Dynamic Views: seven new ways to distribute your blog with the world

As we said a few weeks ago when we launched a totally rebuilt, streamlined authoring and editing experience, we’re in the process of bringing you a much enhanced and modernized Blogger. The next phase of these updates starts today with seven new ways to display your blog, called Dynamic Views.

Built with the newest in web technology (AJAX, HTML5 and CSS3), Dynamic Views is a exclusive browsing experience that will inspire your readers to discover your blog in new ways. The interactive layouts make it easier for readers to enjoy and find out your posts, loading 40 percent faster than conventional templates and bringing older entries to the exterior so they seem fresh again.

Dynamic Views is a lot more than just new templates. With just a couple clicks, you’ll get endless scrolling (say goodbye to the “Older posts” link), images that load as you browse, integrated search, sorting by date, label and author, light box-style posts for easy viewing, keyboard shortcuts for rapidly flipping through posts, and one-click sharing to Google+ and other social sites on each post.

No two blogs are the same, so you can decide from seven different views that display text and photos differently. For pattern, if you have lots of photos on your blog, you may prefer Flip card or Snapshot. If your blog is more text-heavy, then Classic, Sidebar (what you’re seeing now on Blogger Buzz) or Time slide may be preferable. Here’s a quick report of each of the new views, along with links to some of our favorite blogs where you can check each of them out in action.

• Mosaic (Crosby’s Kitchen) - A mosaic mix of different sized images and text
• Sidebar (Blogger Buzz Blog) - An email inbox-like view with a reading page for quick scrolling and browsing
• Snapshot (Canelle et Vanille) - An interactive pinboard of your posts 
• Timeslide (The Bleary-Eyed Father) - A horizontal view of your posts by time period

If you want to insert your own touch to any of these new views, you can upload a header image and customize the background colors. We’ll be adding up more ways to modify Dynamic Views in the coming weeks.

We hope you enjoy the newest update to Blogger, and that, as always, you tell us what you think by completing this short review.

Life in a Day

Every day, 6.7 billion people view in the world through their own unique lens. Imagine if there was a way to collect all of these perspectives, to aggregate and then mold them into the cohesive story of a single day on earth.

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of “Life in a Day,” a historic cinematic experiment that will attempt to do just that: document one day, as seen through the eyes of the people around the world. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a snapshot of your life on camera. You can film the ordinary -- a sunrise, the commute to work, a neighborhood soccer match, or the extraordinary -- a baby’s first steps, your reaction to the passing of a loved one, or even in a marriage.

Kevin Macdonald, the Oscar-winning director of films such as The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September, will then edit the most compelling footage into a feature documentary film, to be executive-produced by the Ridley Scott, the director behind films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and Robin Hood. LG Electronics is supporting "Life in a Day" as a key part of its long-standing "Life’s Good" campaign and to support the creation of quality online content that can be shared and enjoyed by all.

The film will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and if your footage makes it into the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director and may be one of the 20 contributors selected to attend the premiere.

Want to take part? Here’s what to do.

1. Visit the “Life in a Day” channel and learn more about the project. Be sure to read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video(s). Also check out some of the sample videos for inspirational ideas.

2. On July 24, capture your day on camera.

3. Upload your footage to the “Life in a Day” channel any time before July 31.

Regardless of whether your footage makes it into the final film, your video(s) will live on on the “Life in a Day” channel as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010.