Show Post Title in Full in Magazine Blogger Dynamic View

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I've published tutorials on how post titles can be shown in full in Blogger's Flipcard and Timeslide Dynamic Views before, and Blog Reader Pierre Egault would like to know a similar trick for Magazine view - as Magazine view tends to truncate your title when a custom web font is used. This tweak should also help to reduce the gap in your post title's line height when a custom font is used. So, here's how:

Comment Link Next to Blogger Post Title

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Finally, a non-dynamic post after a long time (or I should say, a *post* after a long time).. Knowing there's a way to add labels next to post titles, blog reader Amy was curious to know if there's a way to do the same with Comment links - adding the link next to the title, including the comment counter.. Since this doesn't involve a Dynamic template, you have all the reason in the world to believe there must be a way. Personally, I think this tweak could be especially handy, now that the comment link in post footer is more of a hit-and-miss thing. Without further ado, here's how..

Say Hello to Google+ Comments - NOT!

After careful considerations and long fruitful chats with fellow TCs, I have decided that it is finally time to give G+ comments a try. This is in accordance with Google's effort to keep all their products somewhat unified and tied in a way. Seeing how important Google sees the G+ community, I think it is only fair to give this a shot. It does come with a downside though - You have to have Google Plus account to leave a comment. That, and the lack of a feature to moderate comments under a single tab is kinda off-putting. But I'll give it a whirl anyway and see how it goes. Hello Google+ Comments!

Update: Notification is not working - I'm reverting to Blogger's commenting again. I've been busy with work, and it took me several days to realise I have not been getting any notifications for the comments left in this blog. This is disastrous as it isn't practical for me to view 200+ posts one by one to look for new comments. I've decided to take a U-turn. My faith in G+ comments is seriously dented now, and it's gonna take some serious convincing if I were to switch back to G+ comments again. To those of you who have left G+ comment questions here, I'm afraid I won't be able to see your messages (please repost them once I reactivate Blogger's comment system).

Changing Font Size in the Header Bar in Blogger's Dynamic View Templates

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You'd think there is an easy way to change the size of the font on your Dynamic View's header bar. Oh wait, there is - the option to change your font size is very much there in your Template Designer (under Advanced - Header Bar). But let's be honest here. I have not seen this working. It never had any effect on my actual template, and no, not even on my preview page. Fortunately, there's a way to manually change the font size in the header bar, and here's how.

Removing Subscribe Gadget from Blogger's Dynamic View

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Now that there's a fix for the Ghost Template problem in Dynamic View template, let's focus on to other areas that need some fixings. First, the Subscribe gadget. Why is it always there? How the hell do you remove it? Well, removing it might be a little tricky, but there's an easy way to just hide it altogether from showing up - and it works just as good. Here's how..

Finally a fix for Blogger Dynamic View Templates not Loading Properly

When Dynamic View templates were first introduced close to two years ago, we were awed by it's shiny design and the clean look that the templates gave us. Then we were slightly annoyed by the fact that they were not very much customisable. And then we realised that every now and then, the blog won't load in full - something I used to call the 'Ghost Template' - where only a single 'Subscribe' gadget is shown, and none of that tabs, comments and other stuffs. Turns out, Blogger included a timeout mechanism within the template itself to ensure a fast loading speed when your blog is rendered. If your contents are too large to be loaded within the defined timeout period, it'll just load a stripped down version of your full template.

Luckily, the good people at Global Nomads finally found a fix. Check out their post below.

Fixed: Blogger Dynamic Views Fails to Load Properly

Full Post Title in Timeslide Blogger Dynamic View

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In Timeslide View, your post titles won't show in full if they're too long. This makes them to be truncated halfway, and it just looks off. Long story short, here's an easy trick to make the titles show in full.

Google Web Font in Blogger Dynamic View

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There are about 84 Google Web Fonts that you can readily select from your Template Designer to be used in your Template. On the other hand, there are about 600+ supported web fonts in Google Fonts library - and yes, there's a way to use them in your blog. Here's how:

Note: This method will also work for non-dynamic templates.

Replace Loading Gear in Blogger's Dynamic View

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If you have a fast Internet connection, you probably wouldn't have noticed a small loading gear that appears before a Dynamic View blog is opened. In any case, in one of my posts written to explain how this loading gear can be removed, a reader asked if it is possible to replace this icon with an icon of your own. You bet it is! I've already answered this question in the comment itself (ages ago). But what kind of person would I be if I expect readers to look for answers within the comment sections? So here it is..

Blogger's New HTML Editor

This isn't a tweak - more like a guide on how to use Blogger's new 'Edit HTML' box to make tweaks to your blog. I'll get to the point. Most of the times, you do not care what's in the box. You go there when a tutorial sheet requires you to do so, and almost always, you'd use the Search Function in your browser (invoked by hitting Ctrl + F on your keyboard) to look for whatever it is you're looking for.

But with the new editor, you won't see the result that you want to see with this old way of doing things. The tweak is to..

Gadget Dock Overlaps on Static Page Scrollbar in Blogger Dynamic Views

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If you have gadgets in your Dynamic View blog, you would have noticed that the dock overlaps on top of the scroll bar when you view one of your static pages. This is especially annoying if the page is lengthy and you need to click on the scroll bar for an easy navigation. Actually, this isn't much of a bug. If you study the structure of static pages in Dynamic Views, you'll understand why this design accident is happening. Personally, I don't see this getting fixed, as it will require some degree of restructuring on Blogger's end. Worry not, here's what you can do on your part to get it (somewhat) fixed.

Change Comment Text Color and Background in Blogger Dynamic View

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Some time ago, I published a tutorial on how one can highlight author comments in non-dynamic Blogger templates. I couldn't publish a similar one for Dynamic View due to lack of proper handlers in Dynamic View templates. But that doesn't mean we cannot change the generic comment text color or background in these templates. I was surprised to find this option isn't readily available in the Template Designer. In any case, here's how you can change your comment's text color and background in Dynamic View templates.

Adding Followers Gadget in Blogger (post-GFC-retirement)

So, Google decided to retire most of Google Friend Connect's feature last year, though they have mentioned that they will continue to run the service for the 'foreseeable future'. The GFC Follower's gadget, that used to be available in the 'Add a Gadget' list of gadgets, has now been replaced with Google+ Followers gadget. For those of you who are still using GFC's Followers gadget, you can keep using it, until Google decides to pull the plug. But for new users, or for those of you who had your gadget accidentally removed, here's how you can add it back.