Official Blogger Light Box

Most of you might have noticed the Light box overlay display for images on your Blogger Blogs. The feature looks similar to the one in Google Plus. The feature is enabled on all Blogger Blogs by Default.

Some time back I had posted about implementing a Light Box on Blogger. Now such hacks are not necessary Here is a Screen Shot the new LightBox Feature

 

and here is the Live Demo

When you click on the Small Version of the image, it will open the Bigger Version in the LightBox Over Lay.". These are the keyboard shortcuts supported by the LightBox Overlay:

1.Left / right arrows

2. j/k

3. n/p

All these keys will help you in navigating through the images,

4. Esc to close the LightBox.

Update:

14/10/2011: Blogger has now added an Option to turn off the Light Box Feature

To do that Go to Settings > Posts and Comments and set “Open Images in Lightbox” to “No”

Readmore → Official Blogger Light Box

How to Disable the Blogger Light Box

As of now there is no Official Method to Override the Lightbox, and it is enabled on all of the Blogger Blogs. If you don’t like the Light Box, and want to remove it from your Blog, then read on:

Update:

Blogger has now added an option to disable the Light Box. The feature is enabled by default. You can turn it Off from Settings > Posts and Comments. You just have to set “Open images in Lightbox” option to “No”

 

Now Click on the “Save Settings” Button

Readmore → How to Disable the Blogger Light Box

Google Analytics in Blogger

Blogger has added a new option to easily integrate Google Analytics with your Blog.

To Add your Google Analytics Tracking code, you just need to specify your Google Analytics Account number in your Blogger Dashboard. To do that Go to Settings > Other and fill up  the “Google Analytics Account number” field, Once done Save the Settings. Now Blogger will automatically add the analytics tracking code to your blog(even on the mobile version).

Adding The Analytics Account number in Blogger

Go to Settings  > Other and provide your Google Analytics Account number.



Click the Save Settings Button when done.
If you are using a Custom template, then you might have to apply the fix mentioned at the end of the tutorial.
If you don’t know your Analytics Account number, then read on:
1. Login to analytics
2. Now Click on the Edit Link to the right of your Blog’s profile(If don’t yet have a Website  profile, then you can create one)



3. Now you will be taken to a page like :



4. Click on the “Check Status” link

You will see a screen like


5. Copy the Web Property ID from there. That’s your Analytics Account number which you can provide in the Blogger Settings.

Fix:
If you are using a custom template, then the Google Analytics code might not be added to your Blog. To check that Edit your template(Template > Edit HTML) and look for(Ctrl + F or Cmd +F)

<b:include name='google-analytics' data='blog'/>

If it is not there in your template, then add it above

</body>

Readmore → Google Analytics in Blogger

Switch Blogger Profile To Google Plus

Ever Since the launch of Google Plus, Google has been tightly integrating it with other Google Products. Now Google is trying to help the users have a unified Google Profile which can be used across its various products.

If you are using the New Blogger Interface, and you haven't yet switched to Google Plus, then you will be greeted by this message in your Dashboard.

 

If you dismissed this message, or if you are unable to find it, then you can follow this link to Get Started. http://www.blogger.com/switch-profile.g

It’s really so easy to make the switch. You just have to follow the on Screen guidance.

 

Once you click on the Switch now Button, you will make a transition to your Google Plus Account.

Now you can add your Blog’s to your Google Plus Profile. It will be displayed in your Google Plus About Page in the ‘Contributor to’ Section

 

If you want to display  your Profile information in Google Search results, then you have to add your Blogs to your Google Plus Profile. To know more about getting your Profile information alongside Google Search results, refer the following post

Google Plus Profile information in Google Search Results

Once you are done with this step, you will see a notification in your Dashboard saying that you have made the switch.

Reverting back

If you feel like reverting back to your Blogger Profile, then Go to Blogger Home Page.On the right side you will see a Settings Icon. Click that and you will see an option to Revert back to your Blogger Profile

 

You will be asked for a confirmation and once you confirm you will be taken back to your Blogger Profile

 

Readmore → Switch Blogger Profile To Google Plus

Connect Blogger To Google Plus

A few months back Blogger announced that they will be providing an option to integrate their Google + Profile into Blogger. This was available only on the Blogger in Draft Dashboard. Now it has rolled out of draft and is available for everyone. If you have a Google + Account and you are using the same Google Account for Blogger, then you can easily make the switch.

What does all of it mean?

1. Your existing Blogger Profile will be replaced by your Google + Profile.
   
2. If you are adding an About Me Gadget, the Gadget will show your Google Plus Profile.
   
3. Similarly the comments that you make on other blogs will link to your Google Plus Profile.
   
4. If you add an About Me Gadget, it will automatically bring in the authorship tag required to display your Google Plus Profile information in Google Search Results
   
5. If you connect your Blogger Account to G+ , then you will have an option to easily share your Posts to Google +. Whenever you publish or update a post, you will be prompted to share your post on Google Plus and you can share your post In a single click.

 

This feature is only available in the new Blogger Interface. So if you are still using the Old UI, this might be a good time to switch. 

If you don’t like this sharing prompt, then you can disable it in the Settings > Posts and Comments Page

 

As of now this sharing prompt will only allow you to share the post to your Public Profile. It would be great id Blogger could post to the Google Plus Brand Pages as well.

That’s all about the list of features and the Blogger team will be adding more and more Google Plus integrations.

To avail the benefit of these integrations, you should first switch your Blogger Profile to the Google Plus one.You can easily do that by visiting this link http://blogger.com/switch-profile.g  To read more about the profile switch, Refer Switch Blogger Profile with Google Plus

Readmore → Connect Blogger To Google Plus

How to Upgrade Linode VPS Webhosting Plan

Linode is one of the top VPS webhosting and it enabled you to resize your memory usage anytime. Though this may bring couple of minutes downtime but after increasing your memory, your website will be more faster and stable.

In this quick tutorial, I will be sharing how to upgrade your Linode plan to increase resources.

At the moment of writing, I was upgrading from Linode 1024 to Linode 1536 plan. To upgrade your linode plan, login to linode dashboard.

Click on dashboard in front of linode which you have created and on the next page click on resize on the navbar.

You can select your desired plan and you can upgrade or downgrade your linode current plan accordingly. Though always remember you will be charged on prodata basis and also your site will go down for couple of minutes to migrate.

Readmore → How to Upgrade Linode VPS Webhosting Plan

How to Change Name Server for Domain from Godaddy

Godaddy is one of the top domain hosting website. Though I personally never liked Godaddy for Webhosting but for Domain I like it, because they keep sending promotional coupon and if you are lucky enough, you might get .com domain for as low as $1.17.

In this tutorial I’m explaining how you can change your domain name server from the domains which you have bought from Godaddy.

Get .com Domain from Godaddy

Step by step process of changing Name server for Godaddy domains:

• Login to your Godaddy account and go to domain management tool.
• Click on + sign before any domain name whose name server you would like to change.

 

Click on Name server tab on manage domain page and click on set name servers.

 

Select the option which says “ I have specified name servers for my domain”.

Click on ok and it might take some time to replicate your updated name server.

I hope this tutorial would help you to change your name server of domain bought from Godaddy.

Sign up for Godaddy

Do let me know if you have any queries while setting up name server for Godaddy domain.

Readmore → How to Change Name Server for Domain from Godaddy