We're getting a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who chose a dynamic view for their blog.
This blog owner, like many owners, may not understand the unique design of the dynamic templates - nor how the design affects what is seen by the readers.
The complexity of a Blogger blog is not truly appreciated by anybody, until possibly when a blog has to be backed up or re built.
There are many components of a Blogger blog - not just the comments, posts, and template.
With a non dynamic ("Designer" or "Layout") template, the blog is packaged for viewing, from the many components, on the Blogger servers. When you get a page of a blog, on your computer, it's already packaged - and what you see is immediately ready for viewing.
With a dynamic template, the comments, the posts, the template, and the various other components all arrive separately from the various Google and non Google servers, which provide the blog content - and the blog page is packaged, for viewing, on your computer.
If any piece of the package does not arrive at your computer as soon as the other content, the blog page is packaged, from what is available - but it's going to be missing pieces.
This is why some folks see the posts without the tweaks applied using Template Designer - or the layout lacks a key improvement made using "Edit HTML" - or maybe the accessory bar is short. A piece of the package did not arrive, before the packaging was complete - and the blog was displayed, incomplete.
The alternative would be to have the packaging process wait longer - but how long do you want to wait? What happens if your computer (or your reader's computer) cannot connect to one key Blogger server, to download that one essential component?
How long should a moron wait, before giving up, and asking for details? Or at least clearing cache, and restarting the browser, before trying again?
Packaging a blog page, on the reader's computers, has benefits - and drawbacks. If you occasionally see an inconsistency in your blog, imagine your various readers, with some seeing your tweaks and others seeing only a basic (Blogger standard) template - and you never knowing what everybody is seeing.
For best results, you need to keep the dynamic views simple.
(Update August 2013): We have a workaround to the problem - but the workaround is not going to be 100% consistently effective. The lack of consistency is going to be especially noticeable, because of the several different symptoms being reported.
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My layout has one colour - yet when I view my blog, it's another colour. The accessory bar is missing gadgets - and there are various tweaks missing. I tried updating, using the Template designer, unsuccessfully. When I finished updating, the preview looked good - but when I saved and viewed my blog, it was still incomplete.
This blog owner, like many owners, may not understand the unique design of the dynamic templates - nor how the design affects what is seen by the readers.
The complexity of a Blogger blog is not truly appreciated by anybody, until possibly when a blog has to be backed up or re built.
There are many components of a Blogger blog - not just the comments, posts, and template.
- Accessories.
- Comments.
- Decorations.
- Gadgets.
- Posts.
- Layout / Template.
- Third party hosted accessories and tweaks.
- URL.
With a non dynamic ("Designer" or "Layout") template, the blog is packaged for viewing, from the many components, on the Blogger servers. When you get a page of a blog, on your computer, it's already packaged - and what you see is immediately ready for viewing.
With a dynamic template, the comments, the posts, the template, and the various other components all arrive separately from the various Google and non Google servers, which provide the blog content - and the blog page is packaged, for viewing, on your computer.
If any piece of the package does not arrive at your computer as soon as the other content, the blog page is packaged, from what is available - but it's going to be missing pieces.
This is why some folks see the posts without the tweaks applied using Template Designer - or the layout lacks a key improvement made using "Edit HTML" - or maybe the accessory bar is short. A piece of the package did not arrive, before the packaging was complete - and the blog was displayed, incomplete.
The alternative would be to have the packaging process wait longer - but how long do you want to wait? What happens if your computer (or your reader's computer) cannot connect to one key Blogger server, to download that one essential component?
How long should a moron wait, before giving up, and asking for details? Or at least clearing cache, and restarting the browser, before trying again?
Packaging a blog page, on the reader's computers, has benefits - and drawbacks. If you occasionally see an inconsistency in your blog, imagine your various readers, with some seeing your tweaks and others seeing only a basic (Blogger standard) template - and you never knowing what everybody is seeing.
For best results, you need to keep the dynamic views simple.
(Update August 2013): We have a workaround to the problem - but the workaround is not going to be 100% consistently effective. The lack of consistency is going to be especially noticeable, because of the several different symptoms being reported.
>> Top
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