Updating A Text Gadget, On Your Blog? Be Careful!

The schizophrenic nature of the HTML / Text gadget continues to confuse some blog owners.

Recently, we're seeing claims about broken Text gadgets, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I hit the Save button, and nothing happens! Why is my Text gadget not working??

Too many blog owners are causing their own problem, because of confusion about the caption in the gadget update wizard.

The header of the HTML / Text wizard is the only visible difference, between the "HTML" and "Text" gadgets.

You'll see "Configure HTML/JavaScript" (for an HTML gadget) or "Configure Text" (for a Text gadget), as the gadget header. The rest of the gadget will be the same, for both gadgets - and this is why some gadgets, being updated, appear to be broken.

The difference between entering HTML, and Text - using either the "HTML" or the "Text" gadget - will be seen in the caption, to the far right of "Content".

The difference between entering HTML, and Text, is not relevant to the actual gadget being added or updated. This problem exists for both "Configure HTML/JavaScript" (for an HTML gadget) and "Configure Text" (for a Text gadget).

The caption will read either "Edit Html", or "Rich Text" - for both "Configure HTML/JavaScript" (for an HTML gadget) and "Configure Text" (for a Text gadget).

• If you want to add / update code (HTML / JavaScript), you will want the caption to read "Rich Text".
• If you want to add / update text (Rich Text), you will want the caption to read "Edit Html".

Examine the formatting toolbar, to the left of the caption, as you click on the caption, to understand this.

Here are 4 views, showing the same gadget:


This is the HTML gadget, in HTML mode.

This is the HTML gadget, in Text mode.

This is the Text gadget, in Text mode.

This is the HTML gadget, in HTML mode.


Why is this relevant to the problem, being discussed? Just this - HTML is simply fancy text, with tags (special keywords and symbols). The tags make the difference, between HTML and text.

When you enter HTML, the tags have to be entered properly, in pairs and in the right sequence. If HTML tags are not entered properly, you can have various problems with the blog, as displayed. One of the possible problems is the long known dropped posts / sidebar section.

When you enter HTML improperly, in "HTML" mode in post editor, you get various diagnostic error messages - and you are instructed to fix your tags. When you enter HTML improperly, in "HTML" mode in the HTML / Text gadget, the "Save" button becomes in operative - and you think that the gadget is broken.

When you enter Text, which contains HTML, and you enter the HTML improperly - and you are accidentally in HTML mode - you have a problem. Remember.

• If you want to add / update code (HTML / JavaScript), you will want the caption to read "Rich Text".
• If you want to add / update text (Rich Text), you will want the caption to read "Edit Html".

This is how the "HTML" and "Text" gadgets work.

If you add a Text gadget to your blog, the caption will read "Edit Html" when you are adding text. If you click on "Edit Html", you will see "Rich Text" - and you will then be in HTML mode.

If you enter rich text, in HTML mode, and the rich text includes HTML keywords and symbols, you will have broken HTML - and the "Save" button will be inoperative. And, you will have a "broken" Text gadget. This is one of several possible causes of problems seen when adding / updating the HTML / JavaScript / Text gadgets.

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Layout: Add A Gadget

Occasionally, we see concerned bloggers asking about their inability to add page elements to their blog.

Besides several key settings in the template, there's a naming problem, which surfaces occasionally.

When I go to the dashboard Layout wizard, I'm given the option to "add a gadget" but not to "add a page element." The Add a Page Element button has never been displayed since I started the blog, so it's not something I broke myself.

Long ago, "gadgets" were called "page elements" - and the "Layout" display was named similarly.

Now, we add gadgets using the dashboard "Layout" wizard.


From the "Layout" wizard, find any link to "Add a Gadget".

Choose any one of dozens of interesting and useful accessories, from the Blogger gadgets library.
You might want to note two details.

1. Some sections of the screen may not allow gadgets to be added.
2. When you find an interesting gadget, be picky! Gadgets listed as "by Blogger" will be more reliable, in the long run.

Long ago, we used the "Page Elements" wizard.


What everybody may not realise is that what Blogger used to call "widgets" are now called "gadgets", and adding a "widget" (weird term) / "page element" (boring term) is now called adding a "gadget" (descriptive term).

What we used to call the "Page Elements" wizard may be found as the "Layout" link in the dashboard. If you publish the blog using a dynamic template, layout customisations may not be supported - and you may not have "Settings - Layout".

Of course, there could still be cases where the "Add a Gadget" link doesn't appear, doesn't appear where you need it, or doesn't work for you. You still need to be aware of template restrictions, whether intentional or non-intentional.

When you look at the selections in "Add a Gadget", note the author names, carefully. The gadgets that are not attributed as "By Blogger" are provided by third parties, and should be selected with care.

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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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Setting Options In The Post Template

Every person who maintains a Blogger blog (or other web site) has his or her own idea about what features she or he wants to present, on his or her blog / web site. Under Classic Template Blogger, this need was provided only by editing the blog template, using HTML.

With a Layouts / Designer template, besides letting us add and move template objects all over the display page, Blogger also provides us the ability to add and move objects all over the post layout. This, too, is done without even opening the "Edit HTML" Template wizard.

The Layout wizard lets you add and re locate objects on the blog page, and maintains the blog template.



From the Layout wizard, you can edit the Blog Posts gadget, and configure or re locate the various blog post components, in the post template. In the Classic Blogger GUI, the Layout wizard was called "Page Elements", and was the first tab that you see when you clicked "Design" in the dashboard or navbar. In the New Blogger GUI, it's the Settings menu entry on the Dashboard.

Find the "Blog Posts" gadget, which is the only gadget that will probably never be found in the footer, header, or sidebar, in the Layout GUI. Just like any other gadget in Layout, Blog Posts has an "Edit" link. So click on the link, which gives you "Configure Blog Posts".

There are useful options here.

• Disable / Enable Post header elements like the date.
• Disable / Enable post footer elements (and change captions) like Poster Name, Date and Time, Comments, Backlinks, and Labels (I call my labels "Topics").
• Disable / Enable Quick Editing and Email Post Links.

You can change captions / formats, include or exclude altogether, and / or reposition the various elements in the post template.

• Date / time stamp.
• Author attribution.
• Author date / time stamp.
• Comments.
• Backlinks.
• Labels.
• Quick Editing pencil icon.
• Reactions buttons.
• Email Post Link envelope icon.
• Share Buttons.
• Per post location captions.
• Per post author profile links.
• Ads Between Posts.

Change the captions, carefully. If you change the caption of a given option, and later cannot find that option because you obscurely changed the caption (and this documentation does not help), you may have to refresh the post template.

You can rearrange various post elements into the order that pleases you. Do this carefully though.



Whenever you add, change, remove, or rearrange, any of these features, always clear browser cache, then restart the browser, before testing for success. If your changes are unsuccessful, or the settings are not persistent, you may have to refresh the post template.

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