The Real Blogger Status

Dynamic Templates, As Part Of Blogger History

2012-05-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, we've seen signs of people who want to use a dynamic template on their blog, but are unwilling to put up with the limitations.

Why can't Google make its Dynamic View Template easy to customize?

and

Why can't I choose who I want reading my blog, and let my readers use a dynamic view?

and

Why should I publish my blog to a "Dynamic Template" - which appears to be Google speak for "It doesn't work at all."?

Not every Blogger blog owner realises why the dynamic templates work as they do, yet offer as few options.

To understand why dynamic templates work - or don't work - as they do, one should understand how Blogger blogs have used templates, in the past.

Until 2007, you could have any blog layout you liked - as long as you knew how to code HTML. Any time you added a post to your blog, the entire blog had to be rebuilt, to link to the new post. The larger each blog got, the longer it took to publish one post. And adding an accessory to the blog meant excruciating suspense - and the risk of breaking the blog, completely.

In 2007, Blogger developed the Layout class templates. Layout templates use XML, and provide a whole new choice of XML coded accessories - gadgets - which can be added to the blog. They provided the "Page Elements" wizard, which let us add and rearrange accessories, in seconds, without risk of breaking the blog. And, for those who really want to use HTML coding, they continued to provide the Template Editor, and "Edit HTML".

One frequently used purpose for the Template Editor, for the Layout templates, was to customise the page layout - to add. rearrange, and resize the sections of the blog page. This continued to require the ability to think in "HTML" - and broken blogs continued to happen.

In 2010, Blogger added the Designer class templates. The template library provided with Layout templates - with its predetermined combinations of backgrounds, column layouts, and fonts and colours - became irrelevant. Using the concept of the GUI "Page Elements" wizard, they provided the "Template Designer", which lets us separately select the background and style of the blog, the blog column layouts, and the various formatting options like colours and fonts.

Yet they continued to provide the Template Editor "Edit HTML" wizard, for features which could not be provided by the "Template Designer". Broken blogs, resulting from use of "Edit HTML", continued to be reported.

In 2011, Blogger provided a simplified blog structure, to encourage people who only want to publish a blog, and not worry about page layout. Dynamic templates give our blogs any of 7 different page layouts, chosen by each individual reader, within seconds. With the dynamic templates, both the Template Editor, and the Template Designer, become less relevant - reducing support issues from broken blogs, and freeing up engineers to develop newer features.

To reduce the load on the Blogger servers and networks, dynamic templates retrieve the blog content - posts and comments - as XML encoded data, using the blog newsfeeds. The newsfeed content is published on the computers of our readers, and served to them locally. Unfortunately, use of the newsfeeds requires publicly accessible blogs, as private blogs can't publish newsfeeds.

Unfortunately, not everybody who likes the clean look of the dynamic templates - and is willing to provide their blogs to the world without restriction - is willing to settle for the currently limited accessory and formatting options. Some people still need to use the Template Editor and the Template Designer - and broken blogs continue.

Hopefully, as Blogger continues to develop the dynamic templates, and to add features and options, use of the Template Editor and Template Designer will reduce, and gradually the broken blog problem will become rarer. This won't happen immediately - but it will happen. And use of the New Blogger Interface, and the menu structure which makes it possible to restrict access to the Template Editor and "Edit HTML", will help to reduce the broken blog problem even more.

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Confusion Over Newer Browser Versions Not Being Accepted By Blogger

2012-05-23T01:57:00.001-07:00

Occasionally, we see confused blog owners reporting a problem with using Blogger, because of their browser version.

I am seeing an error when I try to use Blogger.
Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems.
I just upgraded, last week, to the latest version of Internet Explorer! What now?

And this is one blog owner who does not understand Blogger, and their browser support policy.

With the release of each new browser version, Blogger has to labouriously re check each different feature in Blogger, and re code for specifically discovered problems, caused by various code changes, in the new version. If any browser brand / version is not recognised as supported, by the Blogger code, it defaults to an error message - such as reported above.

We would hope for Blogger to authoritatively state why any specific browser version is unsupported.

For older browser versions
Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger.
For newer versions
Your browser is not yet supported by Blogger.

That would be the ideal solution - but it's simply not possible, given all of the different browser brands and versions, to make that distinction, with complete consistency.

Blogger Support has to keep up with the browser update war, so they can't let the browser updates amass. At any time, there can be, at most, one new browser version that remains untested. At the same time, the number of unsupported older versions is continually increasing.

Historically, different browser brand / versions were not explicitly defined by a label such as

This is Firefox V12.
This is Internet Explorer V8.
This is Internet Explorer V9.

The different browser brands and versions have to be deduced by specific code and individual testing, in the browser HTML and back code. This makes it impossible for Blogger code to reliably identify any browser as being too new (and untested), as opposed to too old (and unsupported). And it leaves us having to settle for seeing

Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems.

after we upgrade to the latest and greatest version.

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Follow Blogs, Without A Followers Gadget

2012-05-21T12:21:00.003-07:00

Recently, Blogger cleaned up the Navbar somewhat - and removed the "Follow" link. This left some blog would be Followers inconvenienced.

How do I Follow blogs, that don't have a Followers gadget?

There has always been a third way to Follow a blog, provided by Blogger - though not everybody may be aware of it.

Blogger has earlier provided three ways for us to Follow any given blog.

The Followers / Google Friend Connect gadget, in the blog body.
The "Follow" link in the Navbar.
The "Manage" wizard, in the Reading List.

Not every option is available on every blog, or to every blog owner / viewer - but given access to a working Blogger account, you can at least give yourself a third option.

If you're looking at a blog that lacks a Followers gadget, and now with no "Follow" navbar link, just login to Blogger and go to your dashboard, and the Reading List display at the bottom of the Blog List.

For The Classic GUI, the "Add" button beneath the Reading List.
For The New GUI, the Gear icon gives use the Manage wizard, with a similar "Add" button.

Just click on "Add", and enter the URL of the blog.

When you Add a blog, you'll have two options to Follow - Publicly and Anonymously. In either case, this only works for Public blogs - Private blogs don't publish a feed, and can't be Followed.

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The New GUI (2011) Is Here - And Is Not Going Away

2012-05-20T10:35:00.004-07:00

Last month, Blogger took the next step in making us use the New Blogger GUI, and started migrating our accounts, aggressively. This change did not please a lot of people.

Why won't Google admit the new interface is an utter failure, and scrap it?

This is an example of misguided optimism. Blogger is not simply going to scrap it.

The people such as in the latter example, who are protesting the coming of the New Blogger Interface, are making three mistakes.

They are wasting their own time and energy, protesting.
They are not telling people, specifically, what problems they see.
They are encouraging other people to waste time and energy.

The New Blogger Interface is not going to go away - nor is it an utter failure.

No previously controversial Blogger features, seen in the past, have been scrapped.

Auto pagination.
Automated account and blog recovery.
Spam mitigation.

Each of those features have received far more criticism than The New GUI - even considering the problems discovered, in The New GUI, to date. And, each of those features are still in place - and are tuned, occasionally.

Better get used to it, folks. The New Blogger Interface will, eventually, become The Blogger Interface - with, or without, your approval. If you want to accomplish something, tell everybody what, specifically, you consider to be a problem. Just tell everybody what problems you see, while there is still time to get something done - before we see a Gear icon, with no menu entry for "Old Blogger interface", on everybody's dashboard.

Operators are standing by, and waiting for your call.

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Creating A New Blog

2012-05-19T13:21:00.002-07:00

In terms of questions which seem, to me, to be on the level as the legendary question

Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?

the question, asked by some folks in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

How do I setup a new blog?

would seem to be at the top of the list. But, it's not necessarily so, for everybody.

The process of setting up a new blog, using the New GUI "New Blog" wizard, seems reasonably obvious - for those who have already done one, anyway.

Hit "New Blog".
Enter a Title.
Enter an accepted and available Address.
Pick a Template.
Hit "Create blog!".
Get started - develop your blog - and make it valuable.

But, there are details, which not everybody gets the first time.

The Title

The Title (sometimes referred to as the "Name") is entirely your choice. Any number of blogs can have the same Title - and you can change the Title of your blog now, or any time in the future.

The Address

The Address (also sometimes referred to as the "Name" or "URL") is your choice - but subject to acceptability, and availability. Even with accepted and available address verified in real time, if you take any more than 0.00 seconds to hit "Create blog!" after verifiying availability, somebody else may steal your choice.

You can change the Address later - but again, subject to acceptability and availability. And if the Address / Name / URL acquires any reputation, you will do well to plan the change, before making the change.

The Template

This is the most daunting selection, for many people - but it's easy enough to change, later. One mistake made sometimes involves people creating a blog intended to be private, and selecting a dynamic template ("Dynamic Views").

Just remember, the longer that you take to get from entering the address, to hitting "Create blog!" - even 1 second - may be too long for some popular blog names.

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Blogger Magic - Publish Posts To Pages

2012-05-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since Blogger gave us the option to add pages to our blogs - and provided the complementary Pages index gadget - blog owners have asked, periodically

How do I publish my posts to pages?

This is a pretty simple procedure, too - once we understand the complementary nature of dynamic and static pages.

Once you understand the differences between dynamic and static pages, and see that the Pages gadget will index both types of pages, the process of publishing posts to pages becomes reasonably simple.

Publish posts, and assign labels to the posts.
Add label search URLs, as "Web address" entries, using the Pages Editor.

Now, if you want your posts to only appear on the pages - not in main page view, you add a third step.

Make a static home page.

The latter step is just a bit more complex, and involves editing the blog template.

But do this carefully, and you can even have the Pages entries appearing on the menu bar, with the blog viewable using a dynamic template. You can even have this, if you normally display the blog using a non dynamic template.

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The New Blogger GUI Is Still Not Ready For Prime Time

2012-05-18T01:00:00.006-07:00

This month, we're increasing aware of the approaching day when The New Blogger GUI (aka the "New Interface") will become The Blogger GUI. As suggested last year,

In about two weeks from today, all Blogger accounts that haven’t yet made the switch will be upgraded to the new user interface. You will be able to opt-out at any time by clicking the “Switch back” link; however, all accounts will eventually be permanently upgraded.

The aggressive upgrade was experienced by many last month - not enjoyably. Personally, I went through several days when I had to, repeatedly, revert to The Classic GUI.

The permanent upgrade is yet to be scheduled - possibly, because of continued opposition - and several very noticeable omissions.

Blogger Support listened, this week - and learned - and was probably not pleased by what they heard.

There are simply too many reasons why The New Interface is not ready to become The Interface. As a continuation of my previous post, here is a small sample of reasons, from the earlier [Problem Rollup] - I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ..., which is now closed.

Collapsed BlogList
There does not seem to be any way to selectively designate blogs to be displayed, nor is the Classic GUI link to "Show all" or "View all blogs" visible - though there is now a link to show "Deleted blogs". The latter is an essential function, for people trying to un delete a previously deleted blog, or to locate a blog locked (righteously, or spuriously) as a suspected spam host.

Older Browsers
We continue to see reports that older browsers and computers are having various problems with the New Interface, leaving some blog owners unable to use Blogger, at all.

The "Your blog post published successfully!" Display
We are seeing more people report that the "Your blog post published successfully!" display - with links to View the post just created, Edit the post just created, and Create a new post - a very popular feature in Classic GUI Post Editor, will present a problem if not provided in The New GUI. I, personally, see this omission as the primary reason why I continue to use The Classic GUI.

The "Show Link fields" Setting
Blog owners who use podcasting, as part of their blogs, use the Link field in post editor. This option, omitted from the New GUI, is missed.

Editing Template Code, Using "Edit HTML"
Blog owners attempting to remove snippets of HTML code, using the Template Editor, frequently see any of several different bX codes. This is a problem when removing duplicate "Blog Posts" gadgets, or when resetting the Posts Template.

If you wish to encourage Blogger Support to resolve these, and other, omissions, please make your feelings known by posting in the new [Problem Rollup] V2: I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ... . Please, keep your comments brief, on topic, and polite. Bear in mind, reality.

The New GUI is coming, whether we like it or not.
Blogger cannot please everybody.
It is simply to our advantage to report the problems, objectively - so Blogger knows which problems are most severe.

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Improved Stub Blog Using Search Preferences Features

2012-05-16T08:48:00.005-07:00

I've been advising people to use a stub blog, when renaming (changing the URL of) a blog, for a few years.

Hey folks, this blog has moved to http://mynewblogspoturl.blogspot.com.

That's a stub post - and a blog, containing only a stub post, is a stub blog.

A stub blog is a compromise, based on the Blogger anti-spam policy which prevents Blogger blogs from automatically redirecting from an old URL to a new URL.

The stub post replaces the main page - not the individual post pages, not archive retrievals, label searches, etc.
The stub post contains a minimum of information.

The stub post is simply better than nothing.

But now, maybe you can provide something a bit better than a simple stub post, to let your readers know that your blog now has a new URL.

Part of the recently offered Search preferences features include a pair of redirection options. This won't eliminate the anti-spam policy - you still can't redirect outside the base blog URL - but you can, maybe, improve redirection inside the base blog URL.

Custom Page Not Found.
Custom Redirects.

Custom Page Not Found

If you think about it, a stub post is really just a fancy "Page Not Found" post, hosted on the main page. If all pages within the blog simply redirect immediately to a "Page Not Found" display - and if you can make the display look like it's designed as part of the blog, then you have a better stub post.

You can make the stub post more relevant to your readers.
You can make the stub post immediately visible - for individual post pages, archive retrievals, label searches, etc - as well as for main page access.

And, a better stub post makes a better stub blog.

Custom Redirects

If you're still not satisfied with the single stub post approach, you can redirect specific URLs, within the blog, to other URLs within the blog. If you have identified individual posts, specific label searches, etc that get lots of visitor traffic, you can redirect those page URLs to pages or posts that provide more specific information than the custom (but still generic) "Not Found" stub post.

Specific traffic sources - high traffic pages, posts, label searches, etc - may justify something better than the generic stub post.

Both the Custom Page Not Found and Custom Redirects options are part of "Errors and redirections" in Settings - "Search preferences", in the New Blogger GUI.

You can't redirect any old blog URLs to the new blog URL - even with the new Search preferences features - but you can make it easier for your viewers to understand that your blog has moved - and maybe link directly, from individualised stub posts, to specific URLs within the new blog. And, you can do any of this, any time it's convenient.

Setup the original, main page view based stub post, immediately.
Setup a Custom "Page Not Found" stub post, later.
Setup individual Custom Redirects, as you identify any high traffic single post activity.

It's your blog, and it's your decision.

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Confusion Between Draft Blogger And Production Blogger, In Various New Blogger GUI Problems

2012-05-15T10:45:00.003-07:00

Occasionally, in answering a problem report in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken which involves custom domain publishing, or the Post Editor, or maybe template editing, we'll start by simply advising the blog owner to revert to the Classic GUI.

Click on the Gear icon, and select "Old Blogger interface".

Even when reverting to the Classic GUI is an acceptable - and effective - solution, we may not always get a positive response.

Where is the Gear icon?

I don't have a selection for "Old Blogger interface"!

Sometimes, this is not purely from the blog owner, balking at the unwanted change.

Besides accepting the invitation to "Upgrade Now"

The old Blogger interface will be removed in the coming months. Upgrade Now.

Some blog owners have voluntarily upgraded, using an obscure variation of Blogger. Draft Blogger has, traditionally, been a testing ground for some Blogger features, newly developed.

The New Blogger GUI (2011) was originally made available, as an option, using Draft Blogger. The current version of the New GUI, however, is outside Draft Blogger. Now, "draft.blogger.com" and "www.blogger.com" (with the latter "upgraded" using "Upgrade Now"), may involve completely different program libraries.

Long ago, we would simply ask

What colour is the "B" logo?

"Draft" and "Production" Blogger used different colours.

Draft Blogger used a white on blue "B" logo.
Production Blogger used a white on orange logo.

With the "New GUI" Blogger menu and utility complement, Blogger entirely abandoned the "Draft" vs "Production" colour schemes, and now we end up asking

Are you using the Classic Blogger GUI (dark blue / brown) or the New Blogger GUI (orange / tan)?

The latter colour scheme can, unfortunately, involve either the "Draft" or "Production" program libraries.

If you are using the "New Blogger GUI (2011)", and you're not getting a consistent or reliable diagnosis of your problem, check carefully, and ensure that you're not using "Draft" Blogger. If

The address in the browser address window starts with "draft.blogger.com".
You can't find a "Gear" icon that controls the GUI.
The menu, beneath the "Gear", does not include "Old Blogger interface".

check what variation of Blogger you are using. Please, be careful - don't confuse the "Gear" icon used by the GUI itself with an identical icon, used by the "Reading list" display, on the "Blog List" display.

If you are using "Draft" Blogger, upgrade your variant of the New GUI.

From your dashboard display (hopefully, with a white on blue logo), un select
Make Blogger in Draft my default dashboard.
From your dashboard display (hopefully, now with a white on orange logo), click on "Upgrade Now"
The old Blogger interface will be removed in the coming months. Upgrade Now.

If you're going to use the New GUI, make sure that you have a consistent and up to date variant of the New GUI.

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Confusion Between The New Blogger GUI, And Dynamic Templates

2012-05-13T11:32:00.003-07:00

Recently, we're seeing some possible confusion between the design of our blogs, and the design of the menus and utilities used to maintain and publish our blogs.

I like my blog, as it is! Please, Blogger, don't make me change my blog!

Not everybody, posting in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, understands the changes that Blogger and Google is making.

The New Blogger Interface is what we're being constantly urged to switch to.

The old Blogger interface will be removed in the coming months. Upgrade Now.

This is the notice now appearing on our Classic dashboards. The New GUI will (when it's working properly) offer us, the blog owners, better ways to maintain and publish our blogs.

Separate from the new interface, and offered by both the Classic and New GUIs, is the dynamic templates. The dynamic templates offer us, and our readers, new and exciting ways to view our blogs.

The New GUI will, eventually, become the only GUI. Even as many of us hate the New GUI, if we understand system design, we know that Blogger cannot continue, and permanently maintain both the Classic and the New GUIs. Until The New Blogger GUI becomes The Blogger GUI, everybody needs to check out The New GUI, and let Blogger know what needs fixing.

The current (non dynamic) templates, and the dynamic view templates, on the other hand, are alternate ways to enjoy any different Blogger blog. This blog, right now, is published to a non dynamic template. If you wish to view this blog using a dynamic view, though, just click on "DYNAMIC" in the menu bar (or here). The dynamic views are optional - and should remain so, for some time.

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Changing Blog Ownership Only Changes How You Maintain And Publish The Blog

2012-05-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Occasionally blog owners get confused about the effects of blog ownership changes, and various Settings values. We'll see odd questions in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

I just changed the email address of the blog owner - but comments are still going to the old address.

and

How do I change the email address used in emailing my posts to my blog?

Not all blog owners realise that blog ownership, and various Settings values, are separate from each other.

As a Blogger blog owner, we have a number of settings that let us maintain and publish our blog(s). Any time we make a change to any one setting, we should consider if the change being made is relevant to another. The changes that we make, at any time, are for us to make if necessary - and only if necessary.

Blog Ownership

We change blog ownership by transferring control of any given blog, to an additional or different Blogger account. An email address is involved here only because Blogger accounts are based on email addresses.

Comment Moderation And Notification

We change the comment moderation, and the comment notification email addresses, as necessary, using the appropriate Settings wizard. We can change either or both address whenever convenient. Any changes to blog ownership, and comment management, are generally separate concerns.

Mail-To-Blogger Email

The Mail-To-Blogger email address is the most mysterious setting, for many blog owners. The public portion of the MTB email address is set when the blog is setup - and never changes. To change the public portion, we have to setup a new blog.

Each of the above email addresses, which are part of our blogs in different ways, are completely separate from the others - for good reasons. We need to keep the differences in mind, when making any changes.

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The New Blogger GUI, And The White Screen Of Death

2012-05-11T10:48:00.008-07:00

Ever since Blogger became more aggressive with the distribution of their New Interface, we've been seeing more reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about a frustrating problem.

When I type in "www.blogger.com" - or try to pull up my dashboard - the website "thinks" for a minute, acts like it is going to load, then nothing is displayed.

This is another way of describing an Internet symptom - observed from time to time - and generically known as the (dreaded) "white screen of death".

The "white screen of death" is not unique to the New GUI - it's been reported in the forums, in the past, for various causes. It's possible that various design features of the New GUI are making it more likely to be observed, right now.

The "white screen of death" is generally our browser or computer "saying" to us "I have nothing to display". I can think of a few possible causes, for this mysterious symptom.

Browser / computer filtering.
Browser features / version.
Computer resources.
Display colour depth / resolution.
Network problems, ie "Dropped packets".

Browser / computer filtering

The New GUI uses new programming techniques - and runs much of the utilities (or dashboard menu entries), as scripts, on our computers. Many anti-malware programs on our computers or networks may detect these scripts as unwanted aggressive code - aka "spam" / "spyware" / "viruses". Some anti-malware programs may not actively alert us to a problem - but will simply block the scripts, and show us a blank screen.

Browser features / version

The new programming techniques used by the New GUI may not be supported by older browsers. Older browsers will simply display a blank screen.

Computer resources

The new programming techniques will use more CPU and memory resources. Older computers will simply not have enough CPU cycles, or memory resources, readily available. The computer will lock up, and the browser will display a blank screen.

Display colour depth / resolution

Owners of older computers, and some mobile computers / smart phones, do not run full 32 bit colour depth, in their displays. Many complaints have been observed, mentioning the overly "bland" colours, excessive "white" space, lack of contrast between foreground content (buttons, decorations, text) and background, etc. It's possible that some folks, unable to see the content because of low contrast, are perceiving a "white screen".

Network problems, ie "Dropped packets"

The New GUI runs from newer Blogger servers. Newly setup servers may be configured improperly, and may contribute to problems with dropped packets, again resulting in a blank screen.

Many of these problems are more likely with blog owners who are more cautious about accepting unwanted changes - and who are now seeing the New GUI for the first time, because of the aggressive distribution policy. People with older computers, or people who are less technically adept, will contribute to each of the above categories.

Many of these problems are jointly caused by the owners of the computers, and Blogger. Very few of these problems will be fixed by simply posting in [Problem Rollup] I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ... and complaining that the New GUI is defective.

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The Time Window To Restore A Deleted Google Account Is Limited

2012-05-10T09:23:00.001-07:00

We've known for a while about the limited ability for Blogger to restore a deleted blog. Recently, we learned about a second, and possibly more severe, restore limit.

Google Accounts: Deleting or restoring a Google account warns us that the ability to restore a deleted Google account is limited.

If you accidentally deleted your Google Account, you can attempt to restore it by going to our password assistance page within a limited window of time after deletion.

Without any authoritative source to quote, I am told that the "limited window" is less than a business week.

If you delete your Google account, you have to have the account restored - not recreated - if you hope to regain use of your Blogger account - and (if necessary) have your blogs also restored. If this happens, you will need to act quickly - and hope that you can provide the necessary details, to regain control of your account and / or blogs.

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Confusion About The New GUI, And Reading List Management

2012-05-09T17:10:00.001-07:00

As the New Blogger GUI becomes more of a standard, in the Blogger blog world, we're seeing evidence of confusion about the differences in the icons and the menus.

How do I UnFollow a blog?

is one question that we're seeing, from a few confused blog Followers, this week.

The answer is right there, in front of you, when you're looking at the Blog List / Reading list. The Gear icon, to the right of "Reading list"(in the New GUI), replaces the blue "Manage" button at the bottom of the page (in the Classic GUI).

Just click on the Gear icon, and you're there, ready to Manage your blog community. But don't confuse the Gear icon to the right of "Reading list", with the Gear icon at the top of each dashboard page.

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Creating A Floating Background, To Make The Blog Content More Readable

2012-05-09T12:31:00.004-07:00

This blog started out using a Layout template, name "Minima". When I applied a Designer template, I selected the Designer equivalent of "Minima", name "Simple". I picked a template background, which looked slightly better than boring. The blog looked fairly decent with the content text floating over the background, when viewed using a high resolution, full colour ("32 bit" palette) display.

Unfortunately, not everybody who views this blog uses a high resolution, 32 bit colour palette. During the past couple years, I have observed various comments published here, from people who did not find it easy reading the text, floating over the naked blog background.

Applying a floating content background, which you may see looking like a whitish haze floating just beneath this text, was not difficult - though it took some experimentation.

The Designer template, name "Picture Window", comes standard with this floating content background. Looking at an existing blog which used the "Picture Window" template, I found the relevant CSS rule. As always, some of the code below contains gratuitous line breaks, which you will want to remove.

.main-outer {
background: transparent url(http://www.blogblog.com/1kt/transparent/white80.png) repeat scroll top left;
}

I wanted a little bit of control over the degree of transparency. A bit of searching the W3Schools website, and I found the right tutorial.

The CSS3 property for transparency is opacity.

And an example in the tutorial,

img
{
opacity:0.4;
filter:alpha(opacity=40); /* For IE8 and earlier */
}

Combining the two rules, and I soon had

.main-outer {
background: transparent url(http://www.blogblog.com/1kt/transparent/white80.png) repeat scroll top left;
opacity:0.40;
filter:alpha(opacity=40); /* For IE8 and earlier *
}

Adding the code to the template was easy enough - using the "Add CSS" menu option in Blogger Template Designer.

After a bit of experimentation with this blog background, I decided that 75% opacity looks best, for this blog. I may change my mind, from time to time, however.

.main-outer {
background: transparent url(http://www.blogblog.com/1kt/transparent/white80.png) repeat scroll top left;
opacity:0.75;
filter:alpha(opacity=75); /* For IE8 and earlier *
}

Depending upon your blog background, and your text colours, you may like more or less opacity. Other than the opacity decision, you'll find this tweak to be fairly straightforward.

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New Custom Domains "In Transition" And Various Blog Gadgets

2012-05-06T19:44:00.001-07:00

About a year after Blogger introduced custom domain publishing, they segmented the custom domain publishing process. In order to avoid database corruption which was an apparent cause of the "Another blog ..." symptom, they introduced a delay period, which we call "Transition". Transition lets them delay key blog changes, until the world wide DNS infrastructure has a chance to reliably update with information about any newly defined Google custom domains.

In the beginning, Transition lasted almost exactly 72 hours, and delayed creation of the "301 Moved Permanently" redirect from the BlogSpot to domain URL. Later, when Following became a fixture on most blogs, we observed that the Followers gadget was also being updated on a Transition based delay.

The Followers gadget is not the only accessory that references the blog URL - and recently, we observed that more features are subject to Transition based update delays.

Recently, we observed various XML gadgets, like Followers, that contain references to the blog URL, are also subject to Transition scheduling.

Blog Feeds.
BlogLists.
LinkLists.

All of these gadgets use XML code, and appears to be subject to a Transition based update delay.

If you just republished your blog, using "Buy a domain", to a non BlogSpot URL, you may be seeing the Transition symptoms.

We're sorry...
This gadget is configured incorrectly.

or alternately, simply a blank space where one or more gadgets used to be seen.

Another change recently observed is that the former 72 hour Transition is now 96 to 120 hours, for some gadgets.

As frustrating as these peccadilloes may be, they are still less frustrating than blog owners seeing the old

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

or worse, having their readers report

Error 404
Server not found

when trying to view a custom domain published blog.

And of the (progressively rarer) reports of "Another blog ..." seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, 9 times out of 10, we end up pointing out various DNS address mistakes, instead of suggesting

Try recycling the domain settings, in Google Apps.

>> Top

Internet Identity - Yours, And The Other Guy's

2012-05-04T14:36:00.001-07:00

One issue in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, that has always fascinated me, involves how we validate our existence, as a Blogger blog owner. Along with the periodic demand

I want that URL for my blog - it's my name!

and

Why was my blog deleted?

comes the intriguing demand

I want that blog deleted - the owner is impersonating me!

Some time ago, Blogger provided us with a definition of the complementary concepts of defamation and impersonation. Impersonation (identity theft) is a Blogger TOS offense - and if righteously reported, can be judged by Google Legal. Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk), on the other hand, is a civil offense - and must be judged in a government court. Even with the difference defined, there are ways to confuse defamation and impersonation, in forum discussions.

One discussion subject, which touches jointly on identity theft, on Internet conflict, and on URL availability, is the insistent attitude

I want to publish a blog but someone has stolen my name!

The complainant, who we will for this example, refer to as "John Q Smith", is certain that his blog will have validity, when published only as "johnqsmith.blogspot.com". If "John Q Smith" wishes to publish his blog as "johnqsmith.blogspot.com", he may variously argue

"johnqsmith.blogspot.com" is dormant. Surely Blogger can re issue the URL to me?
I am "John Q Smith", and someone is impersonating me!
A blog published by "John Q Smith" is stealing my search engine results!

The subject of "dormant" blogs, and URL availability, has been thoroughly discussed. This concern is very simple - there is no activity based policy - or any policy - that results in URL reissuance.

Blogger accounts and Blogspot addresses do not expire. Therefore, we can't take away somebody's blog address to give to you.

The concern of URL availability is slightly less simple. URL availability policy, in general - is based on the age old principle of "first come, first served". There are legends of trademark violations which result in websites being taken offline - but even a court ordered action won't magically make a "BlogSpot.com" URL available to the successful plaintiff - it simply creates an unhappy defendant, who now has to start a blog or website under a new URL. The plaintiff has to settle for watching the "impersonation" slowly disappear from web searches.

The issue of stolen search engine results is less defined. People doing vanity searches will sometimes find search hit entries that do not please them. Someone searching on his own name will sometimes find blogs or websites published by people with identical, or similar, names - and blogs or websites to match. Someone with little Internet experience may confuse the presence of unfamiliar blogs or websites, in search hit lists against his personal name, with impersonation - or willful search hit theft.

Dormant / unavailable URLs, or search hit competition, as a concern - the solution is simple. Put unique content into your blog, that benefits or interests your readers. Your identity (or your blog's identity) will always be subject to competition and imitation. The more popular the subject of your blog, the more competition you will have. Conversely, if you have no competition, it's likely that you have no search engine attention, and no readers.

The unique content of your blog is what motivates the search engines to index your blog, and to assign Page Rank. Use your energy positively - put better / more content into your blog, and stop obsessing about the competition. Encourage the competition, and encourage more search engine attention.

>> Top

Troubleshooting Custom Domain Issues

2012-05-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to make your custom domain published blog work, see my referential guide Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems.

If you want to know how to setup a custom domain properly, from the beginning - and avoid the need for Troubleshooting - see Setting Up A Custom Domain. Understand the most common mistakes made when setting up DNS addressing - see The Simplicity Of A Custom Domain Setup Presents Its Biggest Challenge.

If you just setup your custom domain - and want to minimise the effects of the URL change upon your search engine relationships - read about Managing The Migration.

If you're just browsing, then read on - but get a good cup of coffee first. And welcome, to Nitecruzr Dot Net.

>> Top

Confusion Over Custom Domains Using AdSense For Domains DNS Servers

2012-05-03T00:44:00.007-07:00

I've been warning people for years about the lack of detail provided by Google, in their instructions about setting up a custom domain, with the domain registration purchased directly from a registrar

.... you only need to get the domain name; you don't have to pay extra for hosting service.

That was an observation, that I made, 5 years ago.

The Google provided instructions were recently changed - unfortunately, not to satisfy every new domain owner's need for detail. Recently, we're seeing new evidence of confusion - which appears to start with Google instructions, again.

As I have written repeatedly, when you setup a private domain, to use in publishing a Blogger blog, Google does not provide DNS hosting for your private domain. Recently, I learned about the AdSense for Domains DNS servers.

ns1.googleghs.com
ns2.googleghs.com
ns3.googleghs.com
ns4.googleghs.com

Apparently, some people have been able to use the AFD DNS servers to provide DNS hosting for their private domains.

This week, we're seeing reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken from some unhappy blog owners.

Beginning last night, every time I try to view my blog, "www.mydomain.com", I get the msg "Server not found". Why is this happening?

Starting with a Who.Is lookup of "mydomain.com" (in this example), we see:

http://who.is/whois/mydomain.com/

REGISTRY WHOIS FOR MYDOMAIN.COM

Registrar: MY REGISTRAR, INC
Whois Server: whois.myregistrar.com
Referral URL: http://www.myregistrar.com/
Status: clientTransferProhibited

Expiration Date: 2014-03-21
Creation Date: 2012-03-21
Last Update Date: 2012-04-07

Name Servers:
    ns1.googleghs.com
    ns2.googleghs.com
    ns3.googleghs.com
    ns4.googleghs.com

And there we see, as mentioned above:
ns1.googleghs.com
ns2.googleghs.com
ns3.googleghs.com
ns4.googleghs.com

In this example, "mydomain.com" was, apparently, setup originally to use "ns1.googleghs.com" (x 4) for domain DNS addressing. Apparently, until this week, the addressing worked - and Google was willing to host DNS addressing for some private domains.

Now, it doesn't.

Looking at the content of AdSense Help: Pointing your domains to Google's servers, we see the warning

Hosted domains has gone away. AdSense stopped supporting Hosted domains on April 18, 2012.

Apparently, "gone away" means that the AFD DNS servers "ns1.googleghs.com" (x 4) are now offline.

Opening a Command Window in Windows, we get confirmation

C:\>ping ns1.googleghs.com

Pinging ns1.googleghs.com [216.239.32.18] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 216.239.32.18:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

So, there you have it - "ns1.googleghs.com" (x 4) is apparently offline. Once again, there is no free lunch. Read - and heed - the fine print.

If your domain was using those servers to serve DNS addresses, you're going to have to go back to your registrar, and ask them for their DNS servers. If this involves changing your "Name Registration" service to "DNS Hosting", you're going to have to bear the cost.

>> Top

Custom Domain Publishing And Abandoned Blogs

2012-05-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

We've been exploring the issues of Custom Domain Publishing for many years. The problem of custom domain database corruption, also known as

Another blog is already hosted at this address.

is one of the most commonly observed symptoms, with custom domain publishing problems.

The most common cause of the "Another blog ..." symptom is broken database pointers. In the past, the broken pointers have been associated with various Google Apps controlled services.

Ad Services.
Google Sites.
Start Page.

Now that Custom Domain Publishing is a mature feature in Blogger, there's a newly seen trend, in problems reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Blogger Blogs.

Ever since we started systematically diagnosing problems with custom domain publishing, and learned how to attack the most common problem, the "Another blog ..." symptom, we've learned to use an HTTP trace, and noted the many redirects to various services, in the domain database, that are controlled by Google Apps.

Now that Blogger has been using custom domain publishing for many years, we're starting to see a new trend in broken database pointers - Blogger blogs. Just as abandoned Blogger blogs are becoming a normal observation here, so are abandoned Blogger blogs, published to custom domains.

Abandoned Blogger blogs are easy enough to diagnose - and similarly easy enough to treat.

Blogger accounts, and BlogSpot addresses, do not expire.

The solution is simple.

Pick another BlogSpot URL, and publish to that URL.

Custom domain URLs, however, should not be treated that way.

If you buy a domain - whether using "Buy a domain", or directly from a registrar of your choice - you expect that you should be able to use that domain with any Blogger blog that you may already own - regardless of whether another Blogger blog owner has previously used that domain with another Blogger blog.

Unfortunately, differing from Ad Services, Sites, and Start Page, there is no Google Apps desktop wizard that lets you reset your registered domain, and clear a previously published - and abandoned - Blogger blog redirection.

As Blogger blogs - and custom domain publishing - becomes a more commonly used and abandoned service, this is going to become a progressively more common scenario.

My custom domain is already published - to another Blogger blog! Help!

And a more immediate and reliable solution needs to be developed, than submitting a "Magical" Custom Domain Reset entry.

>> Top

The Limits In Your Blogger Blog

2012-05-01T07:53:00.001-07:00

One interesting question, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, seems to focus not on what can be done - but on what can't.

What are the limits, that apply to my Blogger blog?

Some people are accustomed to dealing with resource limits, imposed on websites hosted by paid hosting services, which meter service based on bandwidth and storage space used by a blog or website.

Blogger / Google does not spend time monitoring our blogs, and what resources we use. Neither bandwidth or storage size are limited. However, there are some limits on the content, which may restrict growth of our blogs. If we're aware of these limits, we can work around them.

There are no real limits on resources, used by our blogs. There are limits on how we use our blogs, though.

Auto Pagination is a network resources limiting feature which dynamically decides how much of our blogs can be made visible to our readers, at one time. Use of the new, dynamic templates can avoid limits imposed by auto pagination.

Picasa, the Google photo hosting service, does have a limit on storage space. You can pay a small fee for additional storage space - or you can use any of various third party photo hosting services.

Besides the real effects of auto pagination, and photo storage limits, there are a few well defined limits and requirements, which affect Blogger blog content and usage.

Age. Blogger account holders (and thus, blog owners) must be a minimum of 13 years of age.
You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use the Service.
This limit will not prevent blogs being maintained by those underage. Some parents are known to setup blogs, for their underage children to publish - that is currently left as their decision, and not rigidly enforced. However, the Blogger account setup, and "Create a blog", wizards, both provide some notice about the official minimum age.
Blog Content. Each blog page - single post, archive page, or main page - can have a maximum of 1MB of blog content. If you care about your readers at all, this limit will be pretty hard to reach. Use common sense about the content of the blog. Auto Pagination automatically limits the number of posts that will display, on one physical page.
Blog Following Count. You can Follow a maximum of 300 blogs, under one Blogger account.
Blog Membership Count. A public blog can have up to 100 members - including administrators and authors.
Blog Ownership Count. You can setup a maximum of 100 blogs, under a single Blogger account. I passed this limit a while ago, so I have to rename various test blogs, when I setup a new test.
Labels. Each blog post can have a total of 200 characters of labels, including " " and ",". Each post can have a maximum of 20 labels, and each blog can have a maximum of 5,000 labels.
Posts. There is no limit on the number of posts in a blog. If you use labels, you will probably run into a label limit, as you add posts, when the blog becomes exceedingly large.
Private Blog Membership. A private blog can have up to 100 members - including administrators, authors, and designated readers (aka "Guests"). This number is not always available to all blogs.
Static Pages (aka "Pages"). You may have up to 20 static pages in any blog. You can index any number of "Pages" as "Web address" entries, and link to label searches, individual posts, and other blogs and websites, however.
Video Size. Using Blogger post editor, you may upload videos no larger than 100MB.

Blogger Help: What are the limits on my Blogger account? provides a more comprehensive list, and, more importantly, points out the limits that do not exist. Yet this article is not completely authoritative; there are a couple sections there that bear updating. For Google services that require storage, you can proactively monitor storage usage using the "Basic storage usage" wizard.

>> Top

Blogger Provides Details About Un Migrated Legacy Accounts

2012-04-30T09:33:00.005-07:00

Blogger Support, in observing the confusion caused by the recent email about unmigrated legacy Blogger accounts, has taken action to reduce the confusion.

For the people unsure or unaware of what un migrated legacy accounts they may have, they now have a "Blogger legacy account data request" form. It's a very simple form - but you will be expected to exercise patience, before you receive actual detail.

Retrieving details about un migrated legacy accounts is very simple, for any account owner, having received email about an "unmigrated legacy Blogger account".

Provide the email address, where you received the "unmigrated accounts notice".

You immediately get a simple acknowledgement.

The process of retrieving the legacy account details is not automated. Once you submit your email address, and get the simple acknowledgement, you may have to wait 2 or 3 days, before you get email with the anxiously awaited details. But you have a month to get the migration completed.

So get started, this week - and get this portion of your life out of the way.

>> Top

Mass Confusion Caused By The Next Phase Of The Legacy Account Migration Process

2012-04-28T11:48:00.014-07:00

Last week, Blogger started the next phase of the Legacy Account migration process. For several days, we have seen confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why am I getting this email? Is it a scam?

and

I can't migrate my account!

and

I migrated my account, and my blogs disappeared from my dashboard!!

The people targeted in the email were registered owners of legacy (pre 2006) Blogger accounts, created before Blogger started using Google (email address based) accounts. The confused owners are similar to the ones with whom we have been dealing for several months, unable to regain access to their long dormant Blogger / Google accounts. Many do not remember creating accounts, others don't remember the login details, which are essential to blog control.

The confusion was caused jointly by Blogger, and by the blog owners. And, it was not a surprise, to Blogger Support.

The confusion started with the history of the migration.

In 2007, Blogger offered the opportunity to transfer control of owned blogs, to a new Google based account, when someone attempted to login to their legacy Blogger account.
People never logging in to Blogger after 2007 never got the offer to migrate.
Some people elected to not migrate - but setup new Google accounts and manually transferred control of their blogs - and left some legacy accounts inactive and without any owned blogs.
Last year, Blogger warned people that the end of life, of the legacy accounts, was inevitable.
For a number of technical and operational reasons, we’ve decided to finally end our support for migrating legacy accounts and blogs after December 5th, 2011. So if you have a Blogger account and haven’t logged in since 2007, you will lose access to the account and associated content permanently unless you update to the Google Account system before December 5th.
Last week, Blogger took the next step.
You are receiving this message because your email address is associated with an unmigrated legacy Blogger account. As we announced in April of last year, legacy accounts will no longer be accessible after May 30th, 2012 unless they are updated to the Google Account system. Any blog content associated with this account will also be unmodifiable after that date.
The emails went to registered owners of all unmigrated legacy accounts, whether or not any account owned a blog.

The confusion was magnified by issues caused by the various blog owners.

Blogger insists on making it easy to create a Blogger account, frequently resulting in non intentional creation of multiple Blogger accounts. Some people, for instance, may have created Blogger accounts to post comments, on other blogs.
Some people receiving the email had stopped using Blogger, long ago.
Other people had continued using Blogger, but with newly created Blogger accounts - and simply ignored the unused legacy accounts.
Many people, overlooking the fact that the migration had started in 2007, became unhappy that they were given only one month to conclude what they had been given, to date - 5 years.
Too many people, not having used their legacy accounts since 2006, were unable to remember the account name or password, and were forced to use the "Forgot your password?" wizard.
Some people, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the password reset email, found that this critical email is subject to email spam filters.
Some people managing to complete the migration - but with their blogs owned by a separate (newer) Google based Blogger account - watched in horror as their blogs appeared to disappear from their dashboards. The migration created a new account, leaving their important blogs owned by their previously created Blogger / Google account, which became inaccessible to them.

The history plus the issues resulted in several scenarios, each resulting in an unhappy account owner.

Owners with a migrated previously legacy Blogger account (created in 2007), and one or more un migrated legacy Blogger accounts. These people have one or more legacy Blogger accounts (that they don't know about), plus an already migrated previously legacy account (that can't be migrated, again).
Owners with a Google based Blogger account (created in 2007), and one or more un migrated legacy Blogger accounts. These people have one or more legacy Blogger accounts (that they don't know about), plus a Google based Blogger account (that can't be migrated).
Owners with a single un migrated legacy Blogger account, unable to migrate because of forgotten account name or password. These people have a legacy Blogger account (that can be migrated, if they know the account name, and the password).
Owners with a single, newly migrated legacy Blogger account (created this week, with no blogs), and a previously migrated or created Google account (created in 2007, with the owned blogs). These people are now logged in to Blogger with a new Blogger account, and cannot access their blogs, owned by their previous Blogger account.

The unhappy recipients of the email, following the instructions provided to them, posted their complaints in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

If you have questions, please visit our Help Forum at http://www.google.com/appserve/mkt/OKddNnCN05400K and create a message with [legacy Account] in the subject line.

The confusion spread, as the forums became saturated by the complaints. Not all complaints used the "[legacy Account]" tag, suggested in the instructions. This motivated various forum helpers to use fuzzy processing techniques in sorting various forum complaints, and some non legacy issues were treated as legacy issues. Other legacy issues were overlooked, in the volume of posts.

Blogger Support, becoming aware of the numbers of complaints, created a legacy Account FAQ, and started answering questions, posted in the FAQ. And the frustration became expressed in various FAQ responses.

This is clearly not working out well for Blogger. In the true business world, heads roll when fails are so epic.

This blog owner is overlooking the history and the issues, and making no acknowledgement of his contribution to the problem.

(Update 2012/04/30 10:00): Blogger Support has now provided a form, for any legacy account owner to use, to request details.

>> Top

eNom Hosted Custom Domains Showing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

2012-04-28T08:26:00.004-07:00

We are seeing reports from owners of several Blogger blogs, published to custom domains, of intermittent connectivity problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Recently, I have been unable to load my custom domain blog www.mydomain.com. My browsers (whether Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) all tell me they are "unable to find the server". Various online utilities report problems also. I am able to get to Blogger and my dashboard for the blog, but nothing will load the page. All other services on my computer appear to be working normally.

The problem appears to be somewhat intermittent and varying across different ISPs, and various online utilities which I use.

The domains being reported all appear to be registered with eNom - and at first glance, domain registration appears normal. We have to do some detailed investigation to identify a consistent detail, which appears to be common to all individually reported domains.

At first glance, the typical eNom registered domain - even those with this reported problem - appears to be normal.

REGISTRY WHOIS FOR mydomain.com

Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Status: clientTransferProhibited

Expiration Date: 2013-04-10
Creation Date: 2012-04-10
Last Update Date: 2012-04-10

Name Servers:
    dns1.name-services.com
    dns2.name-services.com
    dns3.name-services.com
    dns4.name-services.com
    dns5.name-services.com

The clue to this problem is seen in the last sentence, in the above example.

The problem appears to be somewhat intermittent and varying across different ISPs, and various online utilities which I use.

eNom uses 5 DNS servers. We can check the output from each of the 5 servers, using the Kloth online Dig utility, and specifying each server, in turn.

Domain: mydomain.com
Server: dns1.name-services.com
Query: A (IPv4 address)

and repeat for dns2.name-services.com etc.

Running a Dig against each of the 5 servers, we can see a consistency problem. Here is a copy of the 5 Dig logs, concatenated.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
dns1.name-services.com Dig Log

 ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @dns1.name-services.com mydomain.com A
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 43536
 ;; flags: qr aa; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 5
 
 ;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;mydomain.com.  IN A
 
 ;; ANSWER SECTION:
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.32.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.34.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.36.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.38.21
 
 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns1.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns2.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns3.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns4.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns5.name-services.com.
 
 ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
 dns1.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.192.1
 dns2.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.197.1
 dns3.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.193.1
 dns4.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.194.1
 dns5.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.196.1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
dns2.name-services.com Dig Log
    
 ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @dns2.name-services.com mydomain.com A
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 51481
 ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
 
 ;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;mydomain.com.  IN A
 
 ;; ANSWER SECTION:
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.36.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.32.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.38.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.34.21

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
dns3.name-services.com Dig Log

 ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @dns3.name-services.com mydomain.com A
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 9542
 ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
 
 ;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;mydomain.com.  IN A
 
 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
 com.   3601 IN SOA dns1.name-services.com. info.name-services.com. 2010 10001 1801 604801 181

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
dns4.name-services.com Dig Log
 

 ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @dns4.name-services.com mydomain.com A
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 2101
 ;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
 
 ;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;mydomain.com.  IN A
 
 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
 com.   3601 IN SOA dns1.name-services.com. info.name-services.com. 2010 10001 1801 604801 181

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
     
dns5.name-services.com Dig Log
 

 ; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> @dns5.name-services.com mydomain.com A
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 13658
 ;; flags: qr aa; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 5, ADDITIONAL: 5
 
 ;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;mydomain.com.  IN A
 
 ;; ANSWER SECTION:
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.32.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.34.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.36.21
 mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 216.239.38.21
 
 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns1.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns2.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns3.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns4.name-services.com.
 mydomain.com. 3600 IN NS dns5.name-services.com.
 
 ;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
 dns1.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.192.1
 dns2.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.197.1
 dns3.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.193.1
 dns4.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.194.1
 dns5.name-services.com. 3600 IN A 98.124.196.1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Examine the Dig logs from "dns3.name-services.com." and "dns3.name-services.com.". See the answer from those servers, which returns only an "SOA" for the ".com" Top Level Domain? This is consistent of a domain, improperly setup by the registrar.

In the cases reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, my reply is simple.

In your case, servers #3 and #4 do not appear to properly recognise your domain. Any online service, asking either server #3 or #4 for your domain addresses, will probably have problems. This may explain your inconsistent access problem.

As the registered domain owner, you need to contact eNom Customer Support. Show them the Dig logs from the 5 servers, and ask them why servers #3 and #4 seem to have a problem serving your DNS addresses.

The problem appears to involve domains setup on 4/9/2012 - 4/10/2012. Hopefully, enough domain owners will report their problems to eNom Customer Support, so this problem can be investigated and resolved.

>> Top

Continued Inability To Update The Labels Gadget, With A Large Partial List

2012-04-27T23:24:00.008-07:00

In February, we observed that various blog owners were reporting problems with updating label and link lists. We setup a problem rollup in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we observed a small but significant number of reports from unhappy blog owners, unable to update the gadgets on their blogs.

Last month, Blogger Support supposedly resolved the reported problem, and the volume of problem reports dropped significantly. The problem, however, has not been eliminated.

The problem with updating various accessory gadgets, initially reported several months ago, is still present in various Blogger blogs - though significantly reduced - following an improvement last month.

This blog has a total of 626 labels defined, in the various posts. If I want to spare my readers (slightly) from an excessively long list of labels, I can edit the list and selectively display only significant ones. I cannot display all significant ones, unfortunately. I currently have 501 of 626 labels selected for display.

If I edit my label list, in "Select labels to show", I can select any one of the remaining 125 labels. Having hit the tiny "Done" caption at the bottom left of the window, I am left with "Configure Labels". If I hit "Save", the earlier reported problem continues - the yellow "Saving ..." flag pops up, and the gadget hangs while saving.

If I hit Cancel, and edit the list again, I can de select any one label, and save the list, successfully - again with exactly 501 labels selected. Then adding any one label, and attempting to Save once more, the gadget will again hang. The bottom line is that I can selectively display 501 labels - and no more.

I have observed this problem in both Chrome and Firefox (V11 and V12) - and using both the Classic and New GUIs. With up to 501 labels selected, no problem. With any more than 501 labels selected - big problem. During the past month, after I first observed this problem, I added half a dozen new labels, to reach the current total of 626. The problem has limited me to 501 selected labels, consistently, regardless of the total number.

Various reports, in both this blog, and in [Problem Rollup] Updating Label List Gadget Hangs, indicate that other blog owners are still observing this problem. It's becoming increasingly obvious that this problem still exists in

BlogLists.
Label Lists.
LinkLists.

>> Top