Skip to main content

Third Party Templates, Yet Again

Recently, we have seen a few reports from bloggers who have a blog with a "Cutest Blog" template, who are mystified by the PhotoBucket icon
This image or video has been moved or deleted
and discussions such as
Have a photobucket icon appearing in the middle of my blog that says a picture has been deleted.
are common in BHF: Something Is Broken.

As I've written before, many third party template providers may become victims of their own success.

Some times, the template providers intentionally remove wallpapers which they host using PhotoBucket or other fourth party content hosting. Either way, your blog is suddenly left looking very plain, with no wallpaper.

Some bloggers have reported success, by refreshing the code, from the "Cutest Blog" website. Others have simply removed the template - sometimes by removing an HTML gadget, which was installed as part of the "Cutest Blog" install process.

That is, unfortunately, a risk that you take. Try a designer template instead, if you want to avoid the third party template blues.

(Update 8/13): From reading a comment received today, it appears that the "Cutest Blog" updates were planned, and warned. Updated code, referencing their new content host, should be available on their website.

Comments

Darlene S. said…
I noticed a few weeks ago when I was updating a few things on my blog that the icon for the "cutest blog" read that the "background would be removed on Friday" I thought, what?? And I searched around for a new background. I found one I liked even better and just redid the entire background of my blog.

Cutest Blog must have deleted the ones they had to save virtual space or something? Anyhow yes, I can attest to this (almost) happening on my blog as well.
Grumpy1 said…
"Third Party template blues". Now, that would be a catchy tune. I wonder if it is in the key of 'G' - as in "Gee, I wish I'd stuck with Blogger!"
Lori E said…
This did just happen to me on my genealogy blog that I don't go to often. I don't know how long it was like that.
I went back to the site where I got my template from and it was still there so I just added the html code for it back in and voila it is fine. I was lucky it was still available I guess.
Create With Joy said…
Recently, The Cutest Blog On The Block posted that they had grown so huge, that they were one of Photobucket's biggest bandwith users, and even with their paid account, a change was needed/

So, they posted to users of their templates that they had found another place to host their templates, and that any current users of their templates had to download new code by a certain date to preserve their templates, or they would lose it (hence, the messages received after that date).

It's really important, if you use a 3rd party template, to check back with the site from time to time just to make sure that they aren't shutting down or moving or anything like that. The designer who created my template is no longer in business - she shut down her site earlier this year and removed all of her templates at that time. Fortunately, I was able to contact her prior to that and she gave me the information I needed to copy over the backgrounds and install them myself - something that never would have happened had I not contacted her!

I've been meaning to let you know for quite some time now how much I appreciate your blog and all of the information you provide. I find trying to get help from blogger extremely frustrating, so the information you provide here has been a real godsend for me!

Ramona
http://create-with-joy.blogspot.com

Popular posts from this blog

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".

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.

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.