The Real Blogger Status

Our use of the many Blogger scripts and utilities, as we maintain and publish our blogs, is affected by layered security settings in our browsers, and on our computers and our networks. The native browser settings , and the browser add-ons , are the most obvious settings - but they are not the only ones. Most computers will include various applications, running on the computer, that assist the operating system in preventing the browser - and other network applications - from allowing malicious activity on our computers. Long ago, these applications were best described in two classes. Firewalls . Applications that protected our computers from malicious network activity, coming from outside the computer. Anti-virus . Applications that protected our computers from ignorant user activity, inside the computer. The two types of activity could be easily distinguished from each other , both by how the activity was spread, and how it was prevented. As malicious Internet activity beca...

With Following becoming increasingly important in many blogs, as part of creating an exciting and ongoing community, many blog owners are using improved versions of the Followers gadget. Repositioning the Followers gadget, outside the sidebar, will let you show more Followers - or you can show the same amount of icons, but larger ones, in a gadget with the same height. If you want to encourage more Followers, using larger icons wouldn't hurt. All that you need to do is publish the Followers gadget as a static page, using the Pages Editor, in "Edit HTML" mode. You can display Followers in a separate page, without having to edit the template . Or, you can use an HTML / JavaScript gadget, instead of the default Followers gadget.

Video content, like music (audio content), can provide education and enjoyment to your readers, when properly included in your blog. Video, also like music, can be a problem, when improperly included. If played without warning, as part of your blog, video content can be a worse problem than music that plays automatically. Just as it's not in your best interest, as a blog publisher, to include music that plays automatically, it's even less in your best interest to include a video that plays automatically.

If you are going to use Following effectively, you have to manage the blogs that you Follow , as well as managing the people who Follow your blogs . Managing the blogs that you Follow should be fairly simple - just click on the blue "Manage" button at the bottom of the dashboard. Some blog owners won't be able to do this, though - and for an apparently irrelevant reason. Following profiles that are associated with non shared Blogger profiles can't be managed using the "Manage" button. What now? Why can't I Manage my Followed blogs? Another problem that may result from a non shared Blogger profile would be a Follower icon with no profile link, or a link leading to the above display - if, of course, you are Following a given blog using your Blogger profile . You can show the contents of your Blogger profile, a list of your own blogs, and a list of your Followed blogs - and still not allow access to your Blogger profile - if you de select the opt...

A few bloggers this week are reporting Following some blogs, and seeing the icon representing them, in the Following gadget, displaying as a shadow, with no name popup. Clicking on the icon, they see no profile name, though they do see a list of Followed blogs. Previously Followed blogs do not seem to be affected - icons and profiles display normally. We have a rollup discussion , in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , where this problem is being explored. If you are observing this problem with your Following profile, please provide some details, as best as you are able - and help diagnose the problem. When you sign in to Following, which button / link do you use? Google Twitter Yahoo AIM Netlog OpenID If you are using a Blogger or Google account for Following, is the account based on a GMail address, or a non GMail address? Are you logged in to Blogger (separately from the Follower login!) using a GMail or non GMail based Google account, when you Follow and observ...

Occasionally, we have some blog owners who have never considered publishing a blog with multiple owners, or even with multiple authors. A team blog is so easy to setup, yet some blog owners have no idea how to do this. A team blog with multiple authors is the simplest to setup - just go to Settings - Basic, and use Permissions to invite a friend as an author.

Everybody makes mistakes, and Blogger knows that. Some time ago, Blogger gave us the ability to recover deleted blogs - and later, to recover deleted Blogger accounts . Neither recovery procedure is trivial - and both procedures require that some amount of proof of ownership be provided. As blog owners, we are promised some degree of protection , as long as we maintain proof of ownership.