One Cause Of The Monolithic Error "No posts."

One of the most obscure Blogger error messages - next to "Another blog ..." - is the monolithic advice seen on main page display of some blogs.

No posts.

or maybe

There's nothing here!

What can you say, to a blog owner who has started a new blog, and spent days publishing blog content - only to view the blog, and see "No posts." - or "There's nothing here!"?

In some cases, a blog may actually contain no posts - even after days spent publishing content.

Some blog owners may confuse pages ("static pages"), and posts ("dynamic pages") - and spend days publishing blog content, as static pages. Other blog owners, though having just started their first blog, may be experienced webmasters with one or more websites published for years - and publish blog content as pages, by preference.

Whether owned by a true newbie, or an experienced webmaster, a blog which is constructed using static pages will display the main page as

No posts.

or maybe

There's nothing here!

By default, the main page display will only show posts. Pages were originally provided, as a Blogger feature, because some blog owners wanted some posts that were not indexed in an archive, label, or main page sequence.

When you are queried by an anxious blog owner

Why does my blog display

No posts.

Where are my posts?

What can you do?

You need to compare "sitemap.xml" and "sitemap-pages.xml". In some cases, you'll find "sitemap.xml" to be empty - and "sitemap-pages,xml" to list static pages. Occam's Razor wins again.

Some blogs may be truly empty.

Some blogs will only have pages for blog content - and no posts.



Some blogs will only contain static pages - and the main page will show "No posts.".

If your blog does this, you can redirect the home page to a given static page - and add links between the static pages. Or, republish the pages as posts, if convenient.

If you want a main page with multiple posts, maybe using Jump Break to make the main page look cleaner, you will have to publish your blog content as posts.

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The monolithic error "No posts." causes extreme anguish, to a #Blogger blog owner who has just spent days publishing content. In some cases, there is a simple explanation.

Static Pages Do Not Appear In Newsfeeds

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

How do I let my readers subscribe to my pages?

A static page, by definition, does not produce newsfeed content. This is one original purpose for the static pages feature, in Blogger blogs.

You can publish posts, to any non home page, as you wish - and create a dynamic page.

From a label based dynamic page, you can publish a labels newsfeed. Then, you can publicise your label feed.

Any feed based accessory gadget - such as a "feeds" gadget, a "Subscribe to my blog" gadget, or even a "Subscribe to email from my blog!" gadget will use a labels feed, as well as a posts feed. A label search produces a subset of the posts - and a labels feed is simply a subset of the blog posts newsfeed.

If you want specialised content on a page, separate from the main page - and you want to distribute your content using a newsfeed - make a dynamic page based on a label. That will give you the feed that you need.

Blogger Terminology - Blogs Vs Posts

Sometimes, we see odd confusion in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I deleted my blog - can somebody help me restore it? I worked so many days writing it!

or alternately

I am trying to write a new blog, but it says my url has already been taken (by me).

If the first owner is kind enough to include the URL of the deleted "blog", we may use our favourite online diagnostic tool - and discover that the blog is still online, and not deleted! In the second case, we may find a new blog, with one post.

Investigating further, we discover that the problem here involves terminology. This article that I am writing, "Blogger Terminology - Blogs Vs Posts", is a post, which is part of my blog, "The REAL Blogger Status" (which right now is actually The ONLY Blogger Status - but that is another tale).

The terminology here is pedantic, to us - but it's very real, to the blog owner who has just deleted an important post. Or to the owner who has published one post - and now wants to publish a second (not blog, post).

A Blogger blog is a collection of pages and posts, under a common root URL.

A Blogger blog contains pages and posts.

You publish new posts (and pages), to a blog, to add indexable content. Both pages and posts will add value, given informative, interesting, and unique material.

So why do some people confuse blogs, and posts?

So what is the confusion, between blogs and posts? I've seen some helpers muse that social networks, like FaceBook, may offer the option to create a "blog" as part of your Wall. A FaceBook "blog", which is equivalent to one Blogger "post", becomes one more article that's part of the FaceBook experience - which is passed on by one's acquaintances.

People used to writing on FaceBook walls may be used to creating a "blog", which we simply call a "post". It's a simple mistake. Similar to "blog" vs "post", some blog owners confuse "pages" and "posts".

Call it a "blog" - or a "post" - your choice - just please don't work on it, unpublished!

Whatever you wish to call it, please don't spend days editing it, before Publishing. Terminology aside, losing days of work is not a trivial concern. The lament described above is very real, for too many blog owners.

Also, don't create a "duplicate" blog, to publish a new article - add a post (or a page) to the existing blog.

Blogger Magic - A Blog Within A Blog

One of the most fascinating features of Blogger blogs is the various options to organise our content.

Long ago, I wrote a simple article, Adding A Blogger Blog To A Website. That's become one of the most consistently popular posts, in this blog. Most blog owners have multiple interests, and like to organise their different interests, by subject - and have a different blog, for each subject.

Some people like to have a blog, and a website - and host both the blog and website in one Blogger blog, under one URL. For a small blog / website combination, that's an easy way to start out - and a good alternative, to having multiple blogs / websites.

It's easy to create a Blogger blog, and have the blog host multiple virtual blogs and / or websites.

The simplest "blog" uses a static home page, and the posts accessed from Pages, as "Blog".

A static home page - and all posts accessed as "Blog".

First, redirect the Home page to a static page.

From: /
To: /p/Welcome.html

Then add a simple dynamic "Blog" page, using "Configure Page List" - if you want all of the posts visible from the "Blog" tab.

Caption: Blog
Link: /search/label/

But, there are more possibilities.

Organised right, you can do without an archive section.

Done carefully enough, you can maybe display an entire blog without archive pages.

Have enough sections - and consistently use Jump Break on the posts - may let you fit a dozen or so posts onto one index page.

Some people organise blog content, using static pages.

The most obvious solutions for this need - to some people - is to setup static pages, one page / subject. But sometimes, interests / subjects overlap - and material that's published on one static page (as in one blog or website) might be relevant to another page (or blog / website).

I recommend basing the blog on dynamic content - and dynamic accessories.

The easiest way to make all of the content accessible is to add various dynamic indexing and search accessories. But some static structural accessories are useful, too.

Then, add a Pages gadget, if not already added. You can have a linkbar / tab index - or possibly a linklist, positioned anywhere convenient. Or both.

Start by labeling your posts.

First, add labels, to the posts. You can use either the posts index, or post editor, to add labels. You use the former, to add one label to many posts - and the latter, to add many labels to one post.

With the posts well labeled, decide how you want to display the pages.

Dynamic content lets you display one post, in multiple pages.

Using this blog as an example, this post could be useful in my "Labels", "Magic", and "Redirecting" sections of this blog, to start. Look above, at the toolbar. Do you see the "Magic" button?

Hover the pointer cursor over "Magic" - and see what's there.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/magic

From: /Magic
To: /search/label/Blogger%20Magic

There's my "magic" blog, within this blog.

Magic

Just as easily, I could have "Labels" and "Redirecting".

From: /Labels
To: /search/label/Labels

From:  /Redirecting
To: /search/label/Redirecting

You can separate the "Home" page from the "Blog" page.

Some people want to keep the blog and home page separate. They have 2 labels, "Blog" and "Home". All that they do is publish various posts, to either label - and setup 2 redirects.

From: /Blog
To: /search/label/Blog

From: /
To: /search/label/Home

And there's a blog

Blog

within a blog.

Making things simpler, if you want "Blog" to index all posts (as in an actual "blog"), you don't need to label the posts. Apparently, "... /search/label/ " retrieves everything, instead of nothing.

From: /Blog
To: /search/label/

There are several possibilities for "Home" page content, too.

As an alternate to redirecting the home page to a label search, you can always redirect the Home page to a single post - if that's your preference.

From: /
To:  /2014/07/blogger-magic-blog-within-blog.html

And that is a very basic blog, within your blog.

And you can still use static pages, for truly static content.

And one final detail - add one or more actual static pages. For non changing content, that you don't want ending up in a search engine hit page, add a simple static page.

You may have to add the Pages gadget, using "Add a Gadget".

Most blog owners will use the Pages gadget, to index their dynamic and static pages (such as "posts" and "pages"). If the Pages gadget is not already present in the blog, you may use the dashboard Layout page and "Add a Gadget", to add the gadget. Then, use "Configure Page List" to add the pages created.

Blogger Limits: Pages - Dynamic And Static

We see periodic evidence of the confusion about the differences between dynamic and static pages, expressed as limit uncertainties in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How many pages can I have in my blog?

and

Why can't I have more than 20 tabs in my top menu bar?

The Pages editor manages dynamic and static pages so transparently, not everybody realises where the limits are.

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(Update 2014/11): This limit has been relaxed - but it does not appear to be gone, entirely.

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Blogger has limited the number of static pages - Pages entries created as "Blank page", by the Pages editor in the New GUI.

The limit on static pages is a resource issue. Static pages require specific resources, pre allocated to every blog - and increasing the number of static pages, like increasing the limit on number of labels, would have to be made to all blogs. Such resources are limited, just as everything is limited, in some way.

Learn the different possibilities for dynamic and static pages - and your blog has a virtually limitless potential for expansion.

Even if you can have only up to 20 static pages, you can index an unlimited amount of dynamic pages, using the Pages gadget, and adding "Web address" entries. You are limited only by the space used by the blog header tabs, or by the sidebar based gadget.

• Individual posts.
• Label searches.
• Archive indexes.
• Other blogs and websites.

There is no limit, for dynamic pages. Those items are dynamic, because once you add a dynamic entry, it links to content that is constantly changing, without the need to use the Pages editor.

So understand the differences between dynamic and static pages - and know where the limits are, and where they are not.