Continued Inability To Update The Labels Gadget, With A Large Partial List

In February, we observed that various blog owners were reporting problems with updating label and link lists. We setup a problem rollup in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we observed a small but significant number of reports from unhappy blog owners, unable to update the gadgets on their blogs.

Last month, Blogger Support supposedly resolved the reported problem, and the volume of problem reports dropped significantly. The problem, however, has not been eliminated.

The problem with updating various accessory gadgets, initially reported several months ago, is still present in various Blogger blogs - though significantly reduced - following an improvement last month.

This blog has a total of 626 labels defined, in the various posts. If I want to spare my readers (slightly) from an excessively long list of labels, I can edit the list and selectively display only significant ones. I cannot display all significant ones, unfortunately. I currently have 501 of 626 labels selected for display.

If I edit my label list, in "Select labels to show", I can select any one of the remaining 125 labels. Having hit the tiny "Done" caption at the bottom left of the window, I am left with "Configure Labels". If I hit "Save", the earlier reported problem continues - the yellow "Saving ..." flag pops up, and the gadget hangs while saving.

If I hit Cancel, and edit the list again, I can de select any one label, and save the list, successfully - again with exactly 501 labels selected. Then adding any one label, and attempting to Save once more, the gadget will again hang. The bottom line is that I can selectively display 501 labels - and no more.

I have observed this problem in both Chrome and Firefox (V11 and V12) - and using both the Classic and New GUIs. With up to 501 labels selected, no problem. With any more than 501 labels selected - big problem. During the past month, after I first observed this problem, I added half a dozen new labels, to reach the current total of 626. The problem has limited me to 501 selected labels, consistently, regardless of the total number.

Various reports, in both this blog, and in [Problem Rollup] Updating Label List Gadget Hangs, indicate that other blog owners are still observing this problem. It's becoming increasingly obvious that this problem still exists in

• BlogLists.
• Label Lists.
• LinkLists.

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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.

Blog Owners Reporting Inability To Update Various Template Gadgets

For several weeks, we've been seeing a light but steady stream of reports from blog owners unable to update various template gadgets, on their blogs. This blog, personally, has the full page Topics Index, which needs to be updated with half a dozen newly created labels.

In some cases, the "Save" button may appear inactive or dim; in other cases, the owner will see the "Saving..." status endlessly displayed, while the wizard appears to "hang".

We have a problem rollup in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we are collecting details from the blog owners reporting.

1. What is the URL of the blog? If published to a non BlogSpot URL, both the BlogSpot and domain URLs may be relevant.
2. Is this a team administered blog, or are you the sole administrator / owner?
3. What is your Blogger / Google ProfileID?
4. Does the blog use a dynamic template, or a non dynamic template?
5. Do you use a Classic Blogger GUI, or a New (2011) Blogger GUI?
6. What is the Title of the Gadget that you are Saving, unsuccessfully (please copy the title, accurately, from the popup window, before hitting Cancel)?
7. What browser (name, and version, please) are you using?

If you are observing this problem, with your blog, providing as many details as possible may help Blogger Support focus on your problem, by identifying a pattern.

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(Update 2012/04/27): Following an update last month, the problem was significantly reduced - though not eliminated.

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Make A Custom Pages Index For Your Blog

Even before Blogger added static pages as a blog feature, blog owners have been asking how to make hidden or separate pages for their blogs.

When static pages, and the Pages index gadget, were added, people started asking about indexing label searches and external links in the Pages gadget.

There are several solutions to the need to have a Pages gadget that indexes archive / label searches, and external URLs. Each solution has its advantages, and disadvantages.

If you want a Pages gadget for your blog, that indexes more than just static pages, you have two basic choices. Each choice gives you different possibilities.

1. Replace the Pages gadget with a linklist. You can index any URLs that interest you, in a linklist.
2. Use the Pages editor, in the dashboard Layout page, which lets you add URLs of your choice, directly to the Pages gadget.

I've been advising people for several years, how to make a horizontal index bar for the blog.

With most Blogger templates, the Tabs section contains CSS that displays any linklist positioned there, horizontally. This gives you the choice of using "Add a gadget", and creating a linklist as an XML based "Linklist" - or one created as an HTML based "HTML / JavaScript" gadget - and both choices have advantages.

Use an XML based linklist.

If you look at the menu bar on this blog, you'll see how the active menu button "lights up" when selected. The "Selected" feature is a CSS tweak - and requires that you use a linklist that's XML based.

I created the menu bar here, using "Add a gadget", and tweaked the template code. The default Pages gadget is XML based - and does not require the latter tweak.

Use the Blogger supplied Pages gadget.

As an alternate to using a linklist gadget, you could use the Pages gadget.

If you use the Pages Editor, and you position the Pages gadget in the proper position, your blog, when displayed using a dynamic template, will populate the black menu bar with your Pages list. When that happens, the dynamic view menu will be displayed as a drop-down list, at the far left of the menu bar.

Identify The Gadgets In The Template, Reliably

When you tweak the code in a gadget, based upon my instructions, you'll be editing the template HTML. Or, you might be using the Layout wizard, to locate and remove a problem gadget.

You'll do most editing with widget code unfolded. You'll have a lot of code to sift through - and with many gadgets in your blog, there's always the chance that you'll see the code for one gadget, and confuse it for another.

If you delete or tweak the wrong gadget, you may not like what you get. Before deleting anything, or editing the template, take an extra minute, and find the specific gadget, by its name. This could save you a lot of grief.

Here, I'll look at the Welcome message in my Buzz blog.

This is what I did, as I tweaked it to make it show up only on the Home page.

So, welcome to The Buzz.

If I right click on the screwdriver / wrench ("dragonfly") under that gadget, and select "Copy Link Location" (or possibly "Copy link address"), I can paste the URL into Notepad for easy examination.

Alternately, use the Layout wizard, click on "Edit" - and stretch the gadget window out horizontally, until the entire URL is visible.

http://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=6525860816441104874&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text1&action=editWidget

The gadget in question is "Text1". To find the code to tweak, I use the Template "Edit HTML" wizard - and completely unfold the code for "Text1".

<b:widget id='Text1' locked='false' title='' type='Text'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:blog.homepageUrl'>
  <!-- only display title if it's non-empty -->
  <b:if cond='data:title != ""'>
    <h2 class='title':gt;<data:title/:gt;</h2>
  </b:if>
  <div class='widget-content'>
    <data:content/>
  </div>
</b:if>

  <b:include name='quickedit'/>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

That beats an eyeball based search, any day. It's 100% reliable, and takes just a few seconds to find the code for "Text1". After you do this a few times, you'll be able to hover the mouse, and spot the widgetId=Text1 in the URL display in the browser status area - and go straight to

The gadget in question is "Text1".

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(Update 2014/12): If you use a text browser, you can locate and identify a problem gadget, much more easily.

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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.

Putting A Post At The Top (A "Welcome" Post) - Part 2

Many people have asked how they can have a Welcome or Index message in their blog.

I have a Welcome message, at the top of Nitecruzr Buzz, or on this blog, for instance.

This blog uses a text gadget, positioned above the post gadget, which leaves a gadget that shows up on every page. On Nitecruzr Buzz, I used a future dated post, so my "Welcome" showed up only on the "Home" page. Neither solution was optimal.

• A true "Welcome" message should show up only on the "Home" (first) page. A text gadget shows up on every page.
• A future dated post shows up only on the "Home" page, but it shows up in the Archive index with a future date.

Today, I fixed my Buzz Welcome message, so it only shows up on the "Home" page, and it does not show up as a post, in an archive index.

What I now have is a Text gadget, that only displays on the "Home" page. Here's how you do that.

First, (you should have to ask?) backup the template. Then add a Text gadget to the page, and position the gadget just above the post gadget. Give it a snappy title, "Welcome To My Blog!".

Then tweak the new gadget.

1. Identify the gadget to be tweaked.
2. Add the Conditional Gadget CSS rule, using the Template Designer "Add CSS" wizard.

 
<b:if cond='data:blog.canonicalUrl != data:blog.homepageUrl'>
<style>
#Text1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

Remember to add a blank line, above or below the code block being added, if there is already code visible in "Add CSS".

Save the change. Edit the text gadget as displayed on the blog, and remove the "WelcomeMessage" title. And of course, backup the template, again. And, it's done.

Now, if you want a dynamic "Welcome" page - maybe one based on posts published to a given label, you can do that too, with just a bit more work. And there are several variations on the "if" statement, that will let you selectively display (or not display) your gadget on other specific pages.

An easy alternative solution for this need, more recently offered, would be to use a static page, and a redirected Home page.

The choices are multiple. Just consider your needs, and how easy the various alternatives may be.

Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "smashingfeeds.com"

This week, we are seeing a few reports from anxious bloggers that their blogs are redirecting to mysterious URLs containing the domain "smashingfeeds.com". This is somewhat reminiscent of the "blogoholic.info" hijacks of June 2009.

My blog site has been hijacked & redirects to: http://searchinvented.com/?flrdr=yes&nxte=js&dn=smashingfeeds.com&fp=57S

Immediate reports from some bloggers suggest that removal of a possibly recently installed "Tweet This" gadget may be the most likely solution, when faced with this problem.

If you can access the "Page Elements" wizard, and if you have previously installed a "Tweet This" gadget on your blog, that's where you should start. Other blogs have the code installed directly into the template, and will have to use the "Edit HTML" wizard.

As with the "blogoholic.info" redirect, this exploit has been seen to cause corruption of the blog or gadget template, which may redirect you to "smashingfeeds.com" when you try to access the "Edit HTML" or "Page Elements" wizards. If you have this problem, you'll have to find out the blogID, then reference "Edit HTML" or "Page Elements" directly by URL.

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In one case, the "searchinvented.com" / "smashingfeeds.com" redirect is being found on a blog that has a "falling snow" gadget.

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After removing the offending code, don't forget to clear cache, before testing your change!

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The New Navbar

By now, I'm sure that you've all seen the new navbar on our blogs. Besides having new links, and some links being renamed, there's a significant improvement - transparency.

For those of you wondering where "Search Blog" went, the "Search Blog" window is still there - the "Search Blog" caption was simply removed, to make space. And "Flag Blog" (which was, some time ago, greatly enhanced) is now accurately captioned "Report Abuse". And we have "Follow" (previously "Follow Blog"), matching the new "Share" link.

And, for everybody who has always hated the navbar because it was ugly, and its background colour never matched the blog, you can now select a transparent option - and let the background colour / images in the blog show. You can select "Transparent Dark", with light navbar characters and graphics - or "Transparent Light", with dark navbar characters and graphics.

You select the new options in the Navbar Configuration wizard in "Page Elements". Click on the "Edit" link to the right of "Navbar".

What you get doesn't look like complete transparency - you can see some colour variation on my home blog, "nitecruzr dot net", but on this blog - look above. Transparency on white looks pretty good.

No more ugly navbar stripe - that's a small improvement, but still a significant one. This may motivate some bloggers - though probably not all - to reverse their earlier decisions to hide the navbar on their blogs.

Now, since we're looking at the navbar, let's look at what the "Search Blog" box is. It is for searching for posts, in this blog, which contain references to the keywords entered into the box. It's not for searching for other blogs or web sites, neither using keywords or URLs. Just for keywords, in the blog that's currently displayed.

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Problems With The New Dashboard And Post Editor

Bloggers everywhere are now enjoying the new look of the redesigned Blogger Dashboard, and the improved buttons in Post Editor. With every change though, such as a redesign or improved functionality, comes problems. This change is no exception.

I notice that there's a new dashboard but I also noticed that when I try to put my cursor over the "publish" button it turns into a line and the button doesn't work unless I rest it below the publish button.

or

The button for NEW POST, PUBLISH POST & SAVE NOW are NOT working?

or

I can't upgrade my template. There's no "UPGRADE YOUR TEMPLATE" button!

Whenever Blogger makes a script change, like this one (that's visible), or similar ones that you can't see immediately, things will stop working. Sometimes, it will be because of old code, cached on your computer, interfering with their new code. Other times, it may be because of differences in the browser that you are using. And in many cases, you'll have a security device in the browser, in the computer, or on your network, that interferes with cookies and / or scripts on your computer.

If you see a problem, check the Blogger Help Forums, and look for others reporting the same problem. Look at the etiological spread of the problem. If you don't see a huge flood of reports of your problem, look at your computer, and see if there's anything different on your computer, that could contribute to the problem on your computer.

(Update 9/30 18:00): Blogger Employee is now asking for diagnostics describing your experience with the missing Template Upgrade button.

Please reply to this thread with your browser and operating system info.

Also, I recommend trying from another browser to see if that helps.

(Update 8/17): Help us out here, provide details please if you're affected by this problem. Precision counts here.

• What is your exact problem - buttons missing, or buttons don't work?
• What buttons, on what screen?
• Are you using Draft (Blue) or Production (Orange) Blogger?
• What browser, and what operating system (name and version) do you use?
• What anti-virus product, and what cookie / script blockers, do you have on your browser or computer?
• Have you tried clearing both cache and cookies, and restarting the browser?

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Cannot Upload Picture - Internal Error

For our third wildfire this month (and today being the 4th of the month yet!), we have a problem with Blogger, and Post Editor. When trying to upload a picture, the blogger sees

This image could not be uploaded due to an internal error.

One blogger reported seeing this error after installing a Pyzam template. From the volume of the posts in the forums, I don't think that's the only defining factor.

Some questions might be relevant, though. Answer as much as you can manage, please.

• Does the blog have a Blogger standard, or third party, template?
• Does the blog have a Classic or Layouts template?
• Are you in Draft (Blue), or Standard (Orange) Blogger, when you see the error?
• Has this blog ever been customised using Draft (Blue) Blogger? If so, what changes were made?
• Are you using Page Elements, or Post Editor, when you are trying to upload?
• What browser (name and version) are you using?
• What operating system (name and version) are you using?
• What security programs or devices (anti-virus, for instance) do you use to protect yourself?

>> (Update 8/4 20:00): Blogger Employee Gatsby reports that they are working on the problem.

>> Forum thread links: bX-*00081

>> Copy this tag: bX-*00081

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A New Page Element - The Blog List

Along with several key fixes to Blogger this week, the release contained one useful new page element - the Blog List. A Blog List is a combination of a Linklist (aka BlogRoll) and a Feed Reader, where you specify a series of feeds, and it generates a linklist with each feed as a separate item in the linklist.

The Blog List improves on our Link List page element by using blogs’ RSS and Atom feeds to show update times, post titles, and snippets.

You have several options that let you decide what you want to show in each Blog List.

• Icon. When available, you can present a favicon from each site in the list.
• Title. You can present the title of the most recent item, in each feed.
• Snippet. You can present a snippet of the most recent item, in each feed.
• Update Date. You can present the date of last update, of each feed.

With all of that said, there is a key difference between a Blog List and a Link List.

• A Blog List is a list of blog posts feeds. Each item in a blog list will be the URL of the posts feed for one blog, though you can enter a URL of any blog component, with the feed URL apparently derived from what you enter. You can have only 1 entry for any blog, in a blog list.
• A Link List is a list of URLs. Each item in a link list may depict a single, unique blog. Each item can be any URL that you wish.

If you leave off the Snippet and Update Date selections from a Blog List, you'll end up with what looks like a Linklist. And it appears that the rollout of the Blog List gadget, from Draft to Operational status, involved converting some Blog List items into what look like Linklist items. If your blog has what looks like a new linklist, which contains items with feed URLs, that is what happened. If you edit this page element, you'll see a series of feeds listed, with some apparently corrupt, possibly depicted with red Xs. These are URLs that do not lead to a valid feed. You'll have to delete and re add each URL so listed, if any one represents an item that you intended to lead to a feed.

And that illustrates another key difference between a Blog List and a Linklist. The linklist wizard lets you edit the label, or the link URL, for any item in the list. The blog list wizard lets you only edit the label of an item ("rename") - if you wish to change the link URL, you have to delete and re add the entry.

Just don't confuse the Blog List page element with the Linklist page element. Each has its own place in your blog.

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Blog Posts Star Ratings

A new feature just previously introduced to Draft Blogger, the Blog Posts Star Ratings, which lets your readers rate each post, appears to have been released into Normal Blogger.

Not everybody seems thrilled by the new feature, and interestingly, not everybody has it outside of a Blogger In Draft setup. It was apparently released to a portion of the Blogosphere today. If you have this new item on your blog, and wish to remove it, it's a post template item, and you can de select it from the Blog Posts widget in Page Elements.

Then, and need I say this for every template related issue, clear cache in your browser.

Presumably, Blogger will reverse the change tonight, and by tomorrow it will again be available only in Blogger In Draft.

>> (Update 5/8): This feature is now, as before, available only from Blogger In Draft.

>> (Update 18:00): Blogger has acknowledged the mistake, in Google Blogger Help: How Do I?: Star Ratings: Blogger Goofed!

So we goofed up a bit and accidentally enabled an experimental feature that was supposed to remain only on Blogger in Draft :P

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Configuring The Page Header

When someone starts decorating their blog, one of the first things done is to replace the plain text page header with something more stylish. That task has become gradually easier, starting with the rollout of New Blogger (2006).

With a Classical template, this was done by editing the template HTML. When New Blogger (2006) started out, this was originally done by creating an HTML page element, and putting it in place of the Page Header page element. Recently, Blogger added options in the Header GUI, which lets you create a passable custom element, in just a few minutes.

From the Page Elements GUI, click the Edit link in the page header. This gives you the "Configure Header" wizard, which has several key abilities.

• Upload a graphic file (from your computer or elsewhere or in the web).
• Select whether the uploaded graphic is to replace the text Title and Description, or simply be placed behind it, as a background element.
• Select whether the uploaded graphic is to be shrunk to 660 pixels wide.

This is not an extensive set of options, and a few bloggers will still opt to replace the header with a hand created HTML page element. For most blogs, though, this will make an excellent first step in making our blogs more attractive. Certainly, it's a start, and may motivate other decorations.

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