Now this is exciting news! Blogger has just announced a new feature: the ability to create static pages and then display them in tabs at the top of your blog or in the sidebar! With this feature, Blogger now mimics one of the best features of blogs that use WordPress as their platform.
How To Create Blogger Pages
Using my personal genealogy blog, Destination: Austin Family, as an example, here is how to use the new Pages feature at Blogger:
- Log in at Blogger. Go to the Posting tab on your Dashboard.
- Click the Edit Pages link at the top.
- Click New Page and then begin creating your page. Enter a Page Title and then the content of the page. The Page dialog uses the same toolbar as the Posting dialog.
- Click Publish at the bottom of the screen. Next, choose the location for the new page. Your choices include the sidebar, in a tab below your blog’s masthead or a link that you can use for manual placement.
- Click Save and Publish. In the example below, I’ve opted to use the Tab feature.
- Click on the link in the tab and the new Page displays.
Genealogy Blog Uses For Blogger Pages?
Now that you know how to use the new Pages function, here are some ideas for using them (and remember you are limited to 10 pages!
- An About page that describes your blog and its purpose.
- A Surnames page listing all your surnames that you are researching.
- A Locations page listing all the areas in which your ancestors lived or where you are conducting research.
Are there any others you can think of? Leave your suggestions in the comments below to share them with your genealogy blogging colleagues!
Conclusion
The new Pages feature is one that will be very valuable in communicating with your blog readers.
Next: The Pages Gadget and configuring the Pages List.
© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee
Comments 23
This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 13:52 ¶RT @geneabloggers: This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 13:54 ¶RT @geneabloggers: This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy. AND that's why I'm on Squarespace
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 13:57 ¶RT @geneabloggers: This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 14:00 ¶Aloha and thanks so much for the news and the nice how to. I use wordpress so looking forward to trying this out.
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 14:04 ¶Very informative and useful too.
Yay! RT @geneabloggers This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 14:07 ¶RT @geneabloggers: This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 14:35 ¶@geneabloggers This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy | This is great! Thanks, Thomas!
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 14:59 ¶Apparently can not be used by those with Classic Templates. Have only found instructions for Layout and Widgets. Darn!
-fM
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 17:10 ¶RT @geneabloggers This is Big! #Blogger new Pages http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy | Instructions for Classic template tab but not page?
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 17:16 ¶RT @geneabloggers: This is BIG people! Blogger announces new Pages feature http://su.pr/2uZZVa #genealogy
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 19:54 ¶I tried your suggestion of adding a page with all my surnames. I like it! It was easy and it looks great. I hope it is helpful to anyone dropping by my blog. Thanks for pointing this out. I might add another page now that I see how easy that was!
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 19:56 ¶Thanks for the step-by-step instructions on how to use this new feature. This is an exciting addition and I think it will be very useful.
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 20:07 ¶Yippee, I am so esxcited, I won’t have to change to WordPress now, guess what I’m doing this weekend?
Posted 04 Feb 2010 at 21:23 ¶And another, “Aloha” to you! That’s great news! I’ll be getting right on that as soon as I get home from my Hawaiian vacation! Thanks for always keeping us informed.
Posted 05 Feb 2010 at 08:39 ¶Thomas this is totally awesome!!!
I had been wondering how to expand, short of moving my blog to WordPress or another host, because I’ve been very content with Blogger. What great news this is!
Guess what?
I’ll be playing with this all weekend! Fun, fun, fun!!!
Posted 05 Feb 2010 at 11:33 ¶Thanks for the information AND how to, as a new blogger I need all the help I can get.
Posted 05 Feb 2010 at 12:02 ¶This is great! I was so looking forward to something like this!!! I love the idea of a page listing all the surnames I am looking for, not to mention that my creative gene is tickling me right now! Need to find the time to work on this ASAP!^_^
Posted 05 Feb 2010 at 16:25 ¶I happen to find this new feature last night but was unsure what to put on the other pages, so thanks for your suggestions for pages.
Posted 05 Feb 2010 at 23:16 ¶RT: @geneabloggers: Blogger Announces New Pages Feature http://bit.ly/cbWB6e
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 18:40 ¶Could be very useful. RT @martyhalpern RT: @geneabloggers: Blogger Announces New Pages Feature http://bit.ly/cbWB6e
Posted 10 Feb 2010 at 19:06 ¶@MadHatterReview Thanks for the retweet re: Blogger Announces New Pages Feature http://bit.ly/cbWB6e
Posted 11 Feb 2010 at 01:25 ¶Thomas,
Thanks for the easy to follow instructions on how to do this. I’ve been wanting to spiff up my blogs and this feature will definitely help.
Posted 14 Feb 2010 at 07:27 ¶Post a Comment