When Correcting A DNS "CNAME", Maybe Delete Before Adding

Very few registrars allow multiple "CNAME" addresses, for a single DNS host.

When I diagnose DNS address problems, I generally recommend

Add the addresses highlighted in green.
Remove the addresses highlighted in red.

I find that it helps to have the old address visible, while the new address is being composed. This does not always produce the desired result, unfortunately.

Many registrars do not allow multiple "CNAME" addresses, for DNS hosts - and the zone editors reject new address attempts.

When DNS addresses for a Blogger custom domain need to be corrected, I recommend

Add the addresses highlighted in green.
Remove the addresses highlighted in red.

I recommend correction in this order, so the blog owner can view the current (incorrect) addresses, while adding new (correct) addresses. This compensates for various zone editor syntax oddities.

Making corrections in this order - adding correct addresses, then removing incorrect addresses - does not always produce the anticipated results. If the zone editor checks as each individual address change is made, we see the result.

"That name is reserved (already in use)."



Some zone editors check, immediately, when a second "CNAME" is entered, for a given "Host" address. When multiple "CNAME"s are forbidden, and the zone editor checks for multiple "CNAME"s immediately, we have a problem.

Other zone editors check for a correct address complement, when Saving multiple zone editor changes - after all additions and removals are successfully made and verified. These zone editors do not present a challenge - as long as the blog owner removes all incorrect addresses.

When the incorrect addresses are not removed properly, we see the result.

That name is reserved (already in use).

This leads the blog owner to cancel the recommended correction - and we wait, in vain, for the domain to come online.

In a worse case scenario, we can even end up with another case of "Another blog ...".

Right now, though, we can only diagnose the problem, one domain at a time.

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Some registrars have zone editors which forbid multiple "CNAME"s for specific addresses - and check, one entry at a time, for mistakes. This may cause a problem, with a #Blogger blog owner making custom domain DNS address corrections, when instructed to "Add addresses highlighted in green.", then "Delete addresses highlighted in red."

Editing An Old Post? Beware Missing "</li>" Tags!

I recently updated an old post, to add a link to a newly published post - and experienced panic.

Adding a link to an old post, Deleted / Locked Blogs Have Several Causes, I discovered an oddity which caused extreme heartburn for several hours. Maybe you have experienced this, also.

Editing my post, and adding a simple single sentence, with embedded link, at the end of the post, I refreshed the display (always test your changes - no matter how minor!), and watched as the paragraphing scrambled itself.

I added a single sentence to the end of an old post - and watched as paragraphs in the post became hopelessly scrambled.

See the missing "</li>" at the end of the first list element?

Look at how the list line spacing is screwy now.

<li><a href="#DMCA">DMCA Violation</a> looks for copyright and similar violations.

Just one missing tag. Long ago, I learned to always close every list element properly.

<li><a href="#DMCA">DMCA Violation</a> looks for copyright and similar violations.</li>

But my proper list syntax policy had apparently started after the post, in question, was published.

I spent the next 1/2 hour re paragraphing the post content, following the broken list - and re spacing the list itself.

And having saved my work, the list - and the paragraphs following the list - remained scrambled.

This is no good!

How can I hope to help people, using this post?



Observing that paragraphing above the broken list was fine, I looked at the list code, line by line.

Paragraphing above the list is OK!



Much to my relief, I found a missing "</li>" tag. Adding the missing tag, I re paragraphed the post content - and this time, my changes remained.

This is what I would want to see.

Even the list remains properly spaced, in post editor.



Be very careful, when editing lists, in post editor "HTML" mode. Lack of care can lead to unpleasant consequence.

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When editing a #Blogger blog post, in HTML mode, be very careful to avoid dropping closing list element tags. One dropped tag affects formatting of list content after the missing tag - and paragraphing following the broken list, even with the list properly closed.

target="_blank"

Confusion From "Add external link" In Pages

The recently redesigned Pages gadget and wizard has been with us for just over 3 months.

We are occasionally seeing some confusion from people who can't add a dynamic page link to their blog - even when they manage to find the redesigned Pages gadget.

I added a dynamic page, linking from "mymainblog.blogspot.com" to "mysecondblog.blogspot.com". Imagine my dismay, when the new page link goes to "mymainblog.blogspot.com/mysecondblog.blogspot.com", instead of to my actual target "mysecondblog.blogspot.com"!

Here is a blog owner who is not aware of the unforgiving syntax of the "New Page › Web Address" wizard, and the "Web address (URL)" entry.

If we were to view the HTML code for this web page, 'Confusion From The "Add external link" Procedure In The Pages Gadget', and look at my link to a previous post "Adding A Link To Your Blog Post, Part 2", where I discussed link entry syntax confusion, we could see the HTML behind a typical post to post link.

<a href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

See the code for the link target?

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

When adding a link, many blog owners would simply think

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

If I were to add a link, using the "Add link" wizard in post editor - or using the "Web address (URL)" entry in the "New Page › Web Address" wizard, I would see a window, with the essential prefix "http://" preformatted there.

Taking my target address of "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html", and pasting the target after the prefomatted prefix "http://", I would get "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html".

If I were to simply paste "blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html" into the window, I would end up with (no surprise, here)

<a href="blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

That's a bit odd looking - and that gets worse. A URL which lacks the prefix (for instance) "http://" has the current base URL added, when the post is compiled into the blog.

This would result in HTML code

<a href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html">link entry syntax confusion</a>

With these two Blogger link entry wizards, you must remember to add the link target selectively, if and only if it is not already prefixed by "http://" - after the preformatted "http://".

Conversely, if you start with a target

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

you want to overlay the "http://" prefix in the window. If you follow the "http://" in the window with

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

you'll end up with

http://http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/08/adding-link-to-your-blog-post-part-2.html

and that will present a new problem.

Some link entry wizards are more forgiving - and will add / strip the target URL, as necessary, so it always ends up with the right syntax construction. This is just another Blogger peccadillo.