Custom Domains Aren't For Everybody #2

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

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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

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