If You Ever See This Message

As I wrote so long ago, Labels are probably the most significant feature of (New aka Beta) Blogger.

But everything good has its limits. If you use Labels enthusiastically, as I have, you will discover them (they will find you) periodically.


You have too many labels, or the total length of your labels is too great.


You are limited to a total of 200 characters, in the Labels string, for any post. I believe that this includes all commas and spaces between labels.

Look at my example.

Labels for this post:
Label1, Label2, Label3, Label4, Label5, Label6, Label7, Label8, Label9, Label10, Label11, Label12, Label13, Label14, Label15, Label16, Label17, Label18, Label19, Label20, Label21, Label22, Label23, Label24, Label25, Label26, Label27, Label28, Label29, Label30, Label31, Label32, Label33, Label34, Label35, Label36, Label37, Label38, Label39, Label40, Label41, Label42, Label43, Label44, Label45, Label46, Label47, Label48, Label49, Label50, Label51, Label52, Label53, Label54, Label55, Label56, Label57, Label58, Label59

Like limiting the size of your main page, you really have to exercise some judgement about labels. A blog of any appreciable size, with 200 characters of labels in some posts, would have a rather large label list. The above example, with 59 labels, is waaay to many. Think of your readers, please.

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Custom Domains Aren't For Everybody #2

Some Bloggers claim that the simple process of publishing to a custom domain can't be reversed.

>> Forum thread links: bX-*00035

>> Copy this tag: bX-*00035

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Custom Domains Aren't For Everybody

OK, maybe you tried your custom domain, and decided it's not for you.

Go to Settings - Publishing, and select

Switch to: • blogspot.com

That's all that it takes, normally. Well, that and refreshing cache afterwards.

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The Profile Page Element

This is a nice accessory, to give your blog readers a chance to see you, as a person. Or, if you have a blog with multiple contributors, to see each contributor.

It's a pretty simple page element, with limited possibilities.

• If the blog has multiple contributors, it will show a list of the contributors, with links to their Google profiles.
• If the blog has just one contributor, it shows a few things.
  • The picture, from the Google profile.
  • A few basic facts, that you can change at will.
  • A link to your Google profile.

What you can change is pretty limited.

• You can remove the page element itself.
• You can prevent it from showing a page element, if there is only 1 contributor.
• You can add a few details about yourself, to show if there is only 1 contributor.

If you need more granularity, say you don't want your photo, or the link to your Google profile, just remove the page element, or turn off "Share my profile".

• If you just want your picture, and a short caption, add a Picture page element.
• If you just want text, you can add either an HTML / JavaScript, or a Text, page element.
• If you want your picture, and some text about yourself, add an HTML / JavaScript page element, and arrange the text above, beside, and below the picture.
• If you just want text, you can add either an HTML / JavaScript, or a Text, page element.
• If you want links to other web pages, HTML / JavaScript will do fine there, too.

Use your imagination. The standard Profile page element is just a start. With an HTML / JavaScript page element, there are endless possibilities.

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HTML In A Layouts Template Blog

The template in a Layouts blog is written in XML. You can't use HTML in a Layouts template.

For those of us who are used to HTML, that's a major problem. But it shouldn't be.

You don't have to edit the template at all. Just add a Page Element, of HTML/JavaScript. Put the HTML into the Content portion of the new page element. You can add as many HTML/JavaScript page elements as you wish (within reason!), and position each where you like - the header, main area, sidebar, or footer will all hold HTML/JavaScript page elements.

Whatever you could do under Old Blogger, you can do in Layouts Blogger, but you don't edit the template. An very few examples:

• Hidden linklists.


• Linklists with pictures.


• Multi-Style Topics.


• Videos from Google Video, or YouTube.


• Visitor meters.

And since you don't edit the template, if you want to change to another template, just select Pick New Template. All page elements that you setup in this template will work equally as well in the next.

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