Putting blog topics into a Navigation Bar in Blogger

Don’t use Pages! Instead, use the Link List gadget:

Define your topic

1  make sure you have used consistent tags (‘Labels’ in Blogger) in all the posts you wish to include in this topic

2  Design > Page Elements > Add a Gadget

3  select Labels, make choices and Save; the Labels Gadget should now appear in the Sidebar of your blog

Get the url for the topic

1  in the Sidebar, click on the Label you wish to use

2  Copy the resulting url from the Address Bar at the top of the window (Paste it somewhere for safe keeping)

Set up the Navigation Bar

1  Design > Page Elements > Add a Gadget

2  select Link List

3  in New Site URL: Paste the url you Copied earlier

4  in New Site Name: write the title you want to appear in your Navigation Bar

5  in Title: you can name the Navigation Bar if you wish

6  don’t forget to Save before leaving!

7  in the Design > Page Elements screen, drag your new Link List Page Element to the position below the Page Header (if it’s not already there)

8  your link(s) should now appear as Tabs below the Header; they will follow the colour scheme of the Template you are using

9  you can always go back to the Link List gadget and add further tabs; you can also Edit, Delete or change the order of existing ones

Creating a Navigation Bar in Blogger

If you have created static Pages in Blogger, you can link to them from a Navigation Bar at the side or at the top of your blog. To create the Navigation Bar,

1) Design > Page elements

2) if you have created a static Page, you should have a Page Element called Pages just below the Header – click: Edit within this section

3) this should bring up a: Configure Page List window – tick: Automatically add new Pages when they are published, or, just tick the Pages you want to display in the Navigation Bar

4) Drag and Drop to get the Page order you want to display

Creating Pages in Blogger

A year or so ago Blogger followed WordPress in allowing you to create static pages – called Pages – to complement the periodic, chronologically listed series of postings typical of blog platforms. You can use these Pages for more or less permanent material such as an Introduction, Contact information, Guidelines. You can also use them for more dynamic ends, such as feeds from other websites.

1) Go to Design > Posting > Edit Pages

2) click: New Page

The new Page has a url that you can then use to link to from anywhere else.

Embedding feeds in blog posts

I wanted to see if Blogger’s static Pages could house feeds for some of my other blogs, so that my Micalet blog could operate as a sort of Grand Central Station for my online world. Feeds use Javascript code, and there’s a handy facility at Feed2JS that does the job for you.

I did come across one issue – Feed2JS needs you to enter different versions of the url for your blog feed according to whether you are taking the feed from WordPress or from Blogger:

• for a feed from a WordPress blog: (blogurl)/feed

• for a feed from a Blogger blog: (blogurl)/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Thanks to Peter @ Enviroman, whose tip came up in a Google search.

Another new thing!

Every day you learn something new

I’ve just seen Blogger now has a Pages facility, just like WordPress. These are static pages, and you can have up to ten of them;  for easy navigation you can have your Pages listed in a tab-bar below the header at the top of the page.

So I’ve converted the Timelines post in our Merkavah 09 blog, as discussed here the other day, into a Contents page. I’ve also changed some of the posts I’d linked to in the sidebar into Pages, so I’ve got a nice little navigation panel now at the top of the screen, and a (slightly) less cumbersome sidebar. I’ll be giving the Contents page out as the lead url for the site now.

So much neater!

PS: I’ve given Micalet the same treatment – and I’ve found out how to put feeds into a blog post, using code from Feed2JS. I’m using these ‘static’ pages as tasters for my other blogs.

Am I beginning to get the hang of this?