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.

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

An Official "Follow by Email" Gadget for Blogger (Easy set up for Feedburner Email Subscriptions)

Many blog readers prefer to receive updates of new posts by email (rather than subscribing in an RSS feed reader). To make it even easier for our readers to stay in touch with our sites, the Blogger Team have developed a new, official gadget: Follow by Email.

Using Feedburner technology, this new gadget offers a one-click solution for adding an email subscription form to our Blogger-powered blogs. We don't even need to sign up with Feedburner or visit the Feedburner dashboard to configure this for use in our sites!

Blogger's Forthcoming Features - New Dashboard, Post Editor, Content Discovery and more!

While 2010 was an exciting year for Blogger with the addition of the new Template Designer, Real-time stats and web fonts (to name a few of the features released), 2011 looks to be even more exciting.

At SXSW the Blogger team demonstrated two fabulous forthcoming features: an updated post editor and "content discovery". I can't begin to describe how much I'm looking forward to these new features!

Easy Post Summaries and Thumbnails for Blogger Blogs - No JavaScript Required!

The ability to display post summaries and automatic thumbnails is one of the most sought-after Blogger customizations. Using such a feature enables us to create a cohesive layout on non-item pages with the entire post and full-sized image on item pages.

Recent changes to Blogger's functionality now enables us to achieve this using only Blogger code - no need for JavaScript, awkward CSS customizations or restrictions on the length or format of our posts.

With only a few small changes to our Blogger template, we can display post summaries and thumbnails using this easy to manage hack.

Minimal Swiss Design - Free Blogger Template Released

Minimal Swiss Design template - View Live Demo

Although I rarely choose to convert other theme formats to Blogger, every so often a design comes along which I'd love to be available for my favourite platform.

The Minimal Swiss Design theme by Marios Lublinski (released by Smashing Magazine) is just one of those templates. Ideally suited to artists and designers, this simple and beautiful theme instantly inspired me to create a Blogger conversion (including additional theme options for customizing the design).

I'm releasing this Blogger template for free under the GPLv2 License, which means you can use them for all your projects for free and without any restrictions.

Take a look at the live demo site to see this theme in action.

Xbox Live Gamercard Gadget for Blogger

Example Xbox Gamercar

For a recent design project I was asked if it was possible to display an Xbox Live Gamercard in a Blogger site.

Thanks to this useful guidance from Jamie Huskisson I discovered it was surprisingly easy to achieve and have now created a simple Blogger gadget for gamers to easily add their own Xbox Gamertag to Blogger blogs.

Add your Xbox Live Gamercard to your Blogger powered site

Get the Blogger App for your Android Device

Blogger App for Android

Blogger have released an official Android application, enabling Android users to post quickly and easily from their device:

We are excited to announce our first version of the Blogger Android App. Using the app you can easily compose a post, attach a photo that you just took with your phone, and either save it as a local draft for later or immediately publish it to your blog - via Blogger in Draft

Android users can download the app for free from the Android Market.

Add Facebook "Like" Box Beneath your Blogger Posts

Facebook has become one of the most popular tools among Bloggers for syndicating blog posts. By adding a stylish Facebook "Like" box beneath your articles in Blogspot, you offer readers a temptingly easy means of sharing your posts with their friends.

Aneesh of Blogger Plugins has developed a simple, customizable way of installing a Facebook Like box for each page of your Blogger-based site. This tool is based on the original code and design developed by Mia of Dezign Matterz. I'm using a slightly altered version of this widget here on Blogger Buster.

In this post, I'll offer an overview of how to install Aneesh/Mia's stylized Facebook Like box, and an additional method for adding a simpler "Like" widget to your Blogger/Blogspot site.

Like Blogger Buster? Join us on Facebook (Plus 15% eBook Discount!)

I've been working on the Blogger Buster Facebook page in recent weeks to include a better landing page, gallery of my recent Blogger templates and content exclusively available for Facebook fans:

Blogger Buster Landing Page

Autodiscover your Twitter Feed with Blogger

When using Blogger, the RSS autodiscovery tags for our blog feeds are automatically generated, enabling visitors to easily subscribe for updates by clicking the orange icon in our browser's address bar:

Many bloggers use Twitter to promote their website and add an extra stream of conversation to our blog. In addition to adding a Twitter photostream or link to our Twitter profile in our layout, we can add autodiscovery tags to our template, enabling visitors a simple and alternative means of subscribing for updates.

Free Blogger Backgrounds and Textures to Spice up Your Site

Background images can instantly transform the appearance of our Blogger sites. Using the Blogger template designer, we can easily upload and configure a new background image in just a few clicks, while those using older templates need only add a few lines of code to achieve a dramatic effect.

In this post, you'll find resources for hundreds of different free backgrounds, patterns and textures you can use to spice up your Blogger site, along with instructions for applying this simple but extensive effect.

100 of the Best Free Blogger Templates from 2010

Last year was a great year for the production and quality of free Blogger templates. Designers from all corners of the world have produced literally hundreds of templates which we can use to enhance our sites.

To save you time browsing through the many galleries and websites, I've collected 100 of my favourite designs from 2010, with large screenshots and links to both live demos and instructional/download pages. Presented in no particular order, these are organized by Blogger template developer and offer a wide variety of styles to suit any type of site.

I hope you enjoy browsing through these gorgeous templates!

Happy New Year!

Image credit: [Mooi]

Wishing you all a very happy start to 2011!