Get Idea About Blogger (Blogspot)

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Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish blogs on other hosts, via FTP. All such blogs had (or still have) to be moved to Google's own servers, with domains other than blogspot.com allowed via custom URLs.

History

On August 23, 1999, Blogger was launched by Pyra Labs. As one of the earliest dedicated blog-publishing tools, it is credited for helping popularize the format. In February 2003, Pyra Labs was acquired by Google under undisclosed terms. The acquisition allowed premium features (for which Pyra had charged) to become free. In October 2004, Pyra Labs' co-founder, Evan Williams, left Google. In 2004, Google purchased Picasa; it integrated Picasa and its photo sharing utility Hello into Blogger, allowing users to post photos to their blogs.
On May 9, 2004, Blogger introduced a major redesign, adding features such as web standards-compliant templates, individual archive pages for posts, comments, and posting by email. On August 14, 2006, Blogger launched its latest version in beta, codenamed "Invader", alongside the gold release. This migrated users to Google servers and had some new features, including interface language in French, Italian, German and Spanish. In December 2006, this new version of Blogger was taken out of beta. By May 2007, Blogger had completely moved over to Google operated servers. Blogger was ranked 16 on the list of top 50 domains in terms of number of unique visitors in 2007.

Redesign

As part of the Blogger redesign in 2006, all blogs associated with a user's Google Account were migrated to Google servers. Blogger claims that the service is now more reliable because of the quality of the servers.
Along with the migration to Google servers, several new features were introduced, including label organization, a drag-and-drop template editing interface, reading permissions (to create private blogs) and new Web feed options. Furthermore, blogs are updated dynamically, as opposed to rewriting HTML files.
In a version of the service called Blogger in Draft, new features are tested before being released to all users. New features are discussed in the service's official blog.
In September 2009, Google introduced new features into Blogger as part of its tenth anniversary celebration. The features included a new interface for post editing, improved image handling, Raw HTML Conversion, and other Google Docs-based implementations, including:
  • Adding location to posts via geotagging.
  • Post time-stamping at publication, not at original creation.
  • Vertical re-sizing of the post editor. The size is saved in a per-user, per-blog preference.
  • Link editing in Compose mode.
  • Full Safari 3 support and fidelity on both Windows and Mac OS.
  • New Preview dialog that shows posts in a width and font size approximating what is seen in the published view.
  • Placeholder image for tags so that embeds are movable in Compose mode.
  • New toolbar with Google aesthetics, faster loading time, and "undo" and "redo" buttons. Also added was the full justification button, a strike-through button, and an expanded color palette.
In 2010, Blogger introduced new templates and redesigned its website. The new post editor was criticized for being less reliable than its predecessor.

Available languages

Blogger is available in these languages: Arabic, Bengali, Indonesia, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian, Oriya, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese. Nepali, Farashi

Available designs

Blogger allows its users to choose from various templates available,and fully customize them. Users may also choose to create their own template using CSS. The new design template, known as Dynamic View, was introduced recently. It is built with AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3. The time for loading is 40 percent shorter than traditional templates, and allows user to present blog in seven different ways: classic, flipcard, magazine, mosaic, sidebar, snapshot, and timeslide. Readers still have the option to choose preferable views when the blog owner has set a default view. Some of the widgets (e.g. Labels, Profile, Link List, Subscription Links, Followers and Blog Archive etc.) are available for Dynamic Views. Other templates are chosen by the blogger.

Integration

  • The Google Toolbar has a feature called "BlogThis!" which allows toolbar users with Blogger accounts to post links directly to their blogs.
  • "Blogger for Word" is an add-in for Microsoft Word which allows users to save a Microsoft Word Document directly to a Blogger blog, as well as edit their posts both on- and offline. As of January 2007, Google says "Blogger for Word is not currently compatible with the new version of Blogger", and they state no decision has been made about supporting it with the new Blogger. However, Microsoft Office 2007 adds native support for a variety of blogging systems, including Blogger.
  • Blogger supports Google's AdSense service as a way of generating revenue from running a blog.
  • Blogger also started integration with Amazon Associates in December 2009, as a service to generate revenue. It was not publically announced, but by September 2011 it appeared that all integration options had been removed and that the partnership had ended.
  • Blogger offers multiple author support, making it possible to establish group blogs.
  • Blogger offers a template editing feature, which allows users to customize the Blogger template.
  • Windows Live Writer, a standalone app of the Windows Live suite, publishes directly to Blogger.
  • Blogger Private Blog features: Blogger offers a private blog that can be only access by author or invited readers /authors or admins only .
  • Blogger can be optionlly integrated with Google+.

Blogger on mobile devices

Blogger has launched mobile applications for users with mobile devices. Users can post and edit blogs, and also share photos and links on Blogger through their mobile devices. Not only advanced mobile devices, such as smartphones, are being considered, since users can also post blogs via traditional cell phones by SMS and MMS.

The major two mobile operation systems that Blogger focuses on are Android and iOS. Blogger allow users to edit blogs anywhere through the app and either publish the blogs or save them as drafts. Quick navigation from posts and drafts is accessible from a list. Users can attach photos by taking a picture with a Blogger app or selecting pictures from their photo galleries. Sharing current locations on posts is also possible by tabbing My Location bar and adding locations. Users can also share photos and links directly to Blogger.

Getting Started with Blogger

New! Customize your design

The Blogger Template Designer offers many templates, making it simple for you to create a professional-looking blog. In addition, the Template Designer lets you customize your template. Choose from hundreds of background images, tens of flexible layouts, and rearrange widgets through a drag and drop interface. Add gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. Changing fonts and colors is easy too. And if that’s not enough control, you can even edit your blog’s CSS and HTML.

Publishing your voice is easy and free

Creating your blog with Blogger takes just a few easy steps. In a matter of minutes you can start posting text, photos, videos, and more to your blog. Post as often as you want; it's free. Check out this article on How to get started or watch the How to create a blog with Blogger video.

Simple-to-use interface

Follow a few basic steps to start posting to your blog. Our simple-to-use interface lets you change fonts, bold or italicize your text, adjust text color and alignment, and more. As you compose each new blog post, Blogger saves it automatically, without interrupting your typing. There's also an easy-to-use spell-check feature and a simple way to add labels to your posts. In addition, Blogger includes an HTML editor that lets you fully customize the look and feel of your posts.

Your free website

When you create your blog, you can host it for free on Blog*Spot. Just choose an available URL and you're ready to go. If you change your mind and want a different URL later, making the change is easy. Blogger also includes a custom domain option; you can have a domain name, like example.com, and we'll still host your blog there, giving you all of Blogger's great features.

Add photos and videos to your post

You can easily add a photo to your blog post by clicking on the image icon in the post editor toolbar. Your photos are then hosted in your free Picasa Web Albums account, where you can order prints and organize photos into albums. Adding a video to your post is just as easy; just click on the film-strip icon on the post editor toolbar to get started. Videos uploaded through Blogger are hosted on Google Video.

More Features

New! Earn money

With Blogger, you can earn money just by posting high quality original content on your favorite topics. Blogger has a dedicated Monetize tab that allows you to easily place AdSense ads on your blog.

Develop your community

Let your readers follow your blog by adding the Followers gadget to your layout. With this gadget, your readers can click the "Follow This Blog" link to add your blog to their Blogger Dashboard and Google Reader account. They also have the option to add their image and profile to your blog to tell the world that they're a fan.

Feedback from your readers

It's easy for readers to leave comments on any of your blog posts, giving you useful, timely feedback. They can leave comments right below the post, in a pop-up window, or on a separate page. You can also use Reactions to let your readers quickly provide feedback with just one click.

New post notifications

Your readers can choose to subscribe to your blog's feeds, so they're notified whenever you publish a new blog post. You can also customize what's shared in your blog's feed, and set up your blog to email new posts automatically to specific email addresses or mailing lists.

One simple ID

Because you can login to Blogger with your Google Account — which also gives you access to Gmail, iGoogle, orkut, etc. — you have one less username and password to remember. Your blog's address can also be used as an OpenID to give you a single digital identity across the web. Since your blog can accept comments from OpenID users in addition to registered Blogger members, it'll be easier for all your readers to leave feedback and participate in your conversations.

Languages of the world

Blogger is currently available in 41 languages including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian speakers can use Blogger with Right-to-Left display and formatting. And transliteration is available for five Indic languages.

Advanced Features

New! Pages

With Blogger’s Pages feature, you can create new pages that are linked from your blog. For example, you can create an “About This Blog” or a “Contact Me” page, in a similar way you write a new blog post, and provide links to those pages as tabs at the top of your blog or in the sidebar.

Posting on the go

Blogger has many additional ways for you to post to your blog. You can post to your blog from your mobile phone or through a secret Mail-to-Blogger email address. With these options, it's easy to post to your blog whenever you want, from wherever you may be.

Group blogging

With Blogger, it's easy to create a team blog, allowing multiple bloggers to contribute to a single blog. You select which team members have administrative authority and those who are just authors. You can also choose to make your blog private and restrict who can view it. This puts you in full control of your blog.

Third-party applications

You can choose among a host of third-party applications that integrate with Blogger to make it even easier for you to blog. Be sure to check out code.blogger.com if you're a developer and want to create your own great app.

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