How to put a cool real-time clock in your blog

You can quickly and easily have a real-time clock like those above, in your blog, either in the sidebar or within an actual post. Here's how to do it:

First, head over to ClockLink.com and choose the design you like best. There are loads to choose from in a variety of colours and styles, so you're sure to find something that will match your overall colour scheme!

Click on the "Get Html" button beneath the image and choose your time zone (plus colour scheme, if applicable). Then highlight the "Embed" code (the second set of code) as the "script" code doesn't always work, especially with Blogger templates!

To insert your clock into a blog post, ensure you are editing the HTML code (ie: you are not using the wysiwyg editor) and insert the code where you want the clock to be displayed. To insert into the sidebar, you can either open your template and insert into the HTML whewre you would like to display your clock, or add this to an HTML/Javascript widget (eg: for Blogger and Wordpress users).

All clocks from ClockLink.com are free to use but do include a link back to ClockLink. However, I think it's a small price to pay for a great looking add-on!

Technorati Tags: add+clock | blog | blogger | clocklink.com | free | add+on | widgets

Now live at BloggerBuster.com!

As of today, Blogger Buster has a new address: http://www.bloggerbuster.com/!

I have set up my Blogger account to use a custom domain provided by GoDaddy, a process which I will explain in full in a later post (or alternatively you can look at this post on my other blog).

Nothing else has changed, so if you were previously reading this blog at the old address: blogger-buster.blogspot.com, you will have automatically been redirected here.

Now I can finally start updating things and promoting my blog to the bloggosphere, a process I was unwilling to attempt before the change of address. Trust me, it's far better to set up your custom domain early on in your blogging career, then you'll have so fewer problems later on.

More on this subject later...

Technorati Tags: custom+domain godaddy blogger blogspot blogger+buster

Should you have a custom domain for your blog?

If you only blog for family and friends, have no intention of generating a wide readership, or simply can't be bothered at working with your blog, then the answer is no, and you can ignore the rest of this post. I won't hold it against you! However, if you have any intention on becoming a serious blogger, then my answer to this is "YES DEFINITELY!".

Although this particular blog is relatively new (at the time of writing this post), I have been blogging in various places for over three years now. From what I've seen, read and personally experienced, having a custom domain name for your blog is a very good way to show your readers that you are a serious blogger who cares about what they write. It can also have many other benefits too, which I'll explain about shortly.

Having a free hosted blog address such as yourblog.wordpress.com or myblog.blogspot.com is perfectly fine when you're first starting out, but can become the blogging equivalent of having an AOL or Yahoo address, and may well imply that you don't care enough about your blogging identity to pay a few pounds for something more.

There are many options to purchasing a custom domain, and your choice depends on a number of factors:

• The blogging platform you use


• How much control you would like over your blog's performance and appearance


• How much you are willing to spend!

As you may be aware, I have chosen to publish my Blogger blog to a custom domain, which Blogger hosts for me. This is probably the least expensive and simplest method of having a custom domain for my blog. Bloggers on other platforms may have to choose a different option: Wordpress users would need to purchase a hosting package and host their blog software on their new domain; Typepad bloggers would need to map their new domain to their Typepad blog in addition to the blogging fees, and so on.

The choice is a very personal one, and my choice may not suit others so well. For example, one of my other blogs is a self-hosted Wordpress blog; I chose this option so that I would also have storage space to upload files to my domain, have extra "pages" in my blog to make it a more functional "website" for my content, and also to have maximum control over my add-ons and widgets. With both this and my Glamumous blog, I have realised that the new Blogger software is more adequate for my needs, and that the hosting is much more simplified.

Of course, there are many exceptions to my "rule" that successful blogs need a custom domain name; many popular blogs are hosted at shared Blogspot, Wordpres and Typepad domains because their content is great and readers keep coming back for more. But in my humble opinion, having a custom domain can really help your popularity.

Here's one final note: if you do intend to have a custom domain for your blog, do this sooner rather than later as it really avoids many of the pitfalls of redirecting readers, updating your blog address at various sites, and moving images/files/etc from one server to another. Trust me, it's worth the effort!

Related posts:

• How to set up your Blogger custom domain

Technorati Tags: custom+domain domain+name domains blog+host blog+software blogger wordpress typepad

Creating a label cloud for Blogger templates

As you can see in my sidebar, I have my labels arranged in a "cloud" formation rather than a simplistic list. I used a tutorial from Phydeaux's excellent blog to do this. Here's a link to the tutorial, which includes code you can simply copy and paste into your blog template:

Phydeaux's tutorial for creating a Blogger Label Cloud

The label cloud shows the relative number of posts linked to a label by displaying them in larger, brighter colours. So in the default template, labels with more posts will be big and blue, while labels with less posts will be small and black.

After installing the label cloud, you may well want to fiddle around with the font sizes and colour schemes. To change the font sizes, look for the following sections just before the closing section of your template:

var maxFontSize = 20;
var maxColor = [0,0,255];
var minFontSize = 10;
var minColor = [0,0,0];

If you want to alter the size of labels with more posts, you should change the "var maxFontSize" to a number greater then 20 (eg: 24). In my opinion, a font size larger than about 30 should be avoided, especially if there are a lot of labels in your blog! On the same note, a minimum font size of less than 10 makes it very difficult to read.

To change the colour of the fonts used, you will have to modify the RGB colours. Since Blogger templates use Hexadecimal values to construct your blog, you may want to use a tool such as Cedge's Colour Calculator to find the appropriate RGB colour codes. Simply copy the Hex values into the boxes and press enter: your RGB values will be displayed, along with a coloured section to check you've entered the values correctly.

Play around with the values and use "Preview" to check that everything looks the way you want. When all is done, simply save your template and enjoy! Any new labels you add will automatically be included in your cloud.

Technorati Tags: label+cloud blogger templates tags customizing+blogger blogging

Welcome to Blogger Buster!

Hello and welcome to my new blog: Blogger Buster.

Here you'll find out all sorts of useful hacks, information and modifications for your blog, be it a Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad or Whatever blog you run!

From 3 column templates to video embedding and blog promotion, Blogger Busters will break open the illusions and show you how it's done.

For regular updates, why not sign up for our blog feed by email. New stuff will be added daily, and you're assured of an informative ride.

More coming soon!

Contact Me

You can use the following form to contact Amanda. Your email will be read, but due to the large numbers of emails received each day (and a severe lack of spare time!) a reply may not be prompt.

You may also like to check the complete list of Blogger articles to see if your question has already been answered in a post, or suggest an article using the Skribit widget which appears in the sidebar to the right.

If the contact form script is not working for you, please send email using this link instead:

If you would like to connect with Amanda through social bookmarking services, here are the links to her various profile pages:

• Twitter


• Stumbleupon


• Facebook

About Blogger Buster

Blogger Buster is a resource blog for bloggers, offering hints, hacks, tips and tricks to help enhance your blogging experience. Use the label cloud and search box in the right hand sidebar of you're looking for specific information, or simply browse through my posts instead.

Since I was asked so many questions about the customizations on my other blog, I decided to create a blog which focuses on these sorts of questions. As I learn more about blogging, I'll share my knowledge here, and post instructions which are easy to understand.

If there are any specific questions you would like to be answered here, please leave your comments or contact me directly. Your comments and opinions are always appreciated!

Please also read the Privacy Policy for details of how information is collected and used on this site.