14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been teasing the Blogger redesign for a few months now. In fact, it was the first time that we got a glimpse at the huge visual transformation Google is going through, though, at the time, the company said nothing about other products.
In fact, it looks like the global redesign wave caught the Blogger team midway through their own process.
Now, Google has rolled out the new Dashboard to all Blogger in Draft users, the beta version of Blogger.
We've seen screenshots and even videos of the new Dashboard, but you really have to see it in action to get an idea of how much of a change it is.
In essence, Google has taken Blogger from 2003 and pushed it into 2013. It really is that big of a difference.
"It's been an exciting couple of months seeing more and more users try out our new user interface since its debut back in April, and today we're happy to announce another major milestone in its development," Jungshik Jang, software engineer at Blogger, announced.
"As of right now, the new interface is available for all Blogger in Draft users. Again, there is no sign up or activation process required; Just visit Blogger in Draft, and you’ll find the revamped interface, all ready for your exploration!," Blogger added.
Once thing you may notice is that the version users get now is very different from the one Blogger rolled out a couple of months ago. This is because the team had to incorporate some of the new Google design elements and ideals.
It's all for the best it seems, the new Dashboard feels and looks great. Everything you're used to in Blogger is still there, but the layout is lot cleaner and more intuitive, once you get used to it.
It's still in the testing phase, so things may yet change, but it's beginning to look like the Blogger redesign is one of the biggest things to come to the blogging platform in years, perhaps since launch.
The blogs themselves are getting an updated look with a number of new, very modern templates. There is also talk about dropping the Blogger brand in favor of the more generic Google Blogs and possibly some integration with Google+.