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To make room for some exciting updates coming soon to Blogger, we’re simplifying the platform to enhance the blogging experience for all of our users. Changes to existing features in Blogger (rolling out over the next few months) : Google+ Integrations: Throughout the next few months, Blogger will transform Google+ widget integrations into HTML widgets to give you more flexibility in how you share and see your followers. OpenID: Blogger previously allowed users to comment on blogs using an existing third party OpenID identity provider and has also acted as an OpenID identity provider when interacting with other systems on the internet. Due to the low usage of this feature, Blogger will no longer support OpenID as a provider or for making comments, and all comments that previously used OpenID will be anonymized. New comments can be posted either from a Google account or labeled as “Anonymous” on blogs that allow it. Improved Localization and Blogspot ccTLDS: Your location determines ...

If you’re one of the millions of people who uses Blogger to share your views on current affairs, teach the world how to make sushi, or just offer a peek into your day, then you know how important it is to be able to put your personal stamp on your blog. After all, your blog isn’t just a place you share, it’s a reflection of who you are and the impression you’d like to leave with your readers. To make it easier for you to express your unique style, we’ve created a new set of blog themes for you to choose from. Each theme comes in a variety of colors, is fully customizable, and can be added to your blog with just a few clicks. These themes aren’t only designed to look great, they’re designed to work great too. Each one has been built to automatically adjust to any screen and load quickly, so you can rest assured that your readers will be able to easily see your work whether they’re on a computer, phone or tablet. Here’s a quick look at the new designs: Contempo As good for a photo as it ...

From New York to Jakarta, Blogger is one of the most popular ways to publish the things you’re passionate about. Still, we’ve heard that there’s more we can do to make the platform a better place to have your unique voice be heard . So we’ll be making some adjustments over time to bring you a faster, easier to use and more beautiful Blogger. To kick things off, we’ve taken a crack at simplifying Blogger’s dashboard so that it’s easier for you to get right to the tools you need. Now, whenever you open Blogger, you’ll be taken right to your blog with the most recent post, putting you one click or tap closer to drafting something new. We’ve also updated Blogger’s header bar, making it consistent with what you’ll find in other Google products. And as part of our commitment to building products that are accessible for all, we’ve adjusted Blogger’s colors to make things easier to see. We’re starting small with these adjustments, but hope they help you create more amazing work. Please send an...

Last May, we added some expressions to our templating language to make it easier for you to customize your blog’s look and feel. These new expressions proved popular with those of you who enjoy advanced blogging tools, so we wanted to offer you even more flexibility. Starting today, we’re introducing a new set of operators, which we’re calling lambda expressions, that allow you to apply rules to whole sets of data (think posts, comments, or labels), rather than just individual instances.  Let’s say you wanted to add a flower image to all posts with the label “Flower,” for example. With lambda expressions, simply define a variable name that each item in the set will take, and then refer to the variable name as though it were each item. <!-- Show a Flower image if the post has the label flower --> <b:if cond= ' data:post.labels any (l => l.name == "Flower") ' >  <img src=’/img/flower.jpg’ /> <b:if/> An example of adding a flower icon to pos...

Today, information is at our fingertips and we can access it from anywhere on any device. Just a few taps pull up millions of websites all competing for our attention. For bloggers, engaging with your audience has never been more important or more challenging. To help lay the foundation to a winning engagement strategy, the AdSense team created the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement. Research shows that 29% of smartphone users will immediately switch to another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their needs. To help keep your audience engaged, get your free copy of the AdSense Guide to Audience Engagement . In the guide, you’ll learn: How to help your audience become familiar with your brand Best practices to design user journeys How to develop content that resonates with your audience Ways to make your content easy to consume Why you should share the love with other sites by referring to good sources If you’re interested in more updates from the Google AdSense team, follow us on ...

[Cross-posted from the Google Security Blog ] HTTPS is fundamental to internet security; it protects the integrity and confidentiality of data sent between websites and visitors' browsers. Last September, we began rolling out HTTPS support for blogspot domain blogs so you could try it out. Today, we’re launching another milestone: an HTTPS version for every blogspot domain blog. With this change, visitors can access any blogspot domain blog over an encrypted channel. The HTTPS indicator in the Chrome browser As part of this launch, we're removing the HTTPS Availability setting. Even if you did not previously turn on this setting, your blogs will have an HTTPS version enabled. We’re also adding a new setting called HTTPS Redirect that allows you to opt-in to redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS. While all blogspot blogs will have an HTTPS version enabled, if you turn on this new setting, all visitors will be redirected to the HTTPS version of your blog at https ://<your-blog>...