Installing and Using Blogger Templates

Hosting Images
Installing Blogger Template
Adding Top Menu
Adding Vertical Menu
Adding Footer Links
Adding Copyright

Hosting Images

Blogger does not support uploading images directly to Blogspot accounts, so you will need to select one of methods available in Artisteer for hosting template's images externally. Artisteer provides three image hosting options which may be used depending on your reliability and performance requirements:

1. Picasa Web Albums
   This service is used by default and is suitable in most cases as Picasa utilizes the same Google account used for Blogger and does not require additional registration or configuration.
   
   NOTE: Picasa does not support large images being accessed from custom domains, therefore when hosting your blog on a custom domain (eg. www.<yourname>.com) Artisteer will instead upload larger images to free ImageShack image hosting service. This may occasionally result in slower performance, therefore custom domain owners may consider choosing other image hosting options listed below.
   
   
2. ImageShack
   ImageShack is an alternative to Picasa and offers a free service that does not require user registration. Artisteer supports both free service and paid ImageShack accounts. If you have a paid account enter your login information in Artisteer for better blog performance and reliability.
   
   
3. FTP
   You may choose to upload images to an FTP server by providing your FTP account information, FTP folder where you want images to be stored, and the URL that corresponds to the specified FTP folder.
   
   

You may also use any other service to host your images. In such case you select to export (rather than publish) your template in Blogger format and separately upload images to your hosting destination.

Please, keep in mind that neither ImageShack nor Picasa allow to publish .swf files. Using Flash Header will require some other hosting service for uploading images. For this select "FTP server" as a hosting service in Artisteer Export Options.

Installing Blogger Templates

In some cases you may choose not to publish your Blogger template but export and manually upload it as follows:

1. Open the exported main.xml file and modify the image paths to reflect the location you’ve chosen to place the image files.
2. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard.
3. Click the "Layout" link on the Dashboard.
   
4. Click the "Edit HTML" link in tab bar.
5. Browse for main.xml on your local drive.
   
6. Click the "Upload" button.
   (please ignore error messages, if any)
7. Confirm and Save.

Please note that if you are using classic template style in Blogger, you will fist need to upgrade it, as follows:

1. Click the "Template" link.
2. Click the "Customize Design".
3. Click the "Upgrade Your Template" button.
4. Save Template.

You should then see the "Layout" link on your Blogger Dashboard.

Creating Top Menu

1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard.
2. Go to Layout -> Page Elements -> Top Menu –> Edit
   
    
3. Click "Add Link" to add links.
4. If you need a multi-level menu please enter "-" (dash) before the Subitem name, for example: "-Submenu Item".
   Please note that Submenu item should be placed below the parent menu item.
5. Click Save.
   
   

Note:

• If you do not want to use the menu please select a layout in Artisteer without a menu.
• "Home" item is added when the "Show Home item" option in Artisteer Export Options dialog is set to Yes.
  
  


• "Show Blogger Navbar" option allows you to hide/show the Blogger navigation bar on the top of your pages.
  
  
  
  Make sure that you do not violate Blogger Terms of Service if you decide to remove the Navbar.

Working with Vertical Menu

Archive as Vertical Menu

Artisteer automatically applies a vertical menu style to Archive.

You can view the setting at Export template-> Export Options-> Show Archive as Vmenu-> Yes

To disable the adjustment choose "No" in the dropdown menu of the Show Archive as Vmenu.

Adding pages to Vertical menu

While Supporting Showing Pages as vertical menu is at developing stage, we offer you some tips on how you can organize your Vmenu pages manually.

1. First, disable Show Archive as Vmenu option at Export template-> Export Options-> Show Archive as Vmenu-> No
2. Open Dashboard and go Customize->Layout->Pages->Edit. Type the title of the menu item.
3. Enter the URL for displaying the menu item as an absolute link or type "." (dot) at line start for displaying it as a relative link.
4. To add sub-items put "-" (dash) before the sub-item name as in Creating Top Menu, step 5

Populating the Footer Links Section

1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard.
2. Go to Layout -> Page Elements -> Footer Links -> Edit.
3. Enter desired link information and click "Add Link".
4. Save.

Populating the Copyright Section

1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard.
2. Go to Layout -> Page Elements -> Copyright Text -> Edit.
3. Enter the desired text.
4. Save.