Improved Spam Review / Undelete Option In Blogger

One of the more positive changes in the "New GUI" involves an improved ability to find, and correct, deleted and locked blogs.

Finding deleted / locked blogs, under earlier versions of Blogger, was always a challenge - both for the person looking for the necessary display - and for the people trying to instruct how to find the necessary dashboard display.

In the current Blogger dashboard, one simply logs in and looks for the "Deleted Blogs" button - right beneath "New Blog", when the blog owner has any self deleted blogs, or any blogs deleted or locked by the Blogger abusive blogs classifier. Clicking on "Deleted Blogs", we see a list of blogs - with either an "Un delete" button (for self deleted blogs), or a "Restore" button (for spam classifier locked / deleted blogs).

Neither the "Restore" or "Undelete" button produce an immediate or universal result - both are still subject to previous limitations.

• The "Restore" button leads to the "Review Request" dialogue - and to the actual spam review - still subject to the opinion of Blogger / Google spam experts.
• The effect of the "Un delete" button is limited to blogs which can be un deleted.

It is simply now far easier to find the spam review / un delete mechanism, than it was under the previous GUI.

If your blog was deleted by you - or deleted by Blogger for hosting malware, you should be able to hit "Restore", and the blog will be restored while you wait. If the blog was deleted or locked by Blogger for suspected spam hosting, you will probably have to solve a CAPTCHA - then wait 24 to 48 hours, while the blog is reviewed. In the long run, you will probably find this extra effort will be worth your time.

In some cases, the owning Blogger account may be locked, following unusual account activity - generally, brute force password guessing attempts, in an effort to hijack control of the account and any owned blogs. After submitting an account restore request and / or changing the account password, the blogs owned by the account will be restored - generally 24 to 48 hours after the account is restored. This is a normal, and unavoidable, result of Google, protecting your account and blogs from hacking activity.

Just be aware that not all blogs will be listed by the "Deleted Blogs" wizard.

Please be aware of the limitations of the restore process. This process serves blog owners who have been spuriously classified. If you request restore - and Blogger confirms that you are a spammer - you will be best advised to start over, or to find a different platform for publishing.

If you do start over, you should be very careful, and avoid making the same mistakes - lest you be subject to more strict punishment. Spammers simply are not welcome, in Blogger / Google - sorry.

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The New GUI Is Here

Several people are reporting seeing the New Blogger GUI in their dashboard - even when they did not intentionally upgrade. Possibly, this was forced by the necessary Custom Domain Authentication Feature, which is now operational - on the New GUI only.

I am expecting my Blogger account to change, soon. Let's see if I get a "Your blog post published successfully!" display. So far, I am in Virginia - though I am thinking of a procedural workaround for that shortcoming. I realise that everybody won't have a workaround for their dislikes - though we have to be contemplative, and accept the changes.

If you wish to make your feelings known, please post in the latest Problem Rollup: V4 I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ...

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Custom Domain Publishing Is Back - And With A New Detail

After a very stressful week, Blogger Engineering has restored the custom domain publishing option.

Last week we encountered an issue that could affect Blogger users in the process of configuring a custom domain, during the verification of ownership of domains between the provider and Blogger. Blogs with previously configured custom domains were not affected.

With the reason for disabling custom domain publishing being security, Blogger Engineering has added a step in the publishing process, to add a random token as a "CNAME", and verify your right to publish to your domain, from Blogger. You get the random token from the "settings instructions" document, "How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?".

See the URL of this (hypothetical) settings instructions document?

http://www.blogger.com/custom-domain-instructions.g?cnameVerificationToken=VPTRE6SUB6JM+gv-G47P6DIR6KFENZUFIFYWSQJJPDYFZK4SQMUUIUFLYLCQD4OIGDFA.domainverify.googlehosted.com.&domain=www.hotspotshield.com

This is an example. If you're registering a domain other than "www.hotspotshield.com", you're going to have a different token - which should be a function of the BlogSpot and domain URLs. You'll also note another case sensitivity issue - "www.hotspotshield.com" and "www.HotSpotShield.com" will produce completely different tokens.
Now, it's an out of date example.

http://www.blogger.com/custom-domain-instructions.g?cnameVerificationToken=GKBPLXBRMT5M+gv-H5FFOYEKYNXE46EE4A3PLAK6HCDIELS27KQUR5OBKHFKXRKMCTDA.domainverify.googlehosted.com.&domain=www.hotspotshield.com

That's what you get, for "www.hotspotshield.com", today. We'll check again, tomorrow. Also, we need to know when "today" ends.

If you buy a domain using "Buy a domain" after today, Google Apps should setup the domain for you - including the second "CNAME". If you bought the domain directly from a registrar, you're going to have to click on "settings instructions", and get the token for your domain. Note that a "CNAME" is required - a "TXT" won't provide the same verification. Also note the various registrar entry conventions, which will affect your use of their domain manager forms.

We are learning a lot of details about the domain verification process, some of which were known in custom domain setup in general - and which are absolutely critical to the process. You will want to read the [FAQ] Why is my domain still in "12" / "404" State?, to get all of the details. The FAQ has been updated several times, so re read it often..

This will, hopefully, provide a solution for the Abandoned Domains problem, and allow everybody to publish to their domain, regardless of whether the domain was previously used for Blogger / Google custom domain publishing by another blog.

On the other hand, if you purchased your domain using "Buy a domain", and you ever need to recycle the publishing settings, you're probably going to have to add this new "CNAME" to your domain, before you can re publish. This will possibly include everybody who purchased their domain, before the Publishing option was disabled - if the domain is not operational right now - and possibly, blog owners who need to un delete a domain published blog.

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The New GUI (2011) Will Soon Become The Blogger GUI

This month, we are seeing a sign of the end of The Classic Blogger GUI, coming soon.

The old Blogger interface will be removed in the coming days.
We've made many improvements to the new Blogger interface. Learn more
You can upgrade to the new interface at any time.

We've all been expecting this, for a while - but it's still a shock. Some of us are concerned that forced use of the New GUI will cause problems in productivity, if not blog functionality.

My personal opinion is that the New Blogger GUI still lacks features and stability. I don't think that I am alone.

We have a rollup discussion, where your opinion will be appreciated. Please be objective and polite.

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Custom Redirects Let You Modify Pages Or Posts, And Publish Different URLs

We've been asking for the ability to have post URLs that differ from the post titles, for some time. Now, we have the Custom Permalinks feature, available in the New Blogger GUI Posts Editor, for new posts.

Some people would like to use custom permalinks for existing posts - and for pages. We can do that, too - but not by using Custom Permalinks. Custom Permalinks only works for new posts - and not for pages.

To change the permalink for existing pages and posts, we use the Custom Redirects option, in the "Settings" menu under "Search preferences".

This post was published as

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/custom-redirects-let-you-modify.html

If I had used the "Permalink" option before publishing, I could have entered

new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom

and published

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom.html

If I want to change the URL of an existing page or post, I would use "Custom Redirects".

To address this post as

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom.html

instead of

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/custom-redirects-let-you-modify.html

I would use "Custom Redirects", and

1. Enter "From:" as "/2012/07/custom-redirects-let-you-modify.html".
2. Enter "To:" as "/2012/07/new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom.html".
3. Select "Permanent".
4. Click the "Save" link.
5. Hit the "Save changes" button.

Note that Custom Redirects, unlike Custom Permalinks, lets you change the published month and year ("/2012/07/"), and the extension (".html"). If you use Custom Redirects, do this carefully.

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Custom Permalinks Let You Create New Posts, And Publish Different URLs

We've been asking for the ability to have post URLs that differ from the post titles, for some time. Up to now, we had a workaround, to do this.

• Publish a post, with a title worded to give the desired URL.
• Edit the previously published post, and change the title.

That was a clumsy procedure - and it had side effects.

Now, you simply use the New GUI Post Editor, and publish a new post. In the "Post Settings" menu for a new post, under "Permalink", select "Custom URL", and enter the customizable portion of the URL. Note the restrictions, for Custom Permalinks.

• You can only customise the post title portion of the URL.
• You can only customise the permalink, for a new post.

This post was published as

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/custom-permalinks-let-you-create-new.html

If I had used the "Permalink" option before publishing, I could have entered

new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom

and published

blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/07/new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom.html

In Blogger Buzz: Customize your posts with permalinks, we are specifically instructed

The bolded area is the portion of the URL that is customizable.

In this example, "new-blogger-gui-gives-us-custom" is the customizable portion of the post URL.

If I want to change the URL of an existing post, I would use the "Custom Redirects" option, in "Search preferences", under "Settings".

Plan ahead and use Custom Permalinks - or don't plan ahead, and use Custom Redirects. It's your choice.

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Third Party Templates, And The New Blogger GUI

The New Blogger Interface has been available outside Draft Blogger for almost a year - and continues to provide traffic to Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, with new problems, every month. One subject of problems appears to involve the Template "Edit HTML" wizard, and various bX errors issued when attempting to save changes made to the HTML code.

The bX errors are very mysterious - and to those of us outside Blogger Engineering - almost monolithic. Recently, we've noted one possible affinity in the errors, involving blogs using templates developed outside Blogger / Google.

I got a custom template for my blog, from TheCutestBlogonTheBlock. I followed all the directions to add the template to my blog, and copied everything correctly - but I keep getting a message that says

Sorry, we are unable to complete your request

advising me that I need to contact Blogger Support.

The owner of any blog, showing this symptom, has several options, for further action.

• Use a standard Blogger template. Stop trying to use a third party template.
• Use a different third party template. It's possible that other third party templates - and maybe even different CBOTB templates - may be more compatible with the New GUI Template Editor.
• Use this template, corrected to avoid generating the bX error.
• Use the Classic GUI Template Editor, which appears to be less vulnerable to third party template problems.
• Contact the support channel for the CutestBlogOnTheBlock templates, and advise them of the problem. Wait until they are able to make their templates more compatible with the New GUI Template Editor.
• Wait until Blogger Engineering has a chance to fix the problems, which are generating the bX errors.

Use of a standard Blogger template is the most sure way to avoid this symptom - but probably the least likely to satisfy the blog owner, who apparently wants a blog using something other than the Blogger templates.

It's possible - but not likely - that a different third party template will be written to not cause a bX error - and that a different third party template will satisfy the desires of the blog owner. It's similarly possible - but not likely - that the blog owner could figure out what (if anything) he / she did when editing the template, and avoid the error. The typical blog owner, to whom the CTOTB templates appeal, will be satisfied by neither alternative.

The most immediate solution is probably to switch back to the Classic GUI, which is less prone to displaying bX codes when third party templates are involved. This is probably the best alternative, right now - but will cease being useful when The New Blogger GUI becomes the Blogger GUI.

The best long term solution will be for the blog owners to contact the support channel for the third party template, and advise them that their product needs to be made compatible with the New Blogger GUI, and the Template HTML Editor. This will be an ongoing need, as new third party templates are developed. The third party products must be made, and maintained, compatible with the Blogger product.

It's somewhat possible that Blogger Engineering, as part of their ongoing efforts to resolve problems identified by the various bX error codes, will fix the underlying problem with the New GUI Template Editor. Supposing however that the basic cause of the error codes probably involves the vagaries of third party code, I would not bet that this specific set of bX codes will be highest on their priority list of codes to diagnose and fix.

Which alternatives each blog owner elects to follow is a choice that he / she must make, based upon her / his own abilities and needs. Which ever choice each owner makes, it's likely that posting, into Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, a report

I keep getting a message that says

Sorry, we are unable to complete your request

advising me that I need to contact Blogger Support.

will be the start to the problem diagnosis - not an immediate solution.

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Blogs, Written In Non Roman Character Languages, Have Trouble With Publishing Static Pages

We're seeing a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from owners of blogs which publish in languages that don't use Roman characters, about problems publishing static pages in their blogs. Supposedly, with the affected blogs containing multiple static pages, the pages are all being published with the same URL.

The problem is thought to involve blogs published using the New Blogger GUI. Hopefully, by switching back to the Classic Blogger GUI, the problem can be worked around, until Blogger Engineering can diagnose and fix the problem.

We have a Rollup Discussion in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we are asking for details, from owners of blogs affected.

1. What is the URL of your blog?
2. In what language is the blog published?
3. Are you using the New Blogger GUI?
4. If you switch back to the Classic GUI, does that resolve your problem?
5. In what city / province / country do you live?

Please answer as best you are able, to improve chances of Blogger Engineering finding and fixing the problem, as promptly as possible.

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Blog Owners Reporting The New Blogger GUI Display Is Garbled

We have recently seen a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, concerning the New GUI display, which is broken for some blog owners.

When I login to Blogger, the interface doesn't display properly. Everything is shifted and some buttons appear to be missing.

The reporting volume, mentioning this symptom, is low - but it's not random, or zero.

From what we can tell, this problem started shortly after the latest Microsoft Windows updates, a week ago. Microsoft Answers: Computer Display Messed up After Restart discusses this problem, and essentially suggests that you should download video drivers from the vendor of the video device in your computer - and to not depend upon Microsoft, to provide you updated third party drivers.

If you are unable to use the Blogger Interface because the display is unreadable, with components missing or mislocated, you're going to have to update the video drivers on your computer, using drivers obtained from the manufacturer - not from Microsoft. This is not a problem caused by Blogger.

If the browser involved in the problem is Internet Explorer, you also may need to check your Compatibility View setting.

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The World Wide Blogger Culture, And Date Formatting Under The New GUI

Since Blogger took the next step with The New Blogger GUI a few months ago, and made it The Default Blogger GUI, complaints about the New GUI have been numerous, and impassioned. One complaint, seen occasionally, mentions the date / time setting wizard, in the Post Editor "Post settings" Schedule.

In the new blogger interface, it is very hard to backdate content. You have to use the calendar GUI, you can't just type a date it. I have content going back 13 years, do you know how hard it is to click the left-arrow on the calendar 144 times to get to the proper date??? It's a nightmare!

This is one person who needs a more flexible date setting wizard, in The New GUI.

In criticising the new date setting wizard, we need to understand the reasons for the design. I don't think that Blogger designed the new wizard, and removed the ability to just type the date, simply because they wanted the new wizard to look shiny.

Since Blogger gave us the ability to compose posts now, and have them published some time in the future, there have been problems with scheduled posts not publishing properly. Both posts published too early, and posts never published, have been the source of many complaints. The reason for many of these complaints were not obvious, however.

When Blogger offered us the scheduled posts option in 2008, they made the ability to schedule posts quite simple. Unfortunately, they did not observe that the entire world does not type the date in the same way. Many scheduling problems were caused by people who did not enter the date properly.

Now that more people are using The New Blogger GUI, and the new date setting wizard, we are seeing significantly less complaints about posts not publishing at the right time (or at all). A large part of the reduction of such complaints, I believe, is due to the design of the new date setting wizard, which does not allow typing of the date - but forces you to explicitly select the month and year by sequential selection - and eliminates the ambiguity.

Unfortunately, this ignores the needs of people who wish to back date (or forward date) by large time spans. So, Blogger needs to make the date setting wizard just a bit more flexible.

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Where's The Dashboard?

We see this confusion, a couple times a week, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

Where is the dashboard?

In the Classic Blogger GUI, the display which contained the "Blog List" (at the top), and the "Reading List" (at the bottom) was labeled "Dashboard". Many people also called the "Settings" / "Template" screens for the various blogs, linked from the Blog List, the dashboard.

The New Blogger GUI has no page with the label - and no links "To The Dashboard". The Navbar (another unlabeled feature) has two links - "Design" and "New Post" - which lead to different dashboard sections, when you are appropriately logged in to Blogger. And, the "B" logo at the far left of the navbar will, similarly, take you to the Blog List / Reading List.

The Blogger Dashboard is simply the "Blog List" / "Reading List", and all attached utilities which you, the owner, administrator, or author, access, as you manage the blog.

• Change various blog settings.
• Control the post template.
• Publish and edit posts.
• Edit the blog template.
• Add, delete, and reposition accessory gadgets.

It's similar to driving in The United Kingdom. Each major highway there is named for the neighbouring town, where it leads. If you drive from Town "A", to Town "B", the street in Town "A" will be signed as "Town B Road". When you look at the street signs, and you see that you are now on "Town A Highway", you will know that you are now in Town "B".

When you see the blog utilities, that you seek, then you are there.

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Internet Explorer V8 / V9 And The New Blogger GUI

Back when Internet Explorer V8 was first released by Microsoft, and Blogger had yet to update their code to allow for its peccadilloes, some Blogger blog owners used the Internet Explorer "Compatibility View" switch, to make their browsers work with Blogger (when they were using the Blogger "Classic" GUI).

We've recently been seeing an increasing number of people in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, using Internet Explorer, who report problems with The New GUI.

With Blogger code written for Internet Explorer V8 / V9, people who use Internet Explorer V7 - or use V8 / V9 that runs as if V7 (with "Compatibility View" enabled) - are having problems using the New Blogger GUI.

The most popularly recommended solution for problems like the White Screen Of Death has been to switch back to the Classic GUI. A more effective long term solution, for people using Internet Explorer in Compatibility Mode, would be to stop using Compatibility Mode.

1. From the Internet Explorer menu, select "Tools" - "Compatibility View Settings".
2. In Internet Explorer, click on the "broken page" icon, at the end of the address bar.
3. Remove "blogger.com" from the "Compatibility View Settings" list.

Don't have Internet Explorer work like IE V7, now that Blogger has updated their code - and IE V7 is not supported.

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Blogger Magic - A Static Home Page, Improved

For many years, Blogger blog owners have been asking for the ability to have a static Home page, on their blog.

We came up with a basic solution for that, a couple years ago. Last year, I packaged the procedure.

1. Set "Show" to "0 posts".
2. Add a static HTML / Text gadget.
3. Tweak the template for the new gadget, to display only on Home page.

This was an obvious solution (to some of us) - but it's painfully complex, and it involves editing the template HTML. It's an interesting techie solution - and that's about it.

Today, I realised that Blogger recently gave us this option, in a far simpler solution, last month - but not so many people noticed it.

The "Custom Redirects" feature is just what you need, to create a static home page.

1. Setup a Static Page. Use the dashboard Pages wizard, make a "New page", and select "Blank page".
2. Use the "Custom Redirects" dashboard wizard, and redirect from the Home page to the new Static page.
3. Work on the static home page, and make it attractive.

I setup a test blog - Nitecruzr Redirected Home Page Test, and added a Static page - "Static Home Page".

nitecruzr-test-redirected-homepage.blogspot.com/p/static-home-page.html

Having setup the static page, I redirected the Home page to the static page, using the "Search preferences" - "Custom Redirects" feature.

• From: /
• To: /p/static-home-page.html
• Permanent: Yes

Edit "Custom Redirects".

1. Enter "From:" as "/".
2. Enter "To:" as "/p/static-home-page.html".
3. Select "Permanent".
4. Click the "Save" link.
5. Hit the "Save changes" button.

And, that is it. You can see my test blog, as a basic demonstration.

Note that just as easily as redirecting the home page to any static page, you can redirect to any dynamic page (aka a "post"). So, you can pin a post to the main page, using Custom Redirects.

Once the "Home" page / tab is static, you can index the posts using any sidebar gadget - such as an Archive or Label index gadget. Or, you can index posts, as if they were pages.

• Publish your posts to a given label - I used "Posts".
• Add a label search entry, as a "Web address", to Pages.

Thus my Pages entry, "Posts".

Now, anybody can have a blog with a static home page, in 10 minutes (don't overlook steps #3 and #4, above - as I did, the first time). Click here, for more examples.

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(Update 2012/06/30): See The Video, for a live demonstration.

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Label Management In The New GUI

With more people starting to use the New Blogger GUI, we're starting to see more questions about some non obvious and obscure details. Recently, people are starting to use the New GUI for routine blog maintenance, and are trying to manage their labels.

How do I add labels to my posts, using the Posts (previously the "Edit Posts") menu?

The answer is right there in front of our eyes - but we need sharp eyes.

With the Classic GUI "Edit Posts" menu, we had a pulldown menu labeled "Label Actions". Opening the menu, we would see three sections.

• "Apply Label" - with an inventory of all current labels.
• At the bottom of the "Apply Label" list, subtly placed "New Label...".
• "Remove Label" - with an inventory of all labels in all currently selected posts.

The New GUI Posts menu has none of these. Now, we have a stylised "label" logo, with a pulldown arrow. Opening the menu, we see two sections.

• "New label...".
• An inventory of all current labels.

It's not complicated, to use the new menu.

1. Select one or more posts, in the posts list.
2. To add a label to the posts selected, open the label menu, and click on a label.
3. To remove a label from the posts selected, open the label menu, and click on a label.
4. Basically, the labels menu is a toggle.
   • If you click on a label that's not part of the selected posts already (or, add a "New label"), the label gets added to the posts selected.
   • If you click on a label that's part of the selected posts already, the label gets removed from the posts selected.
   It is that simple - really.

It's just not obvious, at first glance.

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

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.

1. They are wasting their own time and energy, protesting.
2. They are not telling people, specifically, what problems they see.
3. 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.

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(Update 9/19): This week, the end just got here.

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