News!! How To Edit Your Subject Inwards Blogger

This article is most how to edit your topic inwards Blogger.

It supports many other articles on this site, which propose specific topic changes needed to solve special problems.    Note that until early on 2017, themes were called templates.   In practise, "edit your template" in addition to "edit your theme" hateful the same thing.

In Blogger, a topic is a file which controls how your weblog are displayed on the concealment when someone reads it using a browser or a mobile device.   Themes used to last called templates, but were renamed "themes" inwards early on 2017.

Previously, I've looked at whether it's a expert thought to edit your Blogger topic / template or not.   Because themes are the same affair every bit templates, the same principles apply to editing your theme.

For many people, editing the topic is precisely something which they take to do, because it's the solely way to do what they desire (remove the attribution, show a gadget on the homeppage only, add a Facebook similar push to posts, etc).   And Blogger is oftentimes preferred because it allows users to edit aspects of their topic which other blogging tools done allow changes to.

Overview - how to edit your blog-theme

In general, the procedure to edit your topic is:

• Make a back-up re-create of the theme, every bit it is now
• Open the theme-editor
• Make the change
• Check that it works, in addition to if not, larn dorsum to the previous theme.

The next sections convey to a greater extent than details most each of these steps.

How to brand a backup re-create of your electrical flow theme

I know:   It's tempting to skip this if you're solely making a little change. I fifty-fifty skip it myself sometimes. And it's non needed if this is the showtime fourth dimension you've ever customised your topic - because yous tin recover from problems past times precisely reinstalling the touchstone theme.

But if yous would last upset to lose whatsoever topic changes yous made earlier, or if the alter yous are making right away is not minor, in addition to thence I strongly recommend making a re-create before yous start, precisely inwards case.  To do this

• From the Blogger dashboard, larn to the Themes tab
• Click the Backup / Restore button close the overstep right of the dashboard
• Click the Download Theme button, in addition to then wait spell the file downloads.
• After the download has finished, discovery the place where your estimator puts downloaded files.
• Find the file that was precisely created,
• Rename it to something sensible
   (eg MyBlog topic backup before alter 31 January 2012.xml)
• Move the file to somewhere safe: commonly somewhere on your estimator is fine - or yous brand similar to upload it to somewhere similar Google Docs, to last absolutely certainly that it won't larn lost.

How to opened upward Blogger's topic editor

• From the Blogger Dashboard, to to the Themes tab
• Click Edit HTML

Now yous convey your topic opened upward inwards the topic editor, the adjacent challenge is making changes successfully - or backing them out if your changes were non successful.

How to brand the alter to your theme

• Find the code yous take to change:
  See Searching for text inwards Blogger's topic editor if yous take help alongside this.
  
  Note:   roughly of the older "how to" articles nation to brand certainly that the Expand Widgets checkbox off or on.   This checkbox has right away been removed from Blogger's topic editor.    If the instructions yous are next says to larn out it "off", in addition to thence yous should precisely last able to follow them every bit is.    However if yous are told to plough Expand Widgets off,  then yous take to discovery the right business office of the code past times searching for the widget-id or department name, in addition to and thence "unfold" that to run across the consummate code.   

• Make the alter (This article doesn't larn into the principles of topic design, at that topographic point are plenty of other articles in addition to websites most that: I'm assuming that yous know what yous take to do).

• Click the Preview theme button
  If Blogger tin brand feel of the alter yous made, in addition to thence thought of your weblog is shown inwards the theme-editing area, alongside what looks similar your blog's homepage. It's non a existent re-create of your weblog (the links won't work, the spacing powerfulness non last quite the same), but it shows yous how the home-page volition await alongside your topic edits.
  
• Do a quick banking concern check that the concealment looks right - for roughly changes yous fifty-fifty last able to tell if the alter has been successful precisely from this preview screen.
  
  However:  If the novel window/tab shows an fault message like

Your topic could non last parsed every bit it is non well-formed. Please brand certainly that all XML elements are shut properly. <br/> XML fault message: The chemical factor type "div" must last terminated past times the matching end-tag "</div>".Error 500 

or

Your template could non last parsed every bit it is non well-formed. Please brand certainly that all XML elements are shut properly. <br/> XML fault message: Element type "b:widget" must last followed past times either attribute specifications, ">" or "/>".

 then Blogger has non been able to sympathise the alter yous made. Sometimes the fault message gives a clue most what's wrong, although it tin last misleading.   Check that yous made the alter correctly - develop whatsoever errors in addition to click Preview again.  If it nonetheless doesn't work, inquire for help from the identify that suggested the alter yous are making 

.

•  Once yous are happy that the preview concealment looks OK, click the Save theme button.

How to seek your topic change

the page-gadget every bit a menu, the archive widget, ) your weblog uses. You take to decide what to test, based on all of these.

At least, I e'er click on in addition to banking concern check on these things when I've made a major topic change:

1. the dwelling page
2. the items inwards the carte du jour bar
3. a label value
4. an archive widget entry
5. custom-search-engine results
6. comments

And if I'm beingness peculiarly reader-focussed, I'll also banking concern check these things inwards more than i browser:   commonly inwards the electrical flow version of Internet Explorer, Firefox in addition to Chrome.

What to do if your topic alter wasn't successful

If yous discovery that the topic alter has caused problems, in addition to thence ou convey receive got a choice to make:

Can yous in addition to your readers alive alongside the problems on your weblog for "a while", spell yous await for other solutions? 

Or 

Do yous take to take the alter right now, thence visitors tin purpose your weblog every bit it was spell yous solve the issues.

There is no right response to this question:   It's a personal decision, based on the blog, in addition to your readers.   But if yous do take to take the topic change, here's how to do it:

• Open the Themes tab
• Click the Backup / Restore button near the overstep right of the dashboard
• Click Choose File in addition to discovery the file that yous downloaded earlier
• Click Upload.

It is best to restore your theme before yous convey changed whatsoever gadgets.  If yous larn a message most widgets beingness missing, in addition to thence it agency that the gadgets associated alongside your weblog are non the ones referred to inwards the theme.   If this happens, yous take to create upward one's heed whether to deep or delete whatsoever "orphaned" ones, in addition to may take to banking concern check their settings again.

Making complicated changes

If your topic may take a lot of "surgery" spell yous figure out how to brand a change, in addition to thence it may last a expert thought to create a individual test-blog to do the run in, in addition to solely re-create the contents into your "real" weblog topic when yous are certainly that you've got it right (or correct-enough).

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Related Articles

Advantages in addition to disadvantes of editing your Blogger theme

Finding things spell editing inwards your blogger theme

Adding CSS formatting rules to your blog, without editng the theme

How to take the "powered past times Blogger" attribution from designer-theme blogs

Putting a gadget on the homeppage only

Planning changes to your weblog - without readers seeing what yous are doing

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