Adding threaded comments to a customized blog (Updating my Blogger Template)

Since deciding to update my Blogger template, one of the features I've been most looking forward to using is threaded comments. This enables us to reply directly in response to comments left on a post.



After diving into reams of code and going a very long way about updating my template to include this feature, I stumbled across a very simple way to add this functionality to older Blogger templates.



To help anyone else using a custom Blogger template include threaded comments for their site, I've written this quick tutorial which (unlike my original method!) should get you up and running with comment replies in no time!





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Uploading a custom favicon to Blogger (Updating my Blogger Template)

Blogger Buster Favicon

Back in June last year, the Blogger team enabled Blogger users to upload their own favicon to replace the default Blogger icon.



Initially favicons could only be uploaded if they had been converted into .ico format, though it's now possible to upload a square-shaped favicon in .png.gif or .jpg format as long as the file size is below 100kb.



I prefer to use this built-in feature instead of the methods I'd previously used to add favicons to my Blogger sites, particularly as the icon is hosted on the root of our domain (*.blogspot.com/favicon.ico or custom-domain.com/favicon.ico).



Since I have updated my icon as part of updating my Blogger template, I've documented my method (and troubleshooting) for others who are updating their Blogger templates.





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Updating My Template to use Blogger's New Features

As many of you may have noticed, I've not been actively using Blogger for some time due to illness and maternity leave. So many updates have happened in my absence and until now I have barely had time to update my own sites.



Looking through all of Blogger's recent updates and settings, I've realized there are lots of tweaks I need to perform to update this site. Since I haven't already written about most of these Blogger customizations, I'll be documenting my progress for anyone else wishing to update their sites to use Blogger's new features over the next few days.

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Redirecting from Blogspot.com to country specific domains

In efforts to country specific laws, Blogger have begun redirecting blogs hosted on blogspot.com subdomains to country specific domains (ccTLDs).



For example, if you are in the UK and viewing a Blogger hosted blog which would usually have be hosted on a *.blogspot.com subdomain, you'll be redirected to *.blogspot.co.uk.



This is happening to enable Blogger to censor content on a country-specific level. For example, if the UK asked Blogger to remove  a page of content from a blog, the page would no longer be available to view by visitors in the UK; it would however be available to view in other countries.



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Blogger rolling out local domains?

While creating a site for a local company on Blogger today, I noticed the blogspot domain the site is hosted on suddenly changed from blogspot.com to blogspot.co.uk.



The site can still be accessed using the dot.com url I originally created, though it's automatically redirected to the dot.co.uk version.



So far I haven't been able to find any information about this new enforcement of local sub-domains, and may only assume this is a new feature the Blogger team are rolling out.



Have any of you noticed a new local domain extension for your Blogger hosted site? Please let us know what you think about this update in the comments below.



Image credit: The Booklight

How to Add Post Titles to Read More Links in Blogger

Add interest to your "read more" links by including each post's title

Blogger's Jump-Link (Read More) feature enables us to display summaries of our blog posts on the home page (and all non-item pages).



We can configure the text displayed for the Jump Link (which links to the post's item page) by editing the Blog Posts gadget in Design>Page Elements. However, I've also found it useful to add the title of the post beside the Jump-Link text to clarify the title of the post to which it links.



If you're reading this post on the Blogger Buster home page, you'll see an example of this in action a few lines below.



This is a very easy customization and the modified Jump-Link will inherit any current style you've applied to this section. Here's how to add this featre in a single, simple step.



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5 New Dynamic Blogger Templates for us to Preview

We can now preview 5 dynamic new Blogger template styles for our blogs which use AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3. These new templates will soon be made available for us to use as the default views for our sites, and will be customizable so we can preserve our blog's individuality.

The "Snapshot" view is an ideal choice for photo bloggers

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