Thursday, January 18, 2007

Custom search engine added - Search my RSS feeds!

Blogger lets you put HTML in your sidebar
I added my own custom search engine to the sidebar. Blogger's template editor lets you drop code into your blog.

I used a tutorial from Google Operating System to create a search engine that uses the RSS feeds from my Google Reader. Google Reader does not have a search function. If you want to search through your RSS feeds, you have to create one yourself.

I've narrowed the list of feeds down to sites that focus on technology, web design, blogging, SEO, and marketing.

The list of includes feeds from A List Apart, Google Operating System, Slashdot, Digg, Blogger Buzz, Zeldman.com, ProBlogger, Boing Boing, and many others.

If I am looking for a solution to a problem, I turn to this search engine first. I'm always finding new feeds to add to it.

Have a web design problem? Want to know how to market a website? Want to know about the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica? You can probably find the answer here.

The ability to create a custom search engine is a great feature that Google has given their users. If you want to try it out for yourself, check it out here.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

The news feed is now open

I just added a link to my RSS news feed on the sidebar. I read dozens of sites on web design, marketing, blogging, and graphics. The best articles I find are shared through my reader's RSS feed.

Adding it to the page was easy. I added a new section to the template, then copy/pasted the feed URL into it.

I wonder how many feeds I could add to the side of one blog?

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Using Blogger's labels feature

The labels feature, which you can find in the lower part of the posting section, is a great new feature on Blogger.

Blogs can grow quickly if you post every day. If you cover a wide variety of topics, giving your readers the options to focus on one subject allows them to find the posts that matter most to them.

Welcome to Charles Gnilka's Blog Laboratory

LOOK OUT! BLOGGER AT WORK!Hello there. I am Charles Gnilka, and this is my blog on Blogger.

I am setting up this blog because I want to experiment with Blogger's new interface and its new features. Since Blogger Beta became the new and improved Blogger, I wanted to try out the new features for myself.

This blog is a testing ground. I plant to experiment with blogging, SEO, and other skills I have learned.

If you have stumbled across this blog and wonder who I am, check out my official blog at charlesgnilka.com.

This is my laboratory for things I learn about web design, CSS, and blogging. Don't worry, there are plenty of safety goggles to go around. Just make sure you don't step on any live cables.

I've always wanted to be a mad scientist and have a lab with lots of bubbling test tubes and electrical gizmos that make noises. Now I have one.

Web design and blogging are so new that most of the practices and skills of the trade are learned by doing. You can read books, magazine articles, and listen to industry experts. To become an expert yourself, you have roll up your sleeves and get to work.

So put on your goggles and your lab coats. Let's play with all the new toys that the wonderful people at Google have given us to play with.

Welcome to my lab!