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Showing posts from 2015

Account Recovery And Account Security Is One Issue

We see the frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , almost daily. My blog has disappeared from my dashboard, and my subscribers are getting spam! How do I get my blog returned to me? and I got a new computer, and now I can't access my blog. Who can I call at Google, to get this fixed?? These are two blog owners who have the same problem, but do not understand the connection.

Optimize Post Content, And Encourage Readers

Along with consistently using Jump Break, properly sizing and wording of important post sections can make the blog pages neater, and easier to read. You see my opening paragraph, above. Sizing and wording of important post sections, such as the opening paragraph, helps make the main page layout more consistent - and gives a slightly more professional look to the blog. And, a cleaner and more consistent page layout, to complement a carefully structured blog , encourages readers to read more of the blog.

You Get What You Pay For

Free "Domains" may be worth exactly what you pay. A "free domains" registrar won't be a charity - nor are registrars, in general, non profit organisations. There will be differences - between a "free domain" - and a properly purchased domain, from a full service, reliable registrar. Features cost money - and even "free domains" have to be paid for. Google " free domains for blogs ", and see what you get. What they offer may not be what you need, for Blogger custom domain publishing.

Don't Use Draft Mode Post Editor, For Long Periods

Too many blog owners continue to trust their efforts to Page / Post Editor, over long periods of time, without backup. We see the agony, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , too often. How do I get my post back? I have been working on it for months. I accidentally cleared the screen - and seconds later, the empty post was saved by post editor! Help meeee!! This blog owner is now in for some bad news.

Don't Be The Registrar, With Your First Custom Domain

Every domain, to be visible to the world - has to be visible to the root name servers . Your registrar adds your domain to their servers - then sets up a series of linkages, between the root name servers, and their own name servers. Your job, as the domain purchaser, is to connect the registrar name servers, and the Google servers .

Some Blog Owners Should Accept A Content Warning

Not all blog owners are willing to accept their blog being accessed behind a reader applied Content Warning. We see occasional signs of lack of understanding, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why is my blog blocked, by Google? It is a legitimate blog, with a serious subject!! This blog owner considers the needs of his blog above the general Blogger reader population. For best results, the desire to display, without the warning, needs to be accompanied by a willingness to remove content, when necessary. Right now, the readers have spoken .

You Will Not Get Advance Warning Of Classification

We see frequent evidence of confusion, about abuse classification etiquette , in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog was deleted, as spam - but I received no notice or warning! How could Blogger do such a thing? This indignation may be provided, in the hopes that Blogger would relent. Sorry, here's your blog! But such reaction is seldom seen - and when seen, is not a result of attitude, but of content.

The Chrome Browser Lacks A Newsfeed Reader

We see occasional evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about reading newsfeed content. I click on the link at the bottom of the page, and I get a screen full of gibberish. When we check the problem report, and verify browser involved, it will almost always be for users of the Chrome browser .

Blogger Followers / Google Friend Connect ReWrite

Blogger is rewriting the Followers gadget, and removing some lesser used features. One of the features seeing some change is Followers Authentication and Profiles. Long ago, I wrote about Community Accounts , and later about Community Profiles - both features letting you (or someone Following you) provide a blog to Follow and / or Follow other blogs. At the time, Following (aka Google Friend Connect) was part of a complex network of different Followers services - with some Google users, and others non Google users. The ability to use non Google services, to Follow Blogger blogs, made a Blogger blog accessible to more people.

Diagnose FaceBook Gadget Problems

Adding a FaceBook developed gadget is - or should be - just like adding any HTML / JavaScript gadget . Sometime, though, adding a FaceBook gadget just does not produce hoped for results. We see the problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . The gadget is blank! or The gadget does not update anything! The problems will typically involve gadget code - and the FaceBook Debugger wizard is unlikely to provide any help.

Account / Blog Recovery, And Anonymous Ownership

We see occasional evidence still of confusion about blog ownership, and dashboard access, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can find my blogs on my profile page, and by Googling them - but I can't update them, post in them or access them in any way - even though the system says I'm logged in. This blog owner is logged in to the wrong account - but has no way to recover, because the blog is offline.

A New Blog Feature - Featured Post

Last week, Blogger Engineering announced their latest feature, "Featured Post" . Whether you’d like to re-share that delicious holiday recipe from a few years back, spotlight a can’t-miss promotion you’re running, or just revive something quirky from the archives, the Featured Post gadget is a simple way to show off the content that matters most. This is a quick and easy way to highlight a specific post in your blog, that will be enjoyable or useful for your readers. I hope to use mine to provide useful advice, as "Read, and Learn" - once the Followers gadget has been updated , and is fully operational.

The Followers / Friend Connect Gadget Works, Again

In a separate project, I was updating this blog - and in previewing my changes, I observed the familiar demur We're sorry. This gadget is configured incorrectly. ... In the sidebar, underneath "Follow Me". That sight made me wonder if the Followers gadget, when viewed in the live blog, would again work properly - when recently, I had begun wondering if the gadget would ever work, again . And, when I investigated, I found my musings were correct.

Don't Make Your Blog Victim Of Alias Blocking Malware

Country specific domains were launched by Blogger almost 3 years ago . Even this month, we see people with doubts about their benefits. Is using a script, to prevent blogger country redirection, a violation of Blogger or Google TOS? And the proposed script is the same one that is being used by spammers, to abuse the Blogger service .

Many Blogger Email Delivery Problems Are Reported

We have a number of problem reports, from various blog owners and readers, about email from Blogger, posted daily in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Some email, from different Blogger features and services, simply is not being delivered. The normal advice given is for the person reporting the problem to look in the "Bulk" / "Spam" folders, in the email client. Not all non delivered email is dropped into "Bulk" / "Spam". Some email is simply "bounced" - ie, returned to the sender. Since most Blogger email is sent from a "no-reply" email address (ie, "no-reply@blogger.com"), bounced email vanishes - and nothing is done to analyse its non delivery.

Windows Live Writer Becomes Open Live Writer

Last week, Blogger turned off their workaround from June 2015 , that was allowing Windows Live Writer, and other third party editors and auxiliary Blogger services, to access Blogger. All week, we saw various reports of problems, reminiscent of the problems that we saw in June 2015, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Yesterday, Blogger Engineering provided a status announcement . We would like to let all users of Windows Live Writer know that Microsoft has made the application open source and it’s now a different application called Open Live Writer ( you will need to download it here ). A few months ago, the Windows Live Writer and Blogger integration stopped working for a few days due to improvements in Google’s authentication systems. We agreed to keep the old authentication systems for a few more months but starting December 11th, they will be retired and Windows Live Writer will stop working. The Open Live Writer team is now working on making OLW use ClientLogin a

A Blog, Not On Your Dashboard, Has Various Causes

We see many complaints, worded in various ways, about "missing" blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog is not on my dashboard! or I logged in this morning, and I see Create your blog now You are not an author on any blogs yet ... Help! There are many reasons for these reports - and not all may be what they seem . The causes of "missing" blogs vary widely, from blogs deleted by Blogger (or the owner) to blogs owned under another account (the claimant or a third party). Chances for recovery may vary, similarly.

Don't Force Your Readers To Use SSL

Some blog owners are very anxious to have their blogs accessible, using SSL protocol. We see the occasional impassioned query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . I added JavaScript code in my blog, to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, since I want my users to view the blog in HTTPS. I am concerned about indexing and Webmaster Tools. How do I move from HTTP to HTTPS? I would like my posts to be indexed, using HTTPS.

Large Blogs, Search Engine Indexing, And Stats Logs

We see an occasional question about search indexing, and visitor activity, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . How do I find out what search queries are used, to bring my new readers, to my blog? This owner is thinking about how to get more traffic - the right way. You can use the Stats - Traffic sources dashboard page, and examine the top 10 Search Keywords, used to find your blog. Depending upon how large and popular your blog is - and what browser your readers use - you may or may not find out as much as you would think, however.

Blogger Does Not Have A Page / Post Recycle Bin

We see the occasional hopeful yet naive request, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about a common mistake. I deleted my post, that I've been working on, for a week. How do I get it back? Here, the blog owner is asking about a feature that has been requested, several times. If you delete your blog, you can recover it - within 90 days, using the same Blogger account . There are no "do overs" for a deleted page or post, however.

Newsreel Gadget Broken

Last week, Google turned off the long deprecated Google Feed API . Among many Blogger features that were affected , were 4 identified gadgets. Feed Newsreel Slideshow Video Bar Several days after the API was turned off, Google realised their mistake, and turned it back on again. The Newsreel gadget, unfortunately, remains out of service - and we have seen many reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue .

Chaos Theory, And Blogger / Google Authentication

Every time I carry this computer with me, and login to Blogger or Google from another location - and get the repeated demand that I Insert my USB key, and touch the button. I growl just a bit. Then, I consider what using Google 2-Step Verification means, to me. Many blog owners become unhappy, when they use Blogger. I tried using Blogger from my friends computer - and I have to tell them when I setup my Blogger account! or I need to recover control of my blog - and even though I supplied the right phone, and got the recovery email message, I have to check off which Google services I have used, in the last month!! WTF?? These are simply people who do not use Google 2-Step Verification - and have to prove their identity, in a different way.

DMCA Complaints Can't Have Immediate Action

Some blog owners, filing a complaint against another blog owner, don't understand the delays involved, in a DMCA Violation. I have just recently filed a DMCA notice on this blog for copyright infringement of my blog. So far nothing has been done except receiving an automatic reply from Google. When will the other blog be taken down? This blog owner does not understand that not all legal actions can be executed immediately - and some, never.

Image Upload And "sign in to access online storage"

Last month, Blogger launched an improved Page / Post Editor image uploader - Image Drag and Drop . Today, we are happy to announce that users will be able to drag and drop images directly into posts drafts. In the past, users had to click on “Insert image” to upload the file from the posts drafts. However, with the new drag and drop feature, users will have an easier way to add pictures into post drafts. Like many Blogger major improvements, this one comes with challenges.

Broken Feed Gadgets, From Google API Deprecation

Google makes changes to their software environment, constantly. This week, they deprecated the Google Feed API . Unfortunately, many Blogger gadgets require that feature to display feed content, on our blogs. This week, numerous reports about broken feeds, in various gadgets, are being seen, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . The broken feeds are a direct result of the deprecated API.

Editing And Showing Your Google+ Profile

When you have a Google+ profile, and you use it with your Blogger blog, it replaces your Blogger profile - and becomes the public part of your Blogger identity. Google+ displays your profile more transparently than Blogger displays your Blogger profile . Your Google+ profile is clearly and consistently linked to your Google+ comments and posts, for your readers to view - and it's part of the Google+ desktop, for you to view and to edit. And Google+ lets you display or hide sensitive portions of your profile, with more options than Blogger provides. As a Blogger blog owner, you can probably find your Google+ profile , as attached to your Blogger dashboard. All that aside, Google+ is not completely obvious, in letting you view and edit all profile content. One of the challenges of Google+, and showing and editing your profile, is that Google+ is being updated, right now - and there are now two Google+ desktops.

Change The Display Name, On Old Posts

We see the occasional query, about name changes, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . I just got married, and now I have a new email address, and a new name. How do I change my Blogger identity? And the usual advice was You can change youe email address, and / or change the display name (not the account name) - and you can transfer control of the blog to a new Blogger account, which bears your new name. But old posts will remain, with your old name. And there, we would have one more disappointed blog owner. But that does not have to be the final answer.

What Access Do You Have, To Your Blog?

Occasionally, we have a would be blog owner, becoming confused about blog access, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can look at the dashboard Posts page - but there are no posts listed. or I can't access the Template Designer (edit the template, add users to the blog, ... ). or maybe Why is Settings so small? These are bloggers who are confused over a blog where they are an Author , or have no access - as opposed to a blog where they are an Administrator . Along with knowing how to identify yourself , knowing what access you have to a given blog can be a key detail, when you are dealing with identity confusion - such as inadvertently created duplicate accounts , or possibly duplicated blogs .

Reformat An Unreadable / Unusable Page Or Post

Sometimes, you have to start over. If you edit your post too enthusiastically - or if you switch between Compose and HTML modes too much, while editing - you can corrupt the formatting. You can cause a cornucopia of symptoms, from messed up index pages, with dropped sidebars , to unreadable posts (and yes, pages). Even the old trick of doing nothing but toggling between Compose and HTML modes may not work, every time.

Large Blog Sitemaps Are Broken, And Lack Content

Several owners of large blogs (500 posts and up) are reporting problems with indexing, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I have over 2500 posts, in my blog. Each sitemap page, which should contain 500 posts, shows only 150 posts. This reduces my indexed posts tremendously! This blog owner did nothing to cause this problem. Upon investigation, we have discovered that both blogs using the classic feed based sitemap , and the current automatically generated sitemap , are missing sitemap contents, equally.

XML Gadgets Do Not Work In HTML Templates

One of the more intriguing questions, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger , is about blog accessories, and template antiquity. I feel the customization with HTML templates is a lot more unique - but I wanted a certain gadget, on my blog. I upgraded my template in order to add the gadget, and copy its coding. After reverting back to the Classic template, I placed the gadget into my HTML. How do I get the gadget to work? This blog owner does not understand the differences between HTML and XML.

Import Content From A WordPress Blog

Some blog owners - weary of the restrictions, and lack of options and features, decide that WordPress is not part of their future - and are moving to Blogger. An important part of changing from WordPress to Blogger publishing is the process of moving the existing blog content. You can import WordPress content into a new Blogger blog - or use an existing Blogger blog. If you are migrating a WordPress domain to Blogger , you'll want to transfer the content, first.

Can I Setup A Blog, And Sell Goods Or Services?

We see cautious blog owners, asking that question periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? . Many home based, and small, businesses use Blogger blogs for selling various goods and services. Apparently, you're permitted to sell stuff, using your blog. That said, there are some common sense rules which you should consider, before you setup a blog to sell stuff.

BlogRolls Are Good For Casual New Reader Activity

Blog owners use many techniques for getting new readers - and for keeping existing readers happy. Some blog owners use techniques which work inconsistently, because they are not designed to work the way they are being used. Some blog owners becomes concerned when their blogs, listed in blogrolls on other peoples blogs, don't seem to be updated as regularly as they would expect. Blogrolls are good tools for getting new readers, in a casual manner. They may not be as good, for predictable, scheduled visitor activity.

The HTML Mode Syntax Checker Was Out Of Control

Most of us who compose pages and posts in HTML mode are accustomed to the annoyance of the (Page / Post) Editor HTML syntax checker. Proper HTML syntax depends upon correctly paired HTML tags. You enter an opening tag, without a closing tag - and within seconds, the syntax checker pops up and alerts you to your mistake. You then enter a closing tag, and all is well. This might be a normal event, when formatting the page / post title . Until this week, the syntax checker gave us a brief one or two line advice, at the top of the page. Now, we see a full screen page of random text - and in some cases, no way to continue. The error message fills the screen, and we can't see the editor window - so we can't finish what we were doing.

Duplicate Blogs, Inadvertently Created

Occasionally, someone reports a problem with disappearing blog content, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My posts disappeared, right after I changed my email address! This blog owner does not realise the problems caused by changing ones email address (but not the account name ), without thinking.

Editing And Showing Your Blogger Profile

Your Blogger profile is the public part of your Blogger identity , that can be seen by others. You will want your profile to provide the best representation of you - but do not display too many details. Revealing account names and email addresses , for instance, can put your blogs at risk of theft.

Anonymous Comments, And The Mobile Template

Not all blog owners appreciate the effort by Blogger, to make anonymous comments a usable feature, in our blogs. Anonymous comments have a complicated form - and people don't want to comment. They have to select certain pictures, related to a subject. When using a mobile template, they don't see all the buttons needed - and there are many steps until you finally publish a comment. Could is be simpler? With no checking pictures, with just typing few numbers, or without any security question at all? This blog owner would prefer Blogger commenting, before 2015, when anonymous comments meant unending waves of spam.

Sharing To Google+, And The "Gray Screen Of Death"

If you like to multi task when using Blogger, you probably keep a few windows and tabs open, in the browser. If you have lots of tasks running simultaneously, and you try to Share to Google+ from the dashboard Posts page, you may click on the "Share" link, the "Share on Google+" window pops up, you watch the window load - and just as the window is almost complete, it vanishes.

Diagnose FaceBook Posting Problems

Sometimes, in the progress of integrating a FaceBook Wall with our blog , we may face a problem which involves FaceBook Open Graph code . FaceBook error displays can be as mysterious as Blogger error displays . But, there is hope - provided by FaceBook Developers.

A Blog Team Administrator, On Vacation, Is Trouble

We see questions of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about blog ownership recovery. I accidentally deleted my administrative access. How do I get my access back? There is only one legal answer. Have another administrator restore your access. But this story does not end well. The other administrator is on long term vacation! I really need to have my access back!! There is no easy answer here .

The "Next Blog" Link Is A Series Of Compromises

Periodically, we see complaints about "Next Blog" content, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When I click on the "Next Blog" link, I get sent to blogs from many, many different languages. Can I set this to send me to primarily blogs published in English? or "Next Blog" sends me to blogs about "xxxxxxx". My blog is about "yyyyyyy". Why can't I get more blogs about "yyyyyyy"? What these blog owners do not understand is that using "Next Blog" involves compromise.

Pages And Posts Can Use Rich Text, In The Titles

Recently, in advising a blog owner of a (probably) unrelated problem, I discovered an unknown (to me) option, in both page and post editor. Pages and posts can apparently use bold and italic characters, in titles. This interesting option does not work transparently, however.

AdSense Does Not Work With Dynamic Templates

We see daily reports, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners , about blogs with blank or empty ads. My AdSense was approved weeks ago! Why no ads, on my blog, even now?? The owners are certain that their blogs are mature and righteous - and that they received final approval for ad content. Looking at the blog - when the blog name is provided - we see one unfortunate detail, in many blogs. Blogs published to dynamic templates.

How To Allow People To Follow Your Blog

We see new blog owners ask the obvious question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . How do I help people Follow my blog? There are several tools for community building , or Following - and different people will make different choices, which to use. The choices depend upon the community that any blog serves - and the purposes for following .

Revert Multiple Posts To Draft Status

Some blog owners, needing to take large amounts of post content offline, unsuccessfully try to use the Posts menu to "Revert to draft" posts, in quantity. Selecting all posts displayed, they click on "Revert to draft", and are given the bad news. You cannot modify more than 50 entries at once. This is annoying - but does not have to be terminal, to whatever project was underway.

Add CSS Rules Using Template Designer "Add CSS"

One of the most versatile ways to improve your blog is by adding CSS rules. CSS stands for " Cascading Style Sheet ". The term "style sheet" refers to the template sections which contain style rules, which affect the appearance of the blog. The term "cascading" refers to how you manage the rules. With CSS, you have no need to edit existing style rules, to make a change. If you define your rules properly, you make higher level rules specific enough so they cascade over lower level rules .

Adding A Pinterest Pin To Blog Photos

I've been seeing the Pinterest "Pin It" hover icons, in various blogs, for a few weeks. Today I decided to try adding an icon to this blog. I spent more time reading the instructions, then installing the icon.

Transfer A Domain, From Google Domains

Google Domains describes their view of the domain transfer process, in Google Domains Help: Transfer a domain out . The transfer process supports different transfers. From a person with an account at one registrar, to another account at that same registrar. From a person with an account at one registrar, to an account at a different registrar. From one person, to a different person, at that same registrar. From one person, to a different person, at a different registrar. As a project, I found it best to define, size, and assign the complete transfer process in 6 tasks. The project can be adjusted for a domain served by any sending registrar - and targeting any receiving registrar - based upon formalities required by each registrar.

SSL and the "www" alias of "blogspot.com"

Last month, we observed that SSL, though generally available for blogs published to "blogspot.com", did not work for all such blogs . Owners of blogs who used the "www" alias of "blogspot.com", such as my BlogSpot mirror blog " https://blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com/ ", reported annoying error messages, when trying to access the "www" alias of the blog, using SSL. Your connection is not private For my BlogSpot mirror blog, you'll see the problem, when viewing " https://www.blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com/ ". The problem apparently involves the SSL certificate for "blogspot.com", which does not include the "www" aliase for the subdomains (such as "blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com").

The "Forgot?" Wizard Has Limited Retrieval Ability

For blog owners who have forgotten the Blogger account name or the password, the "Forgot your username or password?" wizard is an essential tool. You can try to recover account or blog control, by using either a BlogSpot URL or an email address. Both options work only under specific circumstances. Both options are blind recoveries. You enter a blog name or email address, with no assurance that what you enter will lead to a blog. Only when you enter a valid blog name or email address will you receive a recovery email.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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 ".

Blogger Accounts, And Google Multi-Account Login

One of the most intriguing 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.

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:".

When You Import, Avoid "Automatically publish ..."

Every month in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we see another blog owner, trying to import and publish. Why is it taking so dang long? I started yesterday - it's just spinning, and getting nowhere! This blog owner is not having a good time, importing posts.

Publish Back To BlogSpot, Before The Domain Expires

Occasionally, we see the question My domain is expiring soon. Will the blog be visible, after the domain expires? And this answer is not so obvious. If the blog remains "published" to the domain, the blog will redirect to a dead domain. Your readers may see a screen full of ads - or they may see Site not found. What they see will depend upon ISP / registrar policy.

A Custom Domain Published Blog Is Bound By TOS

Some blog owners like Blogger One Button Publishing - but they don't like the restrictions . Possibly observing the chaotic freedom of WordPress self hosted blogs, they wonder if custom domain publishing provides the same freedom. If I pay for my domain, can I host porn with ads? Unfortunately, custom domain publishing, unlike WordPress self hosted blogs, still uses the Blogger dashboard - and still publishes content which is accessible using "blogspot.com".

"Read More" In Dynamic Template Magazine View

Some blog owners, who publish their blogs using a dynamic template, prefer the "Magazine" view. A few owners observe that there's a problem with the "Read More" function, in the "Magazine" post summary display. How do I let my readers know that there's more to read? There's no caption to indicate "Read more ..."! This is an odd omission, too. With Dynamic Templates involving 7 different views, though, it's not difficult to imagine 1 or 2 details dropping through the cracks - and we are here.

How To Activate AdSense, On Your Blog

This question comes up, almost daily, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger - and continues into AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / YouTube How do I activate AdSense, on my blog? The activation process does not require a lot of additional work, by the blog owner - but it does require a mature, well written blog - and some patience. And you do need to understand the rules of AdSense accounts .

OpenID Commenting, With Blogger / Google Accounts

Blog guests and owners who wish to use OpenID, for posting comments, may need to logout from Blogger, before commenting. It appears that when commenting, someone logged in to Blogger or Google will use the Blogger / Google account for authentication, automatically - instead of an OpenID account - even when preferring to use OpenID, and the blog permits use of OpenID.

Following - How Do I Get Started?

One challenging question, that we see from time to time in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , is about one of the neatest Blogger social networking features, Following. How do I find blogs to Follow? And that is a simple question, with not such a simple answer. What came first - the chicken, or the egg?

Publishing A Static Website, As A Blogger Blog

Some blog owners use Blogger, as a lightweight website platform. A normal Blogger blog consists of posts, which are published as dynamic pages. Static pages, used in a normal blog, are extra content - that's typically hidden from direct view, and intentionally not indexed by the search engines . A website, on the other hand, will typically use static pages as content. Static pages, by default, are not used as blog content.

Blogger Offers HTTPS For BlogSpot Published Blogs

Today, Blogger / Google made a major announcement which has been coming, for a long time. Today we're expanding on the HTTPS Everywhere mission and beginning an initial rollout of HTTPS support for Blogspot. HTTPS is a cornerstone of internet security as it provides several important benefits: it makes it harder for bad actors to steal information or track the activities of blog authors and visitors, it helps check that visitors open the correct website and aren’t being redirected to a malicious location, and it helps detect if a bad actor tries to change any data sent from Blogger to a blog visitor. SSL access to Blogger blogs has been requested, by many blog owners, for years. The initial offer, which will roll out gradually, will only affect BlogSpot published blogs. It will be voluntary, to give blog owners a chance to upgrade the various accessories and applications.

Street Legal Race Cars, And Similar Web Applications

Almost 2 years ago, motion picture actor Paul Walker and Roger Rojas decided to joyride, take a spin , in suburban Los Angeles California. What followed was $500,000 + destruction, at speed exceeding twice the posted 45 MPH. Driven in an industrial / office complex , the street legal race car - his buddy Roger at the wheel - left the road, and wrapped itself around a tree. It takes money to own, and to race, a super car - like a Porsche Carrera GT, that took Paul's life. It takes no money, however, to own a super web application - like a Blogger blog.

Spam Review Is Not By Word Of Honour

Too frequently, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we try to advise blog recovery for a legitimate blog, unrighteously deleted by Blogger. Occasionally, when advised to Find a dashboard link labeled "Deleted blogs" / "Locked blogs". then Having found the link, you submit a Review request. The response is There is no dashboard link, referencing 'deleted blogs / locked blogs'. There are several causes of this condition - but there is only one real solution. The (would be) owner has to login with the right Blogger account , and find the necessary "Deleted" / "Locked" blogs section, of "My blogs".

Revenge Porn Now Recognised As Abuse, By Blogger

Recently, Google publicised advice about a new type of abuse that may be reportable, when present in a Blogger blog. Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims—predominantly women. So going forward, we’ll honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google Search results. This is a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures, that may surface in our search results. Supposedly, "revenge porn" mitigation is limited to removal from Google Search. In one forum discussion , however, the new classification appears to have successfully resulted in an offensive blog being removed from Blogger.

People Who Publish Private Blogs Deserve Privacy

We see an occasional would be blog member, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , bemoaning lack of private blog access . I used to follow a certain blogger - but found out, recently, that now his blog is blocked & only open to invited readers. I do not know the author and would like an invite. How do I contact the author? Lack of access to the fancy clubs and parties, in any city, is a disappointment to many - except the lucky members of the "AAA" list. Private blogs have the same exclusivity. Life is not fair.

Not All Template Designer "Advanced" Wizards Work

An occasional blog owner reports frustration with various "Advanced" Template Designer wizards, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I have entered my new colour palette under "template>advanced>" - and the colours will not show up on the blog. I even checked that the colour values were right under "Edit HTML". This blog owner wants different background colours, than are provided as defaults - and does not understand why the wizards, that advise Template applied. simply don't work.

The "My blogs" List Is A Jumble

Every week, we get some hopeful blog owner, with more than half a dozen blogs, naively asks, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger How do I sort the dashboard blog list? And there is no answer, other than You can't. This is one feature that Blogger just won't provide.

Proactive Content Removal Helps Avoid Problems

We occasionally see a confused content thief / spammer, unsure why the blog was deleted. I removed all of the content that I was told to remove. Why was my blog deleted? or Why was my blog restored, then deleted the following week? Some blog owners do not understand the consequences of repeated review. The more times your blog is reviewed, the more completely and carefully the content will be examined .

Help Your Readers Index Your Blog By Post Title

The "Blog Archive" gadget is used, by some blog owners, to provide a date sequenced post index . Some blog owners, with smaller blogs, would like their readers to index their blogs by post title - but without the date being involved. They would like a straight alphabetically ordered list of post titles. Blogger does not have a "Title Index" gadget. It's not hard to make one, however, for smaller blogs.

GPT (PTC, PTS, PTV) Is Unwelcome, Click Fraud

Some spammers do not appreciate the subtle details of the Blogger anti-spam policies . Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.

Country Code Aliasing Is A Solution - Not A Problem

Blogger recently expanded a key feature in their infrastructure - country local domain redirection . Like all Blogger features, every time they expand the scope of aliasing, they cause problems. Some of the problems that were caused by the recent expansion of country local domain redirection - where they added over 2 dozen countries , in one project - are damaging vulnerable Blogger blogs. Incidental damage to any blogs, however, should not justify stopping - or impeding - the implementation of redirections, on a worldwide basis.

Fix The Dynamic Template Pop Out Sidebar In Place

Not every blog owner, who likes the dynamic templates, likes the docked sidebar - which pops out, only with the cursor properly positioned. How do I get the sidebar to remain visible? Nobody knows where it is, with it hidden! This blog owner is ignoring the need to use all horizontal screen space, effectively, when viewing the blog in some dynamic views. However, if you really want the sidebar to always be visible, it's easy enough to make it do that.

Domain Registrations Require Email Verification

We're seeing a few blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , reporting new custom domains that don't work - or that worked for a while, then stopped working. Domains purchased through Google Domains, and other registrars, need ownership email verification. When you buy a domain, you get various email messages - from your registrar, and your bank, for instance. Some, you file without opening.

Don't Confuse "Link List" And "List" Gadgets

One useful alternative to the "Archives" gadget , when you want to help your readers index your blog by Title, is a LinkList. You can make a LinkList in 5 minutes - and you can add a new entry, when you publish a post, in 10 seconds - and index your blog by Post Title. Just don't confuse the terms "linklist" and "list", when you add a Title index.

Basics: You Cannot Login To My Domain Account

We see evidence of naivete, about responsibilities of Blogger custom domain publishing, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why does Google not support the blog owners properly, with a telephone number to call, so they can fix domain publishing problems? Some blog owners don't understand the concept of third party products, and Blogger. Just as your Blogger (and Google) account is your own property , so is your domain manager account.

Maintain A FeedBurner Subscriber List

We've been using FeedBurner Email Distribution for years, to provide a turnkey email based publication distribution . With any email distribution system, the most essential function, in list management, is to add and remove subscriber entries. FeedBurner gives you that ability - if you look, carefully.

Basics: You Cannot Login To My Blogger Account

My Blogger account, and my blogs, are my property. Your Blogger account, and blogs, are your property. This is a concept that not everybody seems to understand. Just as you cannot login to my account, I cannot login to your account - nor can Blogger Support or Google Security login to your account. If you have a problem with your account, we will do our best to advise you how to resolve your problem - if at all possible. You have to do the work, though.

EU Cookie Compliance, September 2015

Having spent time during July 2015, setting up the EU Cookie Notice Banner - and more time during August 2015, verifying operation of the banner , some blog owners are curious about banner regulation. Would the cookie notice have to be visible to the visitor as soon as they click onto the blog? or Since I don't live in Europe, should I care about the notice? Both are valid concerns, from blog owners who don't blindly follow the leader, with no reason.

Recovering A Company Blog, Using Company Email

Every week, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we see signs of improperly managed company blogs . The person who developed our company blog left our employment - and did not give us access to the blog. How do we recover our blog? If the former employee published the blog from a Blogger account that uses cloud based email, such as GMail, the blog may be legally his property. A Blogger blog is owned by the person who controls it . If your company uses company owned email, however, you may be able to take control of the Blogger account, and the blog.

The "Follow by Email" Gadget Uses FeedBurner Email

FeedBurner Email Distribution takes any Atom / RSS newsfeed, and sends it out, as email , to all subscribed recipients. One FeedBurner feed is generated, when you add The "Follow by Email" gadget, to your blog. Like all FeedBurner Email accessories, email is distributed once daily, as selected by the feed owner.

Blog Owners Seeing "Invalid Security Token Error 403"

We are seeing an increasing number of reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about problems accessing various dashboard features. Recently I have faced a problem on my blogs dashboard. The problem is Invalid Security Token Error 403 How do I solve this? This blog owner faces the latest variant of the long feared monolithic error, "403 Forbidden".

Interstitial Warnings Limit Research Options

Besides the problems discussed, when trying to research ownership or retrieve content from deleted and private blogs , we have problems researching ownership and retrieving content for blogs published behind an interstitial warning. The interstitial warning is actually one reason why private blogs are so hard to research and to retrieve. Any blog, published behind an interstitial warning, becomes a challenge - both for ownership research, and for content retrieval.

Unique Content Requires More Than Hand Typing

We see discussions, in other forums - between a blog owner and an expert, discussing the necessity for unique content. When advised that his blog is a problem because it is simply copy and pasted material, the response from some blog owners focuses on the term "copy and paste". I type everything by hand, word by word! I do not copy, then paste! But hand typed or not, the text can be easily Googled, and found in larger and better written websites. Neither AdSense, Blogger, or Google Search care whether you use the keyboard or the mouse, to add content into post editor. You can type an article by hand - or you can highlight, then select "Copy" from the right click context menu, and finally select "Paste" from the right click context menu - and get the same result.

Private Blogs And Profiles Limit Research Options

Too often , we see the report, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can't login to my Blogger account! or My blog was just deleted!! Neither of these problem reports are unusual - and generally, there are various control and diagnostic options which may be available, to help us recover control of the account or blog in question.

Private / Deleted Blogs Have Limited Recovery

Too often , we see the report, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can't login to my Blogger account! or My blog was just deleted!! Neither of these problem reports are unusual - and generally, there are various control and diagnostic options which may be available, to help us recover control of the account or blog in question.

Account Security Is Not A Game - It Is Real Life

Google has been playing games with their online products, so much, that some people seem to ignore the seriousness of the issues. We see the occasional naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I feel like Google has gone over some sort of security event horizon -- trying so hard to evade hackers that too many authentic account holders are getting locked out, irreparably. This would be blog owner (or possibly, blog thief) feels that she should not be responsible for remembering the necessary details , to login to her Blogger account. Alternately, she should cruise through account recovery, with no challenges.

Blogger Magic - Repositioning Sidebar Gadgets

One of the more challenging limitations of Classic (HTML based) templates involved the template packaging. Each template provided a combination of background, colours, fonts, and layout. If you wanted any different combination - a different background, for a set of colours and fonts, you would have to compromise on the layout. Or a specific layout meant a compromise on the colours and fonts. Surely, somebody remembers the "Minima" vs "Minima Black" choice? And settling for the serif fonts, to get the right layout? With the Layout class templates (XML based), Blogger introduced the "Fonts and Colours" wizard - and a beginning to making the packaging more modular.

You Can't Change Email Address During Recovery

One intriguing blog theft technique is tried also by people who have recently lost control of their blogs. I recently changed my email address (and forgot my password) . Can Blogger please send a password reset to my new address "xxxxxxx", instead of "yyyyyyy"? The blog owner is overlooking the obvious - that this is exactly what any blog thief might try, too. Too many blog thefts start with the owner unwisely advertising the email address .

Where Are The Buttons In My Post Editor Toolbar?

Occasionally, we see signs of confusion, in in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Where are the buttons, in the toolbar? or Why don't I have a Colour / Font / Jump Break / Video Upload / whatever selection, in my post editor? The reason is very subtle - and not easy to spot. Blogger page / post editor is very elegant, with no feature being colourfully different. Most people compose their posts in Compose mode - and don't use HTML Mode, except for specific needs - or maybe by accident. And the people who don't use HTML mode, intentionally, can't always spot the difference, in the mode selector buttons.

Make A Background Image From A Favourite Photo

People like to customise their blogs - and some want to use a favourite photo - not one of the stock Blogger background images. The problem, too frequently, involves file size. I found a background image I really like (or at least I think it would work OK) - but when I resized it to the upload specs detailed in customizing your template, it said the file was too big! Blogger limits background images, as supported by the Template Designer, to 300K.

Making Mail-to-Blogger "email address" Changes

Occasionally, we see real confusion, involving the email address. I can login to Blogger - but I can only change my email address, or remove myself from the blog. This is a blog owner who is logged in as a blog author, who now sees just two dashboard menu pages. Posts Settings In many cases, this will be a blog owner who is trying to recover access to the blog , having forgotten the account name - or who is inadvertently using a second Blogger account . Running afoul of the Blogger / Google blind login , the would be owner has just managed to login - but sees a very empty dashboard. And, the confusion may not end there.

Login Properly, To Avoid Many Dashboard Problems

Many problems with the Blogger dashboard are caused by the account / profile in use. If the wrong account or profile is in use, the simplest solution - in many cases - is simply to logout from Blogger / Google , then login using the correct Blogger / Google account. This is less disruptive then advice to " clear cache, cookies, and sessions , then restart the browser" - when the latter sequence can be avoided. A simpler solution is to use the Google multi account login menu properly, so you will not need to logout.

Setting Up Mail-to-Blogger For Your Blog

Setting up the ability to post to your blog, using email, is quite simple. In Blogger - you just have one essential setting - the password. You setup the password as the "secretWords", in the dashboard page at Settings - Email. You can use any "secretWords" that you like - though if you have any concern about keeping spam out of the blog , you really should make the "secretWords" hard to guess .

Diverse And Large Blogs Require More Effort

An interesting attitude is seen, from some owners of large and unfocused blogs. It's normal, with so many articles in a blog, to have some reports (DMCA / TOS complaints). It's normal, yes. That does not make it acceptable - or beneficial. If you want to publish a large blog - and make lots of money - you have to focus or limit your efforts. You need to spend as much time - if not more time - reviewing content for legality, than owners of comparable, smaller blogs. You can't take time away from reviewing, to create and publish more content - then justify your failure to stay within the limits, by implying that it's normal to have posts that push the limits .

Only You Can Use The Quick Edit Links, On Your Blog

People worry about the Quick Edit icons - sometimes, needlessly. I was logged out - but I can still see the edit tools! or My visitor logs show people clicking on the "rearrange" links!! Fortunately, no matter what can be seen - or may be clicked - only administrators will get any result. I use the "rearrange" links for many blogs, frequently. The links are unbelievably useful, when instructing a blog owner how to remove a misbehaving gadget on her / his blog .

Blogger Can't Limit Legal Action, By Your Policy

Some blog owners expect to get a slap on the wrist, for each TOS violation. I had a notice on the blog. If anybody objects to what I'm doing, just tell me - and I'll remove the offending content! Why was my blog deleted? These owners plan blog content, based on doing what they want - hoping that Blogger will make them a list, over and over again, identifying their mistakes. Don't do that! That attitude is similar to what we hear from some politicians. It's not a crime, until I get caught!

Legacy Account Migration Is Less Likely, Each Year

In 2012, Blogger ended support for legacy accounts . This year, we see that account recovery does not support legacy accounts , any more. People who don't remember their legacy account names / passwords are now unable to migrate - and are unable to recover account access, so they can migrate. Every year, any account which remains unmigrated is less likely to be accessible, by the owner. As that happens, and with account recovery not working for legacy accounts, migration won't be possible - and the account will be unusable.

Renewing A Google Domains Registered Domain

All good things must come to an end. So did the first year of my Google Domains registered domain. Fortunately, renewing took but a few minutes.

You Cannot Change Your Blogger Account Name

Changing your Blogger account name is like changing your birth name - it can't be done, without legal complications. You can have a nickname - I have several, depending upon who's calling me. But when a cop stops you , you're going to need your government issued vehicle operator certificate - and there's no nickname there. Just your birth name. If you don't like your current Blogger account name, you transfer control of the blog - using two browsers - to an account that you like.

Blogger Authentication Uses Demographic Details

If you use Google Two-Step Verification , you will have a better chance of being able to recover Blogger account access, if you forget the account name or password. Alternately, use of 2-Step Verification may prevent account hijackings and blog theft, when you must use a computer that's not yours, or when you travel - as long as you carry your authentication device / tokens with you. As an alternative or complement to 2-Step Verification, Blogger recognises us using demographic details. People who consistently use the same browser, on the same computer, in the same location, and from the same Internet service, are easily recognised, are trusted more - and are less likely to receive secondary challenges.

Blogger Magic - Changing Your Custom Domain

The process of changing one custom domain URL to another is similar to the task of changing the BlogSpot URL . The risk of identity theft is not as great, when you change a custom domain. You will continue to "own" any previously used domain, even when unpublished - but the risk of technical error is just as real. If you care about blog accessibility, you will plan this process , with some care.

Email, For Your Blog Or Domain

Periodically, we see questions about email delivery, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . How do I setup email delivery, for my domain? Long ago, this was fairly easy to setup. It won't be so easy for everybody, however. Email delivery starts with the required DNS addresses - which are domain and registrar specific. Email for BlogSpot URLs is not possible - and email for custom domains will require specific domain services. Not all DNS hosting services will, automatically, provide email.

Help Your Readers Index Your Blog By Date

One of the most useful accessories for listing posts, in a blog, is the Archives retrieval gadget. Titled "Blog Archive" in " Add a Gadget ", the archive gadget provides an automatically updated index of all blog posts, sequenced by date. It is an enhanced version of the first accessory for Blogger blogs, provided when the blog home page was previously no more than the most recent post.

Blogger Magic - Renaming Your Blog

Renaming a blog is not difficult - but it can produce unwanted side effects. We've seen a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I renamed my blog, last year - and I have had no new visitors, since then! or I looked at the old URL, and it's got my posts, and lots of spam! These blog owners did not plan the renaming process.

Owner Recovery Ability, Of Deleted Blogs

A deleted blog can be restored, only after an owner successfully requests restore / review. Since only a blog owner can request blog restore / review , deleted blog recovery can only start from the owner dashboard, with proper use of the "Restore" / "Review" button or link. The dashboard requirement ensures that no blogs will be restored, without being under control by the owner.

Blog Thieves Like Abandoned Blogs

If a Blogger account or blog has been dormant for a while, a sudden burst of activity can just as easily indicate a blog thief at work, as a legitimate owner, recently returned. When you go on vacation, and are going to be away from your house for an extended amount of time, you are urged to have the lawn attended to while you are gone, suspend mail / newspaper deliveries, and take other precautions. Why? So the house won't appear unattended. Just as burglars like abandoned houses, blog thieves like abandoned accounts and blogs. With no owner activity, the owner is not likely to inconveniently change the account password, or update the blog, while the thief is at work. With no owner activity, the owner is less likely to notice any changes - and to report the theft.

Plan Blog Recovery, After Bogus Spam Classification

Abuse / Malware / Spam classification of Blogger blogs - and the inevitable bogus fuzzy classification - has been a part of Blogger life, for several years. Recently, we explored known effects of bogus classification, upon reader and search engine reputation. It's not a pretty picture - but it's also not likely to go away, as long as abusive persons, such as spammers , operate in the Internet world. Owners of blogs spuriously classified are not likely to be very objective - but we cannot avoid reality.

"Trust Me! - It's My Blog!" Is A Useless Tactic

Some blog owners make no effort to remember their account name / password - then become unhappy when Blogger won't bend their rules, to accommodate them. Google cut off my access to my account, when it went through changes several years ago. I can't login - and I really want access to my blog! As long as account / blog recovery has to be restricted, to protect us against blog theft, some blog owners will be unable to use the recovery process - because they don't have the necessary details, to verify themselves.

HTML Based Accessories, For Individual Posts

Blog owners are constantly asking how to add post specific accessories, from third party services. How do I add a Like button, for my posts? Adding many post accessories requires adding XML code, to the post template. Adding code to the post template is scary - and it can cause problems, when incorrectly done. The easiest way to add a per post accessory is to add an HTML gadget that references the post by the URL, as displayed for the page. The problem with an HTML gadget is that it simply references the page displayed. If your posts are read from the main page, or an archive page - and somebody uses a Like accessory, what happens?

Logout Then Login, To Solve Dashboard Problems

Many problems with the Blogger dashboard are caused by the account / profile in use. If the wrong account or profile is in use, the simplest solution - in many cases - is simply to logout from Blogger / Google , then login using the correct Blogger / Google account. This is much less disruptive then advice to " clear cache, cookies, and sessions - then restart the browser".

Blogger Magic - An Adult Blog Within A Blog

From time to time, we've had various queries about content segregation, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger How do I publish adult content, in a section of my blog? Previously, the best answer would typically start with a blog cluster . Publish a second blog, with different content - then merge the two blogs. That's an interesting answer - but it's messy - and two blogs don't aggregate search engine traffic properly. Using a combination of custom redirects, label searches, and static pages, you can make a blog within a blog, to host your mildly adult content.

EU Cookie Compliance, August 2015

The European Union cookie privacy issue became urgent, early this year - and Google provided the CookieChoices cookie advice banner , as a blog / website accessory, in April. The CookieChoices banner required manual installation, on a blog by blog basis - and some amount of effort, using the Template Editor. Not every Blogger blog owner needs to use the Template Editor - and some should not have done so. It's possible that some complaints of template corruption, and similar malfunctions, seen recently in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , or Blogger Help Forum: Discuss Layouts & Templates , might not have been necessary, without the owners having to dig into "Edit HTML" when not qualified to do so.

Plan A Blog Deletion Or Renaming - Protect Yourself

Every month, we see a concern about content theft or impersonation, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I deleted my blog last year! Now, I see it online again, using my name - but it's not in my dashboard! or I renamed my blog, last month! Somebody else is publishing it, this month!! These former blog owners have discovered the unpleasant reality of never ending spammer activity. URL recycling (a feature begged for, by many), plus blog content and feed caching (a reality, with most blogs), can lead to spammer harvesting and resurrection. And in some cases, to identity theft.

Using One Browser, In An Ownership Transfer, Is Bad

When you accept membership in someone else's blog, you are going to use a different browser, than the one used by the owner. If you are accepting membership in your own blog, as part of a blog ownership transfer that you started, you might be tempted to use one browser, for the entire process. If you do this, you can end up with a blog owned under your current Blogger account - but using your (would be) new account's email address. This may cause you to lose control of the blog. If you manage to retain control of your blog, you'll continue to use the current Blogger account - as the new Blogger account will never get control.

Re Title Posts, As And When Needed

As you develop your blog, you may observe that some of the post titles don't encourage viewer attention. Since the post URLs are derived from the post titles, renaming a post involves some planning. The post URL should match the post title. If you change the post URL, all of the existing links to that post will break. So, what to do? This makes renaming a post into a major project. Or, do you think your readers enjoy seeing Sorry, that page does not exist. Even with the blog using a custom "404" page , this isn't going to cut it - if you want your readers (not to mention the search engines) to feel loved. But if you plan, and practice, you can rename a post in a minute or so - and possibly half that time, the post actually may be "404".

Microsoft Edge Is Not Yet Supported By Blogger

It's important to use a supported browser, when using Blogger. Every different browser - and every different browser version - requires different code, to make heavily scripted products like Blogger operate properly on your computer. When you report a problem with using Blogger, one of the most essential questions that you can answer is What browser - and what browser version - are you using? This is not a formality - nor is it pedantic or snarky - it is a serious question , intended to help you to help us.

EU Cookie Compliance, July 2015

In April 2015, Blogger blog owners first were faced with the requirements of the European Union , and their problem with cookies used by our blogs and websites . Google released the CookieChoices website, and some useful tools which some blog owners used, to add a cookie notice banner , to their blogs. In July 2015, Blogger added a cookie notice banner, to save blog owners the trouble of using the CookieChoices website tools.

Jump Break Is Visible Only In An Index Page

Some blog owners are unsure what a Jump Break looks like, when applied to their blogs. Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we see the confusion. Where's the Jump Break? or I added a Jump Break to several posts, but it never shows up! When asked for a screen print of what they're seeing, they may provide a image of the post, in the Post Editor Preview window - or possibly, the published post, but in post page view.

Account Recovery Is No Good With Legacy Accounts

Supported legacy account migration ended in 2012 - after many years of repeated warnings. Blogger Engineering ended support based on unresolvable technical issues - and not without considerable deliberation . For a number of technical and operational reasons, we’ve decided to finally end our support for migrating legacy accounts and blogs after December 5, 2011. There were many technical details involved with "legacy" account migration, which prevented a more aggressive migration strategy . Blogger Engineering having gone with a more permissive migration (migrate when you feel the need), this leaves a few Blogger "legacy" account owners unable to migrate.

All Blogs With Readers May Not Get Comments

Not every blog, that gets readers - or pageview counts - is going to get comments. We see the disappointment, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I have received over 2,000 page views, but only close friends comment. Is there a setting or something that makes sense as to why I'm not receiving comments? And yes, there are various settings, which may restrict your readers abilities to comment - but that may not be the only possible problem.

The Stats "Don't track ..." Option Is Still Unreliable

The Stats "Don't track ..." option continues to draw complaints. Various blog owners have recently complained, anew, that the previously reported low level problem is now affecting their blogs. The two problems, though having a common primary symptom, appear to have different victim populations. The previous problem seemed to primarily affect custom domain published blogs, this problem may be BlogSpot only. This problem, according to a majority of the blog owners reporting, appears to have started during the last two to three weeks. It may be wise, therefore, to treat this as a new problem.

Add A Custom Redirect, If You Change A Post URL

When you rename a blog, the most that you can do, to keep the old URL useful, is to setup a stub post , with a clickable link to the new URL. Yo! The blog is now at xxxxxxx.blogspot.com!! Blogger forbids gateway blogs, and similar blog to blog redirections . When you rename a post, you can setup a custom redirect - and automatically redirect your readers to the post, under its new URL. You should take advantage of this option, if you change a post URL.

The Review / Restore Cycle Is A Learning Process

As Blogger continues to detect and remove more abusive blogs proactively, we're seeing a gradual shift from blatantly abusive blogs, to blogs that, 5 years ago, would not have been righteously considered to be a problem . The decrease in abusiveness has several results. It's harder and harder to casually decide if a given blog needs to be reviewed - and if it's likely to be restored. Blogs which are marginally - instead of blatantly - abusive are more likely to be subject to repeated classification and review. The owners become less patient with reviews, as they endure each successive review. Which ever the possibilities for a given blog, when review is requested, this will require changes in the final review process.

Wrapping Text Around A Photo

One of the neatest ways to combine photos (images, pictures) and text is to display a photo in the middle of the text. It takes very little work to make text "flow" around a photo, or to wrap the text around the photo.

Photo Quality Is Sometimes Degraded By Hosting

We see occasional signs of concern, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about photo quality in Blogger. I take high quality pictures with my camera - and when I edit them, using various platforms, they still have the same quality. But the second I upload them to my Blogger post, the quality gets really bad. This is a very civilised comment, not all are so objective. Photo quality has been a concern, for years. There are so many ways photos can be degraded, once they hit the Internet.