The Real Blogger Status

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.

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.

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 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 .

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 .

Every day, blog owners report that their blogs (or posts) were deleted by Blogger. Most blog owners have some idea why a blog (post) is deleted - but not all. Some even insist that they received no notice from Blogger - the blog (post) just vanished.

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 .

Blog owners have been asking, for years, how to use labels, with Mail-to-Blogger . Mail-to-Blogger uses an email editor, for composing a post - and is going to lack features that are not provided by the email editor. Labels are one example of what you don't get, when you use email to publish a post to your blog.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.