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The blog owner does not realise that unpublished pages or posts won't be visible, outside the page / post editor, and the "Preview" window.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