Blogger Magic - Add An HTML Gadget

Many popular accessories start with raw HTML / JavaScript code, from different third party services.

One of the advantages of publishing a Blogger blog is the abundance of available accessories. With Blogger being in the top 3 of Internet publishing platforms, every third party service wants customers who publish using Blogger.

There are plenty of abusive or malicious accessories, that should not be installed, even when offered - and there are ways to best install the accessories, that can be safely installed.

Most accessories, from third party services, will be provided as HTML / JavaScript.

To add HTML / JavaScript code, to a blog, you can use any of several techniques - though using a new HTML / JavaScript gadget is the smartest choice. Adding an HTML gadget, to a Blogger blog, is not difficult.

Add an HTML / JavaScript gadget, using "Add a Gadget" in Layout.

1. Start from the "Layout" dashboard menu page.
2. Click "Add a Gadget".
3. Click the "+" button, for "HTML/JavaScript".
4. Paste the code, given to you, into the "Content" box.
5. Click "Show HTML/JavaScript", if the option is provided.
6. Click "Save".
7. Position the new gadget anywhere in the Layout display.
8. Click on "Save arrangement".

Start from the dashboard Layout page, and select any convenient link to "Add a Gadget". Select "HTML/JavaScript" from the "Basics" tab, in the "Add a Gadget" wizard.

Select "HTML/JavaScript" in "Basics".



Paste the code, that you have to add, into the "Content" window, in the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" wizard. And if you wish, give your new gadget a Title.

Paste the code that you have, into "Content" - with the wizard in HTML mode ("Rich Text" displayed).



And select "Show HTML/JavaScript", if provided for this template - then click on "Save". Finally, click on "Save arrangement".

Avoid several well known mistakes, when adding gadgets.

There are mistakes, that you can avoid - if you know what to do.

• Be selective, when adding third party code.
• Add a gadget, using "Basics".
• Edit an HTML gadget, with "Rich Text" displayed as the caption (for HTML) - or with "Edit html" displayed as the caption (for Rich Text).
• With a dynamic template, attach or embed the content in a static page.
• With a mobile display, enable the gadget, if you want it to be viewed.
• With templates that have a disappearing sidebar, position the gadget in the footer.
• If "Show HTML/JavaScript" is provided for this template, select that option.

Be selective, when adding third party code.

It's your blog - and you are allowed to install any accessories and tweaks that interest you. For long term stability and success, though, you should try to only install code from reliable sources.

Your readers will be happier, with your blog using reliable accessories.

Add a gadget, using "Basics".

You'll start with an "Add a Gadget" link, on the dashboard Layout page - and the "Add a Gadget" wizard.

The "Add a Gadget" wizard has the "Basics" tab, with the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget in the list - and it has the "Add your own" tab. You should find the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget, in "Basics".

Edit an HTML gadget, with "Rich Text" / "Edit html" displayed as the caption.

The "HTML" / "Text" gadgets, intriguingly have the "Edit Html" / "Rich Text" tabs.

If you want to add / edit HTML or JavaScript, the caption should read "Rich Text".



The HTML gadget, in HTML mode.



Conversely, if you want to add / edit text, the caption should read "Edit html".

It's your choice. The "HTML / JavaScript" and "Text" gadgets are the same - just the captions ("Edit html" and "Rich Text") differ.

With a dynamic template, attach or embed the content in a static page.

Adding gadgets to dynamic templates is not a straightforward process. Gadgets have to be written specifically to support dynamic templates - and the HTML gadget is not written for this.

If you want an HTML gadget to work in a dynamic template, you'll need to attach or embed the gadget, in a static page.

With a mobile display, enable the gadget, if you want it to be viewed.

By default, the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget does not display, on a mobile browser. You will have to use the Template Editor, and enable the gadget to display, in mobile mode.

With templates that have a disappearing sidebar, position the gadget in the footer.

Some Responsive class templates have a sidebar that is hidden by default. To see the sidebar, you click on the "hamburger" icon in the header.

If you want your new gadget to work with the blog loaded - even without the sidebar showing - you need the gadget in a visible section. The footer is a better choice, in this case.

If "Show HTML/JavaScript" is provided for this template, select that option.

If the option to "Show HTML/JavaScript" is provided in the "Configure HTML/JavaScript" wizard, be sure to select that - if you want the gadget to operate, with the blog loaded. If the gadget should not be visible to the reader, but it needs to operate, you still must enable this option.

It's your blog.

There are ways to make an HTML gadget work, while ignoring the above advice. Long term success will be much more likely, though, with attention to the details.

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One of the most common accessories, added to a #Blogger blog, starts with an HTML / JavaScript gadget. This is a very versatile gadget - and it's not difficult to install. There are several common sense details, however.

Why Can't Blogger Just Tell Me The Email Address?

We see the pain, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, of blog owners who do not understand the need for keeping the name of their Blogger account a secret.

I forgot the email address that I was using. Why can't Blogger just tell me the address??

and some ask

How did this unknown person "xxxxx xxxxx" get control of my blog?

Years ago, the local police would have to convince home owners

Please, stop leaving a spare key under a rock, near the door!

Both many blog owners (today) - like some home owners (years ago) - had the same basic problem - naivete.

Like the home owners of years ago, who kept a spare key under a rock near the front door, for emergencies, blog owners will use tricks to remember their password.

Don't - please don't - use a guessable password!

One favourite technique, for remembering the password, is so obvious.

Pick a password based upon something that you can remember.

For a blog owner who is married, the answer is obvious.

What is my spouse's name?

and there's your password. If you forget that, you have worse problems, that cannot be addressed here.

If the name of one's spouse was a secret, using the name would not be a problem. But knowing that many blogs either contain the name (and picture, maybe) of the whole family - or lead to a Profile page or website (FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, ...) with similarly useful information - how secret is the password going to be?

Hackers love blogs with guessable passwords.

Knowing both the Blogger account name (email address) that owns any blog of interest, and the URL of the blog, any hacker has a simple enough task.

1. Scrape blog content, into a text analyzer.
2. Extract a few hundred details (spouse's name, and others) from the blog content, as analysed.
3. Run the known details through a password generation program.
4. Now, the hacker has a database, containing "10,000 good possible passwords", specifically relevant to this blog.
5. Go to "www.blogger.com", plug in the account name, and try out the 10,000 passwords, one by one.
6. That's a simple brute force password attack.
7. Sit back, and watch any botnet, controlled by the hacker, go to work.
8. Given enough time, the hacker very likely gets access to the Blogger account, and to the blogs owned by the account.

Steps 1 - 8, for any experienced hacker, will be summed into one step.

Plug in the URL of the blog.

Everything needed is just more coding - and a nice robust botnet or two.

The hacker, of course, will be targeting thousands of different blogs, simultaneously. So what if he (she) fails to find what details she (he) needs, to steal your blog? He'll (she'll) gladly settle for another - while the botnet works on yours.

Besides using a "strong" password (which carries it's own risks such as forgetting the password - and now we're here, again), the best way to prevent a brute force attack is by preventing step 5.

Keep the account name / email address a secret.

Additionally, if you have a blog and a business - or otherwise exchange email with strangers, separate your Blogger / Google account and your email account. Use two separate email addresses, for Blogger and email.

Learn to appreciate efforts made, by Google, keeping your account and blogs safe.

If you need to recover access to your Blogger account, don't expect to use the Blogger "Forgot?" wizard, plug in your blog URL, and get a reply

Email was sent to your address xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz

And, if you post in the forum.

Please email me advice, to "xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz"!

expect to get a stern warning

Please, do not post Blogger account names, or email addresses, in the forum.

People objecting to the recent Blogger policy of masking email addresses, in Blogger commenting and similar services, as "no-reply @ blogger . com", may also need to consider this very real issue. Possibly, even use Google+, instead of Blogger commenting, for networking with ones peers.

Google tries to identify brute force attacks, and takes action when possible.

And, if your Blogger / GMail / Google account is disabled - and you get a mysterious notice about

Suspicious / Unusual activity on your account

this could well be the other side of a brute force attack against your account, intercepted by Google.

Don't be offended by the various precautions.

• The unpopular "24 to 48 hour" waiting period, which you endure after getting the account enabled.
• The painful diagnosis of "hacking detected" against your account (aka "suspicious" / "unusual" activity).
• The annoying inability to access your Blogger account, when traveling.

If you find the precautions and problems to be unacceptable, consider using Google 2-step verification, to protect your account against brute force hacking.

This is not fiction here - it's all very real.

None of this is fiction or paranoia - it's based on some very real, recent events, and even involves a recent National Scandal - and leads to some very real conundrums.

Similarly, we have a very distasteful answer, to a seemingly worthy need. And another apparently "ceremonial" but necessary answer, to somebody in need of understanding and support, that can't be provided.

You have to make the effort, to maintain and protect your blog.

You will get no sympathy, when you complain how unsupportive Blogger is.

You have to make some effort - and remember some basic information - if you are going to maintain a Blogger blog. And, encourage your friends to keep their accounts and blogs safe.

Troubleshooting Problems With Your Blog, Or With Your Connection To Blogger

I'm a desktop / network support technician, and I enjoy troubleshooting problems with other peoples computers. I prefer that my own computers remain trouble free (of course, that won't always be the case). I can apply my skills in desktop / network troubleshooting to the tasks involved in troubleshooting problems with Blogger, and Blogger blogs.

So, consider this. Blogspot / Blogger hosts millions of blogs, and has many more millions of worldwide customers reading those blogs. You send in a complaint to Blogger Support, about your blog, or your connection to Blogger / BlogSpot, and your complaint goes into a long queue. And if it's just YOUR problem with YOUR blog, or YOUR connection, that's where it will likely stay. Problems affecting multiple blogs, and problems affecting multiple Bloggers, or customers, will always get higher priority. That's common sense.

So, if YOU notice a problem with YOUR blog, or with YOUR connection, it's up to YOU to do some initial troubleshooting. Now, as a desktop support technician, I preach diagnostic procedure. Constantly.

Note: This article is a Blogger specific adaptation of Solving Network Problems - A Tutorial.

Here's where multiple observations is essential. If you see a problem with your blog, do any of your friends see the same problem? Do you see the same problem with your friends blogs?

You also have to understand the concept of cache, which partially explains why not everybody sees a problem with your blog at the same time.

Now the customer, and server, population for Blogger is immense. Blogspot uses thousands of servers to host the millions of blogs that they have. So the fact that your friends may or may not see the same problem on your blog, or you may or may not see the same problem on your friends blogs, is not in itself definitive of a worldwide Blogspot problem. But it can help us develop a procedure for diagnosing your problem.

There are several major items involved in any problem.

1. The content (the text that you typed into your post, or the template) for your blog might have (gasp) coding errors. This will affect everybody who views your blog, until you fix your mistakes. And, if you haven't done this yet, backup your blog. NOW.


2. The database where your blog is stored might be corrupt. This problem may affect other blogs, and other Bloggers. It will affect other folks viewing your blog, if they don't have a good copy already cached on their computer. If your problem is not part of a major outage, republishing your blog, which takes the source text (item #1) and rebuilds the blog into a web page, may resolve this.


3. The server which serves Blogspot content to you may be having problems. This will affect your ability to view multiple blogs. Other Bloggers using this same server will have the same problems. With 4500+ servers, it's possible (but not likely) that you may know somebody else sharing your server. If your problem is not part of a major outage, clearing cookies and changing your server may resolve this.


4. Your computer, or your network, may have problems, or some characteristic of your ISPs service may cause a problem with a Blogger server. I work with these sort of problems, and know how tricky they are to diagnose. This will affect you only, or others in your area too. It may, or may not, affect your access to multiple blogs.


5. The cache of your blog, and other blogs, on YOUR computer, may contain bad content from any previous existence of any problems. This should only affect your computer, though any other computer may have similar problems.

• If both you and your friends see a problem with your blog, there's a good chance that any fixes that affect only you won't have too much effect. Here you need to concentrate on items #1 - #3, from the above list.


• On the other hand, if you have multiple friends viewing your blog (and here is one example why having friends is a good thing), and nobody but you sees any problems, items #4 and #5 are more likely suspects.


• If some friends see problems, and others don't, it's still more likely that the problems involve items #1 - #3.


• If you see problems with your friends blogs, and your friends see those same problems, it's likely an outage at Blogspot. Maybe Blogger Status will acknowledge the outage. Don't hold your breath, but look there anyway. File a Blogger Contact Report, but again, don't hold your breath.

OK, let's translate the above sermon above into a usable procedure.

1. Check Blogger Status. Check Real Blogger Status (here). It's possible that the problem has been noted already. Check the online Blogger databases - Blogger Help, Blogger Known Issues, and Blogger Status. Check the online forums - Google Blogger Help, and Blogger Forum.


2. Check Recently Updated Blogs, which lists all blogs updated in the immediately previous 10 minutes. The number of updates enumerated there may confirm or deny any suspicion of a widespread publishing problem. If any doubt, check in another 15 - 20 minutes (open another window), and compare the 2 lists.


3. Note that both Blogger Status and Real Blogger Status provide Atom and / or RSS feeds. If you use Syndication / Atom, you may find this convenient. Or, you can Follow this, and other, blogs, for a more convenient subscription.


4. Are you, and your friends, having problems viewing your blog, and other blogs? If the problems are just yours, or if they involve multiple blogs, pray, then troubleshoot the cache. If you see an improvement, clear cache and cookies on your computer. If this helps you, let your friends know, and have them do the same (if they are affected).


5. If your friends see the same problems with your blog that you see, chances are that the previous step won't fix things by itself. Did you just post something, immediately before the problem was noted? Go back and verify what you just changed. Correct the problem, if necessary, and republish. If you get an error from publishing, proceed to the last step.


6. Did you make a change in the blog content, from executing the previous step? If so, clear your cache.


7. If you have executed all above steps, and you or your friends still see problems, then it's time to seek collaborative analysis.
   
   
   
   • Try to file a report with Blogger Support, observing their current (and dynamic) problem resolution policies. Wait for the botmail.
   
   
   • Reply to the botmail, objectively pointing out that none of the suggested references - none of the online Blogger databases, or the online forums, offer any help.
   
   
   • File a description of the problem, what you've done to date, and the botmail problem number (if any provided), at Blogger Forum and at Google Blogger Help.
   
   
   • Look in the forums for others with your problem, or for any helpful suggestions. Let others know that you are having this problem. Note any correspondence with Blogger Support, and note your problem number. Provide useful diagnostic information about you, your computer, and your Internet service. Links between your thread in one forum, and any others, are not a bad idea either.
   
   
   • Check back in Blogger Forum and at Google Blogger Help, for comments to your posts, regularly. Be prepared to answer questions. Crosspost updates to the other forum.
   
   


8. If any of the above steps help you diagnose or resolve the problem,
   
   
   
   1. Say a prayer of thanks to the deity of your faith.
   
   
   2. Backup your blog. Having a local mirror of your blog can be very useful.
   
   
   3. Sign my GuestBook, or alternately, leave me a comment. Knowing that this blog is of use, or not, motivates ongoing additions and improvements.
   
   
   4. Post back in the above mentioned forums, and close any open threads. Become part of The Solution.
   
   

If you're having a problem, don't just drop it on Blogger Support. Involve Blogger Forum and Google Blogger Help, too. Update all 3 groups, regularly, when suggestions are made by any others. Be patient and persistent.

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