- home
- reviews
- news
- downloads
- cnet tv
On CHOW: When to unfriend
- log in
- join CNET
- welcome,
- my profile
- log out

Blogger beta

Reviewed by

Elsa Wenzel

on 08/15/2006

Preview
Shop

Add to my list
Print
E-mail
Share

See all products in the Google series
See all products

Average user rating: Write your own review

Access this free service from the developer's Web site.

Add to my list Product summary

Blogger beta allows tagging, as well as drag-and-drop layout editing, and it lets you wall off your blog to strangers, but most current Blogger users will have to set up another blog from scratch to try the new features.

Read full review

CNET editors' take

Reviewed by:
Elsa Wenzel
Edited by:
Robert Vamosi
Reviewed on: 08/15/2006
Released on: 08/15/2006

Blogger, the popular free blogging service owned by Google, hasn't changed much since its major redesign some two years ago. However, Google's preview release of the next-generation Blogger beta offers key new features that include tagging, drag-and-drop page editing, and the ability to make your blog private.

Unfortunately, without a beta-testing invitation from Google, most current Blogger users won't be able to use the Blogger beta updates for their existing blogs. Instead, you'll have to create a new account at beta.blogger.com to use the new features, and Blogger will allow you to merge the changes with your old-school blog later.

Blogger beta allows you to build a page template by dragging and dropping elements, such as link lists and feeds.

Blogger beta looks and works just like the existing Blogger service, which is good but not as full-featured as TypePad, which has more layout templates and easier photo uploading. However, Blogger beta introduces features that, when final, should make Blogger much more convenient to use.

Using Blogger beta, no longer must you either pick from among Blogger's 31 layout templates or hand-code your own layout tweaks. Blogger beta lets you customize your blog's layout by dragging and dropping elements on the page. During our tests, Blogger beta offered 16 prebuilt templates, most with multiple versions in varying colors. The WSIWYG palette of font colors is a no-brainer, and it's cool that you can click Shuffle Blog Colors to preview variants of the layout with slightly different color themes. It's also easier to insert lists of links, feeds, JavaScript or HTML coding, and other elements.