New Feature: Gadgets for your Blog
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google gadgets,
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We’ve added some fun new functionality to Blogger in Draft: Google Gadgets for your blog. This feature lets you add pretty much any Google Gadget to your blog’s sidebar.
The Gadget directory is the same one used on iGoogle, which means there are thousands of Gadgets available for you to try. (Note: since most Google Gadgets were designed for iGoogle, they won’t all make sense for display on a blog.)
The Gadget directory is available directly in Blogger Layouts, in the Template | Page Elements | Add a Page Element popup:
This is an early version of our integration with Google Gadgets, so there will likely be some rough edges. Let us know what you think in this post’s comments!
Posts
76 comments:
Brilliant, i think this feature is one of the best :D
I really like how we keep getting new and great add-ons for our blogs - very useful and I can imagine all sorts of features I can add to my blog. Without risking overwhelming the readers, I am sure I can find one or two amazing gadgets!
Cheers,
Mungo
Mungo Says Bah
Very cool. Thanks. And keep the good stuff coming. :)
i don't have this on my account :(
@ darwyn4:
Make sure you've logged in to draft.blogger.com, and not just regular Blogger.
thanks :)
I'm wondering if there is another blog I should be visiting to find out about progress on the Features and Suggestions Wish List: http://help.blogger.com/?page=wishlist
The new add-ons announced on this blog are great, but I wish Blogger's basic functionality matched what's available at Wordpress.com. I came across an up-to-date comparison of the two systems here:
http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2007/07/blogger-wordpress-chart.html
Wordpress.com has two big drawbacks: Payment for an upgrade before they'll let you edit the CSS, and no JavaScript allowed. The rest of the standard features are first class.
When click ADD TO BLOG it return an error
bx-wpmy3n
cool, this tools very good
Yes! I can finally add the Blogger @ Play feature to my blog (if it will fit in my sidebar, and if not, I guess I'll have to redesign it).
LONG LIVE BLOGGER!
PS
Are there any other features you guys (and gals) are working on "in draft?")
Double PS
Thanks for the "email follow up comments" feature. Although, would it be possible to allow people to follow up comments, without having a Blogger ID?
So cool~
But I meet some problem. The gadget I added to the blog has no vertical scroll bar even if the autoscroll parameter set. And the gadget preference parameter shows in setting page, but can not be saved if you change that.
Iake: The error you experienced was most likely a fluke, we have seen a few timeout errors as we tune some settings. If you still get an error please post the error code here and I will look into it.
lanma: Which gadget did you have problems with?
Dear Thomas:
Please search lanma (or lanma chiu): try this gadget: "Google image search with thumbnail" . (source: http://lanma0307.googlepages.com/is_gadget.xml ) . The preference setting (set country ) works now, but the scroll bar, which appear when you type words in the textbox, is at the wrong place. I saw a thin vertical scroll bar in the preview window. After I add this gadget to my blog, I didn't see the vertical scrollbar. (Maybe the width is smaller.) This gadget works correctly in iGoogle page. It's better to adjust the vertical scrollbar position to left a little. By the way, is it possible to add my gadget by input url address directly just like in iGoogle page? Thanks a lot.
These are great advances!
What I have on my iGoogle homepage is a great gadget from Google with the feeds to my other blogs. Each entry on the feed has a + sign that will open an individual post (scaled down), within the gadget.
I really really need this gadget for my blogs to give a great visual link to the other blogs.
HOW??
Thank you!
This is really neat if you're trying to turn your blog into a MySpace clone.
Come on Blogger how about some real widgets for people who want to be publishers on Blogger.
I'd prefer a recent comments widget and a latest posts widgets rather than showing what the weather is like or the funniest quotes from Bart Simpson.
How about the ability to make a static page where I can control if my sidebars show up or not.
Heck at this point I would settle for a flipping label cloud!
Give me some reason not to move to my a dedicated host with WP as my blog.
I noticed visitors from this page to my post, Blogger vs Wordpress.com comparison chart, in my StatCounter reports. Since the post was first published, I've also noticed frequent search engine referrals from visitors wanting features that Blogger doesn't actually provide. The two most common queries are for static pages and importing a Wordpress blog.
It seems there have been problems with WP's Askimet spam protection, so I updated my post. Maybe that's one of the reasons WP users want to switch.
MrBrownThumb made a good point. Although there's nothing wrong with having lots of gadgets on offer, if basic features are lacking it does seem as if Blogger is giving priority to the gimmicky stuff. If my memory serves me correctly, the Blogger Wish List included 'static' pages and an 'import' function long before Blogger in Beta was launched.
lanma: We had a bug where preferences sometimes wasn't saved correctly unless you clicked "update" on the preview first. The fix is live now. We also had an issue that effectively disbaled all scrollbars fro gadgets. Expect a fix for this to be live in a two weeks after our testers have had some time to beat on it.
"Add by url" will also be available in two weeks. If you need it right away you can use this hack:
1. Go to the list of gadgets, pick any gadget
2. On the "configure gadget", find the URL of the page. In Firefox, you can find it by choosing "view page info" on the right-click menu.
3. Paste the URL into another window. You will see that it has a paramater url=somegadgeturl.xml. Replace the value of the url parameter with the url to your gadget.
4. You will now get a "configure gadget" page for your gadget. Click "save" as usual to add it to your blog.
This will of course be just an input field when we get this feature out in two weeks.
andree: Feed gadgets unfortunately can't be shown on Blogger currently, but we are looking at it. For now the closest thing is probably to use a Link List page element. It's not quite the same, but we will have some better options soon.
Hi Thomas: thank you for responding. The problem? I tried to follow your directions and you say "pick any gadget" and later, you speak of "configure gadget".
What does "pick" mean? Pick it and place it on my igoogle page? Click on the gadget so that I go to the page that will add it to my igoogle page?
The thing is, at no point do I ever find a 'configure gadget' choice. So now I am lost!
thank you.
andree: "pick any gadget" means click a gadget in the gadget list. You will then go to a page with heading "Configure Gadget", which is the page where you can edit gadget settings and save the gadget to your blog. Step 2 should read "on the "configure gadget" page, find the URL of the page.
Step 3 and 4 tells you to change the url parameter for the "configure gadget" page, which will give you the same page for a different gadget.
Sorry for being vague, was this clearer?
well no
and that is because I misunderstood: I thought "link by url" meant i could put url of the blog i want in the gadget and then it would be a gadget.
my fault.
sorry.
I already use the feed link page element. It's not good but it is there.
sorry again, and thank you.
Hi thank you
Dear Blogger in Draft!!
In sake of God, Please Please and Please work on "Right to Left" Templates and Posting.
Millions of Right to Left writers, look forward to switch to "Never being Deleted" blogging server, BLOGGER!
AlizzA
Enabling comment forms under posts is a must ! please do something about it . It's not a good idea to click on a link then post a comment . people should have the ability to post their comments right under the post without clicking on a link.
welcıme to
I think the single biggest feature we all need is a comment form on the same page as the post. Absolutely everyone hates to click another link and go to another differnt page(or a popup) to post a comment.
Please do add this to your feature list and bring this feature up, maybe as a christmas gift :)
Sir,
This might be an innappropriate comment for this post... but i am helpless.. i could not locate a post on the slide-show widget
I tried adding my photoblog feed (http://photoblog-by-deepa.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss) to the slide show "other" url... for soem reason.. i am not getting any error and I am also not able to see the slide show..
are blogger feeds not accepted by slideshow... pls let me know
thank you
Deepa
I think it need more styling option (bgcolor, border,...)
It's a good idea to add expandable post feature in the editor.
This looks interesting. One of Blogger's strengths is the wide arrange of content it lets us add to our blogs. Wordpress.com, for example, is much more restrictive in this respect.
nice!
i don't have this on my account :(
I don't have it either :(
Note: leaving comments on wordpress is much easier. If everyone hates the comment layout on blogger why not fix it?
I think this is a great feature..... but note thew drawbacks I've pointed out in my blog on :
http://ummedmaverick.blogspot.com/2007/12/google-and-gadgets.html
I can't see it on my account :(
hi,
i did log on to the draft blog thing but i still cant get the tool1
please help me, i have been trying for
14x and still doesnt work!
I added the weather forcast to my page and it will not let me change the city from New York! I have tried to do this over 5 times, please help!
Also, the right side of the weather forcast and world clocks gets cut off--is this just because I am "viewing" it, or is this a problem if my friends look at my blog too?
thanks
Awesome!
Am I missing something, I cant find the gadgets object in the add page element popup, the only new ones are Poll and Slideshow...
Found it.. must use draft.blogger...
Calendar doesnt display though.. just a big box with a few options, but no calendar...
SOrry I don't see it or draft.blogger
what am I missing??
Sorry, but I dont; understand what all the GADGETS are. What kind of gadgets? What do they do? How do they improve a BLOG, and is there not a point at which a BLOG can get too busy?
Very Cool Features. Keep it up with such new stuff.
google is always user friendly.. TQ
I'm not getting the gadget feature when I open the element popup window -- what's the problem?
I also don't get the gadgets as a chice in the add page element popup....
?????
Any help?
M
I also don't get the gadgets as a choice in the add page element popup....
Did you take it out?
I'm having big problems trying to embed an mp3 player...
I agree with the following recommendation:
"I think the single biggest feature we all need is a comment form on the same page as the post. Absolutely everyone hates to click another link and go to another differnt page(or a popup) to post a comment."
The gadgets tab is not showing up in my page add page element. How to I get it to appear
I'm not getting the gadgets tab, either. Anyone figure out what's going on?
I can't see the gadgets tab, either.
I am trying to post a google calendar, but it won't display *my* calendar (with events on it), just a generic eventless one. Does anyone know how to edit the calendar widget once you add it to the blog?
I love this, thanks much! Can I reconfigure the width of the gadget windows? I only see an adjustment for the height.
how do i get this
i cant add this, any help?
this new feature is superb!! Thanks blogger for this one
If you don't see the Google gadget on the list of page elements, make sure you are on Draft Blogger, not the regular blogger.
http://draft.blogger.com/home
rofl. this is the 1st time i've ever heard about 'draft' blogger.
wow. thx
Gadgets have been great except for google maps,something has gone wrong and the gadget does not display,but unlike other gadgets I can not get rid of it, when you try to edit it, it takes you to the add gadgets for your homepage(igoogle) How can i fix this. Cheersryntky
Going to giv eit a whirl. You guys are great!
Blogging has turned into the grandest adventure of my life. Always something new, always meeting new friends, always expanding my horizons!
THANK YOU!!!
Hugs, JJ
im new member in blog but i had found many experience in blog i like this web but i dont now how to use it,whatt gedget and how to use gedget hope some ppl can help me,but ilike blog i can write as i wish my inspiration my oppinion and anything.i could find the newthings here.
When will the draft result to a final Google Blogger? This looks great for bloggers out there!
EmpowerTube
I didn't realize I could add more gadgets then just the ones that pop up on my add an element page until reading this post. This is cool.
I cant seem to find the add gadget element in the layouts page elements, can someone help me because, i think its a cool feature...
thanks
well i tried blogger in draft and now my blog has been all jacked up getting a bx error code since Tuesday! can someone please help me!!!!
stampinsilvia: Try removing the blog list from your blog. Sorry about this bug, we are working on it.
The blog list is really cool. Mine seems to have stopped stopped updating too.
One more issue with blog list is that I keep having one of the individual blogs I've listed indented so that it's not lined up with the others in the list. I thought maybe the number of blogs I listed was an issue but I deleted an old blog name and kept the newer one and that new one is still indented.
yes,its very cool thanks.
Digg / All News, Videos, &
Images
Search this blog works with everything but the blog! is this a true problem or am I doing something wrong?
I tried twice today to run a search of the News Gadgets and both times received the following error code:
bX-t6cn0t
Additional information
blogID: 8191222310022924361
host: draft.blogger.com
uri: /choose-gadget
Interesting. Keep it up.
I need something that shows me how many people visited my blog
Like a traffic count or something!
Help!
Thanks
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