HOW TO FIND, INSTALL & CUSTOMISE A BLOGGER TEMPLATE

How to Find, Install & Customise A Blogger Template
In this tutorial we will cover the following:
1 Finding a Blogger template
2 Installing a Blogger template
3 Customising a Blogger template

Video Tutorial

1 Finding a Blogger template
So how do you find a blogger template? Well you may need to sift through a ton of templates to find one that really works for you.

My advise is to look for simple templates because they need to perform well on mobile platforms. Ensure that you get a template that is "Responsive" - which means it will deliver a coherent version of your website on tablets, mobile phones and desktops.

I normally just google “Free Blogger Templates” and follow the links to a website that offer a range of free templates. Most of the time you can follow a link to the live preview of a given template. This live preview will usually have a download button which takes you to another page for you to download the actual template files.

Downloads usually come in a zipped format so ensure that you have software that can open a zip file. Once the file is downloaded unzip it - this will result in a new folder from which you should locate the main file recognised by it’s “xml” file extension, so also ensure that you can see file extensions.

That is all you need to do with regard to downloading a template.
2 Installing a Blogger template
Log into your blogger account and navigate to your “Template” area.
Once there locate the Backup/Restore button and click it. This will reveal new options.
Just under where it says “Upload a template from a file on your hard drive “
Click the “Browns” button and navigate to the xml file that you downloaded earlier.
Click the “Upload” button and that should install the template for you.
One more little thing on that same page you will see “Live on Blog” & “Mobile”. Click on the gear icon under the “Mobile” section. You will see “Template  ›  Choose mobile template”.Ensure that “Yes. Show mobile template on mobile devices. “ is checked, Click on the “Custom” button and hit “Save”. Your template is now configured to look good on mobile devices and desktop browsers.

To see what others will see when they look at your blog / website type in the domain name or go to the “Layout” section of the blogger admin area and hit the “Preview” button. This will open a new tab from which you can see the customer facing end of your blog.

Please note if you don’t have any posts, videos or images on your site it may look different from the template you saw in the live preview.

3 Customising a Blogger template
To customise templates you will usually go to the template area of your blogger admin and hit the “Custom” button.
This will open up a new page which gives you options on what you can change. However not all changes to your template can be changed here. Most of the templates that are not chosen from the standard set of blogger templates - which don't look like websites - will have little to no choices available in this area.

To start our customisation let’s head over to the “Layout” section of the admin area.
Look for the “Header” tab and click “Edit”.

Under “Image” you can add a logo to your blog.

You can make adjustment to the other parameters to your liking.

Save changes and review you blog. Get used to experimenting and have fun with building your blog.

Still in the “Layout” section you may notice some areas that say “Add Gadget”. When you click on one of these option you will reveal a new window that showcases some of the most popular Gadgets. Gadgets allow you to add extra functionality to your blog. Scripts, image sliders, forms, are just some examples of what you can add to your blog through Gadgets.

As each template will require different customisation we will keep our scope vary basic and end this tutorial here.  Read the documentation that comes with your template to see exactly how to configure your particular template.

Once again I would like to thank you for taking this tutorial, I hope you found it useful and informative. Please share and or subscribe to this blog our our youtube channel which will help us to continue delivering these concise tutorials to you.

See you on the next tutorial.