Create a URL For Your Profile Pic

How to get a URL for an "About Me" photo that is only on your computer at present

Another Didactic List

1. If you need to alter the photo size, use a photo program to do so while it's still on your computer. 2. Use a blog post (on your main blog or some other) and use the photo icon (in the toolbar above the Edit Post text box) to add a photo. 3. You'll Browse your own computer, select one, and upload it to that post. 4. When you've completed that, you'll have a lot of code for a large and small photo pair, part of which ("http://... etc.) is the URL. 5. Save that post, but it's not necessary to publish it. 6. Use the right-click menu on the mouse to Copy the URL. 7. You can later Paste it into the "Photo URL" box in your blog's Edit Profile list. 8. Be sure to save the change at the bottom of the Edit Profile page.

If you use Blogger's picture icon or otherwise end up with the code for both large and small images, go here to unscramble the text and select the code for the smaller one at Header Picture Code.

END.

Where To Place A Graphic For The Header

New Blogger method, easier for most

1. In Dashboard go to Layout. 2. Click Header in the Layout. 3. Have the url of the image you want to use handy. 4. Type or paste or Browse for the url into one of the two Image boxes, 5. Either an image on your computer or one already hosted on the Web. 6. You can choose to add the photo Behind the Title and Description or 7. You can Replace the Title and Description with the photo. 8. Be sure to Save Changes.

I can't emphasize how much easier the method above is!

Below is the old (Classic) method

This method still useable and ultimately more flexible (but you may be well satisfied with the first method above):

The code you'd look for to put a graphic into the header seems to come from a variety of locations in your template. It might go in the #header or #header-wrapper. The method I usually use is to locate a background url that already exists like these:

#header {
margin: 0 2%;
background-color: $headerBgColor; background:url("
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AVxLoZ0mR_0/Rb_W1nLeYQI/AAAAAAAAAIg/
qCR5JYhLf6o/s1600/dgblues.jpg") no-repeat bottom 10px;
color: $headerTextColor;
padding: 0;
font: $headerFont;
position: relative;
}

or

#wrap2
{background:url("xxxhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AVxLoZ0mR_0/
RcNxJHiGO3I/AAAAAAAAAKA/5GfVtiwhGRE/s1600/jg2.jpg")
no-repeat center top; }

If this doesn't make anything more clear, ask again. I won't mind. But I don't know everything!

------------------------------------

It also worked for me to place an extra html/javascript page element above the header, with code like below:


<a href="http://jgblues.blogspot.com/"><img top
src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AVxLoZ0mR_0/RcNxJHiGO3I/AAAAAAAAAKA/
5GfVtiwhGRE/s1600/jg2.jpg" no-repeat center/></a>

but first you'll have to go into the header widget in the template and change it so that the extra header is allowed, like this:

1. Go to Template.
2. Click on Edit Html
3. Click on Expand widget templates.
4. Locate the header widget.
5. It might look like this:
<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1'>
6. Change the maxwidgets number to 2 or more.
7. If there's a showaddelement='no', change it to say 'yes'.
8. I don't advise removing the old header entirely unless you can otherwise preserve the title for the search engines, but if you mean to try, I understand that you'll have to change locked='yes' to 'no'.
9. Save your new template.

Some have remarked that they have no header at all, and I don't know what that's about. In new blogger, you might find a section like this, which reflects the fact above that I have the mentioned html/javascript page element added to that header.

<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='4'><b:widget id='HTML6' locked='false' title='' type='HTML'/><b:widget id='Header1' locked='true' title='JUDY GARLAND BLUES (Header)' type='Header'/></b:section>

Various statements of fact and warnings on this subject may be missing or careless at present, so beware.

Change The Url (Web Address)

Change URL
1. Go to your Dashboard. 2. Click on Settings. 3. Click on Publishing 4. The first box down the page is where you change your portion of the Blogspot url. It is of course subject to availabilty, and they will let you know while you sit there. No long waiting. 5. Scroll down and Save Settings.

If your blog has been in existence for any length of time or if there have been very many links already made to it, you ought not to change it. You may also have to resubmit any forms you've filed with the search engines.

Don't worry about the Archive posts. All of them will be appropriately changed.

END.

Links List in Beta

Migration Is A Two-Step Process

On the Dashboard of blogs that have been migrated to Beta (New Blogger), there's a Manage list out to the right of each blog title that says Posts Settings Layout. If you have not been migrated at all or if your template has not been upgraded at all it will say: Posts Settings Template.

If migrated, your Navbar will also have Customize and New Post in it. Clicking Customize there or Layout in Dashboard will start the rest of the procedure (upgrading the template).

If you are in Beta, you will be able to add a Page Element, one of which is a links list. When you add it, be sure to have handy access to the URLs that you wish to enter and then just follow the directions. Enter the title and URLs for each blog, click on Add Link, and when all links are added be sure to save the changes before exiting.

If you are interested in having links open in new windows, titles, or alt comments on pics, you should choose an html/javascript page element rather than a Links List. If the Links List allowed any of that, I never figured it out!

END.

Submit Your URL to Google

A lot of new bloggers are in a hurry to find themselves on the Search engines. This may help to assure that you do get indexed.

Submit your site to Google.

This is the old contact.

There is also a new thing called Google Sitemap that's more complicated to fill out, but more helpful, it is promised. Warning: I don't think either site is immediate! It depends on when the indexer rolls through your part of the Internet!

Here is the Site Map


See also: New Blogger Blues and Meta Tags.

Bloglines Instructions For Feeds

I use the free Bloglines service. Once signed up with them,

1. Copy the address of a favorite site from the address window,
2. Then go to Bloglines and "add" it there.
3. Then you check off boxes to indicate which "feed" you choose.
4. Then go through it once for each item of your list.
5. When it's finished, your Bloglines page will get notified when your favorite gets updated.
6. Repeat for additional sites as you find new ones and then you'll have a list that you can either check by going to the Bloglines site or that (if you download the Notifier) you will recieve notices about. I won't say it's never complicated, but I find it mostly easy.
7. A great time-saver with sites that don't update every day and a great reminder with those that do! Other similar services exist that may be as good or better. I just don't know the others!

New Blogger

Since I first wrote this, there have been many additional blog readers of which I became aware, which you can Google if you like! Also, New Blogger now has a Subscribe to Posts icon for you to click on at the bottom of all their blogs. Now your readers can click on the feed button to copy your feed url and utilize it in a Blog Reader of their own--maybe Bloglines, Feedburner, or the Google Reader, or others.

Note: there is no particular advantage I know of in clicking on your own Subscribe To Posts button.)

As noted, I have Bloglines, which generally will find anyone's feed url for me quickly, but I could click on your Subscribe button to get your url and copy it, if need be.