Blogger Magic - The Mobile Template Redirect, Used On A Desktop Computer

Occasionally, we see the query in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

How do I view my blog, in the mobile template format, using my desktop computer?

This is an astonishingly easy task to accomplish. Just add the mobile template redirect suffix

?m=1

to the URL being viewed.

The URL of this post is

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2014/08/blogger-magic-mobile-template-redirect.html

If I want to view this post, using the mobile template, I can use

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2014/08/blogger-magic-mobile-template-redirect.html?m=1

The mobile redirect is applied dynamically, in real life, on a link by link basis - when your reader is using a "mobile" computer.

The redirect is not added to each blog link, by the template. If you click on a link in this post - either in the content, as in the paragraph above - or in a label link or other cross link provided by Blogger - you will be returned to a post displayed using the desktop template, when you are using a desktop computer.

Only a "mobile" computer will show you, persistently, all mobile template formatted content. To view mobile template pages, as you surf the blog, using a "desktop" computer, you will have to repeatedly add the suffix.

Magic only goes so far - sorry.

You can also click on "View web version", below the "Home" link, to return to the "desktop" template, and the post being viewed.

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Problems With "Create a new blog", Caused By Limits

We've recently been seeing a number of reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners having problems with the "Create a new blog" wizard.

When some of my students try to create a new blog, they get an error message

The page you requested is invalid.

These blog owners appear to be running up against new blog creation limits, possibly caused by Blogger prevention of abusive blog creation.

Blogger has apparently added new ways of preventing abusive blog creation, by use of new activity limits.

Blogger has a number of limits, which together guard against abusive new blog creation.

• A limit of 100 blogs created, in total, under one Blogger account.
• A limit of (unstated) blogs created daily, under one Blogger account.
• A limit of (unstated) blogs created daily, from one network address.
• A limit of (unstated) blogs created daily, from one logical network.

This is what you see, when attempting to create a blog, with a limit tripped.
A per account total limit.
We have long known about the limit of 100 blogs being created, under one Blogger account. This limit is easy enough to bypass. There is no limit against blogs owned under one account - so you can setup a second (third, ...) Blogger account, create additional blogs, and transfer control of the blogs created, to the account that's convenient for you to use.

A per account per day limit.

The recently added daily limit of blog creations, under one Blogger account, is thought to be rather low (under half a dozen blogs, daily). Here, too, it may be possible to create more blogs under another Blogger account, then transfer control of the blogs created. Or, just wait 24 - 48 hours (see below), and try again.

A per network limit.

We have been advised, in passing, that Blogger is now limiting total daily blog creation, by network address. This is currently seen to affect use of multiple computers connected to private LANs, where all computers share a single public network address. This policy appears to interfere with legitimate creation of multiple blogs, in high school and college classroom environments.

A per network range limit.

Besides the recently added limit against activity on one network address, it appears that there is a limit against activity in network address ranges, much as "suspicious" / "unusual" activity is aggregated in "403 Forbidden" lockouts - which are frequently a result of detected botnet new blog setup activity.

Network address range based limits may prevent both faculty and students from creating their blogs, using their own computers, on their own networks at home. Note that network address ranges can include computers significantly distant from each other. Your Internet service may include network "neighbours" in the next county, or province / state - or possibly, an adjoining country.

Confusion about when the new "day" may start.

We may also be seeing some confusion about the start / end of the "day", for limits. Since the time zone is not a part of the Blogger account profile (only each individual blog), it's likely that daily limits are reset for all Blogger activity, simultaneously.

Similar to the well known daily Stats reset, daily blog creation limits are probably reset worldwide, according to the GMT clock. For some Blogger account owners not in the GMT time zone (at least 23 / 24 of the world), some portion of (yesterday's) evening activity, and (today's) morning activity, may be counted in the same "day".

The display could be more relevant - but it is an improvement.

All of these limit issues, together leading to the error display in question, the base concern is that Blogger should consider displaying a more descriptive error message. Something like

We're sorry, you (and your neighbours) can not create so many blogs, today!

would be more user friendly than

The page you requested is invalid.

All that said, the "Invalid page" display is a slightly more focused solution, than simply issuing a "403 Forbidden", for all "suspicious" / "unusual" network activity. At least other people, who are not interested in creating a new blog, may continue to access Blogger.

Reading Posts In Main Page View Affects Stats

Some blog owners don't understand why Stats displays show that no one is reading their latest post.

I know that my most recent post is being read - but Stats shows pageviews, for that post, as 0!

This owner does not understand the difference between main page, and post page, access.

If you read this blog, without being interested in any particular post, you can access the main page. On the main page, and other index pages, you'll see anywhere from 10 to 15 carefully summarised, recently published, individual posts.

Clicking on "Read more »", at the end of any of the summaries, you can read any complete article. This complete article, and others in this blog, is published as an individual post page - and summarised on index pages, using Jump Break.

Not every blog owner uses Jump Break, to display the posts. Some blog owners publish complete blog articles, in each index page post. Depending upon how any blog is designed, some readers may click on a link, to read any individual post - and others may read some posts from the main page.

Stats enumerates pageviews for individual post pages, in the "Pages" / "Posts" displays. Since the main page is an "index" page, main page activity is not tracked, in the "Pages" / "Posts" displays - and that causes some confusion.

For any given blog not using Jump Break in the posts, the unconscious decision to read a post from the main page, as opposed to a post page, is affected by various blog design details.

• Physical size of main page.
• Number of posts published on main page.
• How frequently new posts are published.
• Whether the blog is publicised, using main page links - or individual post page links.
• Presence - and position - of the Archive index accessory, on the blog face.
• Presence - and position - of any search accessories, on the blog face.
• Use of label indexes - at the end of the posts, and / or a Label index on the blog face.
• Use of links in post content.
• Choice of comment display style - combined with the blog content which may or may not encourage comments.

All of these details, and more, may cause a reader to read a given blog article on the main page, or on an individual post page.

Physical main page size. Larger main pages require more scrolling. The more scrolling is involved, the greater the chance that the reader may find a link to an individual post page, click on the link, and read the article from the post page.

Number of posts published on the main page. Number of posts affects physical main page size. Thanks to auto pagination, some blogs may be displayed with a few posts on the main page, and other blogs with many posts on the main page. Blogs published with less posts on the main page will have more readers clicking on links to the individual post pages, for older posts that won't appear on the main page.

The most recent post published will appear at the top of the main page, in its entirety. Readers accessing the blog, using the Home (main page) address, are almost certain to read the most recent post as part of the main page. Other posts, further down the page, may or may not be read in the main page, or in individual post pages.

Frequency of publishing. Blogs with posts more frequently published will see older posts pushed from main page view sooner, increasing the chance that older articles will be read from the posts pages.

How the blog is publicised. Blogs that are publicised using the main page URL will see more traffic to the main page, while blogs that are publicised using the individual post page URLs will see more activity to the post pages.

Presence and position of the Archive index. If an archive index is present, and visible at the top of the page, a reader may click on an archive index entry, and read an article from an individual post page.

Presence and position of a search accessory. If a search accessory is present, and visible at the top of the page, a reader is more likely to use the search, and to read an article from an individual post page.

Use of a label index may lead to reading the blog using a label index page. Similar to main page, a label index page is a page which groups posts under the label in question. A label index page may be reached from an end of post label list entry, or from a Labels index accessory.

Pageview counts for label index pages, like main page, are not counted under "Pages" / "Posts", in Stats. Here, too, you can have articles read without clicking to the individual post pages.

Use of links in post content. Posts which contain direct links to other posts - as opposed to use of the end of post label index - lead directly to other individual post pages.

Comment display style, and use of comments in the blog. Blogs which use embedded comments will have activity on the individual post pages, when the reader feels the need to examine previously published comments, and / or publish a new comment. The embedded comment display, and entry form, are at the bottom of the individual post pages. The Comment Count Link - "nn Comments" - goes to the bottom of the individual post page, and will generate activity, as counted by Stats.

Blogs with full page or popup comments - and blogs which don't encourage comments - will have less activity on the individual post pages. The post pages are not loaded, with full page or popup comment forms. The full page and popup forms are published under "blogger.com", not under the blog's URL.

All of these seemingly insignificant details, which are present in every blog, in different combinations, will affect access to individual post pages, as opposed to various index pages (archives, labels, and main page).

This will determine whether access to a given article in the blog is counted (as a page or post) or ignored (as an archive, label, and / or main page). The infinitely variable combinations of these details will determine the relative "accuracy" of the Stats "Pages" / "Posts" display, for different blogs. You'll see similarly variable search engine indexing of the blog, with these combinations of details.

And remember also that in the "Page" / "Post" Stats lists, only the top 10 most active Pages and Posts are displayed, at any time. This will also affect "accuracy".

Stolen Blogs Can Not, Generally, Be Returned

Whether you give up your blog willingly, have your blog stolen from you, or accidentally enable your blog to be stolen - once your blog is in someone else's control, Blogger cannot, legally, help you.

We see the naivete, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I made my friend an administrator of my blog, and he changed me to an author. Can Blogger restore my ownership?

And the short answer, too frequently given, is denial.

No, Blogger cannot help you.

Blogs stolen, supposedly from their rightful owner, can generally not be returned by Blogger.

There are various ways to lose control of a blog.

• Some will, intentionally, transfer control - then change their mind.
• Others will naively make a friend a co-administrator - and have the friend take control of the blog.
• Still others may enable the blog to be stolen by a hacker.

In any case, once control passes to another person, it's unlikely that Blogger can, unilaterally, restore ownership.

Blog thieves are very persuasive - and masquerade as theft victims.

One problem here is that too many would be blog thieves start their tales with just these claims. Long ago, Blogger Support would, obediently, "restore" ownership, when requested - and we would later see the angry forum report.

How did this other person get control of my blog?

Blogger Support would research the second "theft" report - and realise, too late, that they had previously enabled the theft.

Blog owners enable some thefts, with security mistakes and requests.

Also, if you neglect to remember your account name or password, please don't just setup a new account, then suggest that Blogger transfer control of the blog, to the new account. This suggestion, also, has been used to make Blogger an unwitting accomplice in too many thefts.

Blog owners must assume some responsibility for problems.

The bottom line here is that you have to accept full responsibility, for retaining control of your Blogger account and blogs.

Even if your friends account is hacked, then used to attack yours, don't expect assistance from Blogger / Google. And please understand that blog security review won't happen, immediately.

All "Read More" Solutions Are Not The Same

Auto pagination, and "Jump Break", have been a (controversial) feature in Blogger blogs since 2010.

Oddly enough, not all blog owners yet understand the difference between "Jump Break", and other "Read More" features. And there are more than a couple "Read More" features available, in the Internet - some not so beneficial.

Occasionally, we see the confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I have 12 articles which must appear on my homepage. Just 10 of the 12 articles are showing up. When I added 2 new articles, another old post disappeared from my homepage.

This blog owner, like many, suffers from the effects of auto pagination.

When I suggested using "Jump Break", to make the posts smaller, I was met with confusion.

Did you not look at the blog? I have "Read More" there, already.

And looking at the blog again, I saw that he was correct.

Examining main page view, and a post in the the blog, I used my browsers HTML viewer.

HTML view shows a post which uses "Read More" - but not "Jump Break". Examining various blogs main page view, as HTML, we can see the difference between "Jump Break", and this "Read More" solution.

With "Jump Break", on the main page, one sees the post summary, followed by a link to the post page. The post page then contains the full post.

With "Read More", on the main page, one simply sees the entire post. The JavaScript code (provided separately in the template) automatically displays the post summary, for each post, consisting of a certain amount of words, followed by a "Read More" button - and hides the remainder of the post, as displayed in main page view.

When clicked, the "Read More" code simply makes the entire post visible. This would be a clever way to display a post summary - if auto pagination was not involved.

Since auto pagination limits the number of posts based on total downloaded content, main page view, using "Read More", is limited by content which is not visible. This causes confusion.

With "Jump Break", each carefully sized post summary, in main page view, downloads only the post summary to the client computer. This makes each individual post relatively small - and allows the main page, even with auto pagination, to include a large number of posts.

Look at main page view for this blog. I display anywhere from 10 to 15 posts, at any time, in main page view. Long ago, you would see this post at the top of the page (but time has passed, and this post is archived). Do you see how small the posts are, as displayed on the main page?

With "Read More", however, even with the post displayed as a summary, the entire post is downloaded. Auto pagination then limits main page view to a handful of posts. Main page view looks smaller than it should - and the blog owner is left, scratching his head.

Only "Jump Break" works properly, with auto pagination. That is the bottom line. Don't settle for less than "Jump Break", if you want your blog, in main page view, to include a predictable number of posts.

"You do not have access to this service", Being Seen

Recently, we've been seeing a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from people suddenly unable to login to Blogger and maintain or publish their blogs.

It appears that more and more private network owners are converting their email and office applications suites, to use Google Apps / Docs. This gives the various employers and schools the ability to block people, using their email, from also using extraneous / unnecessary services like Blogger and YouTube - and encourages the employees and students to spend their time more productively.

People with Blogger accounts, that are based on the converted email domains, are seeing problems accessing their blogs.

Part of the Google Apps / Docs package includes the ability to disable the use of various Google products and services, to people using accounts in the domains.

Blog owners are locked out of Blogger, with new managed domains.

People with Blogger accounts that are based on the newly converted domains are finding themselves locked out of Blogger.

When I login, I get the message.

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain employerdomain.com.

What do I do, now?

Not all domain administrators, even for those domains which use GMail / Google services for non "gmail.com" email addresses, believe Blogger blogs to be an essential service. Some domain administrators will forbid you to access non domain email services, from their domains.

Not all domain administrators know how to manage the domains properly.

Administrators of small domains, having just converted to Google Apps, may not be aware of the Services settings in their domains, and may need coaching - even if sympathetic to your needs. Any willing domain administrator can refer to Google Apps Help: Add Google Apps services to your account, for instructions on adding the Blogger service to the domain, that you need to use.

The bottom line is that, if your Blogger account is based on an email domain that has been recently converted to Google Apps, you may have some work ahead of you - if you want to use your Blogger account.

Blog Owners Seeing "You do not have access to this service", When Logging In To Blogger

Recently, we've been seeing a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from people suddenly unable to login to Blogger and maintain or publish their blogs.

It appears that more and more private network owners are converting their email and office applications suites, to use Google Apps / Docs. This gives the various employers and schools the ability to block people, using their email, from also using extraneous / unnecessary services like Blogger and YouTube - and encourages the employees and students to spend their time more productively.

People with Blogger accounts, that are based on the converted email domains, are seeing problems accessing their blogs.

Part of the Google Apps / Docs package includes the ability to disable the use of various Google products and services, to people using accounts in the domains.

People with Blogger accounts that are based on the newly converted domains are finding themselves locked out of Blogger.

When I login, I get the message.

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain employerdomain.com.

What do I do, now?

Not all domain administrators, even for those domains which use GMail / Google services for non "gmail.com" email addresses, believe Blogger blogs to be an essential service. Some domain administrators will forbid you to access non domain email services, from their domains.

Administrators of small domains, having just converted to Google Apps, may not be aware of the Services settings in their domains, and may need coaching - even if sympathetic to your needs.

The bottom line is that, if your Blogger account is based on an email domain that has been recently converted to Google Apps, you may have some work ahead of you - if you want to use your Blogger account.

"Nice Blog" Spam Is Not Random Garbage

Some time ago, I discovered an odd type of comment spam, which I termed "Nice Blog" spam.

Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

This spam, from what I can tell, has been published by the millions, in various blog comments.

It's likely that this particular spam is being published as a very imaginative form of email address mining. The phrasing started out almost identical to the above example - but recently became rather imaginatively worded.

All that the spammer has to do is publish a "nice blog" spam comment, against a typical Blogger blog post, and select the option to "Send me replies".

Any comments published later against that post, and including the commenters actual email address, would be delivered directly to the spammers inbox. Knowing the email address - and the blog URL (how many comments do not include a link to a blog?) - the hacker would go straight to work.

Later, we would see forum reports.

I can't control my blog, any more - and somebody has filled it with spam!

This was a direct result of the former blog owner, having left a comment on somebody else's blog.

By eliminating our email addresses from our comments, Google is helping to protect our accounts and blogs, while letting us continue to comment on each others blogs - and to discourage one type of unnecessary spam from our blogs.

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Blogger Blogs Use The Posts Newsfeed, As A Sitemap

Some Blogger blog owners don't know how to setup a sitemap, for their blog.

Setting up the sitemap, for a website, is a major process - and takes time. Every time you add a page to a website, the sitemap has to be updated - or how do your readers find the new page?

Alternatively, you can use a sitemap builder service, which builds the sitemap. This gives you a file, hosted by the sitemap builder service. Will the sitemap builder service be in business next week?

In either case, you take your sitemap file, and upload it to the blog. Every time you add a page, you update the sitemap, then you upload the updated sitemap. Every time - or the new page remains unindexed, until you do.

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(Update 2014/11/04): Blogger is now providing an automatically generated, dedicated sitemap, to replace the newsfeed sourced sitemap - and an automatic "robots.txt" update. There is no need for a custom sitemap - nor to update "robots.txt".

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With a Blogger blog, you designate the sitemap, using Google Webmaster Tools, referencing the URL of the posts newsfeed.

You can substitute any custom sitemap, if you wish, but this will be at your own risk - and you can develop your own installation instructions.

Once done with the Webmaster Tools sitemap wizard, you are free to work on the visible parts of the blog. Every time you publish a new post, the post is updated into the newsfeed, and becomes part of the sitemap.

The next time a search engine bot hits the blog, it picks up the new sitemap - and indexes the new post.

Combine the automatically and immediately updated sitemap, with more time spent updating the blog, and you get happier readers, and better search engine reputation. That's a win - win.

If your blog gets very large, you can add a new sitemap segment - at your convenience - for every 500 posts.

Why spend time manually updating a sitemap, with every new post (and worry about a file, hosted by someone who may or may not stay in business)? Use the posts newsfeed (hosted by Google), and work on the blog content.

DMCA Violations Must Be Appealed

Some blog owners don't understand the severity of DMCA violation citations.

We see occasional naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

I got email

After reviewing your account, we noticed that you have violated the terms of service frequently: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms. And where we have sent you several warnings about these abuses and offered you information about our policy towards repeat infringers, we were forced to disable Blogger service provided to you. Thank you for your understanding.
- Blogger Team

Why can I not login to Blogger, now?

This blog owners, and too many others, do not understand about the severity of repeated DMCA / TOS violation, upon their Blogger / Google accounts.

Too many blog owners simply accept the occasional deletion of their posts, and continue publishing.

I deleted the problem posts, whenever warned. Why did I get the notice about "you have violated the terms of service frequently"?

They do not understand that simply deleting a post, when cited for DMCA violation, is the same as entering a "Guilty" - or maybe "Nolo Contendere" plea, in a court of law.

Problem posts, when repeated, make the blog owner look like an intentional, non repentant spammer, mapping out the boundaries of what is accepted.

If your blog is cited for DMCA violations, it's to your benefit to appeal the citation - and hope that you're found innocent.

Of course, if you're guilty of DMCA violations, you'll have no valid recourse, other than starting over - maybe with another Blogger account / blog, maybe with a blog or website hosted elsewhere. That's your choice.

If you remain in Blogger service, you will be expected to clean up your act.

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