How 2 Blog: Saving Your Blogger Template Before Switching to The New Blogger
by Karen Rani

A client emailed me today, informing me that Blogger was forcing the upgrade to the New Blogger. I couldn't find evidence of it, but I will tell you that the most important thing before you do make the (inevitable) switch is to save your Blogger template.

Here are the steps to do just that.

In my next post I will outline the steps in making the switch to the New Blogger, which will include the transformation of your current sidebar into the New Bloggers Widget system. Once you make the switch, you will be able to move things around much more easily. While the New Blogger has it's pitfalls in design, the end-user ease-of-use factor is manageable.

So here we go:

Sign into your Blogger account.

Choose your blog from the Dashboard.

Click on "Template."

Select your entire template by right-clicking and choosing "Select all":

(all images are at the original post at How2Blog - click them only if you need the screenshots)

Select All

Right click and choose "copy":

Copy

Open Notepad. To open Notepad, go to "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," then "Notepad."Right click in the middle of Notepad and choose "Paste."

Notepad

Save the file to your desktop. You'll need it when I discuss the other half of this column later this week.

Contributing Editor Karen Rani also blogs at:

Troll Baby | How2Blog

Motherless | Paris Hilton Watch

and works at Swank Web Style

Submitted by Karen Rani (view blog) on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 17:32
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Comments

 

No problems with the switch to new Blogger

I religiously save a copy of my template about once a month, since I have a lot of custom elements, but I'm happy that the switch to new Blogger went off without a hitch for me. I have about 20 food blogger friends who also switched last weekend and no problems at all for most people.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 17:02
 

Thanks Karen!

I logged into my blogger account last night and although I managed to get around making the switch it certainly was not clear that you can or how to do so. Perhaps that's why your client felt forced.

I didn't switch immediately because I wanted to learn how to do exactly this save before switching because I've read a few horror stories.

Thank you for this timely and helpful post!

Submitted by Maria Niles on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 17:24
 

Thanks for sharing your

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I've had many people email How2Blog and me personally, upset that they lost their sidebar counters, graphics, links etc. in the transition.

The 2nd part of this little post will hopefully be a good walk through in layman's terms for the beginners. I welcome more feedback and/or experiences of course!
Thanks again!
Karen

--
Troll Baby | Motherless | Troll Baby Graphics | BlogHer |

Submitted by Karen Rani on Wed, 01/31/2007 - 18:11
 

My template

I used my own custom template, not a Blogger template, and not many sidebar widgets, so the change for me involved nothing more than switching from my Blogger password to my Google password.

I love the new Blogger labels and would like to know how to make a tag cloud out of them. Have you written this up somewhere?

http://www.webteacher.ws/
http://first50.wordpress.com/

Submitted by Virginia DeBolt on Thu, 02/01/2007 - 06:07
 

I prefer to hire someone to

I prefer to hire someone to build a custom template for me.
Anyway the switch was smooth for me. The new Blogger labels is cool too.

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Submitted by online digital photo printing on Fri, 02/09/2007 - 20:51
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