blogger.com upgrade

From TechCrunch; a link to the beta version of the upgrade of Google’s popular blogger.com.

The list of new and updated features includes integration of Blogger with Google Accounts, privacy, tags, drag and drop layout and easier inclusion of non-textual elements. For student use, having a privacy settings will be welcomed (but the link to “next blog” is still there, which is a problem for schools). Blogs can be public, private or read only by invitation.

Posts can now be tagged. The drag and drop layout is geat for arranging the elements on your page. The drag and drop page gives you the option of adding an element, including 3rd party javascript. The default template options are also more varied. Feeds will be available for all comments and individual feeds for comments on each post. Support for RSS 2.0 instead of Atom too.