This is a much better way to manage custom addresses for MOST people, as opposed to FTP upload. However, there will still be some people that will want more control.

Nice feature.

I can't find a single reason to use this. Basically, the only change is that name.blogspot.com redirects to othername.com.

The difference is it's still hosted on Blogspot, but accessable from othername.com

To Philipp: "registrars" has a bad link in your post.

Blogspot is hosting your blog instead of having a separate host, and it's being displayed at yoursite.com, just like Google Apps for your Domain. So the reason to use this is to have the advantages of having your own name, without the hassles of FTP. It seems blogger will be added to Google Apps for Your Domain this year. And if I remember correctly, PageCreator is already a part of GAFYD, so a full website solution will soon be in place for alot of people.

Thanks, the Google media stock is uuup today :) http://www.trendio.com/word.php?wordid=1373&language=en

Before launch features like that, Blogger team should fix the huge number of issues came with the new version of Blogger... The number of thread created in the Google Group "blogger – something is broken" have increased amazingly...
And there is not a lot of people at Google/Blogger who are able to help us...

Tom, please list the most important issues. I'm curios (I don't use the new Blogger yet).

There are many differents issues.

One of the biggest problem now is that blogs which use FTP to publish on an other server, haven't got their RSS/ATOM feed working anymore. Have you noticied that there is no news from Zorgloob in your Google Reader since some weeks, Ionut? :-S
Even an ultimatum doesn't make fear to Googlers: http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-troubleshoot/browse_frm/thread/389bac65cb105dd0

Other issues:
-Upload pictures features still not working
-Some users are unable to switch to the new version
-Some users are unable to log in
-"New blogger switch, lost my old posts! "
-"BlogSiteFeedUrl points to index instead of feed"
- and so and so worth
and many other issues there:
http://status.blogger.com/

So most of the issues are for blogs that use FTP publishing.

A good attempt to catch up with WP.
But here is the irony:
a. This feature is available only for beta blogger (i.e. the new blogger, or the old Blogger!)
b. And Blogger isn't migrating blogs which has more than a few post (250+) to the new version...

http://ashish-sinha.blogspot.com/2007/01/blogger-supports-custom-domain-name.html :: to read the [fictitious] conversation that the two Product Managers have had...[some fun]

"So most of the issues are for blogs that use FTP publishing."
=> no, you say that only because I quote the last issues, but there is a lot for them who doens't use FTP.

I've just made the switch! (and it was seemless). Very impressed with this feature as I've wanted to move away from the Blogspot domain for ages but wasn't keen on tackling the issues TOMHTML raises above with using the FTP features.

All links (including permalinks to articles) translate smoothly, only 'issue' I've seen so far is that adsense is a little confused and needs to 'relearn' the content of some of the post pages.

To see how it works/looks you can look at my blog:

(Old BlogSpot Address)
http://radioactiveyak.blogspot.com

(New Custom Domain)
http://blog.radioactiveyak.com

Reto > You just change the address of your blog, not the hosting (your files are still on Google servers), isn't it? So you do not use FTP, in this case.

I think the transition is not quite seamless:

- PageRank: 0
- AdSense: PSA

Thanks Ionut, I fixed the link...

TOMHTML: That's correct, Blogspot is still hosting my files.

Ionut: Indeed – I'd noticed AdSense hadn't quite recognised the new address, though I'm not seeing PSAs anymore.

The PageRank 0 is a bit annoying. On the bright side any searches still bring up high PR results pointing to the old domain, which automatically redirect to the new one so should be no harm no foul. Hopefully I'll see the new domain getting the same PR as the old one during the next PR update.

Hi.
  
Nice forum design. Okay, I need your advice.
So, I wanna make my secondary school site, and I am looking for site template.
Can you advice some online place or other resource where I can find many site templates?
  
It would be better if it will be free:)
I think many of us have personal sites, do you design it yourself?
  
Thanks, Bill.

It's a shame Blogger still not having "pages", just "posts". Many of us would like to create "about" pages and others without the year and month in the URL. Let's see what happens in 2007...

Googlaxy: Actually, now with google's Custom Domains support for Blogger and Googlepages, there's no reason you can't do that, just have a 'about' link on your blogger template that links to a Google Pages page that's being served from your domain. The subdomain will have to change, but the domain will be consistent so that's not a bad compromise.

I'm not sure whether this is useful or not, but this new feature also allows you to redirect any *.blogspot.com address to whatever domain you like without changing your DNS settings.

For example, I "reserved" http://ruscoe.blogspot.com but never posted anything there. That now redirects to my non-Blog*Spot hosted website, which is kinda useful if you don't want anyone else to use your name (or whatever) on a Blog*Spot hosted blog.

<< You must already own the domain before entering it below. >>

So, this is not strictly true because you could point it to any domain you like.

Of course, Google could easily prevent this by checking that your DNS is setup properly and pointing to ghs.google.com (like they do with GAFYD) but I think that would be a little unfair, as they should allow people with *.blogspot.com hosted blogs to move to an FTP-published blog on their domain if they prefer.

(BTW, I think this thread – http://blogoscoped.com/forum/81417.html – was related to this new feature as it's all fine now and pointing the ghs.google.com too. I should've guessed it was DNS related and meant they were going to be offering this new feature!)

I made the switch, and I love it!

Although my page rank dropped, all I had to do to restore it was ask my readers to change the link and register with six blog directories (more or less per blog).

I do hope to see more features in the future (perhaps like getting Google Apps to work with blogger to create a "real" about page, etc.).

ghs.google.com is now blocked in China