Save The Widgets !!!

Yes, it's a gas! When (1) you are already using BETA Blogger and (2) you have (maybe a painstaking process) installed some Page Elements (Widgets) then (3) installing a new Template probably will scare the crap out of you: Widgets are about to be deleted CONFIRM & SAVE CANCEL Ohhhhh bloody bloody no no NOOOOO (you shout) ... and totally panicked you press the CANCEL button! There is an easy way to save your current widgets. The first thing to comprehend is the way the template can be presented: with Expanded or Collapsed Widget code! Above the Edit Template Window you will find a Checkbox Expand Widget Templates. Unchecked (thus widget code collapsed) a widget looks like: <b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/> Checked (thus widget code expanded) that same widget looks like (may look like - depends on the inserted code, of course): <b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'> <b:includable id='main'> <b:if cond='data:title'> <h2><data:title/></h2> </b:if> <div class='widget-content'> <ul> <b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'> <li> <b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:label.url'> <data:label.name/> <b:else/> <a expr:href='data:label.url'> <data:label.name/> </a> </b:if> (<data:label.count/>) </li> </b:loop> </ul> <b:include name='quickedit'/> </div> </b:includable> </b:widget> It is important to remember that, expanded or collapsed, the Widget Configuration Data is stored for you on the Blogger Server. Always! The process ... Saving your current template Dashboard > Template > Edit HTML > Expand Widget Templates UNCHECKED Do not use Download Full Template! Copy the code from the Edit Template Window: Select All (Ctrl+A) + Copy (Ctrl+C) Create an empty textfile on your disk (do not use Word or whatever, use Notepad - make sure you create a mytemplate.TXT file!!!) and save the template code here: Paste (Ctrl+V) Preparing the new template Download the new template to your disk (again: save as a textfile!!!) Open the file and look for the place to add your widgets. (Whether the new template offers its code expanded or not is of no importance.) An example (this is the DownRight default left Sidebar code): <!-- start left sidebar --> <div id='leftbar_wrap'> <div class='side'> <b:section class='sidebar' id='leftbar' preferred='yes'> <b:widget id='LinkList1' locked='false' title='Link List' type='LinkList'/> <b:widget id='Text1' locked='false' title='Text' type='Text'/> </b:section> </div> </div> <!-- end left sidebar --> Notice there are two default widgets here: a LinkList and a Text Page Element! When the template is offered with expanded code the Widgets are a bit more difficult to identify. One expanded widget is everything between (and including) <b:widget id='...' locked='false' title='.' type='.'/> and </b:widget>! Let's replace them by your own saved Widgets: <!-- start left sidebar --> <div id='leftbar_wrap'> <div class='side'> <b:section class='sidebar' id='leftbar' preferred='yes'> <b:widget id='Profile1' locked='false' title='About Me' type='Profile'/> <b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/> <b:widget id='BlogArchive1' locked='false' title='Blog Archive' type='BlogArchive'/> <b:widget id='BloggerButton1' locked='false' title='' type='BloggerButton'/> </b:section> </div> </div> <!-- end left sidebar --> Right, the default ones are replaced by your own Profile, Label, Blog Archive and BloggerButton Page Elements. Installing the new template Dashboard > Template > Edit HTML > Upload a template from a file on your hard drive: Browse ... Upload SAVE TEMPLATE Done. That is: if you added all your existing Widgets you will not be bothered by this miserable Please confirm that the following widgets should be deleted. All the widgets' configuration data will be lost.! And if so: press CANCEL ... have a drink ... play with the dog ... love your partner ... have a cigar ... love the one you're with ... and START AGAIN Epilogue: Save your Widgets with collapsed code! Easy to handle, easy to recognize! IMPORTANT: every collapsed widget is no more then <b:widget id='...' locked='false' title='...' type='...'/> All widget code with this particular id='...' is stored for you on the Blogger Server!!! Uploading a template where the code is partly collapsed and parly expanded can/will be handled correctly by your Dashboard. So even when that new template has its main code expanded you can insert your one-liners (collapsed Widgets) and Upload/Save the (mixed) template! No problem. Those Blogger boys and girls did a great job !!!