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The blog owner does not realise that unpublished pages or posts won't be visible, outside the page / post editor, and the "Preview" window.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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We're seeing a few reports from blog owners having problems with Previewing their posts, using Post Editor in the New Blogger GUI.I can't preview my blog post, while I am composing it!
It appears that Blogger has changed the New GUI Post Editor, to open the Preview window in a popup, instead of a new tab or window.
Almost all browsers, by default, block popup windows. If you want to use Preview Mode, in the New GUI, you'll have to check all relevant filters, and ensure that popup windows are allowed. It's possible that Blogger decided that a popup window was easier to provide than a separate tab / window, involving cross-site scripting, as the Template Designer Live Preview currently requires.
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Some Blogger blog owners, as they develop a post, use Preview mode to periodically observe what the post looks like.
A few owners are confused about the privacy of a post, as it is Previewed. Some think that the temporary nature of the Preview window makes the content, as Previewed, intentionally unavailable for viewing by their readers.
Fortunately, the links - even though they may be clickable by the readers, lead nowhere.
Here is a Preview URL for this post.
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=yV1fKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.vf2Wk6Ed_TXX54XVpLn3uA&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST
If you're interested, click on the link. Does it show you anything? How about another?
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=zx9iKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.r_B4NGbmR453Nsa2tYZPKg&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST
See anything interesting?
This post, being edited.
This post, being previewed. See the preview URL?
The preview URL:
https://24069595_d291cd04e6207d111fa5388b4e8893fada5ac690.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=xZUz-VoBAAA.O0Vfemj-2Qck1xmWN_at645qjM-E809UONHYWYK-IbP8yGx0F6eRm-z3UxF8qMPs.HwrOVypOYd44GQ-D0znhaw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST
Click on the URL, above - and see what you get.
Presumably, the tokens attached to the URL make the visibility of the post temporary - and the previewed post becomes secure by obscurity. That is, if anybody cares enough to view this.Why did I see evidence that 5 people had already read the Preview (and now, said evidence is gone)?
But like every Blogger feature, there are always ways to complicate the issue.
Similar to people who, years ago, published web sites, with the web site access logs published as part of the web site (and became the original target of referer spam attacks), we have Blogger blog owners who publish a real time access log on their blogs.
A popular blog accessory, Feedjit, provides a real time list of blog pages, as read by various people. Similar to a visitor log, but displayed in real time, and shown to the public in general, Feedjit shows everybody what blog content is being viewed.
And here is the complication, of the Preview content. Some blog owners are concerned that the public can view their Previwed content, because Feedjit displays the URLs of the Preview displays, as they (the blog owner) develop a new post.
Please examine the URL quoted below - does any component of that URL contain any tag, suggesting to you that the content is treated as private? It's simply obscure, because (without the involvement of Feedjit, or a similar access display log), the Preview post is not visible. To check it, here's the latest Preview URL for this post.
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=PYh8KDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.6T7Xf_PcgR7nXI_xZCq_Kw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST
Personally, I don't use Preview mode that much. I like to Publish my posts over a period of days - if not longer. None of my posts are actually static, I call this Progressive Publishing. You're welcome to view any of my posts, any time you feel the urge.
Watch this post, and see what changes. To start, I'll now observe that, with the post Published, all of the Preview links (above) all appear to load the finished post - until the token (in the URL) expires. If you just clicked on any of the above Preview links, you are probably now seeing
Invalid security token: Error 403
since the Previews, for this post, have long expired.
The conclusion would be that Preview content is only visible until the post is Published. Until the post is Published, the Preview is available to everybody - if you choose to publicise the URL of the Preview.
