The Real Blogger Status

One of the more confusing features of the Blogger Template "Edit HTML" wizard , used to be the option to Expand Widget Templates With the new "Edit HTML" wizard , that option is not needed. Given the choice to "Expand Widget Templates", the typical blog owner was frequently caught between a rock, and a hard place, when editing gadgets. Don't use the option - and the gadget code section, which was to be edited, remained concealed. Use the option - and all gadget code sections were expanded, revealing all gadget code. This frequently left the owner with either no information - or too much information, from which to work. Broken templates, caused by improper template HTML edits, were common.

Last week, the popular display option, Lightbox, used for showing full size images in Blogger blogs, stopped working. Anxious blog owners reported that full size images are now being displayed in a normal browser window, with the browser back arrow required to return to the blog display - instead of the elegant black background overlay with the mysterious "X" which closes the overlay. The problem appears to affect all images in the blogs affected.

When you tweak the code in a gadget, based upon my instructions, you'll be editing the template HTML . Or, you might be using the Layout wizard, to locate and remove a problem gadget. You'll do most editing with widget code unfolded . You'll have a lot of code to sift through - and with many gadgets in your blog, there's always the chance that you'll see the code for one gadget, and confuse it for another. If you delete or tweak the wrong gadget, you may not like what you get. Before deleting anything, or editing the template, take an extra minute, and find the specific gadget, by its name. This could save you a lot of grief.

Sometimes, when we're working on a problem that requires editing the HTML in a layout template, we need to understand the need to expand (or not expand) the widget templates. This month, for instance, we have hundreds of blogs containing malicious code , unknowingly installed by the blog owners. The malicious code must be removed, but the installed code aggressively prevents use of the "Page Elements" wizard , and the "Remove" button. Note: The selection to "Expand Widget Templates" has been replaced, by folded lines of code , which are now expanded selectively. When the "Page Elements" wizard can't be used to remove code, you have to use the "Edit HTML" wizard , and remove the individual gadget entries, one by one. Here's what the unexpanded line entry for one problem gadget looks like <div class='widget Gadget' id='Gadget1' /> That's easy enough to find - and to delete. Here's what...

The template is like the skeleton of your body - you can't see it (easily), but the success of the blog depends upon its being there, and being structured properly. If you're going to have a blog, and publish it effectively, eventually the dashboard Layout and the Template Designer pages won't do enough for you. You're going to want to get to the details, underneath the GUI processes.

As a savvy consumer, you likely love to hear about offers for 2 for the price of 1, of something that you buy frequently. That's a great deal, normally. It's not for blog posts, though. When you start to see double in your blog, chances are that you duplicated the Blog Posts entry in the template. It's not hard to fix, fortunately. Edit the blog template , using the dashboard Template - "Edit HTML" wizard. Do not expand or unfold any widgets . If you unfold either 'Blog1' or 'Blog2', you will have to find the end of the unfolded gadget section, which could be hundreds of lines later. If you delete 1 too many, or 1 too few, unfolded lines, you will get a syntax error. Error parsing XML: ... The element type "b:section" ... Deleting just one line (see below) is way easier, believe me. Look for two lines, in the Body of the template, which may or may not be immediately next to each other in sequence: <b:widget id='Blog1...