Do you have a website that you use for blogging purposes? Have you been wondering how to use the Blog Designer plugin to manage the blog posts?
Blog designer is a plugin from WordPress that will help you with the designing and layout of your blog. What you will eventually get is a website that is beautiful to look at and attractive to your audiences. The best part is that you do not need any coding skills to use the plugin. You can also switch the layout anytime, depending on your preferences.
We understand that it can be challenging if you do not have the right knowledge on how to use the plugin. Our article below will highlight the steps you need to take. The process is easy to follow, no matter what level you are, whether beginner or at the more advanced levels. Let’s dive into it.
What Makes Blog Designer Plugin So Popular?
The Blog Designer plugin is very handy and is excellent for anyone who wants a responsive web page. You get up to ten templates in a free version and fifty templates in Pro that you can use on your WordPress website. You can give your blog pages any kind of look using the plugin.
It allows you to modify your settings through the admin panel, without needing any coding knowledge. Most of the steps are very easy to follow. Even beginners find that they can easily implement the steps without too much stress.
You have the option of the free and pro version. Before we go into the installation process and some of the features, here is what you will get when you install the Blog Designer plugin.
Table of Contents
1. Blog Designer Free Features
3. Steps to Using Blog Designer Plugin
1. Blog Designer Free Features:
- It is very responsive, and the setup process is easy.
- You can use it on multiple browsers such as Safari, Firefox, and Chrome among others.
- The features are fully responsive and compatible with any device you may be using. Anyone accessing your blog page will appreciate the beauty of the designs.
- It allows you to manage the number of posts, background colors, fonts, categories, tags, authors, and comment.
- You have up to 10 templates to choose from. These are Evolution, Nicy, News, Crayon Slider, Glossary, Light Breeze, Boxy-Clean, Spectrum, Timeline, and Classical.
- You have access to custom CSS support.
- Choose between the circle and square buttons for social share.
- You get a .pot file that makes it translation ready.
- Use the shortcut generator and get access to available support.
- Social share buttons allow you to link the content on your website to your social media pages
Multilingual features.
2. Blog Designer Pro Features:
The pro version has some features that you will not find in the free version. Such include:
- Over 50 templates and more than 200 combination options. You get access to so many options and can customize your blog pages as per your wishes.
- 10 Grid templates that allow you to showcase your posts through the use of multiple columns.
- Horizontal and vertical presentations due to over five timeline templates.
- Over three magazine templates that give you the option of displaying your posts in the newspaper Style.
- Other templates such as masonry and slider templates.
- Easy to use multiple blog layouts as well as filters and hooks for customization purposes.
- Import and export functionalities, which will save you a lot of valuable time. You will also find the same in the archive templates.
- Grid layout and duplicate layout options.
- Page builder support, media query setting options, live previews, over 600 fonts, Woocommerce support among others.
- Excellent backend support.
3. Steps to Using Blog Designer Plugin
We will tackle the steps in 3 main parts:
1. Installing the Blog Designer plugin.
2. Everything you need to know about the Blog Designer plugin.
3. Additional information and a summary of the things you need to know.
*Please note, the guide below will apply specifically to those who are using the free version of the plugin.
(A) Installing the Free Blog Designer Plugin From the WordPress Admin
Follow the steps below to install your Blog Designer plugin from the WordPress admin setting. The steps are simple to follow, and you should have no difficulty, even if you are new to WordPress.
1. From the WordPress plugin directory, download the zip file of plugin blog-designer.zip
2. Log in to WordPress website
3. Go to the WordPress admin area
4. On the left menu, click on the plugins
5. Go to the Add new button and click on it
6. Go to the upload plugin button and click on it
7. Upload the zip file blog-designer.zip that you have downloaded
8. Click on the install button
9. Click on activate the plugin
(B) Installing the Blog Designer plugin via FTP
If you are installing the Blog Designer plugin via FTP, follow the steps below
1. From the WordPress plugin directory, download the zip file of plugin blog-designer.zip
2. Extract the zip file to create the Blog Designer folder. It will contain all the necessary files you will need for the installation of the plugin. It is important to remember the folder path from which you have extracted the file
3. Goto your FTP program and upload the non-zipped folder for the plugin. Send the folder to the “/wp-content/plugins/” You will find on your server
4. Go to dashboard > plugin> installed plugin
5. Now look for the Blog Designer from the list that will come out
6. Now click on the activate button
4. Setting Up Your Blog Page Layout
Use the following steps below to set up your blog page layout. You will find the process really easy and very quick. Within two minutes, you should be through with the process.
(A) Creating a New Blog Page
You have the option of using your blog page or any other page, but you would be better off going on a test page.
1. Go to the pages section.
2. Click on the create a new test page, and give an appropriate title such as My Blog.
3. Publish the new page by clicking on the publish button.
4. Go to the Permalink URL and right-click on it. Right-clicking it will open the tab in a new browser. An important tip is to use the front end to check how the page looks.
(B) Using the Blog Designer setting to create your Blog layout
1. Go to the Blog Designer option on the dashboard.
2. Click on the select other template buttons. You will get a list of templates that you have available to you.
3. Click on your preferred blog layout. Note, the layout you choose will be how your blog page will look like. Once you make a choice, continue with the steps below.
4. Click on the select page option. You will be able to see your blog layout.
5. If you are alright with how the layout looks, click on the save changes button. You will find it on the topside right corner.
6. Refresh the new browser you had opened above. In this case, it will be the ‘My Blog page.’ You can also open a URL of the page using the select page for the blog option.
7. You have now configured your Blog Designer plug-in.
It is important to note that selecting any page to display your posts from the blog page displays section that could make you lose all the existing content. It will, therefore, be a good idea to use a blank page or to backup whatever you have in another place.
*Follow this link for a video tutorial for the steps we have highlighted above.
5. Important Tips to Note
(1) For your blog layout, use the Select other templates button to see what options you have available.
(2) You can select the page for your blog and the number of posts you want to display. For the latter, you can manage them so that you only display a specific number at a time.
(3) Use the select post category to display your posts of selected categories. You also have the same option with regards to post tags or post authors if you wish to display them in this way.
6. General Blog Layout Display Settings to Note
As the name suggests use sticky posts to display sticky posts on your blog page
Post category option to hide or show categories
(1) Post tag option to hide or show tag option on the page
(2) Post author option to show or hide the author on the page
(3) Post published date option to show or hide when you published the post
(4) Post comment option to show or hide comments on the blog page
(5) Post like the option to display the total number of likes you get for each post. You only get this option on the Pro Version. Set your preferred setting by clicking on the yes or no options to display or hide the likes.
(A) Standard Settings to Note
(1) The main container class name
(2) Use the color picker to:-
(3) Set the background colors for your blog posts. You can also enable the alternate background colors if you want alternatives. This option is available if you are using the Evolution Timeline template layout.
(4) Choose the link colors.
(5) Set the link hover colors.
(B) Title Settings to Note
(1) Use the post title link to disable or enable links in your post titles. Do note; this option is available only in the pro version
(2) Use the color picker to select your preferred post-title and background-color
(3) In your pro version, you have the Post Title Hover color from the color picker
(4) Typography settings
(5) Use the font size setting to choose your preferred font size.
With the Pro version, you get access to the following:
(1) Post title font family
(2) Post title font-weight
(3) Post title font line-height
(4) Italics or normal fonts
(5) Text-transform
(6) Text-decoration
(7) Text letter spacing
(C) Content Settings to Note
(1) Use the For Each Article in a feed, show to display:
- Full text
- Summaries
- Manage the length of your posts
(2) The Show Content From option allows you to display texts from except for post content. The option is only available in the pro version.
(3) Use the display HTML tags with the summary to display content with HTML tags or attributes
(4) The pro version has the first letter as a Drop cap option that allows you to display the first letter of the Post content in a larger size.
(5) The display read more option as well as the positioning of the button to the same or new line position
(6) Set the read more text option
(7) Set the read more text color with the use of the color picker option
(8) Set the read more text background color using the color picker
(9) In the pro version, you have the read more text hover background color using the color picker.
(D) Slider Settings to Note
(1) Use the set slider animation option for effects such as fade and slide
(2) You can also select The Slider AutoPlay mode and the speed and intervals in microseconds
(3) Slider columns
- For desktop screens that are above 980px, you can set slider columns from one to 6 column grids. One column displays your posts in one column grid, 2 columns display the posts in two columns, and so on.
*You will find The Slider layout settings for the Crayon Slider template only.
- For iPad screens between 720 px2 960px, you can set the slider column from 1 to 6 column grids. You also have the same option for mobile screens that are smaller than 480px.
In the Pro version, you have the following options:
(1) Select your slide scroll limit
(2) Display the buttons for the Slider navigation
(3) Select the arrows for the slider controls
(E) Media Settings to Note
In the Pro version, you have the following options:
(1) Use the display post feature image option if you want to display images on the post
(2) Use the select post-default image to get access to different fields for displaying your posts. You have options such as post slug, modified date, post title, publish date, and post ID. You can decide whether you want it in ascending or descending sort order.
(3) Choose your preferred image size using the select post media size option.
(F) Social Share Settings to Note
For the social share, you get access to the following:
Choose whether to display social icons in a square or circle using the shape of the social icon option
(1) Use the Facebook share link to decide whether you want to show or hide what you share on Facebook on your blog page
(2) The Pinterest share link allows you to show or hide what you share on Pinterest onto your blog page
(3) The Twitter share link will enable you to share what you have on Twitter to your blog page
In the Pro version, you have the following options:
You have the option of the custom and social share button options under the Social Share Style.
Choose from 5+ available predefined options, for the layout of your sharing icon
(1) The Pinterest share button
(2) The pocket share link
(3) Telegram share link
(4) Whatsapp share link
(5) Reddit share link
(6) Tumblr share link
(7) Skype share link
(8) WordPress share link
(G) Show Preview Settings
The show preview settings are only available on the pro version. It allows you to preview the layouts when you create or modify them using any one of the 10 templates available.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Regarding the Blog Designer Plugin
1. Does the Blog Designer plugin have free templates?
Yes, it does. You get ten templates that you can use to design and modify your layout as per your wish. You can choose from Evolution, Nicy, News, Crayon Slider, Glossary, Light Breeze, Boxy-Clean, Spectrum, Timeline, and Classical.
2. How can I access the Blog Designer plugin for a section on my blog page?
If you do not want to use the theme design and prefer to use the Blog Designer plug-in, all you need to do is follow the steps below.
- Login to the dashboard
- Go to settings
- Go to Readings
- Choose Front page display options(you may need to remove the static page and post page settings if you had initially selected them)
- Choose select
- Save the changes
3. Do I have the option of multiple and single categories?
You will find the option of multiple and single categories on the backend.
4. Can I share my blogs on my social media pages?
Yes, you can. Use Social share options for this functionality.
5. Is it possible for me to control the length of my blog post?
Yes, you can, using the Post Content length option.
6. Do I have control over what I can show or hide on my blog pages?
You have a lot of control over what you can show or hide on your blog pages. You can, for example, show or hide the authors, likes, date of publishing, among others. And, you will find this functionality in the general settings panel.
7. Where can I use the Blog Designer plugin?
The Blog Designer plugin is versatile and gives you a lot of functionality. You will find it a very useful tool if you have a website that you use for blogging purposes. It is also Fantastic Four those who ran news or fashion sites. You really do not have any limitations on when and where you can apply the use of your plugin on your side. Businesses, tech companies, and NGOs, among others, can benefit from some of its features. Due to how easy it is to use, you can also use it for personal blog sites, portfolio development, or even if you want to develop a story of a company.
8. Do I need coding knowledge to use the plugin?
You do not need to learn or have coding knowledge to use the Blog Designer plug-in. The installation process very easy. We have shown you how in our article above. Most of the instructions have easy-to-follow prompts that even beginners can implement without any problems. It is also an excellent plugin for the more advanced users, especially if they go for the pro version. They will get access to very many features that are not available in the free version.
9. Does the Blog Designer plugin have multilingual functionalities?
The blog design plugin has multi lingo functionalities. The POEdit plug-in will allow you to translate into whichever language you want. Follow the steps below:
- Install the POEdit plugin
- Go to the.POT file (we-content/plugins/blog-designer/languages).
- Save the changes
- Enter the relevant language code in the Pop-Up
- Select and modify the path
- Press OK
- Name your file According to the language code (they are available in WordPress) and place it in the language folder in the plugin
- Select what you want to translate using translation. Keep the source text as it is. Repeat the steps until you have translated all you need
- Go to the wp-config.php file and enter the relevant code
- Go to the dashboard. Settings > general and choose your language option
10. What is the process of upgrading from the free to the pro version?
Download the zip file from CodeCanyon
From WordPress Admin:
- Login to WordPress> click on the menu on the left side> click on add new button> click on upload plugin button>Upload the plugin zip file (blog-designer-pro.zip) >Install> activate
Via FTP:
- Extract the zip file onto your PC to create the designer pro version
- Upload the non-zipped folder onto “/wp-content/plugins/”
- Dashboard > plugin > installed plugin > Blog Designer Pro > activate
Final Thoughts
We have looked at everything you need to know about Blog Designer plug-in and the installation process. The steps are easy to follow, intuitive, and you get very many features that you can use on your blog pages. You get the option of many templates that you can customize as per your preference.
The free version gives you up to 10 templates, while the Pro version gives you over 50 to choose from. Best of all, you do not need to have any coding knowledge to follow the instructions. It saves you from having to spend money on a website designer, which can be expensive for a beginner.