Removing Border and Shadow from Selected Images in Blogger Dynamic View

Previously, I wrote a tutorial on how you can remove borders and shadows from your pictures, in a Dynamic View template. The tweak applies to all the pictures in your blog. Blog reader Filipe wants to know if it is possible to remove borders and shadows from a single image alone, instead of applying the tweak to all images. Yes, it is possible, and here's how.

Blogger Dynamic View Picture Menu

 
Two weeks ago, I showed a simple way to use pictures as your tab menu, instead of using the conventional plain old text. But I used HTML to go about it, and as it is widely known, Blogger does not allow HTML modification in Dynamic View. So here it is, the same tweak adapted to serve Dynamic View users, using CSS alone...

One important note before you start. If you have a drop-down pages menu in your Dynamic Views, this tweak isn't gonna be useful. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I didn't bother to cover it as I figured having pictures in a drop-down menu is not gonna be that pretty. Also, it won't work on IE8 and earlier versions of IE (will work on IE9).

How to Install DAHDI for Asterisk

Note: This is a non-Blogger related post

Some of my friends have asked me how to install DAHDI on Linux based system. I was thinking of writing an email, but decided to immortalize the information by blogging about it instead. Back to the actual story. You'd need DAHDI modules installed on your linux machine to make Asterisk's audio conferencing feature work. The Debian virtual disk image that you guys have copied from campus network does not come with DAHDI pre-installed. In this post, I'm gonna show you guys how you can install DAHDI on your Debian. I've tried the installation on Fedora 16, and it works fine as well. Feel free to try it on other Linux distribution.

Blogger Picture Menu

A famous one for this week - how to add image buttons as menu in Blogger, instead of using text-based menus like Pages gadget and Linklist gadget. It's rather easy actually. Without further ado..

Note: If you're looking for a picture menu in Dynamic View templates, click here instead.

Remove Loading Gear from Blogger Dynamic View

Few readers have asked me if there is a way to remove the loading gear from Dynamic View. I couldn't capture the gear's code back then as it was too quick (and still is), but I've managed to find a way to analyze it. So here's how you can get rid of it.

Remove Border and Shadow from Blogger Dynamic View Images

First of all, my apologies for being ever so busy. I've been bombarded with lots of MSc level assignments, and they literally sucked the life out of me. Even now I've got lots of things going on in my mind. But that's not gonna stop me from publishing a post this week. I once published a post titled "Remove Blogger Picture Shadow and Border", and eventually this post became one of the most viewed posts in this blog. But as you can tell, it wasn't meant for dynamic view templates. Today, Im'ma show you how you can get rid of the borders and shadows from your dynamic view pictures as well.

Whoah!

Whoah! 36 new comments. I'm extremely sorry for not being able to reply your comments for the past 1 week. I'll start replying your comments/emails now :)

Assignments

Just a quick update. I've been tied up with another assignment, due next Wednesday. I've been getting plenty of emails and comments. My apologies because I don't have the time to reply your comments/emails at the moment. I promise I'll have a look as soon as I'm done with my assignment. Until then. God bless.

Change Blogger Dynamic View Pages Link Color

I've been extremely busy for the past few days, and I'm gonna get busy again for another assignment due next week. Back to this week's post. Let's see what I shall write about today **going through my queue of topics to blog about**.. Right, this one sounds interesting. Blog reader Jon Pennington asked how one can change the color of pages links on the black bar. Here's how.

S.O.S.

This is a quick update. I have few comments awaiting moderation. First of all, thanks for commenting. Here's the thing. I am very occupied at the moment with my assignment, and it is due Monday. Kinda racing against the time to finish it up. I promise I'll reply all your emails and comments as soon as I find some space for myself. Until then.

Drop-Down Pages Gadget Menu in Blogger Dynamic View

Here's a quickie. By default, when you add pages to your Pages gadget in Blogger's Dynamic View, you'd end up with stretching horizontal links. With this simple tweak, you can transform it to a drop-down styled menu instead! This is a response to blog reader OnlyUs.

Non-Floating Header in Blogger Dynamic View

Floating Header

Non-Floating Header

Last week, blog reader boboq88 asked if there is a way to make headers in Dynamic View to sit at one place, instead of floating around your screen. It took me 3 hours to come up with a fix then. Today I received a similar question from blog reader KY_Metro. So here's the fix, to discipline your header and make it sit at one place, instead of floating all around the place.

UPDATE: This tweak will not work on static pages...

Remove Blogger Dynamic View Search Bar

Should I say more? Maybe I should. Blogger's Dynamic View comes with a little search bar, placed at the top-right corner of your blog page. If you want to remove this search bar, here's how. This is a reply to blog reader Katie.

Adding an Image Next to Blogger Post Title

The title of this post is self-explanatory. By default, Blogger's post title is a plain text. In this tutorial, I'll show you how you can easily add an image next to your post title.

Remove 'Recommend this on Google' from Blogger Post Footer

I've just realised something new in my template's post footer box, something that wasn't there before --> "Recommend this on Google" text next to my Google +1 button. I don't like it as the text makes my share buttons look out of alignment. So, I've decided to hide it. And here's how.

Adding Header Image in Blogger Dynamic View

The Dynamic Views have been great and all, but the lack of customisation options have been off-putting for lots of bloggers, especially those who can't bear to have blogs without headers. That brings us to this post - how to add a header to Blogger's Dynamic View. Well, sort of. This is a response to blog reader MuseElle.

Change Dynamic View's Blog Title Color and Size

I've been publishing lots of Dynamic View basic customization tutorials lately. All these tutorials are so gonna be moot when the option to customize Dynamic View becomes available. For the mean time, let's focus on this good question that I got from blog reader रवि. He wants to change the color and font size of his Dynamic View's blog title. And here's how.

Change Blogger Dynamic View Post Title Color

While we wait for Blogger to introduce template customising options to Dynamic View, here's how you can change your Post Title's color (in Dynamic View). This is a respond to an anonymous blog reader. I figured the answer will serve better as a post rather than a comment-reply.

Change Blogger Dynamic View's Thumbnail Picture

Click here for a live demo!!

With the exception of Classic Dynamic View, all other Dynamic Views tend to fetch the first Blogger uploaded image from your post and use this image as a thumbnail for that post. You can't readily choose which image you want to use as the thumbnail. Of course, if you have no problem with the first image being the thumbnail for your post, you wouldn't be here. In this tutorial, I'll show you how you can choose a thumbnail picture for each one of your posts in Blogger's Dynamic View. This is a reply to blog reader MarcusRimondini.

Blogger Label Specific Gadget

I can't think of a better title for this post. This is what the tutorial does. Say you have a gadget, and you want the gadget to be displayed only on post pages that have a particular label. The gadget won't be shown in any other pages- this includes your homepage, static pages and other post pages that don't have the said label. This question was asked by blog reader Ranjan. Sorry for the delay buddy.

Hide Share Buttons in Blogger Dynamic Views

Blogger's Dynamic Views come with three default share buttons for each post - a Google +1 button, a Tweeter button, and a Facebook Like button. There's no option to turn it off as of now. In this quick tutorial, I will show you how you can hide all these buttons, or any one (or two) of them.

Disable Certain Dynamic Views in Blogger

So you can set your homepage to show one of the 7 Dynamic Views by default. The problem is, your blog might look good in some other views, and let's just say you don't want your readers to see your blog in some of the other dynamic views. And the black bar at the top of your blog offering your readers to choose their own dynamic view isn't exactly helping your blog to maintain its consistency. In this tutorial, I'm gonna show you how you can shave off some of these other view options from the black bar - so that your readers will be stuck with what you want them to see - unless of course if your readers know the URL trick, or if they use Internet Explorer.

Change Blogger's Dynamic View Background

Click here for a live demo!! 

Technically, the title should read 'Change Blogger's Dynamic View Content Background'. Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have known about Blogger's 7 new ways to display your blog. Yes, I wrote 'display', not 'view'. That means you can set your homepage to show in a dynamic view by default. But I'm not gonna write a review on how awesome the dynamic view is - as hundreds, if not thousands, of bloggers are already on that course. In this tutorial, I'm gonna show you how you can change the pale white background to a background image of your choice. You might be wondering why not just use the Template Designer to change Dynamic View's background instead. Yes you can, but you will only be able to change your main background - your contents will still show the white background. Hence, this much needed tutorial.

Obtaining Direct Links from Blogger Uploaded Images

This is not a full-featured tutorial by itself. Rather, the tutorial in this post will serve as a useful tool for many applications. In many instances, you will find yourself needing to upload an image to an image-hosting site and get its direct link. While it is perfectly okay to upload your image to famous image-hosting sites such us imageshack and photobucket, you will find it useful if you upload your images to Blogger's post editor instead. Yes, the next time someone asks you to take a screenshot of your computer and upload to an image-hosting site, you can use Blogger's post editor to do so. On top of that, you get to resize your image easily by changing it's address, if you upload your image to Blogger.

Open Blogger Picture Gadget Links in New Tabs

When you upload a picture to Blogger's picture gadget, you have the option to include a link to that picture. By default, the link loads on the same tab where the gadget is located - thus shifting your reader away from your domain. The tweak in this page will show you how you can make the link open on a new tab. Let's cut to the chase shall we?

Enlarging Blogger Slideshow Gadget

I've published a tutorial on how you can link your Flickr photo stream to Blogger's slideshow gadget. But the default frame size for Blogger's slideshow gadget is rather small. You can easily make this frame bigger. You won't get the prettiest pictures as you're stretching your original image, but personally I think it's a fair trade-off for this simple CSS trick. By the way, as we're stretching out original picture stream, it will be best if your images are not from a mixed orientation group. In other words, it works best if your images are all of portrait orientation, or landscape orientation.

Blog Update

Just came back from California a few days ago after attending Google Top Contributor Summit. And now my internet is back (yeahh). I spent one whole day just to reply Blogger related emails - imagine.

So, some blog updates:

1) I don't take questions directly any longer. But fear not, I am still attending to you guys - only the platform has changed. Previously, you could send a question directly to me via email, and I'd reply to you. Now, you need to post your question in Blogger Help Forum, and if you want my personal attention, head over to the 'Ask a Question' page in this forum, and send me the link to your question thread. I will reply to your question. Nothing has changed, except for how your question reaches me. I have strong reasons to change to this system.

• First of all, many of you mis-type your email addresses. I spend lots of time creating a solution for your problem, only to find out that I'd never reach you ever again - since your email address that you leave in the contact form is wrong.
• Some of your questions are so unique. With private emails, it was such a shame that I couldn't share the answer with anyone else.
• Next - some of the questions that you ask are so simple. Not that I don't answer simple questions, just that it is unfair for your to wait for my looong reply for simple questions - you could get answers within minutes if you post the same question in the Help Forum.
• Yes, other users will be able to help you as well. So there's no guarantee that I'll be attending to your question. If you want me to specifically answer your question in the Help Forum, just leave a foot-note at the end of your question requesting me to attend to you. In any case, as long as you summit your question link to me, I will come and have a look. If you're already attended by someone else and if the discussion is on the right track, I might not interfere.

2) Right now I still have few things in my hands to take care of. But I'm seeing good days ahead, so new Blogger tutorial posts will be up in a couple of days - or sooner. Just publishing this post to let you guys know that I am still alive.

Keep blogging, and as always, if you have any problem, feel free to seek for my assistance. I'll be happy to help. Here's a picture of Android 2.3 figurine - Gingerbread, from Googleplex. Cheers and God bless.

Google Top Contributor Summit 2011 Day 1

Finally, internet connection!! Some pictures from the Google TC Summit 2011, California.

From left: TC MOP TC Katney, Blogger Community Manager Lisa Ding, TC AiresofWar

From left: TC Enviroman, TC Nitecruzr, TC MOP, TC Katney

From left: TC Chavez (Checkout Forum), TC Gill (Docs Forum), TC Martins, TC Enviroman

TC Yoboy

Hide Certain Labels from Labels Gadget

Two weeks ago I published one of my best Blogger tweaks yet, how to hide certain posts from Blogger homepage. You get to hide certain posts simply by labeling the post 'hide'. One of the ways to view the hidden posts is by clicking on the 'hide' label, or any other name that you've chosen to trigger the hide sequence. Blog reader 'Gardens Jewish Experience' wants this particular label to be taken off from the Labels gadget as well.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to remove a particular label from the Labels gadget. It is completely independent from last week's tutorial. Therefore, you can always use this tweak to hide certain labels from appearing on your Labels gadget.

Hide Certain Posts from Blogger Homepage

It took me forever to come up with this one. But judging from the length of the code I've posted here, you should be able to tell how hard it was to come up with this one. First thing first - I will be seriously pissed if you try to copy this post, I mean it.

Now, back to the actual post. It has been a popular question/request from many bloggers - how to hide some posts from appearing on Blogger homepage? And now, with the help of labelled filters, you can actually do so. In other words, by labelling your posts 'hide', you can actually hide your post from ever seeing the light of your home page. And -- you can still view the post if you click on your archive or that 'Older post' or 'Newer post' link, or by accessing the post page directly via its URL, among other ways.

Removing Border and Shadow from Blogger Signature Image

Blog reader MeliBusla, and many others, have asked me how to remove borders and shadows from Blogger's signature image. Signature image is an image that you place at the bottom of your post - often automatically. The goal is to let the signature image blend in with your post as much as possible - to create an electronic signature of yourself. But some templates define borders and shadows for all images. As a result, the signature image stands out like any other images in that post, and does not blend in. I've replied to many comments on this in one of my previous posts, but I guess it's about time to give this famous question an answer that it deserves.

Adding Google +1 Share Button in Blogger Templates

The Google +1 button is like a bookmark that you can share with your online friends. It's like a 'tagging' feature that lets you share interesting stuffs with your buddies. Some compare this with Facebook's 'Like' button. Click here to learn more about this button.

You can add this button to your posts, so that your readers can easily +1 your posts (yes, '+1' is the latest verb in town). In designer templates, this button will automatically show up (if your template is not messed up). But in some templates, like Minima for example, you need to add some lines into your template to make the button appear. Some of your designer templates might be missing the button too, and the fix in the tutorial will take care of it.

I am aware of other ways on how you can add the +1 button. The fix in this post is an alternative for those who prefer to work with HTML rather than Javascript. I've not tested it on heavily modded custom templates. Feel free to try it and let me know how it goes. It works well in fixing your designer templates (templates that you can find in Template Designer) and Layout templates (basically Blogger 'approved' templates.).

Removing Hyperlinks from Blogger Post Pictures

When you remove the hyperlink off an image from your post, your post image won't be clickable anymore, preventing readers from accessing the larger version of the image. The easy way to do this is by selecting the image on your Blogger post editor, and deselect the button that says 'Link' from your post editor toolbar. You have to do this one by one for each post.

Linked

De-linked

But, what if you've posted hundreds of images across hundreds of posts, and you always want the option to restore the hyperlink in the future? That's where this cool trick comes to play. Yeap, this is a CSS tweak, not an HTML one.

Transformers Dark of the Moon Voyager Class Megatron Review

Disclaimer: This is not a Blogger post.
Robot to truck review of Transformers Dark of the Moon Voyager Class Megatron. Everything you need to know to achieve perfect transformation from robot mode to vehicle mode.

Transformers Dark of the Moon Leader Class Sentinel Prime Review

Disclaimer: This is not a Blogger post.
Robot to truck review of Transformers Dark of the Moon Leader Class Sentinel Prime. Everything you need to know to achieve perfect transformation from robot mode to vehicle mode.

Centering Blogger Comment Form

Here's a quick one. Your comment forms are left-aligned by default. In this post I'll show you how you can center the comment forms in one easy step.

Transformers Dark of the Moon Leader Class Ironhide and Transformers Hunt for the Decepticon Voyager Class Sea Spray!

Disclaimer: This is not a Blogger post.
You know why this is a special week? Because this week I have the Spend-all-I-want-and-get-away-with-it pass. Look what I've got here. Transformers Dark of the Moon Leader Class Ironhide and Transformers Hunt for the Decepticon Voyager Class Sea Spray! If you're in UK, you can get Ironhide for £35.99 at Argos. I know right? And Sea Spray? I picked him up from Amazon for £12.99. Can't wait to get my hands on them. More pictures after the break.

Blogger Slideshow Gadget with Flickr Account

Today, I'm gonna show you how you can link your (or anyone else's) Flickr account to Blogger slideshow gadget. And as a bonus, I'll show you how you can particularly link a single set (playlist, category) from your Flickr account to play as a slideshow in your Blogger slideshow gadget.

Show Date and Timestamp for Each Blogger Post

Re-tweaked by popular demand! Previously, I wrote a tutorial on how you can tweak your template to show date for each one of your Blogger posts. By default, posts that are published on the same day will have only one date shown, particularly on the last published post. In some templates, posts that are published on the same day are even grouped together (see image above).

In my old tutorial, I replaced the date with the timestamp. In other words, the timestamp had to be sacrificed just to have dates shown on each blogger post. But this time around, I've imrpovised the tweak by using some Javascript. You won't have to tamper with your timestamp to have the dates shown on each post. You get both Date and Timestamp with this tweak, and it's wayyy shorter than the other one!

Transformers Dark of the Moon Advanced Screening

Another non-Blogger related post. I managed to secure a ticket for the advanced screening of Transformer Dark of the Moon, happening on Tuesday, 28 of June, at 9PM. And I was the first one to get the ticket! Hooray!