Introducing: Blogger's new Template Designer

Notice something different around here?



You probably wouldn't believe me, but to switch to this new template involved only point-and-click - no need to search for a template file on another template website, download, copy and paste into the Edit HTML page in Blogger. Nor did I need to manually type HTML or CSS code (okay, I did type a bit to modify some things). Strange that you can't recall seeing this template I currently have (or even this one) in Blogger's set of default templates, no?

Blogger even made a video with "jaunty music" to show it off. (source)

Blogger (well actually, Blogger in draft) has introduced a new Template Designer. It's simple (really). You just need to pick one of four brand new templates, each with a couple of preset colour schemes and patterns. If you're not satisfied with it, go ahead and change the background image, colors, and fonts. But wait, how is that different from the current Fonts and Colors page? Well, apart from the nicer new templates, you can now also easily set the widths of the post area and sidebar just by dragging a slider. Don't want a single-column sidebar on the right? You can easily change that to two columns, or move it to the left, or have one column on both sides. And did you know you can have two or three columns for your footer too?

Telling you more about it would probably spoil the fun of exploring it on your own, but here are a couple more screenshots, just to tease you :)

First, pick a template to begin with...	... then change the background if you don't like it.
Don't like a one-column right sidebar? How about one-and-two columns on the left?	Finish off by tweaking every single element's font, colour, style, size... Notice there is a red-dotted box in the preview below to show you what you're currently changing.

How can you get to use this spanking new Template Designer to give your blog a makeover? Instead of going to www.blogger.com to access your Dashboard, go to draft.blogger.com, click on Layout, and you'll see the Template Designer there, next to Pick New Template. Oh and just a quick note: the new Template Designer and the new templates created using it are not compatible with Internet Explorer 6 (your blog will still load, but it might look funny), but hey, which modern blogger still uses that? You should be using Internet Explorer 7 or 8, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome or Safari.