The Real Blogger Status

The exciting, new "Responsive" themes are a move forward, for Blogger. Like every move forward, though, there's always a couple steps backwards. The "Responsive" themes are not as easily customised as the earlier "Designer" and "Layout" themes - and they lack some enjoyable features.

Not all blog owners appreciate the effort by Blogger, to make anonymous comments a usable feature, in our blogs. Anonymous comments have a complicated form - and people don't want to comment. They have to select certain pictures, related to a subject. When using a mobile template, they don't see all the buttons needed - and there are many steps until you finally publish a comment. Could is be simpler? With no checking pictures, with just typing few numbers, or without any security question at all? This blog owner would prefer Blogger commenting, before 2015, when anonymous comments meant unending waves of spam.

Some blog owners don't care much for the mobile template. A few blog owners simply think that the mobile template is just too plain looking. Where are all of the gadgets? These blog owners express a concern which is not too hard to resolve. If you want gadgets to be visible on a mobile display, make the gadgets visible. Of course, it's up to you, to not add too many gadgets, and make your blog impossible to read.

One of the neatest features added to Blogger, this decade, has to be the Custom Redirects. For many years, we asked, over and over, for the ability to optionally publish a blog with a static home page . 2 years ago, Blogger gave us that ability, and more, with Custom Redirects . But, Custom Redirects had a problem - it did not work with a mobile template , and a redirected mobile home page. Recently, however, that changed.

Occasionally, we see the query in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? How do I view my blog, in the mobile template format, using my desktop computer? This is an astonishingly easy task to accomplish. Just add the mobile template redirect suffix ?m=1 to the URL being viewed.

We've seen a few questions about comments, supposedly published - but vanishing, when using a mobile computer, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . This symptom, as reported, reminds us of the long ago reports of "vanishing comments" - but using desktop computers . At least one of the folks who isn't able to comment said she was attempting to do so from her mobile phone. Is Blogger now losing comments from mobile devices? The answer here is not quite so ominous, though the situation is still frustrating - to both the blog owner, and the various visitors.

We've recently seen a few reports about problems with custom redirects , in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I want to redirect my blog URL to a static home page. With a redirect in place, mobile computer users can't access my blog. Mobile browsers display an error, mentioning too many redirects.

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.

Using the term "mobile computer" is an example of the challenges involved, in using this variety of computer. Even identifying this device, which is present in so many different manifestations, is confusing. Mobile Computer. Mobile WiFi device. Personal Digital Assistant. Pocket phone. Smart Phone. Tablet. As the use of mobile computers becomes more common, we're seeing more and more problem reports and questions, from people unable to use Blogger. Some folks would like to maintain and publish their own blog. Others would like to post comments to their friends blogs. And still others don't understand why all of the various gadgets on their blog don't work for their friends, who are also using their own mobile computers. One of the challenges of mobile computers involves the use of smaller displays, and the need to simplify the content displayed. This requires the use of special browsers and templates, which are designed to accommodate the limitations. The n...

Recently, we've been seeing a few problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , mentioning problems publishing comments on Blogger blogs, when using mobile computers. My readers tell me that they can't comment on my blog, using an iPad. Comments disappear, when they try to publish them. As with a previously explored problem with comments on a non mobile computer, this problem may involve unfamiliarity with the publishing sequence. The dialogue involved in publishing a comment, when using a desktop computer with a full size display and a non mobile Blogger template, is not simple. Depending upon the various commenting options selected by the owner, the publishing sequence may be even more complex. Blog owners may need to consider the additional details involved in comment publishing, when using a mobile computer.

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.

Over a year ago, Blogger introduced a useful template option for our blogs - mobile templates . Blogger mobile templates are mobile-optimized versions of our Template Designer templates. If you are using one of these templates, when you enable the mobile template option your blog will begin rendering using the mobile version of the same variant. Even if you are not using a Template Designer template, or using a heavily-customized version of one, you can still enable this feature to have your blog start rendering in a generic default mobile template that we have created. The mobile templates let computers with lower display size / resolution - aka PDAs, mobile phones, and smart phones - display the content of our blogs, without the unnecessary overhead which may be a part of our normal blog formatting. If you are viewing this post on your smart phone, it's likely that you are viewing it using a mobile template. As exciting as the mobile templates are, however, they will not repla...