Blogger Beta

I have upgraded to Blogger Beta - now I can access many more features - like labels, WYSIWYG template modification etc. Since I use a customized blog design, it has not been easy. In fact, it was quite hard. But was it worth it? I don't know yet.

New templating Language

The templating language has been changed entirely. Many new features have been added - and the complexity have gone up greatly. I understood the language - but I don't think anyone without a programming background would spend enough time to study it.

Loops

The <b:loop ... > tag lets you repeat a section of content multiple times with little or no changes. Example...

<b:loop var='post' values='data:posts'>
   <h2><data:post.title/></h2>
</b:loop>

Conditional Statement - If/Else

Shows the content only if the given statement is true(or false). Example...

<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>
 <data:title/>
<b:else/>
 <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'><data:title/></a>
</b:if>

Section - Widget - Include

The Section/Widget/Include system make the Drag and Drop template editing system possible. The section is a top level container which can contain multiple widgets. A widget can have many 'includable's. The includable with the id 'main' will be shown by default. You can display the other includable using the code '<b:include name='ID_OF_INCLUDABLE'/> Some sample code - this code shows the header of this blog...

<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='Header1' locked='true' title='Bin-Blog (Header)' type='Header'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<h1 id="blog-title">
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<data:title/>
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl'><data:title/></a>
</b:if>
</h1>
<p id="description"><data:description/></p>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

Very powerful - but complicated.

In Conclusion

I like the new templating system - it is complicated, but very powerful. If you are willing to spend the time to study it, you can make magic. Kudos to the Blogger team for bringing it out.

If you notice any problem this blog, let me know. I not have tested this in IE yet - I have linux remember?

Did you move your blog to blogger beta? Why not? If you did, how did it go? Leave some comments.

References

• Deconstructing Blogger Beta - A comprehensive explanation of the blogger beta templating system.
• New Features
• Can I edit the HTML of my blog's layout?
• Page Elements Tags for Layouts
• Fonts and Colors Tags for Layouts
• Widget Tags for Layouts
• Layouts Data Tags

Filed Under...

• web
• development
• blogger