Blogger template language specifications

Question

Is there somewhere google published the official blogger template language specifications? I read this question and it provided a lot of useful information, but it didn't provide me with help on a particular tag I'm looking for (the variable tag).

Answer 1

While I haven't been able to find an official language specification, I have found a blog called bloggeD written by Bhavya Jain. Starting here:

http://thoughtsomething.blogspot.com/2009/01/understanding-blogger-template-1.html

Jain covers

• Sections, widgets, includables, includes. b: namespace
• Data access. data: namespace elements
• How to use expr: namespace - customize links

These blog entries complement the blogger documentation -- Blogger › Help articles › Customize Your Blog › Layouts › Advanced Use, where the most relevant sections contain "Tags" in the title -- with more information (how "expr" works for examples) and more code samples.

The variable tag that you're referring to doesn't appear to be a tag as such. It's a string that you put within the CSS comment (inside your b:skin tag) so that you only have to define colors (and such) once:

<b:skin>
  <style type='text/css'>
  /*
   * Variable definitions:
   *  <Variable name='bgcolor' description='Page Background Color' 
       type='color' default='#fff'/>
   */
  body {
    background: $bgcolor;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 40px 20px;
  }
  </style>
</b:skin>

This sample is copied and pasted from Fonts and Colors Tags for Layouts. You can find it on the blogger help page I linked to above. I'd link to it again, but alas I am not cool enough.