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How To Add Additional Column On Blogger Footer

How to add columns to your blogger footer?
Are you wondering how those professional blogs and websites have those godly three columns at the bottom of their page? If you still have no idea how it looks like, take a quick peep below this page. That is how a custom three column footer looked like. Okay, I am going to tell you something about me. I love to take a template and make it my way. Therefore, I will scout the whole world wide web just to find customization. And yes, I take deep pride for this as I work hard for this :) Hope you enjoy this as well!

How to add a three column footer widget to your blogger template?


I know there could be quite a few guides out there but honestly, I have revamp this and make it as easy as possible for you. Just follow these and you will be absolutely fine...I promise.

1. Head to Layout.
2. Always, always remember to backup your template. Although this is an error free guide, you can easily revert back if you don't like the new layout later.
3. Recheck if the backup is done.
4. Now, head over to Edit HTML and press either F3 or ctrl-F to open the search column.
5. Type in ]]></b:skin> and search for it. If you are not able to find it, remember to tick Expand Widget Template.
6. Next, copy and paste the code below right before ]]></b:skin>


/* -----   LOWER SECTION   ----- */
#lower {
       margin:auto;
       padding: 0px 0px 10px 0px;
       width: 100%;
       background:#333434;
}
#lower-wrapper {
       margin:auto;
       padding: 20px 0px 20px 0px;
       width: 960px;
}
#lowerbar-wrapper {
     border:1px solid #DEDEDE;
       
background:#fff;
       float: left;
       margin: 0px 5px auto;
       padding-bottom: 20px; 
       width: 32%;        text-align: justify;
       font-size:100%;
       line-height: 1.6em;
       word-wrap: break-word;
       overflow: hidden;
}
       .lowerbar {margin: 0; padding: 0;}
       .lowerbar .widget {margin: 0; padding: 10px 20px 0px 20px;}
.lowerbar h2 {
      margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;
       padding: 3px 0px 3px 0px;
       text-align: left;
       color:#0084ce;
        text-transform:uppercase;
      font: bold 14px Arial, Tahoma, Verdana;
       border-bottom:3px solid #0084ce;
}
.lowerbar ul {
      margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
      padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
      list-style-type: none;
}
.lowerbar li {
      margin: 0px 0px 2px 0px;
      padding: 0px 0px 1px 0px;
      border-bottom: 1px dotted #ccc;
}
That was pretty easy right? Hold on! You there one more step and you are basically done. 

7. Now select the search option again and find for </body>. Copy and paste the code below right before the </body>.
<div id='lower'> 
<div id='lower-wrapper'> 
<div id='lowerbar-wrapper'> 
<b:section class='lowerbar' id='lowerbar1' preferred='yes'> 
</b:section> 
</div> 
<div id='lowerbar-wrapper'> 
<b:section class='lowerbar' id='lowerbar2' preferred='yes'> 
</b:section> 
</div> 
<div id='lowerbar-wrapper'> 
<b:section class='lowerbar' id='lowerbar3' preferred='yes'> 
</b:section> 
</div> 
<div style='clear: both;'/> 
</div> </div>

8. Last but not least, press save and you are basically all done.
9. For editing your widgets, head over to Layout and see the new gadget space available at the footer.

About the writer: I am an avid blogger and close to a full time online writer. I been writing for many years and The Big Fat Reality is one of my upcoming blogs. I am also sharing all my tips and guides on blogging in this blog and if you love blogging, you should definitely on my latest writing, What It Feels Like Blogging From A Tablet or find your best guide on customizing a blog here: Ultimate Blog Design Tips.

The Best Custom Comment System For Blogger

Disqus - Blogger's alternative comment system
One of the biggest problem for bloggers around the world is having uncontrolled amount of spam comments. If you are having a self hosted domain, it would be easier as there are many custom comment systems you an choose from. When you use Blogger, moderating comments might be one of the hardest and most challenging yet for all of us. I have personally tested quite a few comment systems recently and only one stand out of the crowd. Introducing Disqus, one of the world's best comment system that works in nearly all major blogging platforms.

How Disqus works?
Disqus works in very simple ways. All comments posted will be moderated by Disqus. As an admin, you will be able to choose if you want to have an auto approval or set the comment to be manually approved. What I really love about Disqus is it works so perfectly (at least for me) with Blogger.

Moderating comment using Blogger?
We all have problem moderating comments in Blogger such as removing unwanted links etc. It is not possible with Blogger stock commenting system and here is where Disqus comes into play. You are able to perform any other task Blogger could do with a fat twist; ability to edit the comments. Now, we can rest assured that those readers who comment just to get backlink is taken cared of for good!

Login using social network account
If you are using stock Blogger comment system, commenters can only choose to comment using Google ID, OpenID or Anonymous. With Disqus, commenters are able to login with multiple methods such as using Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo account. This reduces the hassle and they do not need to register a whole new account just for commenting.

Commentor's rank and stats
Another great feature of Disqus is the commentor's stats. Imagine commenter A is a spammer or usually doesn't provide good information in the comment. Readers and admins are able to rank the person down. Reputation affected? Oh yes! This will make our community even better and we can start waving good bye to spammers and 'free back-linkers'.

Easy integration methods
Even if you have many comments, you are able to import every into Disqus. The whole process would take less than 24 hours to perform. So, not to worry if you have tenth or thousands of comments right now in your site. With a click of a button, Disqus will do it for you without hassle.

My personal review on Disqus
For me, Disqus is one of the best alternative comment system for many blogging platforms and it works wonders for Bloggers. If you have not installed Disqus or start using it, I suggest you install it right now and with Disqus, you can say kiss scammers and low quality comment good bye for good.


About the writer: I am an avid blogger and close to a full time online writer. I been writing for many years and The Big Fat Reality is one of my upcoming blogs. I am also sharing all my tips and guides on blogging in this blog and if you want to know more about blogging tips, you should check this article out: How To Add Additional Column On Blogger Footer.

How To Add Gadgets Above Or Below The Header In Blogger

How to add Gadgets to blogger template?
As a blogger, how many times have you encountered that some templates do not reach our expectations? Nothing is perfect and we in fact have to start modifying each and every part of the template just to suit our needs and requirements. This article is one of my favourite of all time which is how to add a gadget or widgets above or below the header on blogger itself and I am going to explain to you step by step in detail. Usually adding a widget close to header is done when you would like to moonetize the site or adding more 'fun stuff'right below the header.


Step by step guide on how to add gadgets or widgets above or below the header:
First, you have to understand that you are going to change the layout of your template. Therefore, always backup!
  • Once backing up of the template is over, click Template and select Edit HTML for your blog.
  • A pop up will ask you to either Proceed or Cancel and select Proceed to continue editing.
  • Once the box is open and you are able to see all the codes and HTML's, press the F3 button or ctrl-F button to open the search box. Search for this code:
<div id="header-wrapper">

  • The search will bring you to a section as example below:
<div id="header-wrapper">
<b:section class="header" id="header" maxwidgets="1"showaddelement="no">
<b:widget id="Header1" locked="true" title="Sample Blog (Header)" type="Header">
</b:widget>
</b:section></div>




  • See the words in red. What you got to do is to change the number of maxwidgets from 1 to any number. The number set will determine the number of gadgets you are able to place on that location.
  • The last step is to click Save and your template is all ready.

Wait! What happens if there is no such code (<div id="header-wrapper">)in the template? What should I do?
Lucky for you, that was what happened to me exactly! This is usually caused when you are using custom templates. Honestly, I couldn't find a way to solve it as I searched the whole Google but not able to find the exact solution to my problem. If you experienced this, this is what you can do:
  • Instead of searching for this code:
<div id="header-wrapper"

         Search for this instead:


maxwidgets



  • You are definitely going to find quite a number of codes with maxwidgets and thus, check manually on which is the one that has the word header close by. In my case, I found this (see the one in red):

<div id='header'>

    <b:section id='header1' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>

<b:widget id='Header1' locked='true' title='The Big Fat Reality (Header)' type='Header'>

<b:includable id='title'>
  <a expr:href='data:blog.homepageUrl' id='logo'><data:title/></a>



  • What you can do here is simple. Just change the maxwidgets to any other number than 1 and press save.
  • Now check back your Layout and you will be able to see new Gadgets area located above and below the header.

I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I do when writing it and if you have any enquiry, feel free to drop me a line and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Also, if you like this, please use the share button to share with your friends and family.


About the writer: I am an avid blogger and close to a full time online writer. I been writing for many years and The Big Fat Reality is one of my upcoming blogs. I am also sharing all my tips and guides on blogging in this blog and if you love blogging, you should definitely check this article out: Disqus - The Best Alternative Comment System For Blogger.



My first post on Big Fat Reality

First of all, thank you visiting Big Fat Reality blog! I have so many things to say and I don't know where to start. Let me start by saying my name is Reginald and my pen name is nicregi (Reginald_1986 at some older sites). I love to write and I love the fact that people are reading what I write. I write more towards SEO, traffic building, and becomnig a successful online writer.

I started writing back in 2005 and I been writing for many sites. Until date, I am focused on at a few loactinos such as my own website, HubPages (nicregi.hubpages.com) and Squidoo. It is my dream to actually start a full time blogging end of 2012 but I know it is going to be tough. Well see how it works out then.


In Big Fat Reality blog, I will update it mostly on weekend as I am more focused at my own self hosted site, earning money online at HubPages and traffic building at Squidoo. Nonetheless, I am going to try keep up with all the task and requirement to maintain this blog.

Fingers crossed and here we go!

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