Update 4 November 2006: For those looking for 3 column template for Blogger beta, please refer to post
Blogger Beta: 3 column template
More new Blogger (formerly beta) templates modified by Stavanger
New Blogger template for posting large photos, etc.
(note: Blogger for Dummies went back from 3 column to 2 column is back to 3 column again. See updates below.)
Finally made the switch to a 3-column Minima template for the blog, curtesy of Meneer Thur. I think it is much better now, but am worried about those with small screen. Will appreciate you leaving your reaction to this change in the comments section. There was a small initial snag. The content of the first post was way down from the post title. To solve this little snag, go to SETTINGS > FORMATTING and set the “Enable Float Alignment” to no. When the setting for the “Enable float alignment” was set to NO, the problem went away.
If you want to have a 3 column template too, you can get it from here: Thur’s” Template. Just download the template you like and replace your current template with it . (This is an easy way for you to add a third column to a 2 column template. For those using the more common Blogger template where there are lots of blank space on both sides of the screen, this is also an easy way to get rid of the blank spaces.) Don’t forget to save your old template before you do the replacement. In addition to acting as a backup in case anything goes wrong, you can also copy things like links, codes, etc, to paste into your new template. Doing this has saved me some work in changing over to the 3-column template, and also quite a bit of work when I decided to change back to the 2-column format. If you want to roll your own, you can try to follow Meneer Thur’s 3-column template tutorial.
Update: 9.4.06
Got 1 negative feedback against a few positive ones. Then got a tip from Semavi Lady that one could temporarily resize window by typing “javascript:top.resizeTo(800,600)” into the location bar. Tried it and it worked like a breeze. Only problem, the result in 800×600 screen resolution was horrible. The sidebars width were unaffected, and the content column was narrowly squeezed in between the 2 still wide sidebars. Statistics says visitors to my sites with 800×600 res. was still between 10 to 20%. I sadly made the decision to revert back to the less desirable 2-column template. Sigh!!!
If you want to see for yourself how a 3 column blog with Thur’s Minima clone, surf over to Digital Camera – choosing and caring for your digital camera. Type javascript:top.resizeTo(800,600) to view it in a 800×600 window.
Update: If you check the 3 column blog above and resize to 800×600, I think you wouldn’t like it because the main column get squeezed into a very narrow column. I have modified Thurs template by making the sidebar width a bit narrower. When done, the blog when resized to 800×600 resolution doesn’t look so bad. Refer to this post: Blogger template tutorial – 3 column template
UPDATE 2 November 2006: Blogger for Dummies is back to 3 column again. This is because I found a way to make the blog acceptable for those with 800×600 screen resolution. See post Blogger template tutorial: 3 column template (close new window to get back to this page.
Also, for those who have migrated to Blogger Beta, see this post: Blogger beta: 3 column template (close new window/tab to get back to this page)