Do you notice any changes around here?

Do you? Do you? I have been butting my head with this Beta version of Blogger for the last 3 hours. I think it looks pretty decent now. I decided to update the blog to beta since I love the Label feature. I get to label my posts with one or more label. That's the major change you'll notice as a blog reader.

A neat thing for me is that this Beta version allows me to drag and drop sidebar elements (see the lists, dropdowns, etc. on the sidebar) I had made a lot of customizations to the original boring template. For instance, I had added the left sidebar. Also, I had added dropdowns, changed the fonts, colors, etc. Added the Header image. With this new version, you can't use your old, customized template anymore** You have to start from scratch. Poo.

So, I had to code it again. It involves HTML/CSS/XML. This version is supposed to help those that are not experienced coders, but want to make changes to fonts, colors, add linked lists, drop downs etc. You do not need to know much CSS/HTML for doing that. But, for doing major changes like adding a new sidebar (like I have done here), you do need it. But, overall, I think people will be happier with this one. The drag and drop feature is pretty nifty. And, ofcourse, the labels are cool.

There are more features here, like each post can have different setting for comments -- to allow comments or not, allow backlinks or not, etc.

I still have to fix my fonts and colors here, but I'm happy that the structure of this template looks very similar to my old customized template.

**Edited to clarify - You can still use the old template with the new Beta version, but if you want to upgrade your *Template* (which you would have to, to use the drag and drop, fonts & colors feautres), you have to redo your template from scratch. Upgrading will reset your template. Take your backups!