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.

Disable AdSense Gadgets, On Static Pages

One problem with AdSense, that some blog owners have reported, is that AdSense ads are not permitted on pages with very little AdSense relevant content.

Unfortunately for some blog owners, the responsibility for preventing this is left to the blog owner.

Blogs with static pages, and AdSense gadgets in the sidebar, are a problem here. Static pages with little blog relevant content - such as label indexes, expanded owner profiles, special gadgets like Followers displays - cause problems with the AdSense ad classifier - and can cause blogs to lose ads.

As an AdSense publisher, the blog owner is expected to ensure that ads are not displayed on unsuitable blog pages.

Fortunately, it's not difficult to block AdSense ads from static pages. Just add a CSS rule with a "static page" conditional, to block display of each AdSense gadget.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>

If you want to block gadget "AdSense1" from displaying on all static pages, that's a simple CSS rule, added using "Add CSS".

Note that I wrote this to selectively block AdSense gadgets from displaying - but you can use it with any gadget, that you need to block. AdSense is simply one gadget that needs to be selectively displayed.

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "static_page"'>
<style>
#AdSense1 {display: none !important;}
</style>
</b:if>

As always, be aware that the blank line above and below the code, as displayed here, is not intended to be decorative. Any time you add CSS rules, the blank line is required, to separate each CSS rule - and make each rule operational.

If the blog publishes actual blog content on some static pages, conditionals will be a bit more complicated. This is one more reason why static pages are not typically used for blog content.

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Owners of #Blogger blogs with AdSense ads, that use static pages without AdSense relevant content, need to block ads from displaying on such pages. Failure to display ads selectively can cause problems with ads on the blog.

Fortunately, a simple CSS rule can be used, to block ads from static pages.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/7ANVOrQuvIo/discussion

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/-p6mdLF2B08/discussion

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.

Adding Gadgets To A Dynamic Template

We all know the limitations of the dynamic template - how you can't easily edit dynamic template HTML code, or add gadgets.

Long ago, you could link a dynamic and non dynamic view of the blog, and let your readers use the sidebar, and the many gadgets there, in non dynamic view - and switch back to dynamic view, for the comments and posts. That ability was taken away, earlier this year.

And some gadgets, that you are used to seeing on a blog using a non dynamic template, have not been made available on dynamic templates.

That doesn't mean that you have to give up completely, however, on adding the gadgets that you need. Thanks to the ability to embed gadgets in static pages, and to add pages to a dynamic template, you can have a static page, on a dynamic template, that contains many gadgets, of your own choosing.

Blogger has been working on the dynamic templates - and they do add features, occasionally.

With a working Pages gadget on the blog, add a static page, containing the gadgets of your choice. Then, make sure that your new static page is selected, under "Pages to show".

Checkout the blog, and make sure that the new static page, and the Pages gadget, works as expected. If you're doing this while using a non dynamic template, go back to the Template wizard, and re select the dynamic template.

With the blog once again using a dynamic template - and if you added / relocated the Pages gadget into the Tabs section of the template, you should now see the static pages, indexed in the linkbar, just below the title section of the blog. Now, find the new static page - and checkout the new gadgets, embedded in the page. You can see my new "Contact Me" gadget, in my "Musings" blog.

This still won't let you add every gadget (some XML based gadgets can't be added directly, to a static page) - but it should give you a few more possibilities.

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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.

Dynamic Templates, And Problems Editing The Layout Pages Gadget

Ever since the new Pages wizards have been in use, we've been seeing reports from blog owners, who have problems with adding, deleting, and re sequencing links on the dynamic template menu bars.

Most blog owners have gotten used to the idea of maintaining dynamic pages ("link pages", formerly known as "web address"), using the Layout Pages gadget - separately from maintaining static pages (formerly known as "blank pages"), using the dashboard Pages wizard.

Even understanding the changes, some blog owners, who publish blogs that use dynamic templates, cannot add or delete dynamic pages - or cannot resequence the various page links.

Some owners claim to have links on the menu bar that they can't delete. Others have added, deleted, or resequenced links - but have found their changes to be lost, when viewing the blog, after saving the changes.

It appears that some blogs have had multiple Pages gadgets.

Blogs using a dynamic template, with multiple Pages gadgets in their history, become a problem.

If we look at the "Edit" link of the Pages gadget, in most blogs, we find the gadget referenced as "PageList1".

https://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=1573647684922284136&widgetType=PageList&widgetId=PageList1&action=editWidget§ionId=sidebar-right-1

That is the "Edit" link for the gadget, for my dynamic template test blog.

Some blogs show signs of having had multiple Pages gadgets. "PageList2" - or even "PageList3" - are seen in some blogs.

https://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3821418744348630367&widgetType=PageList&widgetId=PageList2&action=editWidget§ionId=sidebar-right-1

That is the "Edit" link for the gadget, for one blog with this problem.

Apparently the dynamic templates only use "PageList1" in the menu bar - even if "PageList2" or "PageList3" is the active "Pages" gadget. This is not a problem for non dynamic templates.

The workaround, in this case, is simple enough. The blog owner must edit "PageList1".

https://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3821418744348630367&widgetType=PageList&widgetId=PageList1&action=editWidget§ionId=sidebar-right-1

Just extract the URL from the "Edit" link, paste it into the browser address window, change the "2" to "1", and hit Enter. Then add, delete, and rearrange links as necessary - and Save the changes.

The workaround is simple enough - but until Blogger Engineering fixes the problem, the blog owners affected have to use the workaround, each time they need to update Pages. And, if they ever switch back to a non dynamic template, they will need to update the active alias of "PageList", with any changes made to "PageList1".

Let's hope that Blogger Engineering can identify and fix the problem.

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.

External Links On Pages Gadget Point To Blog Home Page

Today, we're getting a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who setup blog clusters, with the cluster members linked using tabs in the Pages gadget - who suddenly found their clusters unlinked.

The different page tabs on my blog redirect to my same blog!

You can see the problem, in my demonstration blog. The tab marked "Indra" should redirect to "officialcommunities.blogspot.com" - instead, it redirects to the home page of that same blog "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

When I look at the Pages editor, I see New Page › Web Address.

• Indra.
• http://officialcommunities.blogspot.com/

When you look at my blog, you see

• Indra
• Linking to nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com

We have almost a dozen forum discussions, all reporting this same problem. We now have a rollup discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where details are requested.

• What is the URL of the blog?
• Taking any non working link in your Pages gadget as an example, what is the label, and the correct link target?
• Using Pages editor, what target do you see, for that link?
• Are you using Classic GUI Pages editor, or New GUI Pages editor?
• When did you first observe this problem?
• When did you, previously, not notice this problem?
• What did you change, between #4 and #5?
• What browser do you use, when using Pages editor?

I was able to contact Blogger Support, so they are aware of the problem, and are working on it.

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(Update 2011/12/04): We are receiving reports that the problem has been resolved. Thanks to the Blogger Engineers who worked long hours to fix this one.

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Problems With Dynamic Templates And The Menu Bar / Pages Index

We're getting a few reports today, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, from blog owners who publish blogs with static pages, that use the new dynamic templates, and that now have no ability to index the pages in the dynamic views. We're also seeing reports mentioning some blogs which have no menu bar visible, in dynamic views. Both problems were, reportedly, first observed mid morning today, Pacific time.

Earlier this week, if you looked at this blog in dynamic view, you could see two static pages, from this blog, indexed in the menu bar. Both Commenting Policy and Leave Comments Here were, at one time, indexed. Today, they are not.

Interestingly enough, neither page is indexed in the static template menu bar, which you can see just above. Other static pages, which were indexed in the static template menu bar, were not observed in the dynamic template menu bar.

We have a rollup discussion, where we are collecting details about your observations of these problems. If your blog is affected, please provide details in the discussion, as best as you are able.

1. What is the published URL of the blog?
2. Is the blog explicitly setup to use the dynamic templates?
3. If the blog is setup to use the dynamic templates, which view is the default?
4. Does the blog, in the non dynamic view, display the navbar?
5. Does the blog, in the non dynamic view, display a Pages gadget / menu bar? If no, where are the pages indexed?
6. Did you setup the Pages gadget using the Classic Blogger GUI, or the New Blogger GUI?
7. Have you enabled the Mobile Template, for this blog?

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(Update 2011/11/14): It appears that this problem originates with blogs using a custom Pages gadget. Blogs that use a standard Pages gadget, created in the New Blogger GUI Pages editor, seem to be OK. Here, you may view my test blog - both using a dynamic view, and similarly using a non dynamic view - which has a standard Pages index, positioned in the sidebar.

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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.

Blog Owners Find Static Pages, On Dynamic Templates, Don't Allow Comments

A month ago, we discovered a problem with static pages and commenting, on our blogs. That problem was later fixed.

Yesterday, while exploring a subtle problem with commenting on posts when using a dynamic template, I discovered a new problem with static pages and commenting, also on the dynamic template.

You may examine my static page commenting form, in this blog - and observe that it's possible to leave a comment in that page, Leave Comments Here. Then find the same page, in a dynamic view of this blog, using the link in the menu bar (it's there - move the cursor, slowly) - and again, try to leave a comment in that page.

I think that the above test will illustrate the problem. This problem appears to be distinctly separate from the previously observed problem with the commenting form, and posts, in the dynamic template.

If you design your blog with static pages, and make comments from your readers a significant part of the experience, you may not wish to make the dynamic templates a default view, for your blog.

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Blog Owners Find Static Pages Don't Allow Comments

Last week, blog owners discovered a new problem with commenting on their blogs.

I keep enabling comments on my pages, but Blogger keeps disabling them!

From having observed the reports of the problem, it appears to affect all blogs - both varying template type, and use of the different GUIs (Classic and New 2011), appear to be referenced.

Blogger Support has acknowledged the problem.

Thanks everyone for your patience, we're hoping to have a fix rolled out shortly.

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(Update 10/19): This has been corrected.

(Update 11/09): Today, we see a new problem with static pages and comments - this one involving dynamic views.

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Static Pages, And A Custom Pages Index - Part 2

There are always details to deal with, and the "Linklist as Pages Index" solution, to provide a "Pages" gadget that indexes non pages, is no exception. As pointed out to me this morning, a "LinkList" gadget, when simply substituted for the "PageList" gadget, doesn't have the right stuff to make the selected tab light up, when the requested page is being displayed. The lit up tab makes the Tabs gadget seem so user friendly, and some folks like that little detail.

Fortunately, this problem is not difficult to correct.

1. First (yes, he's telling us again), backup your template.
2. Next, "Edit HTML" and select "Expand Widget Templates".
3. Look for

   <b:section class='tabs' id='crosscol' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='yes'>

4. Look a few lines below that for
   

   <li><a expr:href='data:link.target'><data:link.name/></a></li>
   

   and replace it with
   

   <b:if cond="data:blog.url == data:link.target">
             <li class='selected'><a expr:href='data:link.target'><data:link.name/></a></li>
           <b:else/>
             <li><a expr:href='data:link.target'><data:link.name/></a></li>
           </b:if>
   

5. Save Template.
6. Test.
7. And finally, backup your template,again.

Not terribly complicated. Just another detail.

Static Pages, And A Custom Pages Index

Ever since static pages were released by Blogger, bloggers have been asking how to index non static pages in a static pages (aka "tabs") index. Questions like

How do I publish a label page with my static pages?

and

How do I link to another blog, in my Pages gadget?

and

How do I publish posts in pages?

are asked, fairly regularly.

The typical answer, to the question above, has been

You can't index anything but pages, in the Pages gadget. You have to make a custom index bar.

Posts are dynamic content, and pages are static content. Posts and pages are simply different blog content. And the standard Pages index gadget only indexes static pages.

Fortunately, a horizontal menu bar, to replace the Pages index gadget, isn't difficult to make. You can see one right now, in my home blog, Nitecruzr Dot Net.

If your blog has a new Designer Template, you may wish to go a bit further, and make a custom Pages Index. With a Designer Template, we simply position a linklist in the Pages Tab Index space, and we get a horizontal menu bar / tabs index with the look and feel of a Pages gadget.

1. First (should you ask?), backup your template.
2. Go to "Page Elements", and look below the page header space, in the Tabs section. If you do not see a space just below the page header, upgrade your template. The picture below shows what you will want to see. If you have an old blog, with a template created before static pages were released, you'll want to use the Template Designer, and give the blog a nice Designer Template.
3. If you have a Pages Index gadget already installed in the template, delete it.
4. Create a linklist, and put some links into it. You can add or change any links that you put into your new linklist, whenever you feel the need. If you want to index posts, use labels, and index label searches. In some cases, you may be better off creating an HTML based linklist, using raw linklist code copied into an HTML / JavaScript gadget.
5. Position your new linklist where the Pages gadget was (or would be).
6. Save.
7. Backup the template, again (yes, do it again)!
8. Test.
9. Add more links to the linklist, when you feel the need. It's a linklist, and you hopefully know how to add links to a linklist.

See the "Add a Gadget" space below the header ("Nitecruzr Designer Template")? If you don't see that space there, you need to get an updated template.



You can see my demonstration in Nitecruzr Buzz. I just took the linklist out of the sidebar, repositioned it as I discuss above, and voila. It took me 2 minutes.

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Of course, there are details which should be attended to, any time you tweak a new Blogger feature.

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For more detail, see Roberto's Report: New Designer Template and the Tabs Index.

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(Update 2011/08): The pages editor, in the New Blogger GUI (2011), now provides us with this option.

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Static Pages In A Renamed Blog

It's possible that Blogger takes the term "static", as in "Static Pages", very seriously.

I've been hearing rumours of odd URLs in blogs that are renamed - ie, published under a new URL - where static pages are present. Today, I setup a brief experiment.

You may see the result of my experiment, in my test blog "Nitecruzr Test Pages In Renamed Blog". The blog started out as "nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com". You are welcome to click on that link, if you wish. It won't get you anywhere, though.

After I setup the blog, I published a couple Static Pages - "About Me" and "About This Blog", with a tab bar below the header, as the Pages gadget.

After publishing the pages, I renamed the blog to its current URL "nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com". Do you see the name change?

nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com

A very small change, but it's significant.

And now, please examine the blog itself. Observe the URL of the first post, "Lorem Ipsum".

nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/2010/03/lorem-ipsum.html

And look at the Pages gadget

Home    About Me    About This Blog

The 3 static links:
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-rename.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html

That's a problem. What we should have is

Home    About Me    About This Blog

The 3 static links:
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
nitecruzr-test-pages-blog-renamed.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html

So, try it. Click on an link in the first example, above.

The blog you were looking for was not found.

What have we observed?

• Static Pages get a new URL, when the blog is renamed.
• The links in the Pages gadget are not changed.

I think somebody has some work to do, yet.

Fortunately, if you know that this oddity exists, it's not hard to correct it. Just delete the Pages gadget. Then go to "Layout", and add a Pages gadget again. The re added Pages gadget will now have links with the correct URLs.

But please, only delete the Pages gadget - please, do not delete the individual pages. It appears that pages are given the same duplication prevention treatment, as are posts. If you delete the pages, you'll end up with suffixed URLs, when you re create the pages.

There is more to consider, when we examine a blog published to a custom domain, and the blog In Transition. We will examine that, later.

Static Pages And The Pages Index

As more people are adding static pages to their blogs, the questions about the possibilities have started coming.

How do I add a label search to my pages index?

or

How do I add a post to my labels index?

or even

How do I add a link to another blog as a page index entry?

And right now, you can't do any of these things, to a standard pages index.

A Pages Index gadget indexes the static pages in your blog. Period.

But as I've written before, a pages index is nothing more than a linklist (in the sidebar), or a horizontal menu bar (under the blog header), with the links to the pages enumerated in the linklist or menu bar.

A linklist is easy enough to make - that's just a simple gadget, in "Page Elements". A horizontal menu bar isn't all that much harder to make.

Just find the Pages List for the blog, and for each page, extract the page title, and the page URL. Each page title combined with the page URL becomes one clickable link in the linklist or horizontal index. When you want to add non pages to the pages index, those are simply more entries - a caption / title + a URL becomes yet one more clickable link in the linklist or index.

Then style the linklist or index, as you like.

The one thing that you won't get is a cute gadget, that morphs between a horizontal tab bar and a linklist, as you re position it below the header, or in the sidebar. You have to plan where you want your index, and style it accordingly. Other than that, it's a 30 minute task to make one or the other.

If you like the look of the Static Pages Tabs Index gadget, particularly in a Designer Template - but you want to index labels and / or post pages, you will need to use a linklist in place of the Pages gadget.

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Static Pages And Comments

After long waiting, Blogger added a static pages option to our blogs. And even as blogger are busy adding static pages to their blogs, they are learning what static pages are - and what they are not. And as we note what static pages are not, we have to note that one feature which they appear to provide - comments - may not work for everybody.

Some bloggers have observed that comments do not work on their static pages. Comments are a complex product, and are sensitive to many settings - both in the blog, and on the client computers.

Right now, we're just starting to look at this deficiency. Help us out here, if you are able.

• First (guess what is first?) what is the URL of the blog with the noted problem?
• Does the blog use Embedded, Popup, or Separate Page comments?
• Is the problem observed on the computer of the blog owner, on the computers of the readers, or all computers?
• If the problem is inconsistently observed on multiple computers, what operating system and browser is in use when the problem is noted? When the problem is not noted?
• Does the blog contain any customisations in the post template?
• Have you tried standard comments diagnostics?

That's where we start. The initial diagnoses start with you, and with what you can tell us.

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What Pages Are - And What Pages Are Not

For years - almost as long as Layout Blogger has been out - bloggers have wanted the option to create static pages - pages that do not change - as part of their blogs.

We've suggested a workaround, created from backdated posts, with some success. In January 2010, Blogger gave us true static pages for our blogs.

Even as people started adding static pages to their blogs, the confusion about what those pages are, and what we can do with them, surfaced.

How do I add a date to a page?

How do I link to a page using a label?

How do I publish multiple posts on a page?

A static page consists of a title, and a single article. The article is created using a wizard extremely similar to the posts editor - but a wizard without an option to set a date, labels, or jump break.

By default, a static page is indexed through a pages index.

If you wish, you may add a page to any linklist which you setup. A page is not associated with a date, or a label, and it does not appear in an archive index, an archive retrieval, a label index, or a label retrieval. A page does not contain any posts, just static text.

If you want multiple articles of content on a page, simply edit the page and add multiple articles, separated by section headers - larger type. If you wish, you can add links to the section headers, and / or link to the section headers using anchor links.

If you want to index an article using only a static link in a post, a linklist, or a tab bar, you can publish a page. If you want to index or reference an article in your blog using a date or label, or from the main page, you can publish a post.

A Pages index, setup using the Pages gadget, will index both dynamic and static Pages>, and help you publish your posts to your pages. If you wish, you can make a custom tabs index and substitute that for the Pages index. You can examine a custom Designer tabs index above (just below the blog title), and a custom Layout tabs index in my home blog, "Nitecruzr Dot Net".

And there's a final limitation to static pages. Static pages are accessed only from links. The home page of the blog is still the main page of posts - there is no option to designate a static page as the home page - though you can substitute a static HTML / Text gadget, in place of the home page posts. And you can, similarly, make other gadgets appear only with specific static pages.

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The New Post Editor With Static Pages

For many months, bloggers have been asking for the ability to add static pages - pages that do not contain dated posts, and that do not show up in the archive index, or in the main page display - to their blog. Before this year, only the latter possibility existed - posts that would not show up on the main page could be created by publishing posts back dated to appear before the earliest post on the main page. This created "static" pages that still appeared in the archives index - a messy workaround.

In January 2010, as a belated Christmas present, true static pages were added to the new post editor. In June 2010, the new post editor was moved into Production Blogger.

It's not difficult to make a static page. In the Classic Blogger GUI, dynamic pages (aka "posts") are accessible in the post editor under two tabs - "New Post" and "Edit Posts". Static pages are accessible under one tab - "Edit Pages". On "Edit Pages", you start with the "New Page" button. This simply takes you to a replica of the (new) post editor page, but a replica lacking fields for Labels, or Post Date. You then create, and publish, a page. Your new static page looks just like a post, except it lacks dates and labels, and it has a slightly different URL form.

With the New Blogger GUI (2011), Posts and Pages are separate menu items, along with Settings and other selections. When you're in the Pages editor, select "New page". From the pulldown list, select "Blank page" to create a new page. You can alternately select "Web address", if you wish to create a Pages entry that redirects the reader to any existing URL within or outside the blog.

Since static pages have neither dates nor labels, they won't show up in an archives or labels index. Pages have their own index - the Pages index. After you publish one static page, you have 3 choices how to index your static pages.

1. In a sidebar linklist, provided by Blogger.
2. In a horizontal tab index / vertical linklist not in the sidebar, provided by Blogger.
3. In an index of your own design.

You get to make this choice after you create the first static page - but as indicated below, you can change you mind any time you wish.

Having created and published your first static page, and selected an indexing option, you may create additional static pages, view and edit existing static pages, or create and edit posts. Once the first static page has been published, and the indexing option selected, you edit the static page index as a normal page element, depending upon what indexing option you have selected.

If you wish to change your post page indexing between the first two options, you can drag and drop to reposition the gadget, using Page Elements. Here, you have 5 positioning options, which give you 2 different formats depending upon positioning.

• Below the header, as a horizontal linklist, spanning the entire width of the header.
• Above the pages / posts container, as a vertical linklist, spanning the width of the pages / posts container.
• In the sidebar, as a vertical linklist.
• Below the pages / posts container, as a vertical linklist, spanning the width of the pages / posts container.
• In the footer, as a horizontal linklist, spanning the entire width of the footer.

You can drag and drop the pages index, and it will position and resize itself - try it and see.

If you decided to make your own Pages index (#3, above), you can go to "Page Elements", and "Add a Gadget", and select "Pages" for a Pages index, with the above choices. If you selected #1 or #2 above, you can use "Page Elements" and delete the Pages index, and create your own.

Once you have published a set of static pages, you can go to the "List of Pages". For each page, you'll find a "View" link and a page title. From each "View" link, you can extract the URL of the page. If you selected the custom index option, you'll need the page titles and URLs to use them in your own custom index, that you create separately.

This isn't a complicated option. If you are able to use the new post editor, try it and see what you think.

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