffic has calmed down, our engineers are hard at work tuning and improving Blogger based on the experience.

We’d like to thank bloggers, commenters, and readers for participating in one of the biggest blogging events ever. Your voices validate what we do, and every day we look forward to making Blogger faster and better for you.

Welcome AOL Journals Users!

October 27, 2008

As some of you might know, AOL has recently decided to sunset its AOL Journals service. To help Journals users continue to share their thoughts online, Blogger has built a simple migration tool to move an AOL Journal to Blogger. We'd like to welcome our new Blogger users to the community and are looking forward to hearing what they have to say!

We've been hard at work here at Blogger and have added a number of new features in the past few months. If you're a Journals user who wants to explore our features, or even if you're already a Blogger user but you want to see what's new, check out our features page. Over in our user group you can share your blog with others or find new blogs to follow. If you're still hungry for more blogs, the Blogger team regularly posts interesting and noteworthy Blogger-powered blogs at Blogs of Note.

Below are some more resources for new Journals users. Welcome again!

Take a Tour

Help Resources

User Group

Commenting made easier

October 22, 2008

embedded comment formBlogger in draftpost a comment immediatelymatches your blog’s style and colors

Settings > CommentsComment Form PlacementEmbedded below post
The embedded comment form works on both Classic and Layouts templates, though if you’re using a heavily-customized Layouts template you may need to reset your widget templates before the embedded comment form will appear.

We think that the embedded comment form is a big improvement, so we’ve made it the default setting for all new blogs.

Happy commenting!Update, 10/23:Settings > Commenting

Publish to your Blogger blog from iGoogle

October 22, 2008

Blogger Post GadgetiGoogle

Google

Blogger Following for All

September 11, 2008

Blogger FollowingallBlogger Buzz PostGoogle Blog Post

New stuff from the Picasa folks

September 02, 2008

Picasa Web Albumsname tagsExplore pageBlogger PlayPicasa BlogThis!Picasa 3 (beta)photo-editinggoodiesGoogle Photos blog

Show off your Followers

August 27, 2008

Would you like to know who enjoys reading your blog? Or stay updated with your favorite blogs right from your Blogger dashboard? You can do those things and more with Blogger’s new Following feature. By following your blog, your readers tell you and the world that they’re a fan of what you post. Your Dashboard now shows you how many followers each of your blogs has. With a click on the Followers icon, you can browse your followers, see what blogs they write, and read the other blogs they’re following.

Now that you know who your Followers are, you can show them off by adding the Followers gadget to your blog’s sidebar. From the “Layout | Page Elements” tab, click “Add a Gadget” and select “Followers” from the gadgets list. The Followers gadget shows the profile pictures of your followers and gives your readers a “Follow This Blog” link to join up, too.

Your followers can stay updated with your blog with the Reading List that we’ve added to the Blogger Dashboard. The Blogs I’m Following tab automatically shows the latest posts from all the blogs you follow. You can follow any blog from your reading list, even blogs that haven’t added the Followers widget or aren’t hosted on Blogger. Just click the “Add” button and type in the blog’s URL.

If you’re a Google Reader user, you’ll now see a special folder in Reader

called “Blogs I’m Following,” full of the subscriptions for all of the blogs you follow. You can follow blogs you’ve subscribed to in Reader, too: From the Reading List on your Blogger Dashboard, click “Add,” then “Import from Google Reader.”

And.... there's more to come! We are also in the process of integrating with Google Friend Connect so you can give your readers more engaging social features.

What is Following?

How do I add the Followers gadget to my blog?

How do I use the Blogger Reading List?

Following a Blog Publicly vs. Anonymously

Updates and Bug Fixes for August 27th

August 27, 2008

followinglast time

As reported on Blogger Buster (and elsewhere), the 3rd party Add Widget API was broken. It has been fixed.

The new button style appears clickable in all browers.

The Blog List widget can show thumbnails specified in Media RSS feeds.

Atom feeds now include the blog’s description as the <subtitle> element.

Updates and Bug Fixes for August 14th

August 14, 2008

There’s a new look for the Blogger Dashboard, which we think you’ll find more attractive and functional. If you have a ton of blogs (as we do) try out the “hide” and “show all” links to help manage the list.

Google Gadgets in your Layouts blog can now set their height automatically (if the gadget author supports it). Read more about adding Google Gadgets to your blog.

AdSense page elements can now optionally have image ads. We’ve found image ads have a higher click-through rate, so you might get more money if you turn them on.

We wrote up a Features page to help you keep track of everything you can do with Blogger. Take a look and see if you’ve been missing out on something cool.

The Flag Blog button in the Blogger navbar now pops up a window for you to tell us why you think the blog violates our terms of service. Flag Blog is always handled exclusively by human reviewers, not the automated spam locking system, so this information will better help them decide what, if any, action should be taken.

Fixed Moto template header overlap in IE7.

Blocked the /feedReaderJson URL from web crawlers, to reduce 404s in Webmaster Tools.

Increased cacheability of CSS and JavaScript throughout Blogger, for faster page loads.

Button style and layout improvements throughout Blogger.

Spice Up Your Blog with Google Gadgets!

August 11, 2008

Fresh out of Blogger's own testing ground, Google Gadgets have now been enabled for all layouts blogs. This new interface allows for the integration of iGoogle Gadgets directly into your sidebar, with an array of customization options for easy tweaking. Also built into Gadgets is our robust Gadget Directory, which lets you browse through thousands of cool gadgets and add them to your blog with a simple click of a button. You can access Gadgets from your dashboard under the Layout | Gadgets tab (the tab formerly known as "Layout | Page Elements.")
Gadgets have built-in configuration for easy integration into your layout. All gadgets are automatically sized to match the width of your sidebar, and their height in pixels can be adjusted using the Gadget's built-in options. Our large list of Gadgets is constantly growing and evolving. You can browse them all from our comprehensive Gadget Directory, which runs the gamut from sports updates to site counters, and flash games to local information tickers. To bring up the Gadget Directory, just click Add a Gadget from your layout. Have an idea for a gadget that isn't listed? Then build it yourself! We are always on the lookout for great ideas, so please submit your own creation to the iGoogle Gadget Directory, and then let us know about it in our Help Group— we may just add it to our 'Featured Gadgets' Section.Itching to get started? Have a look at our our help video below for some guidance on browsing, adding, and customizing a gadget on your blog:

Blogger Babies

August 04, 2008

You Are Not Spam

August 02, 2008

We have now restored all accounts that were mistakenly marked as spam yesterday.Spam Fridayssneak peekBlogger in DraftRequest Unlock Review

Spam Fridays

August 01, 2008

Introducing Knol

July 23, 2008

announced a new web authoring tool called Knol

today we've announced its public launchknols are better for when you want to write an authoritative article on a single topiceasy to collaborate, co-author, and publishYour readers will be able to add comments and rate your article, and, if you want, they'll be able to suggest edits that you can then either accept or reject.include ads from AdSense Knol will be a great new way for you to share what you know, inform people about an issue that is important to you, raise your profile as an expert in your field, and maybe even make some money from adsCreate your Knol right now for free

Updates and Fixes for July 18th

July 18, 2008

Blogger is now available in Malay! Blogger has a large base of users in Malaysia and we are excited to now bring them Blogger in their native language.

Comment moderation can now be automatically enabled after a fixed number of days.

Spam interstitials now let readers click through to blogs.

Blog feeds optionally include your email address.

Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

June 05, 2008

Blog Listput a blogroll in your sidebarnews sitespodcastsTwitter streamssearch results

Link to blogs, web pages, and feeds from your blog’s sidebar, with an optional favicon

For pages with RSS and Atom feeds, Blog List can show last updated time, post title, and a snippet of the latest post

Sort links alphabetically or by last update time

Show all links, or hide some behind a “show all” link

Import subscriptions from Google Reader

Blog List links are visible to search engine crawlers, so your blog’s PageRank and reputation flow to those you link to

chimed inBlogger in draft blogTip: Want to show more posts from a single blog? Use the Feed page element to put any RSS or Atom feed in your blog’s sidebar.

Updates and Bug Fixes for June 5th

June 05, 2008

If you delete a post or make a typo in a post URL, the resulting 404 page now says “page not found” instead of the incorrect “blog not found.”

<blockquote> tags no longer break the line height of later paragraphs in the Minima, Scribe, Harbor, Dots, 867/565, Moto, and Thisaway templates. If you’ve edited your CSS or blog widget template, you may not get this fix, or, worse, you’ll lose line spacing in your posts. For a fix, see the known issue on this bug. (We apologize for this one-time disruption.)

OpenID logins for comments now work when the OpenID URL redirects to another page.

Layouts blogs will now display on Blog*Spot even when the template has invalid data: tags, rather than showing a bX code page.

Performance improvements across Blogger.com and Blog*Spot.

Blogger in draft

Updates and Bug Fixes for May 9th

May 09, 2008

Layouts now has a blog.pageName datum that gives the name of the current page without the “[Blog Name]: ” prefix that blog.pageTitle adds.

Picture page element can now optionally link the picture to a URL.

Warnings and better handling of interrupted video uploads.

Pictures shot in burst mode on Sony Ericsson phones are now rotated correctly.

Blog URL now updates correctly when switching between Blog*Spot and FTP hosting.

Usability improvements to photo deletion workflow on the delete post page.

“Cancel” button on delete post page no longer has unnecessary quotation marks.

Miscellaneous translation improvements.

Profile URLs and threading data are now available via Atom feed.

Reliability and feature improvements to the Blog List and gadget directory on Blogger in draft.

scheduling posts dated in the futureunexpected appearance of star ratings

Multiple-size Embedded Presentations from Google Docs

May 06, 2008

Google Docsupdated their embedded presentation feature to support multiple sizesEmbedding Presentations in a Web SiteTry it now

Blogger now schedules future-dated posts

May 01, 2008

Scheduled post publishingtalked aboutBlogger in draftwait to publishannounce something on a certain datekeep posting regularlyautomatically published to your blog

One quick note:P.S.: Thanks to everyone who tested this out on Blogger in draft and posted comments! We appreciate your time and effort.

Updates and Bug Fixes for April 18th

April 18, 2008

Today’s Fixes

The “Add another image” link in the image upload box now works even if you haven’t filled in a URL.

The labels field in the post editor autocompletes more predictably when one label starts with the same words as another.

URLs in the Name / URL part of the comment form are now validated.

Header fixes for the 897 and 565 templates.

The draft / published / scheduled filters on the Edit Posts list now work reliably in Internet Explorer.

Videos uploaded through Sony Ericsson phones now appear as enclosures in the blog’s Atom and RSS feeds, so they can be retrieved with a video podcast client.

Miscellaneous typos and translations corrected.

Other Recent Changes:

New blogs have OpenID commenting enabled by default.

XFN rel="me" links between blogs and profiles.

Adding more than 5 poll choices now works in Internet Explorer.

The search box on the Edit Posts page is now available in all supported languages.

The “www” redirect option is now available for custom domains that end in “.co.uk.”

New “Related Resources” box on the Dashboard links to AdSense, Google Reader, and Picasa Web Albums.

So long, and thanks for all the zen!

April 11, 2008

Eric CaseanythingblogMC Hammereatendrinkingproduct managerentailsendeavorsblog

Blog List, Scheduled Post Publishing on Blogger in draft

April 02, 2008

Blogger in draftBlogger... in draftlog in to draft.blogger.com instead of www.blogger.comdraft.blogger.com

Scheduled Post Publishing If you write a post on Blogger in draft and set the post’s date and time to some time in the future, we’ll schedule the post to appear on your blog at that time, and not before.

Blog List Add a blogroll to your blog’s sidebar. The Blog List is powered by Google Reader, so it can show when each blog was last updated and even include post titles and snippets.

Help your readers subscribe to your blog in their favorite feed reader with the Feed Subscription page element.

Add any of the thousands of Google Gadgets to your blog’s sidebar with our Google Gadget support.

Search over your blog, your Link Lists, or all the pages you’ve ever linked to with the Search Box.

Blogger in draft blog

Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)

April 01, 2008

Update: Google WeblogsGoogle Weblogs

Google Weblogs

Don’t limit yourself to “reverse chronological” publishing. Our advanced Google algorithms put your best content at the top of your blog. Even if your later work goes downhill your previous posts will still shine.

No more template languages to mess with or sidebars to get right. Our advanced Google algorithms automatically populate your blog’s sidebar with the most relevant possible content.

Stop worrying about your PageRank or your search engine optimization. Post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility.

Save your readers time and effort. We’ll automatically extract the most relevant sentence from your post for the index page, along with any necessary ellipsis. We'll also put some words in bold!

Your blog’s header will stay fresh with new images from our team of artists, each and every anniversary of a scientific achievement.

Unsure of what to post about? Just click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and we’ll “take care” of the rest!

sneak peek of Blogger BuzzGoogle WeblogsGoogle WeblogsCheck it out!

Blogger Help Videos

March 13, 2008

help articlesBlogger Help YouTube Channelshow

There are only a few videos at the moment, and we've decided to start with the basics:

How to Create a Blog with Blogger

Purchasing and Setting Up a Custom Domain through Blogger

Adjusting Your Blogger Privacy Settings

Help Group

Blogger Party at SXSW: Sunday, 9:30–2:00 at Club de Ville

March 07, 2008

this year’s South by Southwest festivalClub de VillemapBlogger Playclimate-inappropriate schwag9:30PM this Sunday2AM on MondayYou’ll need an invitation to get in the door.stop anyone you see wearing a Blogger logomake a new Blogger-loving friendGoogle PartyLight BarmapPMPMOpenSocial OpenBarMcCormick & Schmick’smapPMPMSee you there!