Hi there again, Icy of IndividualChic.com here. I hope you found my last post on how to make your Blogger blog more searchable useful. Thanks very much for all the lovely comments and suggestions, they’ve inspired me to write another post.
Are you the sort of person who uses a consistent sign-off on every post? Or perhaps like me, you might have a repeated line of text in every post; you’ll see on IndividualChic.com each post finishes with a RELATED line. If you are, Blogger has a feature that can make your life easier for you. It’s call a Post Template and you can set it up any way you like.
The easiest way to do this, is to write a temporary post, formatted exactly the way you want it, and then to copy the HTML off to the Post Template.
Prepare your Post Template:
- Create a new post and make sure it has all of the formatting and text in it that you want to appear in every post. You might want to have a consistent sign-off like “Thanks for reading” or a signature image, or a related link like I do. Copy and paste from an existing post if that’s quicker
- If it’s an existing post, make sure you delete any information you don’t want to appear. You might also consider replacing text with placeholder words for where you expect to type later. I use things like “Text here” and “Link here”
- Check once more the post looks exactly the way you want it too
- Click the Edit Html tab above your post
- Select and copy all of the HTML code in the window
Create your Post Template:
- Open your Blogger Dashboard in a new browser window or tab
- Click on Settings beside the Blog you want to create a Post Template for
- Click on the Formatting link at the top of the page
- Scroll to the bottom of the page till you find the Post Template section
- Paste the HTML you copied earlier into the Post Template box and press the Save Settings button
Test your Post Template:
- Switch back to the Posting tab
- Create a new post
- Check the Post Template has automatically inserted your default format into the post
- Finish writing your witty and informative post
- Publish the post and check the whole thing looks the way it should
- If you’re happy, congratulations on making your blogging just that bit easier
- If you’re not happy, keep fiddling until you get it just the way you want (it will be worth the effort)
Once again, I hope you’ve found this post useful. Let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear from you all.
Thanks,
Icy.
image by Sabrina Eras
Even though I use WordPress, I found a plug-in that helps with these. It’s incredibly useful for reminding me to put header’s in for my series, or remembering to add in my signature (which I forgot A LOT when I first started). Templates really help with so much– it’s great to see a tutorial & recommendation up!
.-= Ashe Mischief´s last blog ..Ashe Mischief’s Birthday Extravaganza Wishlist…. =-.
hmmm, i never thought about it that way. I wonder if there’s something like that for wordpress.
For those who want to experiment with their CSS, i found the best way to do this is through the firefox plugin Firebug. You can change all of the CSS and test it out in the browser before actually making changes to it.
I rely on that thing. It’s also a great way to learn CSS.
.-= Gabrielle´s last blog ..EU Allows Ugly Fruit Back On The Market – What This Means For Ugly Clothing =-.
Great article! I also use wordpress though; ASHE: what’s the name of the plug-in you use?
Gabrielle & Julia– the WordPress plug-in is called Article Templates. I found it pretty easy to use, even though I only have 1 template set up so far.
.-= Ashe Mischief´s last blog ..Ashe Mischief’s Birthday Extravaganza Wishlist…. =-.
ooh that could be good for me, i’ve just been plugging in our signatures the old fashion html way… but then again with different authors it might get messy, i’ll have to look into that…
I love using the post template on blogger!! It saves me so much time!!
.-= maria´s last blog ..Fourth of July: Part 2 =-.
Jennine, I think you could just create a new template for each author, with their own signature in the post? Then title it something like “Jennine Template,” or “Sonja Template.” Same with on IFB even, especially with Links a la Mode?
.-= Ashe Mischief´s last blog ..Ashe Mischief’s Birthday Extravaganza Wishlist…. =-.
Hey Ashe, thanks for the wordpress version.
Hey Gabrielle and Julia, even though I’m not helping with your platform, hope you found this useful.
Hey Jennie, thanks for posting this post ^_^
Hey Maria, me too!
.-= Icy´s last blog ..Project Runway Oz prize update =-.
Thanks for putting this up. I wasn’t sure how to use this feature right, so I ignored it.
Please keep the blogger tips coming.
.-= thefatandskinny´s last blog ..Bad Bish =-.
Hi FatAndSkinny, I’m glad I could help ^_^
.-= Icy´s last blog ..How to customize blogger post templates =-.
Hey,
Thanks for the tip. Because of you us “wordpress” people also got some valuable information – WAY TO GO!
Glad I could help HeelShields.
.-= Icy´s last blog ..Today I’m wearing… =-.
thanks for the tips! It will be very useful!
.-= French Blast´s last blog ..Photo: Technomades exhibition by Christophe Beauregard =-.
Would you please to explain to me how to creat image appearance automatically resize and place on the left side of your article.I need that to apply on my blog.Thank you for help.
I need to learn how to make my pictures bigger and how do i take pictures from other websites and make it appear like I made a collage without the lining around the edges. blogs like style bubble, karla’s closet, and because I am addicted look like very creative and they don’t have the lining around the merchandise they are promoting to their viewers can you help with this….i really want my blog to be a success.
Thanks for helping me to prepare a post template to my requirement
.-= Anbarasan S´s last blog ..Trinity the core concept of Spiritual life =-.
Great info on how to customize blog templates!! I’ve been looking for this information everywhere and your suggestions are going to really help my blog!! Thanks!
http://studyabroadbehappy.blogspot.com
Great post. I’ve been thinking about adding a signature to my WordPress posts but haven’t looked into it. Thanks for the plugin tip Ashe Mischief!
.-= Style Bite´s last blog ..Proud Parents Holiday ‘09 =-.
Thanks for this post and the previous one on how to make Blogger blogs more accessible to search engines. I use Blogger for my relatively new beauty blog, and I’m always happy to find tips like these. I know how to write, but templates and coding and so forth are a whole different ball game… good writing is not enough; you also need to help potential readers find you.
Lots of people here seem to use WordPress. I may try it out for my next site, which will be a reference guide for designer bras and lingerie.
.-= Amanda Sage´s last blog ..Suki cleansers for sensitive skin = love! =-.
thanks for this! i’m always a little baffled by template editing…
.-= Lauren´s last blog ..ZIppers & Lace =-.
fabulous idea. I have TRIED multiple times to get this to work other ways and it has flopped. this one actually makes sense.
Thanks very much, i have updated my Gadget Blog.
.-= vgwoot´s last blog ..VBOX HD-360 VGA HDTV Converter Box =-.
Thanks so much! I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to do a “signature block” on my posts and your post totally works!! Ingenious!!! I’m an html rookie so I was really stumped on how to come up with the code…uh, no duh, copy it!!! Perfect! Thanks!
i love Fashion and i love Project Runway.-’”
spiritual life is really more important than our earthly life`:`
Hey is there a way to change the blog post section to make the featured article look more distinctive than other posts. I’ve used some templates adapted from wordpress but its very difficult..Help me If u know.
Thanks so much!
I tried to use CSS to change the spacing of my posts, but somehow all the posts ended up having double line breaks. And I couldn’t find any way to fix the problem (efficiently).
Now I can just put the spacing HTML into the post template!
Thanks again
Excellent! Worked like a charm. Thanks for this!