When Reverting to Classic Template Was A Big Mistake

Oops!

Now you want to revert back to the New Blogger (Layout) version, but Blogger only allows for part of that; unless you had not yet created any page elements, you can't switch back with a single button-push or without some busy work! 1. locate and click on "Customize Design", 2. then click on "Upgrade Your Template ", 3. choose a new template. 4. click "Save the template" [More below...] You will be returned to an upgraded version of Blogger (with the layout) in which you will find some aspects of the Layout version, but not the elements that you added previously. You can create new Page Elements, but all the elements that disappeared when you reverted to the Classic template will remain lost. The only way to have kept a "backup" of the page elements would have been to have "expanded" the widget templates and to have made "copy and paste" copies of the text data and kept them in plain-text files (such as Notepad). I've switched back and forth like this numerous times, but only in a test blog, not in an important blog with things too important for me to lose all the elements, so I may not have noticed every detail of what's possible and what's not. I just know that some things will be possible. Never discount the possibility of being able to view "cached" versions of your blog in Google or other search engines and possibly being able to "copy and paste" some of your code or info from there. Maybe you can recuperate a goodly portion of it by using your Internet Options to get to the "View Source Code" feature. But do be careful not to copy any parts of the posts out of the Source Code into your actual template; it will cause great damage if you do!

A Caution To Businessmen

AND OTHER VERY SERIOUS PEOPLE WHO TRY TO USE BLOGGER AS SOMETHING DEPENDABLE:

Hell, don't do it! There will be no guarantee that Blogger will keep the blog online and available all the time. There are glitches and gremlins and other problems that individuals may overlook (just barely), but, at any rate, they have no money at risk, just their own ego and pride. People who have money at stake become a different kind of beast. If you plan to start insisting on the UTTER SERIOUSNESS of your blog and of your need to keep that blog up and going 24-7, you will sometimes be out of luck, just like the individuals who blog here. [More below...] People who have business blogs often cry and scream that their readers MUST have access to the blog, but Blogger is usually not going to JUMP into action. I don't even have much sympathy for you, and I know how heartless Blogger can be! Whatever their excuse for it, neither civilians nor businessmen get instant fixes. So don't hang your life and soul on Blogger—and certainly not the Bottom Line of your business that you can't live without. In general, you get what you pay for. I've gotten more than I paid for, but I'm just one person, and I have low expectations.

Post Template

Adding code or text to every post

If adding a bit of code to every post is sufficient to do a certain job, why bother with Copy and Paste? Why not use the Post Template? You can use CSS for some things, but it's more difficult in some cases. If you're new to Blogger, it's easier to wrap your brain around the Post Template! Go to Dashboard, click on Settings. click Formatting. Go almost to the bottom of the page. Post Template is the eleventh item, I believe. Place any code or text that you wish to have in every post. Every time you create a new post, that template will take effect. If you start your post above the code, then that code will be at the bottom of each. As far as that goes, any code you wish could also be at the top of your post, as long as you're careful to put your post between the top template code and the bottom template code. You are already at the bottom of the Formatting List, but be sure to "Save Changes" before you exit.

[More below...Examples]

Below are items of code or text you might want in every post and can put it in every new post with the Post Template. These are only examples, not meant as literal recommendations—after all, I don't know you well enough! I used to put a colored line at the bottom of each post with <hr color=crimson> a <br /> (or 2 or 3 of them) would add a small blank space. You might add the codes needed in each post for your Expandable post hack or some other item of code (font size or font colors, perhaps) that you like, but hate to type in each time. You can either use it a little or a lot, depending on how comfortable you can get with it or how often you wish to have some of the same formatting in each post. The Post Template will not help you with existing (old) posts, only with ones you create after the Template has been created.

Make Link Open in New Window

<A HREF="link.html" TARGET="_blank"> text</a> To make a link open in a new window, you will have to write the HTML in this "anchor" format, shown—with slight presentation differences, in case one is more clear to Newbies—both above and below this paragraph. The one below is more clear to me. <a href="URL of target site" target="_blank">Anchor Text</a> If you put the following code (with real info substituted) in your own post or sidebar, you'd get my other (very irreverent) blog, "The Rat Squeaks", opening in a New window: <A HREF="http://rodentia.blogspot.com/" TARGET="_blank"> THE RAT SQUEAKS </a>

Limiting Commenters On Your Blog

1. go to Dashboard. 2. Click Settings, 3. Click Comments. 4. You'll find several options concerning comments. 5. The second entry is for "Who can comment?. 6. Select the one you want. (if you have more than one blog, each one is controlled separately, so you're not committing any other blogs to this choice.) 7. After making your one or several changes, scroll to page bottom and click Save Changes.

BLOGGER SAYS
Who can comment? Anyone - includes Anonymous Users Registered Users - includes OpenID Users with Google Accounts Only members of this blog You choose only 1 of above 4!

Quick Edit Crossed Tools

It's too bad that new Bloggers cannot more readily see what the "crossest tools" (screwdriver and wrench) are for. They are convenient Quick Edit tools, visible only to you and only when you are logged in to that blog. Neither these nor the Quick-Edit pencil icon under each post can be seen or used by others. We all worried about someone else being able to edit our posts or page elements for a few minutes when they were first introduced, so you're not alone if you panicked! But forget it now and you'll soon enough find something serious to worry about in Blogger! It's full of real bugs and glitches.

Convert Html to a Displayable Post Text

-- AMPERSAND CODES can be used in short sections to show the code itself (which is what I might do to show single nonbreaking space. HTML Ampersand Character Codes -- For longer sections that need to be "translated" or if you're lazy, the programs below convert html code for you. Both work well, though Postable's first screen is a little less intuitive. Postable Quick Escape The code above would be displayed first in the post as code, then on screen here like this (converted by Quick Escape): <a href=\"http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/developer-tools/quick-escape/\">Quick Escape</a> Normally that anchor code would be executed as a link, not shown on screen.

END.

What Is Indexing?

Google and other search engines have their own rules and criteria for indexing blogs and other sites, but each one "crawls" the entire Internet every so often and "looks" at and stores info about most every site. The indexing is not immediate for your site, so you may have to wait for your site to show up on any search engines. Your site can't be "Googled" by you or your friends until the indexing can occur once or more after you've created your blog. Try not to be anxious while you're waiting, possibly as long as a month. The indexers may do a better job for your particular site if your site has some connections (links) to and from other sites--that's the usual view taken by people who hope to increase traffic to their site. [More below...] There are additional things you can do to improve traffic, listed in a link at the bottom of this post. Look for "Additional Information". After you've been indexed, the chances of your friends finding your site will increase and the chance of traffic by total strangers increasing will also improve. You should notify your friends and make new ones online and always try to write good (interesting) posts. All that attention being paid to your site will make your site more noticeable to the automated indexers (robots, aka "spiders") that crawl across the Internet. Sounds creepy, doesn't it? You may also want to know this additional information if you are new to blogging.

What Is A Layout Page?

In case you're wondering what Blogger is talking about. It's the page where you can create, move and arrange the page elements (especially the ones for the sidebar) as you would like them to be. Place your cursor on the boxes after you create an element, hold the mouse left-click down as you move the mouse.



PAGE ELEMENTS AKA "GADGETS".

ALSO SEE: Page Elements Screenshot

Future-Dating A Post -- NEW!

Create the illusion of "being there".!

Future Dating of posts is now available from Blogger Click here to see Blogger's instructions about it! Now you can leave some posts lined up when you are about to leave on vacation or for a month in jail and they will publilsh, one or more every day, while you're absent. So many people have inquired about this for the past five years that I suppose a lot of people will now praise the lord and send their checks (as usual) to the nation's poor. I have heard a great many complaints about how it "doesn't work", yet I don't think I've had a single one fail to publish. Admittedly, I am using the "future-publishing" on a more infrequent basis than some people. I doubt I ever use it more than 2 or 3 times a week. [More below...] There doesn't appear to be any difficult moves added to the Publishing process. It works the way many of us used to think would just be logical. One could always use the Post Options to change the date to anything you liked, but there was no automatic publishing--you always had to come back and hit the publish "button" on that date. 1. Give a date and time in Post Options for tomorrow, next week, or whenever 2. Then hit Publish, 3. The system will show a sign that says the post will be automatically published on X date at X time. 4. the system will wait until that date and time to publish it. Couldn't be simpler, unless they screw it up. If they screw it up, let me know.