Saturday, October 31, 2015

EU Cookie Compliance, October 2015

We've had the Google CookieChoices banner in our blogs - thanks to the European Union cookie privacy issue - since April 2015.

Not all blog owners - even those in Europe, where its presence may be required by law - appreciate what Google provided for us. The banner clutters up many templates, making our blogs more busy looking. In some cases, it may hide - or be hidden by - important blog components.

There are several ways of customising the banner, to make it more acceptable - that are not too difficult to use.

Different blog owners have different blog designs, which may not work with the CookieChoices banner at the very top of the screen. There are different solutions, to handle the banner.

  • Push the CookieChoices banner, below the menu / navbar.
  • Move the CookieChoices banner, to the bottom of the screen.
  • Force the CookieChoices banner to display on top of the owner content.
  • Disable the CookieChoices banner.

Push the CookieChoices banner below the menu / navbar.

The most obvious is to increase the top margin of the cookiechoices banner, and push the banner down. Simply add one custom CSS rule, using the Template Designer "Add CSS" wizard.

#cookieChoiceInfo {
margin-top:50px;
}

50 px is the normal amount of vertical space used by many menu bars. If your template has a menu bar at the top, you may need to adjust the size as necessary.

Move the CookieChoices banner, to the bottom of the screen.

Alternately, you may prefer to reposition the banner, at the bottom of the screen.

#cookieChoiceInfo {
bottom: 0;
top: auto;
}

Force the CookieChoices banner to display on top of the owner content.

A third choice is to force the banner to display on top of the content - as it does, normally, with the Blogger navbar.

.cookie-choices-info {
z-index: 99999999;
}

With all 3 solutions, insert either code block in "Add CSS" with a blank line separating it, from any previous CSS rule.

Disable the CookieChoices banner.

A fourth choice - if you really need - is to disable the banner. This requires that you add a script, just after the "<Head>" tag. You'll use Template Editor, to install this tweak.

As always, please backup the template - before and after making this change.

<Head>
<script type="text/javascript">
cookieChoices = {};
</script>


You'll hopefully do this, just before adding a third party banner - which may be more to your tastes.

There are still more possibilities, to improve the banner, on your blog.

Start with Blogger Help: Cookies notification in European Union countries.

Also, you'll find suggestions in How to style, change or disable the Blogger EU Cookie Notice.

The bottom line.

Verify the results of your changes, by careful testing. Done properly, these solutions will keep your blog in compliance - and hopefully help you to avoid an all expenses trip (one way) to the Euro Capital City of your nightmares.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Several Ways To Add HTML Accessories To Your Blog

If you have a malicious or misbehaving gadget in your blog, one of the easiest blog cleanups is removal of a malicious HTML gadget.

Unfortunately, this does not work, for every gadget on every blog. Depending upon how a gadget is installed, malicious code may, or may not, be visible - and if visible, may, or may not, be easily removable.

There are three ways to install accessories and gadgets, onto a blog.
  1. Add into the template, using "Edit HTML".
  2. Add into an existing HTML gadget, by editing the gadget.
  3. Add into a new HTML gadget.

The third is preferable, if only to isolate each gadget being added - and make it more easily maintainable.

Add into the template, using "Edit HTML".

For non visible code, the Template Editor will always be the most "logical" installation process.

Many accessories come with installation instructions.
Copy the code here, find the "<Body>" (or "</Body>") tag in your template editor, and paste after (or before) the tag. Then, Save - and test your change.
So simple to do, but so easy to mess up. Or have you never had a broken or scrambled template?

And if the code added becomes malicious later, it's can be a pain to use "Edit HTML" when you're stressed (the blog is redirecting, you have angry readers, ...).

Add into an existing HTML gadget, by editing the gadget.

Some people put all of their accessories, of a given type, into one HTML gadget. Maybe the code for each gadget will go into separate cells in a table structure (for visible gadgets), maybe it will simply be separated using "<br />" tags.

Either way, you can identify the problem gadget - when the time comes - but you have to edit the gadget, find the malicious code, delete the malicious code, and Save the gadget. Then, you see if you did not damage the remaining code, that you need to keep?
Oops, I did not mean to delete that tag!

All of this, again, when you're stressed (the blog is redirecting, you have angry readers, ...). Stress == Mistakes, and more stress.

Add into a new HTML gadget.

This takes extra work, in the beginning. You have to add a new HTML gadget, position the new gadget using Layout, make sure that the new gadget does not affect the other gadgets, ...

But extra work, in the beginning, gives less work, when you're stressed.
Just login to Blogger as a blog administrator, click on the link immediately below, then click on "Remove".
Isn't that so much easier?

Just be sure to add an HTML gadget, from Basics - and remember to edit the gadget, in HTML mode.

The bottom line.

It's easier, and more logical, to add code directly, using "Edit HTML". And, it keeps the code base more compact.

But if you ever have to remove code, quickly, having each code module isolated as a separate HTML gadget is way, way easier.

You'll find out, one day - if you ignore me, now.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Google BlogSearch - 2015

Long ago, Google provided Google BlogSearch, as one a way of surfing the blogosphere.

One of the challenges of using BlogSearch was that we were never sure what we were surfing. Some people wanted to see only "blogspot.com" published Blogger blogs - and other people wanted to see all Blogger blogs, including those not published to "blogspot.com".

Some ingenious blog owners published "Blogger blogs" of doubtful integrity, simply using the URL of "blogspot.com" - and people accepted such blogs as righteous, simply because Blog Search would list them in a search page.

Advanced Blog Search is no more.

Blogger blogs can only be identified, with reliability, using "blogspot.com".

Blogger / Google now shows us that it is not possible to identify custom domain published Blogger blogs - or to identify Blogger blogs, in general, other than as websites published in the "blogspot.com" domain.

If you want to surf BlogSpot published Blogger blogs, you can do so in "Command Line" style, using Google Advanced Search Operators, and a standard Google Search Results Page.

If this blog was indexed using its BlogSpot URL, it might be one day found under
Google BlogSearch allinurl:blogspot.com
Unfortunately, since this blog will remain indexed under its custom domain URL, it will never be found in "BlogSearch" (2015 version).

The Advanced Search Operators are more flexible than the Blog Search GUI.

One of the problems with the old BlogSearch GUI was that it was too limited in options. For those who learn to use the Advanced Google Search Operators, you will have a wide variety of search options - that will apply to all blogs and websites.

Blogger blogs will be treated more like websites, in general.

People will learn to treat Blogger blogs more like websites, in general - than as a special class of blogs. This will be good for all Blogger blogs, in the long term.

And the Google Custom Search Engine - and similar third party accessories, will be available, for use from our blogs.

And, since it is simply not possible to distinguish Blogger blogs from non Google blogs, and guarantee to not pick up various search hijacks, custom domain published Blogger blogs will have to be searched along with all non Google blogs and websites. People who publish Blogger blogs to non BlogSpot URLs will have to compete with the non BlogSpot world - which is really what custom domain publishing should be, right?

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Adding AddThis Social Media Buttons To The Blog

A few folks have asked me about my social media toolbar, that I added a couple months ago.

It took very little work, to develop and install this gadget.

I just went to the AddThis website, registered, selected the options, and got the code. Then, I added one more HTML gadget, to my blogs.

Adding an AddThis social media toolbar takes very little work.

Start by registering with AddThis, and configuring a gadget in their library.

You register with their service, select a toolbar from their library, select the right options, and get the code. They have a large library of useful gadgets - for the time being I settled for the one free gadget.

The fun part was setting up the service buttons. They have a huge library of buttons, for every major publishing and social media service on the Internet, Google+ was not at the top of the first page - but it was in their library.

Select any useful number of services, to provide in your toolbar.

You just select the toolbar buttons that interest you, arrange them into the right sequence (alphabetically, for my tastes), and save. Then, get the code generated by the wizard.

You can't select all of the services offered - look at the menu, in AddThis. But if you know who your readers are - and what services they may use, you can select a representative set of social media services.

Take the code provided, add an HTML gadget to your blog, and paste the code.

Add one more HTML gadget, using "Add a Gadget". Paste the code, into the new gadget. Save, and Done.


See the share bar, in the left margin? Scroll the display, and watch how it floats there.



The AddThis toolbar floats, just like my "To The Top" button. I just added a new HTML gadget, positioned the gadget in a slot in the footer for convenience, refreshed my browser, and there was my new accessory.

This complements my floating "Subscribe by email" button, in the right margin.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Make Multiple FeedBurner Feeds, For Multiple Uses

Sometimes, blog owners need complicated and conflicting feed setups, for multiple uses.

One blog owner asks
I want a email blog posts feed, using snippets of the posts, so my email subscribers will click on the snippets and read the blog itself. I would prefer that newsfeed readers have the option to read the entire post, in their readers.
At first glance, this is an impossible request. FeedBurner can't do two things, with one feed.

Fortunately, FeedBurner, like most Google services, is free - and there's no limit to the number of feeds that you can make.

If you have two (or more) content distributions planned, for your blog, setup two (or more) FeedBurner feeds.

You probably have subscribers - and they need Full blog posts newsfeeds.

If you want your newfeed subscribers to be able to read the complete posts in their feed readers, have a FeedBurner feed to distribute the complete posts feed. People will subscribe to the posts feed using the feed links - so set the Posts Feed Redirect to target this feed, and provide a "Subscribe" gadget in the sidebar.

You might want to send brief post snippets to email subscribers.

If you want your email subscribers to get post snippets, setup a second FeedBurner feed, using the "Email Subscriptions" feature, and add "Summary Burner". Then add a "Follow by Email" gadget, to the blog, targeting the second feed.

You could even offer your readers multiple email delivery times, to suit their preferences. Cut in half the email subscriber delivery latency.

You could have a Full feed, to support a dynamic template, even.

You could use a secondary feed for abbreviated content, with the primary feed used with a blog published to a dynamic template. Dynamic templates require the complete blog feed (comments and posts), set as "Full". A secondary feed can provide your readers the ability to subscribe to an abbreviated feed, by activating Summary Burner.

If you look at the FeedBurner menu, you can probably come up with more ideas.

Take a look at the FeedBurner menu sometime. I bet that you can find other FeedBurner features that would be useful to some readers, but not others. I also use BrowserFriendly, to provide a consistent subscription display - and I use SmartFeed, to dynamically provide the right feed format.

See the concept, in real life.

If you're a skeptic, like me, maybe you want to see this idea, for real. So, you are welcome to examine my FeedBurner Full Posts feed, and compare that with my FeedBurner Summary Posts feed.

Monday, October 26, 2015

The Blogger Followers Gadget Is Broken

Blog owners ask about Followers activity, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
I can't Follow my Followers!
They appear to be referring to the Followers gadget, which is currently useless for surfing.

We observed this problem, almost 6 months ago - and it's been reported to Blogger Support, several times.

What is interesting is that Followers itself is working just fine - unfortunately, not so many blogs will have a custom Followers gadget.

The standard "Follow Me" gadget. in the sidebar, is broken.


There's the gadget, on my blog.



This is what I get, when I click on any icon, in the Followers cloud - or the popout window icon, in the upper right corner.


Look at the custom Followers gadget, in this blog - which does work!

I have a custom, full page "Followers" gadget, in this blog - and it continues to work.


That's the custom Followers gadget, on my static page.



I can click on any Follower, in my custom gadget Follower cloud.



And there's the details for that Follower - and opportunity for surfing, from the Follower selected.



And I close the Follower popup window, and I'm back in my custom Follower gadget display.



Not so, with the gadget in the sidebar.



I click on the popout window icon - and get the Followers cloud, opened inside the IFrame. How do I surf, with this?


So, Following itself works OK - it's just the standard sidebar sized gadget, that is broken.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

With Anonymity, You May Not Get Easy Recovery

We see the potential for self induced stress, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, every week.
How do I publish a blog, without identifying myself?
Then later
I forgot my account name / password, and I am not getting any email from "Forgot?"!
These are two hypothetical problem reports, that are all too real, for many blog owners.

Access to a real email address is an essential element, in recovering account and blog ownership.

You are allowed to publish a blog anonymously - with support from Blogger.

You are permitted to setup a Blogger account - and to publish a Blogger blog - without being contacted by Blogger or Google. If you remember the account name and password, you can maintain and publish a blog indefinitely, without unwanted privacy violation.

When you setup your Blogger account, you can use any available account name. Similarly, you can use any acceptable email address - neither real or not, nor owned by you, being a requirement.

You need to login, using your Blogger account, to maintain or publish your blog.

You will need to login, as the blog owner, if you wish to maintain and publish a blog, however. And if the account and / or blog are deleted or locked, because of (bogus) abuse classification, or hacking detection, you will need to login as the blog owner, to recover the account and / or blog.

Account / blog recovery, for truly anonymous owners, will be limited.

Blogger provides very limited account and blog recovery options. You may not be able to recover control of the blog - if you cannot access the blog because you forget the account name / password, and used a bogus email address when registering. Also, you may not be able to request review - if the account or blog is deleted or locked, because of bogus abuse classification, or hacking detection.

Blogger cannot accept your word, that you are the blog owner - nor can they use an ad hoc authentication technique, such as your passport photo, which may match the photo on the blog itself.

The choices are yours, to make - and the consequences will be yours, also.

Friday, October 23, 2015

You Cannot Reply To Comments, From Your Inbox

Some blog owners keep reporting problems with comment replies never posting to their blog - or being received by the comment publisher - in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
When I reply to blog comments through GMail, the reply doesn't show up on my blog.
or
My readers never get my replies, to their comments!
This blog owner is trying to use a feature that should exist - but simply is not available.

When using email from Blogger hosted comments, a blog owner sees the comment, just published by the blog reader.

Comments are very useful, in building a community.
Comments are a major feature, in community building. If you're looking at a comment in your Blogger comments moderation or notification email, it's only natural to try to reply, immediately.

It was possible, long ago, to reply - and to harvest email addresses.
Long ago, it was possible to reply to comments, from moderation or notification email. Unfortunately, Blogger found it necessary to protect blog owners, by blocking their email addresses from passing in comments - even to the blog owners who were interested in moderating and possibly replying.

Now, if you read your comment moderation or notification email, many of your readers comments will appear, in your Inbox, with an email address of "noreply-comments@blogger.com".


I can reply to Pearl, only in a public comment - either published to my blog, or to her blog.


Any replies, to "noreply" addresses, go nowhere.
If you use the email "Reply" option, your reply simply vanishes - nothing to the comment author, or to the blog. It's labeled "noreply", for your benefit.

This is the price that we must pay, for protection against phishing blog thieves. And, it's one more example why I despise hackers, phishers, and spammers.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Diagnose FeedBurner Subscription Problems

Many blog owners rely upon FeedBurner, for publicising blog updates.

Feed delivery in general - and FeedBurner feed delivery in particular - are all subject to problems. FeedBurner provides the "TroubleShootize" tab, with common sense diagnostics.

FeedBurner provides some well organised feed diagnostics, in their "Troubleshootize" dashboard tab.

Login to your FeedBurner account, select the feed by name, and find the "Troubleshootize" tab.
Oh Dear, What Kind of Trouble?
Troubleshootize contains general tips and a couple of quick-fixes to try with any malfunctioning feed. And yeah, we're sticking with this tab title. For now.
Right at the top of the list:
Fouled-Up Feeds, and Quick Ways to Fix 'Em
The most common problems that affect your FeedBurner feed are:
  • The trouble: Your FeedBurner feed isn't up-to-date with your Original Feed.
    The fix: Try pinging FeedBurner using our Ping page. This action tells FeedBurner to go check your feed for updates immediately.
  • The trouble: Invalid characters or XML markup in content items, often introduced by composing your posts in Microsoft Word or embedding JavaScript code in a post.
    The fix: Check your feeds for validity problems: Original Feed Validity, FeedBurner Feed Validity. See if any errors are reported, Then, check out this help topic for removing unwanted characters from your posts if mysterious characters seem to be to blame.
  • The trouble: Connection timeouts between FeedBurner and the web server that hosts your original feed. If FeedBurner can't reach your Original Feed for any reason, we will report it as a FeedMedic item here on Troubleshootize.
    The fix: Try a ping once your website service has been restored.
Still further down the list:
The Nuclear Option: "Resyncing" your feed
As a last resort with a regular feed or a podcast, you can resync your feed. You should only resync if your feed is more than 1 hour out-of-date and pinging FeedBurner does not update it or your podcast files are not being turned into enclosures by our SmartCast service.
And just below that, the "Resync Now" button, with the advice:
Resync takes the following actions:
  • Clears our cached version and refreshes its content from your Original Feed
  • Creates podcast enclosures for items that did not previously have them and contain links to podcast content
  • Reports any feed formatting problems encountered during the resync

And we see further good news.
Frustrated? Need help solving your problem? Head to the Groups.
FeedBurner’s official Google Group is the best place to find other publishers and solve problems. Additionally, Google employees and community experts monitor discussions and participate from time to time to offer guidance. Head to the Group if none of the resources provided here on Troubleshootize give you the answers you're looking for.
Open the FeedBurner Help Group in a new window
The bottom line, you have a few options yet, if the problem involves a FeedBurner feed. The suggestions above are all affinity diagnostics, and differential diagnostics, restated for FeedBurner.

Note FeedBurner diagnostics - and general diagnostics - principles.

You should, however, keep in mind the different ways to subscribe to the blog comments, and to the blog posts.

And note the proper use of feed redirection - and of FeedBurner subscription list examination.

Consider problems with post content.

Use of MS Word, to compose and format posts, is a known problem cause. The best solution for MS Word formatting problems - when you absolutely must use MS Word - is to remove all formatting, in Post Editor - then reformat.

All FeedBurner problems won't involve subscriptions - and all subscription problems won't involve FeedBurner. When you have a problem which may involve FeedBurner, be specific about the epidemiology, and about the etiology, to increase chances of seeing the problem properly diagnosed, and resolved.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Published Comments Link To Profiles - Not To Blogs

Blog owners periodically ask about publicising their blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
Why do my comments point to my profile - and not directly to my blog?
This blog owner just wants to drive traffic straight to the blog.

Linking comments directly to blogs is so limiting.

Very few blog owners limit themselves to a single blog.
Very few blog owners are nothing but a single blog. To encourage linking to one blog would encourage restricting ones personality to that one blog - and makes one so much less interesting.

The purpose of comments, and social networking, is to connect people - not just blogs. Very few blog owners have just one interest - and many have multiple blogs.

Some blogs allow "Name / URL" "authentication".
If the blog permits anonymous comments, you may be able to use the "Name / URL" option, and include a link to your blog. But I suggest that a well designed profile provides more information about you, as a person - and will make a profile link, to your one blog, even more interesting.

Both Blogger and Google+ profiles provide details about you.
If you're using the default Blogger profile, a well written Introduction will provide good basic information. "Interests", plus any of the "Favorite" sections, will provide more. And, under "Privacy", you'll find "Show my blogs", where you can select your one blog (or others) to be listed. And "Show sites I follow" gives you even more opportunity to identify yourself.

If you're using a Google+ profile, you'll have even more opportunity to show who you are. A Google+ profile provides almost as much static details as the Blogger profile - plus the stream sharing gives you a multitude of opportunities to "meet" people who you know nothing about, initially. The "friend of a friend" connections established through Google+ are unbelievably complex.

Whether you use a Blogger or Google+ profile, the possibilities for linking either offers far more opportunity for community exposure than linking to a single blog.

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Owner Activity Does Not Determine URL Availability

One interesting question, that we see from time to time in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, is about owner activity and "dormant" blogs.

Many people would like to publish to an inactive Blogger address - but Blogger supports the current owner right to anonymity and privacy - and to keep their blog, until they want to give it up. One of the challenges, in this case, may be identifying dormant blogs.

It's generally not difficult to identify publishing activity, for most publicly visible blogs.

We can identify publishing history, easily enough.
With a publicly published blog, we can generally examine the blog itself, and the automatically published posts sitemap - and see what posts have been published, and when.

However, a blog does not have to be repeatedly published, to be useful. Similarly, some blogs are published too often - and others, not enough, even when regularly.

Blogger requires no minimum posting activity or volume.
Since Blogger imposes no minimum posting schedule, they won't declare any blog as "dormant". A blog can be published once a day, once a month, or once every 10 years - and if the owner is happy with reader activity, the blog remains valid.

Only the owner knows reader value or future purpose of a blog.
Even with maintenance / publishing activity being visible to the public, only the owner is likely to have access to reader activity counters and logs. Only the owner, then, can identify blogs that are truly dormant.

And even with a blog being static, and receiving no reader activity for the last 10 years, it's possible that some blogs may have a purpose, in the near - or distant - future, planned long ago.

Blogger simply provides anonymous ownership, for eternity.
Blogger tells us, simply
Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.
If the URL is not stolen, and TOS is not violated, the blog and URL will remain the property of the owner - until the owner chooses to give up control.

And Blogger won't violate anonymity. If the owner publishes the blog without a contact point, Blogger will not violate the right to privacy.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Deleted Pages Are Not Recoverable, Like Posts

Blog owners occasionally delete blog content, and later change their mind.
How do I recover a post, after I deleted it from my blog?
Sometimes, knowing the URL - or at least the title - of a post, we can retrieve the post from the Blogger database. In other cases, it may be possible to retrieve post content from a cached newsfeed.

Some blog owners like to construct a blog using static pages - and this presents a bit more of a challenge, when a static page is deleted.

Searching for a deleted static page is not the same as searching for a deleted post.

Static pages are not easily searchable - nor are they cached, as often. They are called "static", for a reason.
  • They don't appear in newsfeeds.
  • They generally don't appear in sitemaps.
  • They can't be indexed using Blogger direct searches.

Static pages don't appear in newsfeeds.
Blog posts appear in the "blog posts feeds". There is no "blog pages feeds", because static pages are not designed to appear in newsfeeds.

Static pages generally don't appear in sitemaps.
Blogger provides the pages sitemap, for optional use. Not many blog owners will host significant amounts of content, that needs indexing, on static pages. Many blog owners (I am one) host content that is not intended for indexing, using static pages.

Static pages can't be indexed using Blogger direct searches.
Static pages do not use labels - so they cannot be indexed in the "/search" section of the blog structure. If you want to search static pages, you'll have to use a cached / custom search.

The bottom line.
If you host significant blog content on a static page, it may be indexed in a cache - but it will, most likely, be indexed less frequently. Let's examine this example, from The Wayback Machine.

The static page was cached 5 times. The blog, in general, was cached 16 times.


The static page was cached 5 times.

The earliest copy would be 2013, and the latest 2014.



The blog was cached 16 times.

The earliest copy would be 2012, and the latest 2015.


When you retrieve deleted content, you want to retrieve the most recent usable copy of the content. Content cached 16 times is significantly more likely to produce a usable copy, than content cached 5 times. And any copies made in 2015 will be more up to date, than copies in 2014.

And the Wayback Machine has not been known to have every blog and website cached. If there's no cache, we might have to look at cached blog feed - and blog feed is only available for posts. Static pages are not published, in the blog posts feed.

All in all, if you ever need to recover deleted blog content, you're going to have a better chance of success if the content was a post - and not a page.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Check Your Post Editor "Sticky" Options Settings

People ask, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about problems with post formatting.

Why don't all of my posts allow comments?
or

Why are my posts a mess of code, in one huge paragraph?
Both of these problems can involve post editor Options settings - and in many cases, Options settings from a previous post.

We say that the post editor options are "sticky", because they are retained, from post to post. If you edited the last post, and Published it with "Line breaks" selected as "Use <br> tag", the next post, by default, will have "Line breaks" selected as "Use <br> tag".

Comment settings are both per blog, and per post.

Comments have a per blog setting.








"Hide" prevents all comments - and the comment form - from being shown, in the blog. Anything else - "Embedded", "Full page", or "Popup window" - is subject to the per post setting.

Including comments, there are 4 per post option settings that should concern you.

The other selections under "Post settings" - "Options" are set in post editor, only.





Here are the settings, when this post was Published. These will probably be the same, for the next post.

If you have a problem with one post - and you find the problem includes other posts - you may have to edit each already published post, one by one, and change the setting for each post.


The Options settings are all sticky, from post to post - with new posts.

All 4 Options are sticky, from post to post.

Note that the stickiness applies to publishing a new post. The setting may or may not be retained, when editing posts - and it won't affect previously published posts.

If you're in the habit of publishing posts, back dated, you'll end up with posts created out of sequence with their display dates. If you change post editor options, from time to time, you'll want to check them, each time you publish a new post.

Keep an eye on the settings, from post to post, for stress reduction.

If you don't check the settings - and if you have some posts with different settings - you will wind up with multiple different per post settings. The havoc created, from unpredictably different settings, will make maintaining your blog a real challenge.

With differing "Reader comments" and "Backlinks", your readers will be periodically noting the inconsistencies. And with "Compose mode" and "Line breaks" changing, from post to post, you'll be busy fixing problems.

If you don't want your posts (some of your posts) ending up as one huge paragraph, make all Post settings Options consistent.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Reciprocal Following Causes Churn In Followers Count

We see an occasional query about Followers, and the ever varying Followers count in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
Why is my Followers count always going up, then down? Even when I see new Followers, the count is lower today, than yesterday!
This blog owner does not know about churn, and reciprocal Following.

You may Follow a maximum of 300 blogs - though your blog may be Followed by any number of blogs.

The asymmetrical limits, following to being followed, creates confusion.
The asymmetry caused by the limit means that some blogs, even with the owner Following similar blogs, won't get lots of Followers.

With blogs in communities which do a lot of "reciprocal" Following ("You Follow me, I'll Follow you!"), some people will see the Follow count limit, rather quickly. This is a common effect, with some communities.

People who Follow the maximum have to drop one blog, to Follow another.
When somebody who is Following your blog sees another blog that they really need to Follow, they have to drop 1 of the 300 currently being Followed. Your blog has a theoretical 1 / 300 chance of being the one that's dropped, with those blogs followed most recently being more visible in the Followers cloud - and more likely to be dropped.

The more people who Follow your blog, the more chance you will see your numbers go up and down. It's called "churn".

Publish, and Publicise, to keep your Followed count increasing steadily.
If you market your blog aggressively (and politely) - and if you publish informative, interesting, and unique content, regularly - you have a better chance of keeping the Followers count steady, or steadily increasing.

Right now, this is not a certainty, with Blogger Followers - since the Followers gadget is broken, and Followers surfing is not working. If possible, you should use Google+ Followers, to complement Blogger Followers.

Publish steadily, for best results.
Even with the gadget broken, though, you have a better chance of seeing the Followers count increase - or at least remain steady - if you publish steadily.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Static Pages Are Not Searchable, By Default

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, we see a blog owner who wishes to use static pages for blog content - and wants the blog visible, in search hit lists.
I set up search gadgets for my blog - but have noticed that the search only seems to work with posts. How do I make my pages searchable?
The blog owner does not understand the original reason for having static pages.

Many blog owners use static pages for content viewable by visitors - but intentionally not indexed, by search engines.

You can make static pages searchable - but you won't be able to use all popular search options.

You can't search static pages, using a Direct blog search.

The "Direct" search gadget works against the same segment of blog content, "/search" - as does a label search. Static pages are not indexed in the "/search" blog segment, and cannot use labels - so a "direct" search won't work with pages.

You can use a Custom Search gadget - if you get the pages indexed.

To search static pages, you'll need to use a Custom Search gadget. Since the custom gadget uses search engine cache, the pages will have to be indexed.

You'll need a pages sitemap.

Besides the drawback of search engine latency, you need to allow for having the static pages crawled. In most blogs, this means adding a pages sitemap, to "robots.txt". And, if you don't have a custom search gadget in the blog, you'll have to add one.

Once the pages sitemap is added, wait for a search engine robot to crawl the pages sitemap. Then, try the custom search gadget.

Static pages do not publish in newsfeeds - or dynamic templates.

And when the search engines are indexing the pages, remember another key difference between pages and posts. Static pages do not publish in a newsfeed, or produce dynamic template content - or offer subscription options.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Do You Have A Problem Or Suggestion? Tell Blogger!

Every day, we see a complaint, problem report, or suggestion about making Blogger better, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

If you want direct communication (one way) with the Blogger Developers, Blogger Support has suggested that we use "Report a problem".

The "Report a problem" button, in the lower right corner of every Blogger dashboard page, is a link to Google Feedback.


Look in the lower right corner of a dashboard display.




"Report a problem" - not hard to spot!



You'll also find the link, in the upper right corner of many dashboard pages.


Find the "gear" icon, in the upper right of many pages.




Click on the gear icon.




There is "Report a problem".



Google Feedback offers you the chance to:
  • Describe your problem, in text.
  • Show your problem, highlighted.
  • Conceal any embarrassing details.

The form has one limitation - and some may want to note this. It provides no memento or receipt, telling you what you just submitted. Those of us with OCD might want to compose the text of the complaint / suggestion in a Google Drive document - then copy and paste into the form.

That should make for easier composing too - the tiny text box (so typical of all Blogger / Google services) is not easy to use for comprehensive, thoughtful messages. It's intended as a spur of the moment quick suggestion, I'm sure.

That said, Google Feedback is easier to use than GPF, for composing and sending a visual copy of the screen. If you can get the screen to display exactly what you're reporting, with Google Feedback active.

And you get a chance to highlight what you want to be seen - and to black out what you don't want to be seen. So if you have an embarrassing email address or personal detail, no worries, just be sure to use the "Black out" option, liberally.


Start by describing the problem.



Then, look at the screen.



Highlight what you want seen, black out what you don't want seen.



And review your report. Edit, if necessary.


And if you compose the text in Google Drive, you'll have a time stamped record of what you submitted. Who knows what you could do, later, with details like that?

So, let the Developers know what you think!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Blogger Magic - How To Setup A Custom Domain

A blog, published to a custom domain, is like magic. It involves smoke and mirrors - and a bit of redirection.

And, it helps to follow directions.

Setting up, and publishing, a custom domain is not difficult - as long as you understand the requirements.

  1. Get the DNS addresses right.
  2. Publish the blog, to the domain.
  3. Manage the migration process.

Get the DNS addresses right.

Once the registrar has setup the domain, your job is to use the registrar dashboard (aka the "zone editor"), and add the DNS addresses, to point to Blogger. Understand and observe zone editor syntax, required by the registrar.

Having a working DNS starts with proper registrar choice - and proper domain setup, by the registrar, on their DNS servers.

There are many things in life that can be free - but custom domain publishing won't be one. Learn about the purchase of proper service.

If you have just purchased the domain that you are setting up, check your email for a message from ICANN, and provide verified administrative email address. This appears to be a special vulnerability with Google Domains purchased domains.

99% of the people reading this will use one DNS address model. Proper DNS addresses are essential, to a stable and working custom domain.

Understand and observe DNS latency. Most registrars will use 1/2 to 1 hour latency - but some will use 3, 4, or even 24 hours.

The latency, or TTL, is set by each registrar, to help them maintain and operate their servers as best possible. If you are not otherwise experienced, use the standard registrar TTL value.

To make a stable domain more likely, wait twice the latency period, after you verify proper DNS addresses, before continuing with the second step.

Publish the blog, to the domain.

Use the Blogger dashboard Publishing wizard, at Settings - Basic, and publish the blog, to the domain. The URL published will be determined by the DNS addresses already added.

With most new domains, you will be required to verify domain ownership. This will require a second use of the zone editor - and proper use of instructions, provided by the Publishing wizard.

Once the blog is published properly, redirect the domain root to the published URL. Blogger Help would make you believe that this is an optional step - but they are wrong.

Manage the migration process.

With the domain properly published, and addresses uniformly propagated around the Internet, let your readers know about your shiny new blog address. Don't worry if some don't get the word, immediately - the BlogSpot URL will continue to work, as long as you own the blog.

Besides your readers, you should be mindful of the search engines, and of non Google services. With the blog still indexed under the BlogSpot URL, you'll get some traffic - but until the domain is indexed, you'll get less traffic than you should.

Not all non Google services will follow the BlogSpot to domain redirection - and some may have to be updated, intentionally. If you use AdSense on the blog, you will have to apply for an AdSense account upgrade - and you can apply only with the new domain operational.

The migration process is the most complicated part of the project - and it's the least predictable too. But if you remain aware of the possibilities, and plan the effort, it will go by pretty fast - and some weeks later, you'll be busy with the blog, and the domain.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Blogger Magic - Make A New Static Page

In order to make the Pages gadget "Pages to show" useful, you need to add one or more static pages.

Without entries under "Pages to show", you've nothing to do but add dynamic pages, using "Add external link". There is one way to access Page Editor - though several ways to access Post Editor.

You use the Page Editor, to publish static pages - which then are listed under "Pages to show", in "Configure Page List".

You access the Page Editor from the dashboard Pages page.

With the Pages page displayed, look for "New page". Click on the button, and you have Page Editor in front of you.



Start from the "Pages" dashboard page.





Click on "New page".





Clicking on "New page", you're in Page Editor.



Page Editor has the same look and feel as Post Editor - but without a few items in the sidebar.



Post Editor has a more complete sidebar.



Having published a new static page, you make the new page visible - if you wish. Many blog owners use the Pages gadget, as a horizontal menu bar - and add each static page to Pages.

You can use Pages, if you wish. There are other ways to index a static page - or even to link to the page, within one or more posts. How to make your page visible is entirely up to you.

Let's make a new page, as an example.

Here's an example, using my test blog "Nitecruzr Test Pages 2014".


So, we'll make a new page, "Contact", in my test blog.

Enter the content, and click "Publish".




Go to the "Layout" dashboard page, and Edit the Pages gadget.




That gives us "Configure Page List".

Select "Contact", under"Pages to show".

Click "Save".




And now, there's a new static page in my blog "Nitecruzr Test Pages 2014".



And that gives us a "Contact" page, in "Nitecruzr Test Pages 2014".

Observe the differences, between pages and posts.

To illustrate the differences between page editor and post editor, see my static page, which mirrors this dynamic page. And, you can see my "pages vs posts" post - and my mirror "pages vs posts" page.

At any rate, once you publish a page, you create links to the new page. You can link to a static page from within the posts - and from the Pages gadget. With the page published, look under "Pages to show" - and select it, if you wish.

And you can index a page, without the Pages gadget.

You don't have to use the Pages gadget. A static page can be referenced anywhere you wish, in the blog. I'm not adding my static page to my Pages gadget - or even to my custom linkbar - in this blog. You'll only find my links to the page, from this post.


Saturday, October 10, 2015

Blogger Accounts, And Google Multi-Account Login

One of the most consistently observed problem report subjects, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, is about account access - and the dashboard menu.
My menu only gives me Posts, and Settings! How do I manage my blog?
This blog member (owner?) may be simply logged in to the wrong Google account.

Google lets you login to multiple accounts, as you wish, using the same browser.

Many Google services - but not Blogger - let you login to different Google accounts.

You can login to services like GMail, Google+, and YouTube, under multiple Google accounts - and each service will use the proper account, reliably, when you change accounts. Blogger does not support this feature - nor does Google Apps. You may need to use multiple browsers, with Blogger and Google Apps.

When you login to Blogger, and you are logged in to another Google service, using that browser on that computer, you may or may not have to use Google "One account" login. If you do not use Google login - or you login to the wrong Google account, your Blogger account will be the one associated with the Google account that was most recently logged in.

If you're using Google "One account" fully, you'll have multiple Google sessions open in different tabs and windows - and which session becomes the Blogger account may vary. You may not notice the difference, until it's too late.

If you're already logged in to Google, Blogger may not require you to login again.

If the Google account that was most recently logged in corresponds to a Blogger account that is a blog administrator, you will get an administrator menu - and be able to edit all posts, the template, and so on.

If the Google account that was most recently logged in in corresponds to a Blogger account that is a blog author, you will not be able to do anything but create and edit your own posts. If the Google account that was most recently logged in corresponds to a Blogger account that is not a blog member, your dashboard will be without the blog - and you will be unable to continue.

If you ask the question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue
Why can't I edit all of my posts?
or
How do I add gadgets to the blog? There's no Layout page!
We'll ask for a screen print of the dashboard menu.

If you are logged in as an author, you can logout, then login properly.

Seeing that you have an author's menu - or an empty dashboard, we'll instruct you to
Logout from all Google products - then login to Blogger, using the administrator Blogger account, for the blog.

You need to be logged in to the correct Blogger account. It's that simple.


I'm an author, on this blog.



I'm an administrator, on this blog.


See the menu differences? If it's your blog, you will prefer the latter menu.

Logout, then login carefully, to be logged in to the right Blogger account.

If you logout from all Google products and services, then you deliberately login to Blogger, you can be logged in using the right account. And this way, you can avoid the many side effects of clearing cache, cookies, and sessions - and restarting the browser.

You may find Blogger Help: Having trouble signing in or viewing your blog? to be useful, in some cases. And knowing how to identify the owner of a blog is useful, also.

Friday, October 9, 2015

SSL Access Is Not A Reality, For All Blogs

Some blog owners are not going to be able to provide SSL access to their blogs - even with SSL enabled.

Blog owners who prefer to use the "www" alias of "blogspot.com" - and who have chosen to enable SSL access for their blogs - report "Invalid Certificate" errors, when trying to access. And other blog owners report problems, when they have photos, hosted by Google and Picasa, using "http:".

Blog owners, who require HTTPS / SSL connectivity for their blogs, need to be patient. Impatience causes various inconveniences.

Deceptive site warnings.

Clever workarounds, to provide custom domains using SSL, are not worth the effort.


Blogs using CloudFlare will be classified as "Deceptive" sites.



Invalid certificate warnings.

An invalid certificate warning, when SSL access is attempted, is pretty scary.



Nobody can access this blog - without some extra clicks, and cautions.



Mixed content warnings.

And some blogs, which do permit easy SSL access, generate "mixed content" errors.



Most people can access this blog - but how many will want to do so?



Both the invalid certificate ("ERR_CERT-COMMON_NAME_INVALID") and the mixed content ("... it contains unencrypted elements (such as images) ...") represent blogs that won't be able to provide SSL access - and provide readers an enjoyable experience.

A blog with an invalid certificate, with SSL access attempted, won't easily provide a connection. The browser, that the would be reader is using, is not going to connect to a website with an invalid certificate, without the reader being properly cautioned.



The link to the blog is there - so you can get there, if you wish. How many would be readers will, happily, "Proceed to www.whatever.blogspot.com (unsafe)"?



And, how many would be readers will enjoy accessing a blog that contains unencrypted elements (such as images). Maybe there are no unencrypted image exploits, in the wild, right now - but how many people who care to use SSL will know that, for a fact?

SSL is available, for blogs which can provide it - but not all blogs, which can provide it, may be suitable to provide it.