Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tips for Finding the Perfect Blogger Template

Some of readers mailed to me ask for which template should they use for blog? or ask me the template they are using good or not ? In fact ,choosing a template is up to the blog owner ,not me ^^ Angela Quint from Ultrasound has some advice for you in this case .This is a guest post from Angela Quint



Did you know there are more than 10 million blogs online today? If you're a beginning blogger, there are probably almost that many questions going through your head. One of the first questions you probably have is how to choose the right blogging template. There are thousands of templates available, including ones that are free and ones for which you pay. It's a crucial decision, so here are a few tips that will help you pick the perfect template for your blog.

1,To Pay or Not to Pay?

Should you pay for your template? That depends on two things: how serious are you about your blog and how much computer experience do you have? If your blog is a business venture, you need it to look as professional as possible, especially if you want to monetize the site. Some premium templates are ad placement ready, which makes formatting easy.
Another big advantage of purchasing a template is that you normally get better support. If problems arise, you'll have help at the ready and you won't have to be a techie to keep the site functioning properly.
If you decide to buy a template, think of it as in investment in the future wellbeing of your blog.

2,Start with 2 Columns

Although there are many one and three column templates available, most bloggers agree that a two-column format is easiest to manage. One column is too simplistic and three columns gets complicated. Two columns allows you to keep the site clean but functional, with the current post on one side and the search, ads, and other elements on the other.

3,Make it Relevant to Your Niche

You have a few seconds to capture your reader's interest. That's why the header you use is vital. Think about the focus of your blog and the people you want to read it. Make the graphic in the heading relate to the topic. You might love kittens, but if your blog is about golf, that adorable kitty graphic isn't relevant. If your reader loves golf but isn't in to cats, you've lost him as soon as he clicks on the page.
After you have more experience, you may learn to change the heading picture, but when you're just starting out, it's wisest to pick a template with a relevant graphic.

4,Functionality is Key

Do you want your readers to be able to leave comments? Do you want to add pictures to each post? Is there a search function? You need to narrow down what features your blog needs and then eliminate templates that don't offer those elements. Make sure you test each of the features and check for broken links. Your blog needs to flow smoothly from page to page to keep readers happy.
Most importantly, know what the purpose of your blog is. By keying in on your goals, you'll be better prepared to select the perfect template for your blog.

About Author

Angela Quint is an
ultrasound technician by day and a blogger by night. She enjoys writing to share her love of health and wellness with others!

Simplex Eshop - Blogger template for shopping cart/ecommerce

Some of you asked me for Ecommerce /shopping cart in Blogger platform . My result is template SimplexEshop .This is a test template and need more time to finish because every shop has its own options in shipping/tax rate/price/promotion  ,and fill all needs with only Javascript is an impossible mission . But I want to show it here to get your feedback and hope I can make it better .



Live Demo | Download

How to install this template

1,Download the template file .

2,Open template file in a word editor .

3, To make a menu navigation

Find this code
<ul id="nav">   
                     <li><a href="http://simplexeshop.blogspot.com">Home</a></li>
                     <li><a href="http://simplexeshop.blogspot.com/search/label/shop">Store</a>
                          <ul class="children">
                             <li><a href="">Category</a></li>
                               <li><a href="">Category</a></li>
                         </ul>
                     </li>
                     <li><a href="http://simplexeshop.blogspot.com/search/label/blog">Blog</a></li>                 
                 </ul>
Add link to your categories like my other template . You can see on Simplex Enews or Simplex Transcript for more about this multi-level menu .

4,Basic Shop Setting
This template was built based on SimpleCart solution (Simplecartjs.com ) , what I did only integrated Simplecart to a blogger template . So all options /setting for shop ,you can see in simplecart documentation .

a,Payment method 
This Template support two payment methods : Paypal and Google Checkout . Default is Paypal ,and it was set in these line :

simpleCart.email = "brett@wojodesign.com";
simpleCart.checkoutTo = PayPal;


If you want to use Paypal ,you can replace brett@wojodesign.com to your paypal email .
If you want to use Google Checkout ,you can replace two lines above with

simpleCart.merchantId = "111111111111111";
simpleCart.checkoutTo = GoogleCheckout;

Change 111111111111111 to your Google Checkout merchant ID .

b,Currency

This template support GBP,USD ,and EUR . Default is USD and it was set in this line

simpleCart.currency = USD;

if you want to change the currency ,you can change USD in the line above (marked in bold) to GBP or EUR .

c,Tax rate

The default tax rate was set in this line

simpleCart.taxRate  = 0.08;

You can change the value from 0.08 to another rate . If you don't want to add the tax rate ,you can delete this line

d,Shipping

There are many ways to calculating the shipping cost for an order :
-Add a flat rate to the entire order .This is the default method in template and it was set in this line

simpleCart.shippingFlatRate = 5.25;

(an amount 5.25 shipping cost will be added to the entire order )
You can change 5.25 to the value you want .

-Add a shipping cost to every item in the cart : if you want to use this method ,you can delete simpleCart.shippingFlatRate = 5.25;
and use this line
simpleCart.shippingQuantityRate = 3.00;
This line will add an amount 3.00 to every item in the cart .Of course ,you can change 3.00 to other value .

-Add a shipping cost as percentage of total cost : to use this method ,you can delete the default simpleCart.shippingFlatRate = 5.25;
and use this :
simpleCart.shippingTotalRate = 0.05;

This line will add a shipping cost as 5% to the total cost .You can change this rate to another value .

If you require some advanced calculations for shipping, you can delete the default line and use the prototype object for CartItems:

CartItem.prototype.shipping=function(){
// we are using a 'size' field to calculate the shipping,
// so we first make sure the item has a size
if(this.size){
if( this.size == 'small' ){
return this.quantity*5.00;
} else if( this.size == 'large') {
return this.quantity*7.50;
} else {
return this.quantity*10.00;
}
} else {
// use a default of $2.00 per item if there is no 'size' field
return this.quantity*2.00;
}
}

The 'this' here refers to the item, and we are using a 'size' field and the item 'quantity' to calculate the shipping. Because an item may or may not have a size, we check to make sure it does with the 'if(this.size)'. If there is a size field, we use a different rate for each size and return a value based on the item quantity. Otherwise, we use a base rate of 2.00. simpleCart(js) will use the global shipping rates, and then add the shipping value for each item in the cart.


5,When you finish editing ,upload template to Blogger . Go to Dashboard ->Design ->Page elements

6,To add logo

click on logo widget

add logo as this image bellow

7,There are many places that you can add your own widget . For example ,you can add link list widget for making category menu ,subscription widget ,page list widget ...

8,That's all for install this template .

How to use this template

It's a little bit difficult when using this template .

To post product to shop : Go to Dashboard -> Posting -> New Post .Click on Edit HTML and made a post with this structure
<div id="description">
<img src="image url goes here">
<img src="image url goes here">
<img src="image url goes here">

PRODUCT INFORMATION..........
........................

</div>
<div class="simpleCart_shelfItem">
<span class="item_name">item name ...</span>
Price : <span class="item_price">price .........</span>
Quatity : <input class="item_quantity" type="text" value="1" />
<a href="javascript:;" class="item_add" title="Add to Cart">Add to Cart</a>
 </div>

In structure above , this is the product information section :
<div id="description">
<img src="image url goes here">
<img src="image url goes here">
<img src="image url goes here">

PRODUCT INFORMATION GOES HERE..........
........................

</div>

you can add image by using <img src="image url goes here"> and add product description bellow (in the text product information goes here )
After the product information section ,we move to add to cart section :

<div class="simpleCart_shelfItem">
<span class="item_name">item name ...</span>
Price : <span class="item_price">price .........</span>
Quatity : <input class="item_quantity" type="text" value="1" />
<a href="javascript:;" class="item_add" title="Add to Cart">Add to Cart</a>
 </div>

in this section ,add the item name in where I marked item name .... ,add the price in where I marked price ... and change the quatity from '1' to another value .

If you want to set a special shipping cost for this item only ,you can add this line to the add to cart section
<input class="item_shipping" value="xxx" type="hidden">
replace xxx to the shipping cost of this item
and the code of Add to cart section will become :
<div class="simpleCart_shelfItem">
<span class="item_name">item name ...</span>
Price : <span class="item_price">price .........</span>
Quatity : <input class="item_quantity" type="text" value="1" />
<input class="item_shipping" value="xxx" type="hidden">
<a href="javascript:;" class="item_add" title="Add to Cart">Add to Cart</a>
 </div>


When you set shipping cost for an item ,the method which used to calculate shipping fee in step 4 will be overide .

After finish editing the post with structure above ,add a label 'shop' at the end of post ,and the product will be added to shop with sliders ,price and add to cart function

To post to Blog : to post to blog ,you can make a normal post ,and add a label 'blog' at the end of post .

It's similar to my older template Simplex Portfolio ,in Simplex Portfolio ,we have two display mode : display a post as a post in gallery ,and display a post as a normal blog post .In this template ,we also have two display mode : display a post as product in shop and display a post as a normal blog post .

For the page : you can make pages as normal .

That's all for this template . I think it is not easy to use and handle .If you familliar with the code ,you can take a try ^^ For detail shopping cart settings ,you can see more in simplecartjs 
Feel free to leave me feedbacks

SimplexMag - a template for magazine or portfolio

This is my latest template ,I think it can be used for a blog ,or a portfolio ...

How to install this template

1,Download this template

2,Open  template file in a word editor ( wordpad ,notepad,notepad ++ ... )

3,To edit the main menu navigation


Find this code
<div class="menu-header">
                     <ul class="menu" id="menu-main-nav">
                         <li><a href="/search/label/test">Test</a>
                             <ul class="sub-menu">
                                 <li><a href="">Sub Category</a></li>
                                 <li><a href="">Sub Category</a></li>
                                 <li><a href="">Sub Category</a></li>
                             </ul>
                         </li>
                         <li><a href="">Career</a></li>
                         <li><a href="">Category</a></li>                       
                     </ul>
                 </div>

Add link to your categories in this code like this one
<li><a href="link_to_category">Category name</a></li>
link to a category in blogger has structure
http://your_blog.blogspot.com/search/label/category_name

4,To set the number of post showed in pages :

This template use numbered pagination script ,so you have to set number of posts per page in pagination script
Go to Blogger Dashboard ->Settings ->Formatting
in the box Show at most ....on the main page you will see the number of post showed in the main page . For example ,in the picture bellow ,the number of post in main page is 6

You can set another number .
Now ,back to template file ,find this code
<script type="text/javascript">
                                         var pageNaviConf = {
                                             perPage: 2,
                                             numPages: 2,
                                             firstText: "First",
                                             lastText: "Last",
                                             nextText: "Next",
                                             prevText: "Prev"
                                             }
                                     </script>

And change the value of perPage variable from 2 to the number we set at Show at most ...on the main page box .If we set the number of post in main page in Show at most ... on the main page 6 ,change the value of perPage from 2 to 6 .
Why we need this step ? To make sure the number of post per page exactly as we set . If you skip this step ,number of post on homepage is the number we set at Show at most ... box ,but click on the next page ,the number of post is only 2 (the value we set in perPage ) .

5,To add your social network accounts

find this code

<div class="social_media">
             <script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=xa-4c873bb26489d97f" type="text/javascript"></script>
                <a class="addthis_button_compact sharethis i_share at300m" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&amp;username=xa-4c873bb26489d97f">
                 <span class="at300bs at15nc at15t_compact"></span>
             </a>                    
             <a class="i_rss" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Simplex"></a>
             <a class="i_twitter" href="http://twitter.com/dinhquanghuy"></a>    
             <a class="i_facebook" href="http://www.facebook.com/simplexdesignblog"></a>  
             <a class="i_flicker" href="#"></a>     
             <a class="top_btn" href="#"></a>
         </div>

and change link to your social network accounts

6,Upload template to Blogger .Then go to Dashboard -> Design ->Page Elements

7,To add logo

Click on edit link in header widget

In this widget , you can upload your logo image ,use text ...

8,To add the top ads

Click on edit link in Topads widget

Add the ad code to widget content

Do the same for Advertise widget in sidebar .

9,There are two widgets "latest resource" at the footer ,you can set these widget to show latest posts in a specific category .

Click on edit link in Latest resource widget

Add the title in Widget title ,and add the name of category which you want to show posts in widget content .

10,You can add your own widget in sidebar ,or in footer .

11,Save changes .

That's all for this template . I think it's very easy to install and use . Hope it helpful to you ,and feel free to give me feedbacks.