Blogger Magic - Resequence Pages Buttons / Links

Some blog owners add pages - dynamic and static - to their blog, then discover that the Pages gadget lists them in the wrong sequence.

We see an occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

My pages are poorly organised. How do I change the sequence?

This is not a difficult problem, to correct.

It's not difficult to change the sequence of the Pages buttons or links, using "Configure Page List".

Use "List Order" in "Configure Page List" to change button / link sequence.

The "List Order" wizard, in "Configure Page List", is used to resequence all pages entries (buttons / links) - for dynamic and static pages, alike.

Just "grab" a pages entry to be moved, using the "handle" - and re position it as desired.

Start in the dashboard Layout page.

Find the Pages gadget. Here, it's in the "Cross-Column" container.

Edit the Pages gadget.

That gives you "Configure Page List".

Find "List Order".

To re locate a button / link, find the "9 dot" handle.

Grab the page button to be moved. Mouse over the "9 dots", click and hold the left mouse button.

Drag the button, to its new location - and release. And Save.

And now, we see the page buttons, in the new sequence.



Just "click and grab", and move any button, into its new sequence. And don't forget to Save.

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It's easy to change the order of the #Blogger Pages buttons / links, using the "List Order" GUI in "Configure Page List". Just click and drag any button / link, using the "9 dot" handle, into the desired location sequence.

Pages And Posts, Saved As Draft, Won't Be Visible

Some blog owners, when publishing a new page or post, really appreciate the "Preview" option in the page / post editor.

In some cases, some people may use "Preview" so instinctively, they may overlook the limitations. We see the confusion, occasionaly, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Where is my page? There's no selection, under "Pages to show", even!

The blog owner does not realise that unpublished pages or posts won't be visible, outside the page / post editor, and the "Preview" window.

In some cases, the confusion is not apparent, until we view the Pages or Posts menu - and see the "Draft" caption, next to the missing pages or posts.

If you really want to view the page or post, outside the Preview window - maybe to check the links - you have to Publish. In most cases, you can just Publish, then modify / update as you continue.

If it's so important to see the page or post - and you do not want it to be visible to your readers - setup a test blog. Then, copy or edit the page or post in the test blog - and Publish at will.

Just don't be unduly alarmed, when you look at your blog - and don't see the page or post, before you Publish.

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Blogger Magic - "Configure Page List"

The "Configure Page List" wizard is an extremely useful - yet obscure - feature in the dashboard Layout page.

Not every blog owner sees the "Pages" gadget, in the "Layout" page and knows to click on "Edit", to access "Configure Page List". Nor do all owners know how many assorted functions, previously part of the "Pages" dashboard wizard, are now found, exclusively, under "Configure Page List".

"Configure Page List" is an essential component in the pages management suite, in the Blogger dashboard.

"Configure Page List" is accessible in two different ways.

• From the Layout dashboard menu - if the Pages gadget has been added to the blog.
• Using the appropriate "Quick Edit" icon - if "Quick Edit" is enabled, for the blog.

Add the Pages gadget, to the blog, if it's not present.

If the Pages gadget is not visible on the Layout display, you may need to add the gadget, to the blog.

To make the Pages gadget function as a horizontal link bar - the most popular layout - you add the gadget into the "crosscol" template section, in the dashboard Layout page. The "crosscol" section, on standard Blogger templates, contains CSS rules which make lists display horizontally.

Enable "Quick Edit", if necessary.

If you wish to use "Quick Edit" to access "Configure Page List", you may need to enable "Quick Edit".

"Configure Page List" has many functions.

Find the Page List gadget, in "Layout", and click on the pencil icon.

When you edit the Page List gadget, you get "Configure Page List".



Here, we see "Pages to show" (to select static pages), "Add external link" (to add dynamic pages), and "List Order" (to delete dynamic pages, using the "X").

"Configure Page List" has various functions, in managing both dynamic and static pages.

• Change the Title of the Pages gadget, in the Layout wizard display, using "Title".
• Hide / Show "Home" and various static pages, created by Page Editor, by using "Pages to show".
• Resequence the order of display of the various pages, by dragging and dropping using "List order".
• Add dynamic pages, previously called "Web address" entries, using "Add external link". Dynamic pages can include individual posts, archive retrievals, label searches, and other blogs or websites. Be very precise, when entering an "Add external link" entry for "Web address (URL)".
• Delete dynamic pages, by clicking on the "X", using "List order".
• Note that to change the caption or URL for a dynamic page, you must delete then re add a new dynamic page entry, using the desired name and URL.
• Let you remove the Pages gadget, using the "Remove" button.

To use "Configure Page List" effectively, you need to understand the differences between Pages and Posts.

The gadget will change form, depending upon location.

The "Pages" gadget may be present in various locations, in the blog - and may have different appearances, depending upon location.

In either appearance, if "Quick Edit" is enabled, you can access "Configure Page List" by clicking on the "Quick Edit" icon. Or, you can Edit the Pages gadget from the Layout menu in the dashboard.

History.

In 2014, Blogger reorganised the various pages maintenance utilities, and moved a wide assortment of functions into "Configure Page List". This change caused some confusion, with many blog owners.

Confusion From "Add external link" In Pages

The recently redesigned Pages gadget and wizard has been with us for just over 3 months.

We are occasionally seeing some confusion from people who can't add a dynamic page link to their blog - even when they manage to find the redesigned Pages gadget.

I added a dynamic page, linking from "mymainblog.blogspot.com" to "mysecondblog.blogspot.com". Imagine my dismay, when the new page link goes to "mymainblog.blogspot.com/mysecondblog.blogspot.com", instead of to my actual target "mysecondblog.blogspot.com"!

Here is a blog owner who is not aware of the unforgiving syntax of the "New Page › Web Address" wizard, and the "Web address (URL)" entry.

If we were to view the HTML code for this web page, 'Confusion From The "Add external link" Procedure In The Pages Gadget', and look at my link to a previous post "Adding A Link To Your Blog Post, Part 2", where I discussed link entry syntax confusion, we could see the HTML behind a typical post to post link.

<a href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

See the code for the link target?

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

When adding a link, many blog owners would simply think

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

If I were to add a link, using the "Add link" wizard in post editor - or using the "Web address (URL)" entry in the "New Page › Web Address" wizard, I would see a window, with the essential prefix "http://" preformatted there.

Taking my target address of "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html", and pasting the target after the prefomatted prefix "http://", I would get "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html".

If I were to simply paste "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html" into the window, I would end up with (no surprise, here)

<a href="blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

That's a bit odd looking - and that gets worse. A URL which lacks the prefix (for instance) "http://" has the current base URL added, when the post is compiled into the blog.

This would result in HTML code

<a href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

With these two Blogger link entry wizards, you must remember to add the link target selectively, if and only if it is not already prefixed by "http://" - after the preformatted "http://".

Conversely, if you start with a target

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

you want to overlay the "http://" prefix in the window. If you follow the "http://" in the window with

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

you'll end up with

http://http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

and that will present a new problem.

Some link entry wizards are more forgiving - and will add / strip the target URL, as necessary, so it always ends up with the right syntax construction. This is just another Blogger peccadillo.

Adding An HTML / JavaScript / Text Gadget?

An interesting bit of confusion is seen, occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I added a gadget using code from a third party website - but the new gadget shows the code, instead of the gadget content, when I view my blog!

This is somebody who was confused by the options offered by the gadget setup wizard.

When you add an HTML / JavaScript, or a Text, gadget to a blog, you can get odd results.

"Add a Gadget" provides the "HTML / JavaScript" and "Text" gadgets - your choice.

The captions and labels in the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" or "Configure Text" wizard can be a bit confusing. From the "Add a Gadget" wizard, you can select either an "HTML/JavaScript" gadget ("Configure HTML/JavaScript") or a "Text" gadget ("Configure Text").

The "HTML / JavaScript" and "Text" gadgets are identical - excepting the title.

Both the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" and "Configure Text" wizards use the same code - the only difference between the two is the header.

• Configure HTML/JavaScript
• Configure Text

Everything else is the same. Either wizard can create an "HTML / JavaScript" gadget (in HTML mode) - or a "Text" gadget (in Text mode) - as you wish.

• When the wizard is in HTML mode, the caption at the upper right border of the Content window will read "Rich Text". Positioning the cursor over "Rich Text" (and noting that the cursor does not change to a pointer), and clicking on "Rich Text", brings up the Text mode of the wizard.
• When the wizard is in Text mode, the caption will read "Edit Html" - and clicking on "Edit Html" puts the wizard into HTML mode, again.

The title of the wizard does not change, when switching modes.

The header of the wizard - "Configure HTML/JavaScript" or "Configure Text" - will remain as it was when the wizard was opened, ignoring any mode changes. The caption, at the upper right border of the Content window, is what matters.

• If you want to add code (HTML / JavaScript), you will want the caption to read "Rich Text".
• If you want to add text (Rich Text), you will want the caption to read "Edit Html".

Being in the wrong mode will produce inconsistent and odd results.

If you're in the wrong mode, you'll be able to enter a limited amount of content - but with odd results.

• If you're in HTML mode (with "Rich Text" showing), you'll be able to enter text - to a limited degree. HTML is simply fancy text, with tags (special keywords and symbols).
• The HTML editor toolbar will lack a few buttons - and using special characters like ampersand ("&"), greater than (">") - and less than ("<"), will produce random and unpredictable results.
• If you're in Text mode (with "Edit html" showing), you'll be able to enter the HTML code - but when the blog is displayed, you'll see code (which is just text) in place of a working gadget.

If you just added a new gadget - and ended up with visible code, when you tried to setup an HTML gadget - now you know why. Similarly, if the "Save" button is now broken, and you are trying to add or update a Text gadget.

This is one of several possible causes of problems seen when adding / updating the HTML / JavaScript / Text gadgets.

Adding A Gadget Above Or Below The Posts Gadget

Almost every blogger is used to adding gadgets of various types, using the "Page Elements" wizard, to the header, the sidebar, and / or the footer of their blog. If you can't do that, you just aren't enjoying Layout Templates, to their fullest.

Some folks haven't yet realised that you can also add a gadget just above, or just below, the posts.

This is not the same as adding a gadget to the bottom of the header (which is, admittedly, just above the posts); nor is it the same as adding a gadget to the top of the footer (again, just below the posts).

A gadget just above, or just below, the Blog Posts gadget stops next to the sidebar - as opposed to continuing above or below the sidebar, should you add a gadget to the header or the footer. It's just as easy to add a gadget to one place, as to the other, though.


Just drag and drop any gadget of your choice, to the right spot. See what this looks like, in my demonstration blog, Nitecruzr New Template Laboratory.

For a variation on this, you can setup such a gadget to appear only on the first page.