Template Improvements Announced

As work begins on the Benevolent Blogger template, a new template coding style is set to transform Allocentric Blogger from amateur to professional. According to BlogMechanic, the innovation shall be achieved through software engineering techniques in template production and maintenance.

In this design iteration, support and documentation are key issues to be solved. From hereon, template resources, downloads and documentation (PDF's) will now be available at Bloggerized Templates hosted by Google Sites. While Blogger Brigade will be hosting its own wiki, BlogMechanic believes that Google's blogging platform will be best served by utilizing other freely available Google resources.

By the end of the month, Allocentric Blogger, Benevolent Blogger and other free blogging templates designed for Blogger Brigade will all be using the same code base. Only the overall look and feel will be different.

Expandable Posts Feature

Blogging is About Publishing, a long editorial at Blogger Brigade, got help from JavaScript to hide a large part of the post until the reader clicks on the "Read more..." link.

The JavaScript code for the feature came from a solution posted at Blogger Help Group. For this feature to take effect on other Allocentric Blogger installations, it has to be added manually to the templates so as not to overwrite any revisions since first installation.

Amateur Astrologer Gets Template

Two astrology blogs, Talking Astrology and Predictions with Astrology, now have Allocentric Blogger template. According to ZodiacEngineer, the sites are being developed for syndication to provide feeds to other sites about astrology. So definitely, he welcomes the shift in writing style to the news format.

Aspiring Writer Adopts Template

BookEngineer, an aspiring author and blogger adopts Allocentric Blogger template for his Amazon Book Project. The project journal will be linked to several related Web 2.0 sites including other blogs hosted at blogger.com. According to BlogMechanic, this is another interesting opportunity for Allocentric Blogger because affiliate links from Amazon.com will have to be accommodated.

Blogger Brigade Makes It Official

Allocentric Blogger is now an official template of Blogger Brigade at blogger.com. Because of this, Allocentric Blogger is expected to be seen and adopted by an increasing number of bloggers. BlogMechanic welcomes this development to test the different parts of the template.

To formalize the partnership, a "Designed for Blogger Brigade" notice will now appear at the bottom of the page with an outgoing link to Blogger Brigade's journal at blogger.com.