The Mysterious Pages Index Gadget

We get occasional reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about a broken Pages gadget.

I created a new page - but when you click on the link, you get bounced back to the Home page!

When you look at the blog with the problem, it's easy enough to verify the report - just look at the URL behind the link, for the most recent page created. Indeed, it points straight to the Home page (base URL for the blog).

When this happens, there is a very simple workaround. Just create another page, identical to the problem entry.

Thinking of the past 4 years since the Static Pages feature was added to Blogger, I am betting that I have seen this report maybe 2 dozen times. That is, just enough to know that this is a problem - but nowhere enough to detect any pattern.

• BlogSpot vs custom domain.
• Template Name.
• Template type ("designer" / "layout" vs "dynamic").
• Position of Pages gadget ("Tabs" vs "Sidebar").
• Geographical location of owner.
• Dynamic vs Static page entry.
• Number of pages.

I have not yet seen any obvious affinity, with this problem - mainly because it's reported too infrequently.

If your blog is affected by this oddity - and you feel like taking the time, I'd like for you to first try resetting the "Pages1" gadget, similar to resetting the Post Template aka "Blog1". If that does not produce an improvement, then try the workaround - add an additional page, identical to the broken one. See if that solves the problem.

If the additional page works better, then you can delete or hide the previously created (broken) page. My apologies to you, if the problem page is the 19th (or possibly the 20th) static page.

If you're here, looking for help with this problem, and it is now 2016 (or later), my congratulations to you for finding your way here.

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Unfold Widgets Selectively, Instead Of All At Once

The new Template HTML Editor has been with us for just under 2 weeks.

Not every blog owner sees the new editor as an improvement. Some folks don't understand how to find the code sections, where they need to apply changes - and would probably be happier if "Expand All Widgets" were an option.

Like the old saying goes, you just cannot please everybody.

Fortunately, with this change, it's not difficult to find the code sections that need changing - you just do a little bit of research, before using "Edit HTML".

With the old editor, finding a section that needed changing could be a bit frustrating - though simple, given enough time.

1. Hit "Expand Widget Templates".
2. Search for a recognisable section of code.
3. Try very carefully, to find the right section of code.
4. Be careful, and don't select the wrong section of code.

With the new editor, you have a bit more work to do - and what you have to do appears to be simply repetitive.

1. Find a folded code section.
2. Unfold the section that's folded.
3. Repeat, until everything is visible.
4. Search for a recognisable section of code.
5. Try very carefully, to find the right section of code.
6. Be careful, and don't select the wrong section of code.

Instead of spending so much time unfolding, searching, and rechecking everything, why not do some research? Figure out what needs changing. Look at the display on the dashboard Layout wizard (previously called "Page Elements"). Identify the widget to be changed, using both the relative position on the page, and the title.

Find the widget id, by looking at the widget to be changed, then at the URL behind the "Edit" link. If you're editing the post template, you'll be looking at "Blog Posts", which has the widgetID of "Blog1". Click here, for instructions on determining the widget id.

Once you have the widgetID, for the specific widget that you need to modify, go to the Template "Edit HTML" wizard, use the "Jump to widget" pull down list, select the widget by widgetID, and there it is. Now, unfold that widget, and do what you have to do.

Isn't that simpler, when you think about it?

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The Option To "Expand Widget Templates", In The Template "Edit HTML" Wizard, Is No More

One of the more confusing features of the Blogger Template "Edit HTML" wizard, used to be the option to

Expand Widget Templates

With the new "Edit HTML" wizard, that option is not needed. Given the choice to "Expand Widget Templates", the typical blog owner was frequently caught between a rock, and a hard place, when editing gadgets.

• Don't use the option - and the gadget code section, which was to be edited, remained concealed.
• Use the option - and all gadget code sections were expanded, revealing all gadget code.

This frequently left the owner with either no information - or too much information, from which to work. Broken templates, caused by improper template HTML edits, were common.

The new Template "Edit HTML" wizard replaces the single "Expand Widget Templates" option with selective widget expansion. Now referred to as "folded" code, a concealed widget code section is identified by a fold marker ("sideways arrow icon"), next to the line number.

The code inside the widget is folded by default.

Clicking on any fold marker, the concealed gadget code section is revealed. If the now revealed code section itself contains concealed code sections, those sections are displayed as folded, and can then be revealed - if necessary, and only if necessary.

Thus we can eliminate unnecessary depth (internal gadget code sections) and width (additional gadget code sections) from being displayed when we only need to edit a specific gadget, at a given level of complexity. This will make it easier to identify and to edit the necessary lines of code, and to avoid editing lines of code which should not be edited.

If you're looking for a specific section of the template - for instance, the CSS rules - you may find that section folded also. CSS rules, for instance, are at the top of the template.

<b:skin>---</b:skin>

and

<b:template-skin>---</b:template-skin>

On the other hand, if you're looking for the content of an HTML / JavaScript gadget, that's still edited from the specific gadget in the Layout wizard.

<data:content/>

Gadget content is not folded.

Hopefully, we'll soon see less problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about broken templates - though we will probably continue to see confusion, about templates that only appear to be broken.

As always, if you change template code, remember to clear browser cache and restart the browser, before concluding that your changes were not effective.

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Template Designer Upgrades Require Supporting Updates To The Individual Blog Templates

This week, we're seeing a small flood of problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about problems with the Template Designer.

Every time I change something, I have to refresh the page in order for it to show up. It won't "Save" when I try to save the layout changes. It just says "Saving..." at the top of the page and fades away, but doesn't actually save any changes.

Many problems involve changes made to the template, using the Designer, which aren't being saved - or are broken when saved. Most of the people reporting these problems have made changes to the template, previously - some are so experienced at making changes, they can't believe that their latest changes could ever have problems.

Interestingly, this history of changes is not a coincidence - and it's likely that some of the changes helps to cause these problems.

Take a look at the template code in your blog, some time. You'll notice a lot of code which doesn't look like CSS, HTML, or XML. Some of it is code which supports the various blog features that are adjusted or configured using the Template Designer.

Many template features involve two sets of code.

1. The Template Designer wizard, part of the Blogger dashboard, is common code used by all blog owners.
2. The blog template, post template, and / or widget template, is part of the individual blogs. Some template code does nothing but support the Template Designer - and let you configure your blog layout,

Every time Blogger Engineering adds or updates template features, they have to make changes to both sets of code.

Blogger Engineering does not edit each individual blog, after they upgrade the Template Designer. They make changes to the master template code - and their changes replicate into the individual blog templates. These changes replicate much more consistently, when the individual templates have not been changed.

The more custom a template is, with changes applied by the blog owner or in a third party template, the less likely it is to properly update, to support each succeeding Template Designer update. Any time Blogger Engineering updates the Template Designer, to add a new feature, or maybe to support a new browser version, their updates may require changes which are not properly applied to all blogs - and the Template Designer stops working, in some blogs.

When the Template Designer stops working, the usual recommendation is to refresh the post or widget template - or maybe to upgrade the blog template - and things start rolling again. And the blog owner goes back to tweaking the template, until something breaks again.

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The Missing / Invisible Pages Index Gadget

Occasionally, a blog owner wants to add the Pages Index gadget to the blog, but just can't.

I go to add it - and I see "Already Added" - but where is it?

The first thing to check, when this happens, is the "Show pages as" option in the dashboard Pages display. Sometimes, you'll find "Don't show" selected. Other times, you'll find "Top tabs" - but the template may lack the code which houses the "Top tabs" gadget. This will be a problem for older templates, installed before the Pages index gadget was offered - as well as some third party templates.

Try selecting "Side links" (or change from "Side links", to "Top tabs", and back to "Side links") - and see if the gadget shows up, in the sidebar. Each time you change the setting, hit "Save arrangement".

After each change, view the blog, to verify success. Remember to clear cache, and restart the browser, each time you view the blog.

Once you get the gadget to show up in the sidebar - and if it matters - change the option to "Top tabs", and see if it shows up there. If not, you'll have several options.

• If the template came from a third party, change back to a standard Blogger template.
• Upgrade the template, to a newer version.
• Set the Pages Index back to "Side links".
• Reset the widget template.

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