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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Google Custom Domains - Elegant Yet Unreliable

Google Custom Domains are a simple solution for providing non-Blog*Spot URLs for blogs published on Blogger servers. They are very elegant in their design, which uses nothing special, just industry standard DNS referrals ("CNAME") to a load balancing DNS server. Neither the "CNAME" entry (on the server provided by the DNS registrar), nor the load balancing ("ghs.google.com") are anything innovative.

And that's what makes them so elegant.

But, there's a downside - they don't work, consistently. And the cases where they don't work are inconsistently similar to those cases where they do work.

• The DNS provider is one major weakness which is not, totally, Google's fault. Not all DNS registrars support "CNAME" referrals - some only support "A" referrals. Not all support staff, working for the registrars, know how to implement "CNAME" either. GoDaddy supports it, and their "Total DNS Control" wizard will let you create a "CNAME". But the process is confusing, and more than one hopeful Blogger has reported being told, when contacting GoDaddy personally, to use an "A" record.


• When attempting to publish a blog, after the proper "CNAME" referral has been setup and verified, the Blogger may see the monolithic error
  

  Another blog is already hosted at this address.



• After publishing the blog successfully, to say "mydomain.com", the Blogger will frequently find that "www.mydomain.com" won't respond with the same content (generally, a 404 error is observed). This is in spite of the fact that
  • With normal publishing to Blog*Spot, "www.myblog.blogspot.com" will, reliably, equal "myblog.blogspot.com".
  • With Custom Domain publishing, "myblog.blogspot.com" will redirect to "mydomain.com", and "www.myblog.blogspot.com" will show the same content as "mydomain.com" (though remaining on "www.myblog.blogspot.com").


• Even when none of the above problems are observed, the various blog aliases publish asymmetrically, in a way that must be demonstrated, to be effectively explained.


• With the asymmetric publishing results, many Bloggers have found their search weights, and Page Ranks, dramatically reduced. This does not make them cooperative for further analysis.


• Having observed some or all of the above symptoms, some Bloggers try using a version of URL referral, sometimes when recommended by their DNS registrar. URL referral produces even more bizarre results, and still worse search weights and Page Ranks.
  

Not all Bloggers experience all of the above. Some Bloggers do, successfully, publish to a Custom Domain, with all 4 aliases showing identical content, though the "www.myblog.blogspot.com" irregularity is still normal. It's seldom that these cases are identified, though, as Bloggers with no problems seldom post in Google Blogger Help.

This needs to be fixed - tell Blogger that this is stupid.

>> (Update 6/6): Blogger is aware of our concerns, and may be working on the problem.

>> Forum thread links - Inconsistent or unsuccessful: bX-*00023

>> Forum thread links - Complete success: bX-*00024

>> Copy (either of) these tags: bX-*00023 bX-*00024

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New Blogger: My 6 Month Evaluation

I posted my first article in this blog, my first New Blogger (then "Beta" Blogger) blog, on August 16, 2006. This is my 6 month evaluation of New Blogger (OK, I took a week + to get around to it).

My 3 week evaluation of Beta Blogger covered most of the exciting new features. Since then, the most significant feature added was Google Custom Domains, which lets you have a blog addressed with a non "xxx.blogspot.com" address, but with all of the shiny features of New Blogger.

One major limitation of New Blogger, and one that badly needs to be changed, is that ownership of any blog will always be based on the account that was used when the account owning the blog was migrated. If you haven't migrated yet, be aware of this limitation!

The bottom line? If you haven't migrated yet, and you have the opportunity, do so now. If it's still optional for you (it's not optional for a lot of people), plan the migration, and do it soon.

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Deleting Your Blog? Do It Right!

As I've said before, if you want to get rid of your blog, make it into a stub first. Once the search engines update their databases with the stub, then delete the stub.

If you don't, you could end up like Sir Richard Francis Burton

I have deleted the blog... at the painel configurations I selected
to exclude the blog...

Then, later I tried to enter at the site only for making sure.. but it
is still there!

In an earlier thread, Blogger Employee tells us

... there's a small bug in the old version of Blogger, which sometimes causes a hiccup in fully deleting an old blog.

The solution, in another case, is monolithic, starting with the usual observance

... we can't do anything w/o your blog's URL :)

and after the URL is provided, continuing (concluding?) with

Don't worry though, the content no longer appears online.

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Publishing Externally? Republish To Blog*Spot Before Publishing To A Custom Domain

If you're currently publishing your blog externally, because you want to use a non-Blog*Spot address, you may have looked at your friends who are now publishing to a Google Custom Domain, and envied all of the shiny features in New Blogger that they can now use.

(Note): This post has been migrated to (and improved in) The Real Blogger Status: Publishing Externally? Republish To Blog*Spot Before Publishing To A Custom Domain.

Now publishing externally was how you got to use a non-Blog*Spot address for your blog, under Old Blogger. But with New Blogger, and the HTML served dynamically, blogs published externally couldn't use all of the features. So Blogger developed Custom Domains, where the blogs could be published to the Google servers (enabling dynamic HTML), and use externally hosted DNS to point a non-Blogger domain into the Google servers (enabling non-Blog*Spot addresses).

Let's say that you have a blog, published to a section of your website, as "mydomain.com\blog".

1. Setup the rest of your website, to point to your blog as "myblog.mydomain.com".
2. As I describe in Custom Domain setup Step2, point "myblog.mydomain.com" to "ghs.google.com".
3. Republish your blog back to Blog*Spot, let's say as "myblog". Go to Settings - Publishing, select Blog*Spot Address, and provide "myblog" for the Blog*Spot Address.
4. As I describe in Custom Domain setup Step3, now publish your Blog*Spot blog "myblog" to "myblog.mydomain.com", on Google servers.

If you only have your blog, and nothing else, the task is a bit simpler.

1. Republish your blog back to Blog*Spot, let's say as "myblog". Go to Settings - Publishing, select Blog*Spot Address, and provide "myblog" for the Blog*Spot Address.
2. As I describe in Custom Domain setup Step3, now publish your Blog*Spot blog "myblog" to "myblog.mydomain.com", on Google servers.

The key step here is that your blog has to be hosted on Blog*Spot, before a Custom Domain forwarding can be successfully setup. Your Blog*Spot URL ("xxxxxxx.blogspot.com") will forward, automatically, to your custom domain. This saves those with an established blog at "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com" from losing that address to sploggers.

Complicated? Not really. Just take it one step at a time. Just pray that you don't get the old monolithic error

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

>> Forum thread links: bX-*00028

>> Copy this tag: bX-*00028

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Google Custom Domain - The DNS Server Definition

Of the confusion surrounding definition of Google Custom Domains in DNS, second only to the confusion about the DNS Referral definition, is the DNS Server definition.

(Note): This post has been migrated to (and improved in) The Real Blogger Status: The Google Custom Domain Setup - The DNS Server Definition.

Google does not provide the name servers needed for Google Custom Domains to work - the name servers must be provided by your registrar. The name servers are indicated by "NS" records, pointing to 2 - 8 servers owned by the registrar. You do not change the "NS" records.

The "NS" records point to the DNS servers provided by your DNS hosting company. You pay for the DNS hosting service, and the DNS hosting company sets up the "NS" records, on your behalf.

The name servers, provided by your registrar, are where the domain definition records, such as "A" (Address), "CNAME" (Canonical Name), and "MX" (Mail Exchange), among others, are stored. You have to provide a "CNAME" record on those servers, with that "CNAME" record pointing to "ghs.google.com", for your blog to be referenced as part of a Google Custom Domain.

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A Tale Of Two Domains

Blogger rolls on, and upgrades their product in silence. Here we see another example of that process.

We're going to examine two blogs - MartinezUMC and ToaCx4. We'll start with excerpts from the ever useful DNS Report, provided (free) by DNS Stuff.


martinezumc .org


The relevant portion of the DNS Report for the domain for my church blog, previously examined in my Case Study #2.




toacx4 .info


The relevant portion of the DNS Report for the domain for JaceMan's blog "toacx4".




Next, the ever available "ping" command, to test name resolution.

C:\>ping martinezumc.org

Pinging ghs.l.google.com [64.233.179.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.233.179.121: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.179.121: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.179.121: bytes=32 time=94ms TTL=244
Reply from 64.233.179.121: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 64.233.179.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 92ms, Maximum = 94ms, Average = 92ms

C:\>ping www.martinezumc.org

Pinging ghs.l.google.com [66.249.81.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=94ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 66.249.81.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 92ms, Maximum = 94ms, Average = 93ms

C:\>ping toacx4.info
Ping request could not find host toacx4.info. Please check the name and try again.

C:\>ping www.toacx4.info

Pinging ghs.l.google.com [66.249.81.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=106ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 66.249.81.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 92ms, Maximum = 106ms, Average = 96ms

Finally, we'll load all 4 aliases for each blog.

We see a major difference in functionality here. The first, "martinezumc.org", loads its custom website properly for the root only, but not for "www.martinezumc.org". The second, "toacx4.info", loads the website properly for both the root and "www.toacx4.info".


martinezumc .blogspot .com


http://martinezumc.blogspot.com/, which redirects to http://martinezumc.org/




www .martinezumc .blogspot .com


http://www.martinezumc.blogspot.com/




martinezumc .org


http://martinezumc.org/




www .martinezumc .org


http://www.martinezumc.org/ is a 404 at Blogger




toacx4 .blogspot .com


http://toacx4.blogspot.com/, which redirects to http://www.toacx4.info/




www .toacx4 .blogspot .com


http://www.toacx4.blogspot.com/




toacx4 .info


http://toacx4.info/, which redirects to http://www.toacx4.info/




www .toacx4 .info


http://www.toacx4.info/



So why did I refer to The Silence, here? Because less than a week ago, we were told that .info TLDs cannot be used with Custom Domains.

(Edit 2/9 21:00): In custom domain with 1 & 1 hosting, we see the same situation with Cool Looking Stuff as with Martinez UMC.

• http://cool-looking-stuff.blogspot.com/
• http://www.cool-looking-stuff.blogspot.com/
• http://cool-looking-stuff.com/
• http://www.cool-looking-stuff.com/
• DNS Report for cool-looking-stuff.com

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Google Custom Domain - The DNS Referral

Of all of the instructions in the process of setting up a Google Custom Domain for your Blogger blog, none seems to generate so much confusion as setting up the DNS Referral. The instruction itself is so simple,

Add a "CNAME" record. Point "www.yourdomain.com" to "ghs.google.com". And leave the "NS" records to be maintained by your DNS provider.

(Note): This post has been migrated to The Real Blogger Status: The Google Custom Domain Setup - The DNS Referral.

But why a "CNAME" record? And why "ghs.google.com"?

• The host "ghs.google.com" is a load balancing server array. When the reader's DNS client asks for the address of "ghs.google.com", it gets the address of whatever server is available right now.
• In order for you to refer DNS traffic for "yourdomain.com" to "ghs.google.com", rather than to "64.233.179.121" (among many possibilities), you have to use a "CNAME" record. An Address ("A") record will only point to an IP address; to point to a host name you must use a Canonical Name ("CNAME") record.

When a reader of your blog points his browser in your direction, he is referred to "ghs.google.com".

The host "ghs.google.com" then provides a specific IP address, pointing to the single server that will be used to serve your blog to this reader. Another reader for your blog will be accessing it thru a different IP address, using another server. This is called "load balancing". If one readers accesses your blog thru server "D", another reader may access it thru server "F", and a third thru server "G". If server "B" is down, "ghs.google.com" won't offer it for referral. Other readers of other blogs may be using servers "A", "C", and "E" at the same time.

Google provides a load balancing server array, to give your readers the best possible experience. Use the array, not a single server, nor a URL referral. Or prepare for complaints

Gee, your blog performance sucks.

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Custom Domains And URL Forwarding - A Bad Idea

If you're trying to get your Custom Domain setup to work, and are frustrated (as I am) by the fact that you can't get both "www.yourdomain.com" and "yourdomain.com" to forward properly, you may have complained to your DNS provider, suspecting that the problem is one which they must resolve.

And in some cases, your DNS provider may not know how to setup a "CNAME" record. Some providers only use "A" records.

Some DNS providers will convince you to use URL forwarding, where your domain is redirected to the DNS providers servers. They set their servers to simply load any portion of the desired website ("www.yourdomain.com" or "yourdomain.com") from your Blog*Spot website ("yourblog.blogspot.com").

This will indeed load the content, as desired. There are several downsides to this "solution", though.

• Your DNS provider may have to set this up in their servers, it's possibly not a DNS setting that you can make.
• As the reader views your redirected blog, the content of the address bar in the browser will constantly indicate "www.yourdomain.com" or "yourdomain.com", with no detail about the actual URL being viewed.
• We're unsure about how well search engine spiders, and other robotic visitors, will react to URL forwarding.
• URL forwarding bypasses the load balancing provided by "ghs.google.com", and this is bad for everybody.

Blogger has admitted that Custom Domains needs work. Let's wait for them to figure out how it should be setup, at their end. Try and avoid using URL Forwarding, unless you are really desperate.

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Google Custom Domain - Case Study #2

I've been working with Google Custom Domains for several weeks now, first on other peoples domains, then some on my own, and finally on more of other people. In very few cases can someone get a custom domain to work completely.

We'll take my church blog as an example here, as we did with Case Study #1. This blog has 4 aliases.

1. http://martinezumc.blogspot.com/
2. http://www.martinezumc.blogspot.com/
3. http://martinezumc.org/
4. http://www.martinezumc.org/

Current DNS settings


Simply one "CNAME" pointing to "ghs.google.com". No "A" record, as discussed in Google Custom Domain - The DNS Referral.

Let's test what we have now.

C:\>ping martinezumc.org

Pinging ghs.l.google.com [66.249.81.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=124ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=123ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=143ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 66.249.81.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 123ms, Maximum = 143ms, Average = 129ms

C:\>ping www.martinezumc.org

Pinging ghs.l.google.com [66.249.81.121] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=124ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.249.81.121: bytes=32 time=122ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 66.249.81.121:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 122ms, Maximum = 126ms, Average = 124ms

Both "martinezumc.org" and "www.martinezumc.org", verified by pinging, pointing to "ghs.google.com".


I can publish to martinezumc .org with no problem




I cannot publish to www. martinezumc .org.


And once again, the infamous

Another blog is already hosted at this address

And here, for reference, is a DNS Report for martinezumc.org.

(Edit 2/7): Blogger Employee promises us

We're working on a fix for the current problem some users experience when switching between custom domains and Blog*Spot.

(Edit 2/12): Blogger Employee understands the frustration.

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Monolithic Errors #2

Setting up a blog, published to a Google Custom Domain, is a two step process.

1. You setup DNS pointing to the Custom Domain server "ghs.google.com".
2. You publish your blog to the custom domain.

And some folks have been able to do just that.

But many others can't. And we all get one error, consistently.

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

What does this error mean? I suspect that Blogger is validating the DNS pointer, before setting up the relationship between the Blog*Spot blog (which is what we currently have) and the Custom Domain. And, if the DNS doesn't point to "ghs.google.com", then the custom domain must be in use somewhere else.

An alternate possibility is that there is a pointer somewhere in the Blog*Spot blog that points somewhere already. Or maybe the Blog*Spot blog can't be found.

Either way, Blogger needs to fix this problem. At least, add a few "bx-" codes, to let us know what the hell is going on, and so we can enumerate the problem in the forums.

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The Trinity, and Your Web Site

The power and majesty of the trinity has been a part of mankind for years, before the Internet. From religion (the Christian nature of the supreme being - The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost), to properly robust systems, using triple redundancy (as in Robert Heinlein's science fiction - "I tell you three times that this is so"), the number three has always had almost mystical significance.

And with your web site, there is a trinity too. You are using, and may be paying (directly or indirectly) for 3 different services.

1. Registration.
2. DNS Hosting.
3. Content Hosting.

If you have a domain purchased thru GoDaddy, and hosted on their services (maybe a blog published using FTP), you may have a package deal, with all 3 services on one yearly bill. Or you could purchase (register) your domain from any of dozens of registrars, have DNS provided by another company, and host your web site on a third, like Blogger. That's your choice, based upon your needs.

All Internet service companies don't provide all 3 services. GoDaddy does. Blogger / Google provides only content hosting, if you publish your blog to a Google Custom Domain.

You can register domain names from any of a number of different registrars, and you can use .com, .org, .net or any other valid addresses. Remember: you only need to get the domain name; you don't have to pay extra for hosting service.

Registration
When you purchase your domain, you want to know beforehand that nobody is already using it. And you want to ensure that, in the future, nobody uses it. You pay for the uniqueness of your domain name.

DNS Hosting
When you pay for DNS (directory listing), you want to know that your domain can always be located. Redundant DNS servers, geographically separated, is important for high visibility web sites. You pay for the address listing of your domain name.

Now this little detail may not be important to you.

Chuck, this doesn't matter to me. I pay my ISP for service, and they tell me to configure "ns1.myisp.com" and "ns2.myisp.com" (or their IP addresses) as my DNS servers. Why do I care about whatever DNS server Google uses?

Well, I'll ask you to think about this. You use your ISPs DNS servers so you can access websites. You pay for DNS hosting so your readers can access your website. Both your ISPs DNS servers, and your readers ISPs DNS servers, have to ask your DNS host for the address of your website.

You write your blog for your readers. Your readers DNS servers have to find out the address of your web site. How many repeat readers do you expect to have, if they try to access your web site and see

404 Server Not Available

or a similar error?

Content Hosting
When you pay for Content Hosting, you want to know that your web site itself will always be online. Whereas a DNS retrieval is a small (but significant) amount of traffic, and of server space, your blog (web site), as it grows, will use increasingly larger amounts of server space, and generate increasingly larger amounts of traffic. Your content host needs a large and reliable connection to the Internet, as well as reliable server hardware. You pay for the hosting of the web site itself.

If you have a blog hosted on Blog*Spot, you pay nothing at all. If you have a blog hosted on a Google Custom Domain, you pay nothing for the Content Hosting, just for registration and DNS.

The latter 2 services are generally billed yearly, and at a fixed rate. Content Hosting is generally billed by the month, and will be tiered based upon the amount of storage required (size of blog), amount of bandwidth generated (number of readers * size), and various server services required.

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Now, It's Gone For Good

The invitation, that is.

There's no invitation here.


I had to update an article in The Real Blogger Status (Classic), but I had just restarted my computer. Upon starting, I went to login to my dashboard, and that is what I saw.

No warning.

Just as I predicted, not so long ago (but didn't really believe would be this soon).

OK, I got it done. Some warning would have been polite, but accusing Blogger of being polite is never necessary.

So now, I have to update all of my newly migrated blogs with the shiny New Blogger template features, when I'm not busy helping with the stampede, that is.

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Editing The Template In A New Blogger Blog

The template in a New Blogger blog, when published to Blog*Spot (or to a Google Custom Domain) is written in XML, not HTML. A lot of HTML based tweaks won't work in New Blogger.

If you force HTML into your template, you may end up with one of the new, cryptic error codes

bX-lgwej

This says that your post template contains invalid HTML.

Are you seeing this error? If so, don't despair.

• Revert the template back to Classic, so your readers can access the blog.
• Build a test version of the blog, and work on a New Blogger template, while your readers are accessing the production blog.
• Take your HTML based template tweaks, that made your Classic blogs unique, and add them as HTML / JavaScript page elements. Test everything, carefully, in all available browsers.
• When you have a New Blogger template for your blog, looking as you like it, Save the template to a known location.
• Migrate your production blog to a New Blogger template again.
• Restore the saved template, developed above, to your production blog.

XML is not as user friendly as HTML was. But 90% of the HTML based tweaks can probably be copied into HTML page elements in the GUI Page Elements section of the Template. Forget about raw XML, and use Page Elements.

XML is not as forgiving as HTML. You may have to learn some discipline, when coding New Blogger template entries, and even posts.

Most HTML tags, like the Anchor tag, come in pairs.

<a href="http://bloggerstatusforrealbeta.blogspot.com/
2007/01/editing-template-in-new-blogger-blog.html">
http://bloggerstatusforrealbeta.blogspot.com/
2007/01/editing-template-in-new-blogger-blog.html</a>

is an anchor link to this article. Notice the

<a...> ... </a>

pair.

Some HTML tags, like the Break tag, don't come in pairs.

<br>

is a tag that I use a lot. There is no sequence

<br> ... </br>

A Break tag, in strict HTML, is better written as

<br />

The requirements of strict HTML you will probably have to learn from experience. An Object tag can't be written as the Break tag is written.

<object />

isn't valid. Nor is a simple

<object ... >

Here's how I got an embedded video object to work, in my Miscellaneous Musings post More Bumper Cars

<span style="text-align: center; display: block;"><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z9tKWzxSZ5E"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z9tKWzxSZ5E" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="samedomain" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></span>

Note the Embed and Param tags, too. The Param didn't require pairing. The Object and Embed tags did - you'll get errors when publishing with them unpaired. I got an error when I tried publishing Object as

<object ... />

The only solution was to publish it as

<object ... > ... </object>

Apparently all tags aren't as versatile in formatting as the meta tag is. Life isn't fair, nor is strict HTML easy. Deal with it.

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New Blogger - And The Confusion

I have two Google (New Blogger) accounts, and half a dozen active Blogger (old Blogger) accounts, that I use for maintaining my collection of a couple dozen Blogger blogs. Thanks to the New Blogger owner account policy, that's not likely to improve in the near future.

Or at least before I finish migrating my blog collection.

On the computers I use the heaviest, I'm not likely to log out for days, or maybe weeks. Windows XP is stable, and one computer stays powered up 7 x 24 x never-off. So I don't frequently log in or out of Blogger, Old or New.

Thankfully, when I do login, I have my array of blogs to see in my dashboard. Sometimes, I login, by intention, to Old Blogger, and the login script grabs an old cookie and logs me in to New Blogger. Other times, vice versa. But whenever I do get logged in to the wrong version of Blogger, and see the wrong blogs, I know what's happened.

Those folks who don't have a huge array of blogs, maintained by an array of accounts, will get confused when they login to one account and get another. They see no blogs listed, and think

Oh No! My blog is gone!

Fortunately, it's not gone, you're simply in the wrong account.

But were it not for the folks who have reported the confusion, I know that the times I have logged in to the wrong account, I would have panicked too. It's not a great feeling. It's kind of like being at work very early in the morning, before getting coffee, your mind in a fog, and walking in to the wrong restroom. And then you have to pray that there is nobody else at work, in the room, when you walk in. In the wrong circumstances, you can be in trouble, so I've heard.

And when it happens to you, recovery is simple.

• Log out.
• Clear cache and cookies.
• Log in again.

If it happens again, or repeats later, look for a security or software problem on your computer.

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Your Custom Domain Blog, And AdSense

The whole idea of Google Custom Domains for Blogger blogs is great, as it gives us most of the benefits of an externally published blog, plus the New Blogger Layouts Templates features. But there's a major flaw currently in there.

If your blog is accessed as both "www.myblog.com" and "myblog.com", this won't work. AdSense appears to be sensitive to this problem. Tell Blogger that this is a major problem.

• New Domain Issue: AdSense
  

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