Page Elements or Add a Gadget in Blogger blog

When entering the Design portion of your blog from the Dashboard, you  will see three tabs: Page
Elements, Edit HTML, and Template Designer. Page Elements displays a  visual layout of your blog and where all your gadgets lie. A gadget is an item in your blog’s layout. When you first created your blog, there were gadgets that Blogger automatically inserted into your blog’s layout About Me, Followers, Archives, and Page  Header (the banner area which currently displays
your Blog’s Title and Description previously entered). Gadgets can be deleted at any time. We discuss gadgets in more detail later in this post. In addition to the existing gadgets  in your layout, there are other elements or areas of your blog that we'll review, such as the Navbar, Header, Blog Posts, and gadgets like a Search Box.

1. Navbar
The Navbar is a built-in feature of your blog used to quickly navigate to your Design, compose a New Post, or to Sign Out, and displays your email (username). On the left side on the Navbar when viewing your blog, you will also see an area to report abuse, or the ability to go to the next Blogger blog. In the Navbar page element, you can edit the Navbar color to best match the coloring of your blog. The only option when editing the Navbar (without  using custom HTML/CSS code) is choosing a color. I would recommend one of the “transparent” settings

2. Gadgets
In the way posts make up the majority of your blog, gadgets make up the majority of your blog’s layout, particularly the sidebar(s). We will begin with basic gadgets available from Blogger when clicking Add a Gadget. In the next chapter and throughout the remainder of this book, you learn how to add additional third-party gadgets  to promote your blog, connect to popular social networking sites, make money, or further customize the design or functionality of your blog.

Let’s review a list of commonly used gadgets and then add a few popular gadgets to your blog, such as a Search Box, in the following exercises. You do not want to clutter your sidebar(s) making your blog appear too busy, nor will every gadget suit your blog’s purpose or appeal to all blog readers. Pick and choose those that you need and from which you will benefit. 

 

Gadget	Description
Pages	Allows you to create content on your blog separate from  your main post area. It is similar to the traditional web page describin g a service you may offer, list products you sell, or a custom About Me or About Us page
Followers	Displays a list of people following your blog (in their Dashboard under Other Blogs, it will show your blog updates).
Search Box	Adds a Google Search box to your blog allowing visitors to quickly and easily search your blog.
HTML/JavaScript	Primarily used to add third-party gadgets to your blog.
Adsense	Provides capability to  earn money with your blog by adding Google AdSense.
Picture	Use this gadget to add a picture to your blog’s sidebar, footer , or header area (in addition to your Profile Photo). This gadget is not used to insert an image into a Post.
Slideshow	Creates a quick slideshow from Picasa Web Album, Flickr, Photobucket, or other photo storage sources.
Link list	Creates a link to your favorite blogs, web sites, photo albums, or other links.
Labels	Displays a list of categories (labels) used in your blog posts.
Subscription links	Allows a reader to subscribe to your blog’s posts or comments using popular readers like Google Reader.
Profile	Allows you to add certain profile information to your blog, including the Profile Photo if one was uploaded.
Blog Archive	Select how to archive your blog’s posts; most commonly is by month.
Page Header	Add a header area to your blog. Your blog banner would typically go here.

3. Search Box
In the next exercise you will  add a Search Box to your  blog allowing readers to quickly  an d easily search your blog. You  want to keep them on your site as long as possible, and allow  them  the  ability to  find what they need especially if you are selling product or  promoting  an event on  your site. This  gadget uses Google, which can be advantageous.

How to add Search box:

After blogging for a while, you  will have many posts, labels (categories),  and archives.  Adding  a Search  Box allows visitors to quickly search your blog without scrolling or visiting many labels trying to locate what they are looking for. They can type in a word or phrase and click  Search to get results.

1. From within Page Elements in  the right  sidebar  (right-side  column  of  your  screen),
   click  Add a Gadget at the top  of the column.
2. From  the Basics list, choose Se arch  Box
3. Check “This Blog” since the purpose of the exercise is to allow visitors the ability
   to search your blog. However, you may also like using the search engine to search
   pages you’ve linked to or to search the Web as well. In our example, all three have
   been selected. 
4. You can also change the Title of the gadget. The default is “Search This Blog”
   used in our example. Another preferable option is “Search My Blog.” 
5. Click Save.
6. It is now added to your sidebar, the first/top item.
7. Drag the gadget to a new location and drop (or release your mouse) in the new
   desired location (above Blog Archive).
8. Click Save.
9. Again and after any change in your blog’s layout, click View Blog to see your
   changes live.