The Real Blogger Status

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.

This week, we're seeing a noticeable increase in reports about problems with reading list content. People are, once again, reporting empty reading lists - and many deny the suggestion that computers used by the readers might have anything to do with the problem. Neither filtered cookies / scripts, nor using the wrong Blogger account, appears to be involved in some of this weeks problems. One account owner reported having cleaned her Reading List - and after having removed just one entry from the list, the Reading List content became visible, again. This suggests that the owner may be following too many blogs - or possibly, following one blog which recently increased feed size. Either could be true, based upon the common complaint. I didn't change anything! It just stopped working, last week, on its own!!

We see periodic signs of confusion, about publishing a blog to a dynamic template, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog seems to load - but it just sits there, spinning gears! or The dashboard Template wizard tells me that dynamic templates are not available, for my blog!! These are two blog owners who are not aware of the requirements of the dynamic templates - and who can't figure out why they see the Spinner of Death when loading the blog. Most people know that private blogs cannot be published to a dynamic template - but not everybody realises that this is not an arbitrary or capricious restriction.

When the Blogger dynamic templates were first introduced, back in 2011, they provided choices . Besides letting the reader choose, on the fly, which dynamic view to use, it was possible to let the reader choose whether to view the blog using a dynamic view - or a non dynamic view . When dynamic templates were first introduced, they offered a dynamic view of the blog posts - and little else. Popular features like static pages were added later, and in pieces . As the various pieces of the dynamic views became better defined, the need to switch between dynamic and non dynamic views became less essential - and eventually, some choices were eliminated.

A week ago, Blogger redesigned the dashboard wizards, that are used to setup and maintain pages . The most visible change involved a complete redesign of the Pages wizard . Now, mirroring the look and feel of the Posts wizard, the Pages wizard has a pages index / menu - with layout, button / link set, and similar features resembling the Posts wizard. To make the new Pages wizard design fit in, the Pages wizard now only indexes and maintains "static" pages. Conversely, "dynamic" pages are maintained using the Layout "Pages" gadget. Archive retrievals. External links. Label searches. Additionally, all other Pages functions have been relocated, and are also provided under the Pages gadget, in the Layout wizard. This redesign did not go unnoticed, among the blog owners.

We're seeing a few reports, which involve blogs with published newsfeeds with large volume, producing intriguing varieties of symptoms, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . My Followers are not getting email updates! and My blog does not update, on my Followers blogs! and My blog can't be viewed! All that I see is the gears turning!!! All of these blog owners are publishing blogs which produce feeds, which are too large. In general, a newsfeed can be any size necessary. There are two secondary details, however, which can make a Blogger blog, publishing a large newsfeed, problematic.

For some time, we've been seeing reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about blogs using blogs using dynamic views, which display incompletely , and lack specific features. Various blog owners have developed, and reported, a workaround to the problem, which involves using an unpublicised Blogger setting found in the template HTML code. This workaround sets a loading delay, known as Timeout . There are several different causes of the dynamic view problem - some varying by the different blogs, others varying by the blog viewers - and some, varying by the Blogger / Google infrastructure. None of the causes will be universal in effect. This will result in varying success, when using a static Timeout setting as a workaround for the problems.

Recently, we've been seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about blogs using dynamic templates, which display incompletely , and lack specific features. Various blog owners have developed, and reported, a workaround to the problem, which involves using an unpublicised Blogger setting found in the template HTML code. This workaround sets a loading delay, known as Timeout . The currently recommended Timeout setting will force a fixed delay on blogs using the workaround, which may not be 100% effective in all cases. The effectiveness may vary, according to the specific problems reported by the various blog owners.

We're been getting problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from various dissatisfied blog owners , who chose a dynamic template for their blog. The problems reported involve various symptoms. Blogs displayed will lack various gadgets, in the slideout gadget bar. Some blogs, when customised, will display using default layout and template settings. Some customisations, applied recently, just won't show up . Various blog owners have discovered a solution, based on code present in newer dynamic templates. This solution has been publicised, in forum discussions - and in various blogs and web sites. <script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'> setTimeout(function() { blogger.ui().configure().view(); }, 1000 ); </script> The solution, as proposed, involves a very simple change - but the change won't be immediately, or permanently, 100% effective.

Not all blog owners appreciate the differences between using the various template wizards, and what they will actually see, once the blog is published. The confusion about the various template wizards, and what is actually seen, expressed in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , is numerous. Why aren't my changes to the template being saved? This question is expressed in a number of ways - and has a number of causes.

This is a question, occasionally seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I cannot view some blogs - all that I see are gears, turning endlessly. What is going on, here? The gears are animation, displayed by Blogger, while a dynamic template and blog content loads on the computer being used. Generally, the gears will play for a few seconds, then the blog will be seen. For an example, check out my Musings blog . Sometimes, all that you will see are the gears, endlessly turning - waiting for the templates and blog content to download.

For several weeks, we're been seeing various reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , mentioning problems with template updates, being made using the Template Designer wizard. The reports are not so widespread to indicate a complete malfunction - but neither can we dismiss the problem, as being unique to one browser, one template type, or one particular update pattern. It's likely that we are looking at a number of problems, aggregated and compounded, into one common symptom. I cannot Save changes in Template Designer. With a problem report like this, some examining of the details may be appropriate.

We've been observing problems with commenting on blogs using the inline comment form ("Embedded below post"), ever since Blogger changed the inline form, many months ago . First, we observed an overall problem with cookie filtering and the embedded comment form . Later, a more subtle problem with using the CAPTCHA form with embedded comments was discovered. Now, we're seeing a similar problem, with the new dynamic templates, and the embedded comment form. This problem may not be any more obvious, to some blog readers, than the preceding problems were.

The new dynamic views , a truly innovative feature recently developed for Blogger blogs, are still receiving mixed reviews. Not everybody, able to use them, likes them - and not everybody, liking them, is able to use them. The reasons behind the decisions to use them - or not use them - are fascinating, when examined in proper context.