BLOGGER new post editor

Have I been living under a rock?

While reading bloggerbuster, I came across this post about a simple "read more" feature that suggested that BLOGGER was doing some updates.

I then went here to one of GOOGLE's BLOGGER help pages about new features to the post bar, and discovered it's true! There are some new BLOGGER features! Now it's just time for me to unravel what some of these things mean...

All I've been able to decipher so far, is that we can now use the "...more -->" tag to automatically open up the rest of the post, and we can also adjust our posts to include or exclude literal HTML commands. Sweet!

Adding reactions to custom Blogger templates

I discovered the hard way that adding a simple Blogger REACTIONS widget didn't work if I ventured into the custom template realm. I couldn't add a quick "micro-comment" reaction option to my blog, even when I tried to use the in-built REACTIONS widget offered by Blogger!

Google Gadgets for BLOGGER - Discussion Box

Good morning class of 2009, and happy Oktober Day to you all (in my mind it's spelt with a "k" and it's a special day, okay?)!

Today begins the first of a series of Google Gadget reviews for weblogs (AKA 'blogs).
The first topic to discuss is a "Discussion Box" gadget that I pulled out from here.

(NOTE: for a comprehensive list of all the Google Gadgets I've reviewed so far, check out http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tuj6iooM7UX6iJax1ZEcUyw&output=html.


This little gadget promises quite a lot; a discussion box that gets placed on your main blog page kind of like a rolling commentary of, well, comments. There's no anonymous posting, so you don't get horridable trolls making stupid remarks, but I don't see any way of controlling or managing general Google ID's from joining in, which poses a slightly potential security risk.

I have to say, I give this gadget a thumb's down, purely because it can work quite great for what I need, but it can also just not work AT ALL, and the erratic nature of the reliability makes it an unwanted gadget :(.

When it works, it looks kind of like this (in fact, JUST LIKE THIS):















BUT when it doesn't work, it looks kind of like this (in fact, JUST LIKE THIS):














I have to point out, the working screenshot is from a FIREFOX browser which is signed into GOOGLE, and the fail screenshot is from an IE7 browser which is also signed into GOOGLE.

If you can get it to work CONSISTENTLY without that traceback error, give me a shout. As it stands, this has to get a thumb's down.

Blog from GMAIL and iGoogle!

It's easy, and I'm doing it from GMAIL right now!

In a nutshell; under gmail SETTINGS, enable "add gadget by URL" and then save. You then go back into SETTINGS and there should be a GADGET tab. Select it, and enter this URL - http://www.blogger.com/gadgets/post.xml. Bob's your uncle :)

Go to http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?answer=143415 for all the details.

Free web counters online for BLOGGER

I've been quite curious to see how many people are visiting my blogs. I mean, I've been getting people commenting whom I don't even know from a bar of soap, so I figured it would be a cool ego-boost (and proof that I have an acknowledged existence) if I could verify visits etc.

There are some useful options out there, and I don't even know where to start, because I'm such a perfectionist...

UPDATE: the one to go for is listed at the bottom of the post, and it's STATCOUNTER. Read further if you want to know the details...


Following the advice of this post

Sitemeter looks pretty useful with a web interface for observing stats.
I liked the simplicity of Easy-Hit-Counters but never got around to testing it out because their policies.php page was a dud. Hmmm...

There are also these guys to consider (but I didn't look into them with much vigour):
Freestats.com
Google Analytics

I almost settled on BRAVENET because it offers a CSV download option, and has what seems to be a host of basic functions that I'd like. To register wasn't too complex (by today's standards) and it seems to allow me what I need. There is also a bunch of free tools for web-based stuff, but obviously we're only looking for a free counter right now. I didn't realise it was ad-supported, so that may not be ideal but I tried it out anyway. Alas, I couldn't get the thing to work quickly and easily with my modified template code, so I discarded it to the "almost-winner" category!

Statcounter
This is probably the best service to take, for simplicity of registration but depth of functionality. I was fond of BRAVENET and all its host of features until I discovered it wasn't very XHTML friendly. Statcounter lets you set some nice control, and the blog above recommends using this one (or at least, shows you how to set this one up).
What I especially like about statcounter is that you can keep multiple sites in different projects under one login.
Text / graphics? Pageload / Unique visitor? This site offers a lot of depth AND it has a great tutorial to set up the counter on a BLOGGER site (and many other blog sites!).

GET STATCOUNTER!

Blogger: expanding posts

UPDATE: This functionality is now native to the revised BLOGGER editor. Check here!

I know how painful it is to have to scroll down five kilometres to read a post, so what I've done is follow some useful tips online to determine how to expand a post. This guy's site is amazing for this sort of information. I doubt he's even - you know - foreign.

Check out http://www.blogbulk.com/2008/11/read-more-or-expandable-post-summaries.html

Weblog facelift

What do you mean you don't know what a weblog is? Back in the good days before blogging was a household term, there was such a thing as weblogging, which is from whence the term blogging originates. Or something like that.

Anyway, I've facelifted my weblog a few times, because I'm a perfectionist (did you know that?). I figure this style is the best minimalist-yet-fresh looking style I could find. I shall have to modify it quite a bit, because the dude that designed it is foreign or something. I've done a bit, but will get around to the rest later (I hope).

Here were some worthy candidates (I had a neat CITYSCAPE one, but I accidentally lost it before I could save my modified template)...

*** THE WINNER *** http://diggtheme-btemplates.blogspot.com/

http://vibrant-btemplates.blogspot.com/#
This one was a favorite of mine, especially because of the WEB2.0 feel - it just didn't seem to make sense to have it expand down the side and not the main stuff, and then I realised (too late) that it wouldn't be a problem once there were more posts than the default one :) This one are a winner, and I half feel like I should have stuck with him instead of overlooking him for a silly reason or other. And he wasn't even - you know - foreign.

http://blogy-o2.blogspot.com/
felt a bit too flashy for my liking, and it was - you know - foreign.

http://blogy-curved.blogspot.com/#
I liked the minimalist / fresh feel, but it lacked a double column option, and it was - you know - foreign.

http://bloggercool-btemplates.blogspot.com/
I am fond of this guy, but he felt a little too intrusive and busy, or something.

http://yourblog-btemplates.blogspot.com/
This one is great. I don't know why I didn't pick him. Wait, I know, because it's too bland on the colour scheme, and I'm too lazy on the CSS coding.

http://citysleeps3c.blogspot.com/
This was my old favourite and survived about a week as my template. I just felt it became too busy with the black, and it was hard to identify a new post from an old one - there wasn't anything bold enough to declare "NEW POST" when you scrolled. Still a really funky template though; I highly enjoyed this one. I'm an upbeat kinda guy, so I need something to make you feel equally upbeat.

Blogger: showing the navbar

Maybe I'm too much of a n00b for blogger, but I like the NAVBAR. I also like nice templates that make my site look cool, and I've been playing around recently with a whole bunch, but the perfectionist in me has delayed me settling on one just yet... at any rate, the nice templates tend to remove the NAVBAR because it clashes with the design. Without the NAVBAR, the n00b here can't make new posts or access the dashboard, so I have to restore the NAVBAR. Here's how:

You need some code that says:

#navbar-iframe {
height:25px;
visibility:visible;
display:block
}

The key changes are
visibility:hidden --> visible;
display:none --> block;

It's that simple.

Next, the perfectionist in me will allow the navbar to have a show/hide option.