Friday, February 11, 2011

The Top 10 Blogger Template Resource Sites


These days, Blogger users are spoiled for choice by the variety of free Blogger templates available to them. What’s more, as blog designers push the boundaries of blog design, the quality of templates just gets better and better!
Whereas not long ago, Blogger templates seemed to all have the same two column layout with no extra functionality, Blogger template designers now add features like navigation menus; tabbed widgets to include much information in a small space; three (and even four) column templates, and even magazine style layouts which previously were only available to those using WordPress.
In this post, I’ll present the cream of the crop for Blogger templates: the top ten resources where you can find the best quality and variety of free Blogger templates to enhance your blogs.


B-Templates





B-templates probably has the largest collection of Blogger templates available online. Featuring a collaboration of templates by many different authors (and many unique designs too), B-Templates organizes templates by layout, style and color.

Top picks


  • Visionary: An adaptation of Justin Tadlocks simple and functional blog template for Blogger, with tabbed navigation in the sidebar. Easily customized to suit your own blogging requirements.
  • Ads Theme: a professional layout with plenty of room for ads and widgets.
  • Made in Spain: To date, this seems the most downloaded Blogger template on the Btemplates site. It features a journal style background, enabling your blog to appear more like the pages of a book than a regular, digital publication!


Jackbook





Jackbook is written by Jacky Supit who specializes in converting WordPress templates for those using the Blogger platform.
To date, Jackbook has offered some of the most popular Blogger templates available, some of which have even been showcased by Mashable.

Top Picks


  • Rainbow Garden: This is a stunning and elegant Blogger template with a colorful background and three column layout.
  • Lemon Blogger Template: Simply put, this is a fabulous template! The “Lemon” title refers to the color scheme (which is actually a combination of yellow and green). This features many useful functions including navigation and search functions built into the code.
  • Dreamwork Redux: This is a very elegant template with a darker layout and unique widgets in the sidebar. It also includes three columns in the footer section, and built in feed links.


eBlog Templates



eBlog templates features a huge collection of templates for Blogger, many of which are WordPress conversions. You can also find a great selection of Blogger tutorials here too.

Top Picks


  • Dilectio: This popular template is a conversion of the WordPress theme developed for Smashing Magazine. It includes a navigation bar in the header, and well styled sidebar sections.
  • Minyx: This is a professional styled theme with a feed icon integrated into the header; built in blog search and stylish sidebar headings.
  • Natural Essence: This is a simple, elegant template with built in widgets for navigation and recent posts/comments.


BlogCrowds



BlogCrowds is one of the most established communities for bloggers, and their Blogger template offerings are well worth a look. Here you will find dozens of excellent quality templates to doanload, many of which are not available elsewhere.

Top Picks


  • Hemingway: I have to admit, this is one of my all-time favorite Blogger templates! It features a unique layout on the home page which displays the two most recent posts side by side. On post pages, you will see meta-data for the post in the left hand column. It is one of the most professional Blogger templates I know of and well worth a look.
  • Probama: Here’s a political theme which would certainly suit many of the political bloggers sprouting up in the run up to the US elections… Of course, you could change the header banner to suit your own blog’s theme, though overall this is surely a professional and well designed template.
  • Magic Paper: This is such a beautiful design! Featuring three columns and a parchment style layout for each section, this would certainly suit a blog with ethereal overtones.


GosuBlogger



Goasu provides some beautoful templates with excellent functionality. Some of the templates available are WordPress conversions, but you will find a range of original templates here too.

Top Picks


  • Freedom Wall: This has a lovely wall effect background and stylish header section.
  • Dark World: Simple yet stunning, this dark template has a built in search function and navigation bar.
  • Angelic: This template includes Ajax functionality for an accordion style link list.

Blogger-Templates




This is one of the oldest resources for Blogger XML templates, and is among the most popular Blogger powered sites online.

Top Picks


  • Ratatouille: This Disney themed template has many unique features, including the built in movie preview!
  • Colibri: A beautiful floral theme for Blogger with a wide two column layout.
  • DarkSpark: A striking blue on black design with integrated navigation buttons and a stylish header image.


Gisele Jaquenod






Gisele offers unique and premade designs which are specifically made for Blogger. Generally speaking, her templates would appeal to a more feminine audience. Many include her recognizable “birdie” logo, though all are presented beautifully.

Top Picks


  • Birdie’s Good Life: Probably the most famous of Gisele’s creations, this epitomizes the style she projects through her template designs.
  • Birdie’s Secret Garden: With three columns and a pastel color scheme, this is a feminine and girly design.
  • Bloggin Out Loud: This template features a more masculine, musical theme and excellent design work in the header section.

Template Godown



Template Godown offers some beautiful Blogger template designs, most of which are WordPress conversions.

Top Picks


  • Japanese Fleur: This is one of the most beautiful ornamental designs I have ever seen, with a search bar neatly entwined in the foliage of the header section (you really must check this one out to understand what I mean!).
  • Atlantia: A simple theme with integrated navigation bar and RSS icon in the sidebar.
  • Naga Geni: An eastern themed almost monochrome template with a three column layout.


Blogger Themes at Blogging Tips




Here at Blogging Tips, you can now download a great selection of my own Blogger XML template designs! Most of these were originally designed for Blogger, though I have also begun to convert Kevin’s WordPress themes too.

Top Picks


  • BT Dark Green: This is a WordPress conversion of the original Blogging Tips theme. It features an integrated navigation section and mouseover effects for links in the sidebar.
  • A New day: This pale theme features a wide sidebar and image transparency effects in the header.
  • Butterfly: Of my own designs, this is one of my all-time favorites (and probably the most downloaded). Featuring a striking red on black contrast, this theme is feminine without being overly girly!

Yet more resources to be found…

These ten featured sites offer a great selection of Blogger templates for free download, but are only a small percentage of the complete list of resources available.


You may also like to check out a few showcases of Blogger template downloads to see the variety of designs available now for Blogger users:


These days, Blogger templates are available to download from all corners of the world wide web, and as more designers are turning their skills towards this niche of the web design industry, we can only expect the quality of templates to keep on improving!
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