Posts
I have finally finished my move to Blogger Beta. The final step was moving from the old template format, which could be edited only be editing the code, to the new layout system. The new system retains an option to edit the code, but also provides a WYSIWYG layout editor that allows dragging and dropping elements of the template, and adding new elements using built-in widgets. Theoretically, this should make it easier to keep the sidebar links up to date. In practice, the widgets seem to have trouble with my long blogroll and stall every time I add or delete a link. The really neat thing is that I now have a real categories system for my older posts.
The template is based on the three-column version of the standard Minima template provided at Hackosphere. I further customized the base template for the color schemes and various functions. Nonstop Nonsens has instructions on creating a menubar. Testing Blogger Beta provides tips on using an image for the header. My header is a transparent image with the text and warbler floating over a background tiled image. I found the header background here. The warbler image is in the public domain.
I expect to have the Haloscan comment system reinstalled soon. The problem is that Haloscan does not support Blogger Beta at the moment, so I need to figure it out myself, with the help of advice on other blogs.
Let me know what you think. I am still in the process of tweaking some aspects of the template.
