Clearly, after such exertion I have stayed inside all day today and have completed the other marathon - I think I've been sat here all day fiddling and doing bits and bobs and moving things on my blog; it takes a lot of concentration and nail-biting moments when I actually lost everything: NOTE!!! I'm not joking, I made a major boo-boo and lost the whole lot but luckily a while ago I'd made a copy of the whole template; if you value your blog and don't want to lose anything I advise you do the same NOW!!! It's fairly simple: just right click the screen when viewing your blog, on the list of options click 'source' or 'view source'; this will bring up the apparent hieroglyphic/Arabic/Chinese list but is in fact the html text of your template. Highlight the whole thing, copy and paste to another file (Notepad/ Word/Text Doc...)
Anyway, all I've done is adjusted the template to have 3 columns instead of 2 and the header banner now crosses the whole screen. This of course was not me doing it all, I visited the very helpful Blogger Tips and Tricks blog and also got the whole template clone from Thur's site. He has done a Minima clone with 3 columns and all I did was adjust the widths a bit and change all the colours etc (He had the 'normal' Minima template cloned). The central column should float so if you have different screens/browsers it should fill the gap between the two fixed sidebars.
I've been looking at a few other hacks/shortcuts as well and can show one below from this page of Blogger Tips. Basically putting images side by side...also these are titled and linked...in fact they sum up my weekend as well!!! Soon I'm going to attempt the 'trick' that we all see in the profressional blogs where they post a paragraph and then you click a link to 'The full Article' or '+/- to expand/close' the article...both these options are in Blogger Help but today I have failed miserably to succeed.
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Plenty to eat and drink: OK...too much to drink and not much to eat and none of the other! S.O.
17 comments:
Well, at least you are adventerous Span and try something new and different(I'm just talking about your blog ;-)
I tried to add something a while back as a test as much as anything and succeeded only after putting it on the blog unlike it worked on another person's blog, it just sat there and did nothing, I suspect its me not writing the html correctly.
Thanks for the tip about the template refresh.
When I messed up my blog a few weeks ago I just reloaded the template and it corrected everything but your idea may be a safer option...
On a different point I don't believe the Rugby was being carried on main BBC radio networks over the weekend but I can hear BBC Radio Scotland/Radio Wales/Radio Ulster via satellite and they did seem to be carrying the games...
I have to admit though I did not hear them myself and coming across Nolan on Radio 5 last night though its a serious subject hearing him have his tackle felt by a Dr was a bit alarming(and yes, just as we'd all guessed)when it was featured on his N. Ireland show, we knew it would be rehashed for his UK networked programme. I didn't stick around for long...
hi gildy...Now France have got themselves into trouble! I am enjoying supporting the underdogs!
Anyway...the save the template thingy is A MUST, even if you think it's just a non-important collection of odds and sods it is still worth keeping...and a cpy, as I have said isn't hard...however, I have just joined this post after reading your comment via Hotmail and the blog is all to shit!!! Jeeez! Now what have I done! It's all there but some of the right sidebar is in the middle and the post is further down the page...doh!
Nolan's tackle...why do these wankers think we give a FUCK about them?...can you tell I've been drinking? :-)
Man, I love your site - it makes me smile in so many ways. Thanks Span.
Baldinio
Very smart Span, and looks rather complicated !
Thanks Curmy...I'd say it all looks very complicated! Still haven't figured the bits going from the sidebar but have asked 'online'...I've done all the things that Blogger help say need sdoing so it's something else.
Paul...now is that a good happy smile of a sad, pat me on the head smile?
He loves it Span, plan and simple - thats why he comes here...
I tried to log on here yesterday and it was all white - I thought you had done a runner. Glad you are still with us :)
No Lucy..still here! I had trouble yesterday as wel, with Blogger but also with other sites. I think it's the new (ish) IE 7 Beta version...maybe some gliches...it happened to me (all white despite saying 'done' in the site download panel...) and set off a panic attack!
...getting more addicted to this html stuff...this is what happens when I get a trip cancelled...idle hands!
Well, if you are learning anything from tweaking your blog, its worth it.
I'm still trying to understand how to save my blog in case it disappears but that seems really complicated.
The way your text has disappeared down the page and all the links and added items are at the top is exactly what caused a headache for me and by chance I read a suggestion on a help site, took a deep breath and did what was suggested and it put everything right again but all it really did was put everything back to how it was originally.
That was done by looking for templates and downloading it again.
It put back any missing html language. But if you did that you'd lose all the extra things you've added to make your blog different.
Hi Gildy, actually that's what I had to do but because I had everything saved I was able to put it all back; I've left some stuff off this time but still have it in case I want to add it.
Next time you post can you confirm that it is OK now...your comment:
The way your text has disappeared down the page and all the links and added items are at the top is exactly what caused a headache for me"...
worried me because now the text shouldn't be off down the page now....to me it looks all in place!!! I have a sidebar ON EACH SIDE and have changed the order of the add-ons so it does look different and something was up with my slidey box with the archives, that was what was causing the trouble before so I've reverted to 'normal' archives in the left-hand bar.
I was all happy and now I'm all worried again! :-(
It's a pat on the head smile - as my director of public relations so rightly pointed out above.
I'm not taking credit for this Span...I came across it on a page where comments are posted and...Ok, Ok should be thanked for this but I thought that you may miss it...you mentioned how to save blogs in case it crashes or disappears and that involved saving it to your pc...this suggests it can be recovered via Blogger itself...so I thought that it might be of interest...
#1: Immediately, OPEN A NEW BLOG-under your same username- WITH THE SAME URL (the name you should see on the bar) of the deleted blog. This is VERY important, so that no-one can claim that URL on purpose or unknowing your problem. You can paste there your template, that should be saved as Peter explains every time you change it, and the cache versions of the latest posts, at least, and -in my case I did this- an explanatory post so that readers know why the archives etc are gone.
#2: Before all the cache recovering and pasting, SEND AN E-MAIL TO BLOGGER SUPPORT explaining what has happened. You shall get an automatic reply within a day or two, but don't let that put you off: Blogger seems to have a centralized staff for the whole worldwide community, so they get rid of silly questions like that. REPLY TO THE AUTOMATIC E-MAIL YOU RECEIVED and state clearly what happened, that you erased your blog by mistake.
#3: Now you can go through caches, cry and tear your hair out or write 10,000 times 'I shall not click on a button without reading it' while you wait for the next, personal, email you shall get from Blogger. A staff member shall contact you and ask a couple of questions but IT DOES TAKE A WEEK OR TWO -In my case, about two weeks. Once in touch with a Real Person, though, I got my whole blog back again, comments and all, and a warning that the new version i had done meanwhile to keep my URl would be replaced when I republished. So,
#4: Make the temporary blog a new one, if you have been posting actively in the mean time, by modifying its URL before republishing. This way, you shall have your old blog, a new temp one to copy&paste posts from and a lesson learnt -one hopes!
Thanks Gildy...an honest answer now...do you understand what you've written? :-)
Your instructions are for if you delete the whole thing archives and all from the Blogger system so taht recovery MUST be via Blogger...why they have a delete button so prominent in the setting I don't know, it should be a 4 or 5 phase thing to stops fools and non-readers of instructions (me...the latter!) from boobing too easily.
The problems I was doing was fiddling with the template, I could have lost all my bits and bobs bUT Blogger would still ahve the archives, in the same way you can change your template when you like and the archives are all still there...all you lose is the add-ons and adjustments made.
However worth ahving that info handy so I repeat my thanks. Cheers :-)
"Thanks Gildy...an honest answer now...do you understand what you've written? :-)"
Erm...in a word no :-)
But I've made a note of it and some tips off the Blog Help site that you mentioned and now I will try and understand it.
Did I say that I have been asked by Uncle to set up his Laptop which has purchased and connect it to broadband?
All went well, in that it connects to any website...fast and receives e-mail...Yippee, then we tried to send some...
It was farce as far as his ISP was concerned to be honest I know that I was following the instructions given by the helpline as reported on exactly what was on screen at every step and I double checked by telling what sounded like a young female on the phone what she asked me to do and what I was actually seeing on screen and then she would eventually say "You should not be seeing that on screen" and "what page are you on, you should not be there!" etc...
And I was following her directions and only clicking what she told me to.
Some advice I believe made matters worse!
Eventually, she was totally lost and went off to get someone else.
He appeared to know what he was doing and actually started to get rid of some of the stuff his colleague had told us to do. Then he assured us everything that he told us to do would work.
It didn't(he doesn't know that yet but I could not stay with my Uncle any longer)and it will need doing next week.
Once the settings are ok I think my Uncle can manage but I am concerned trying to teach him about deleting e-mails and defragging and what we have learnt to do and is second nature.
The best thing being constant practice and learning by mistakes made.
I hope when I sign upto Broadband its going to go more smoothly with my ISP.
ah...the old I'll just get a colleague ploy! That means the silly question section was completed and you needed to ask real questions!...but of course she'd attempted something she probably didn't know how to do in the first place but she 's the lower paid first line in the enrage-the-client-helpline world....there may be a need to undo everything she said and start from scratch, the silly thing is it should only take a couple of minutes but it is almost impossible without a video link to know you are doing exactly what the helper tells you to do...as soon as one step isn't done/wrong apge/wrong link/wrong button the rest is a waste of time....never mind.
My disk is 70% free at the moment and most of that is solid blue sections...ahhhh...relief.
I think that you have summed the situation up quite nicely(wanted to use a posher word but forgot the spelling ;-)
I hope that you are resting after your onslaught on here. So do you have friends that pop round and help or are you at the mercy of helplines etc...and being in Spain, is it a Spanish ISP or one over here?
I have to do it all myself although yourself and a few others I know talk with do try and help when things go wrong so I do appreciate that.
Yes, well I love it, when I get the time to clear all the clutter off my pc and see lots of spare disk space, mainly because regardless of back up/formatting etc...which I still am quite baffled by, I have had disk crashes(thankfully an external one)and lost things...
So I try to keep as little as possible on the system and either copy them onto spare drives and/or onto DVD/CD. I have two externals and the main drive.
I know how to print off e-mail addresses in case of failure so I do not lose contact...Is there any way I can print off or export to a disk my web addresses in the favourites folder or do you have to write them all down in case they get lost?
I did hear that there is a site on the web where you can store all your links and if your pc crashes or they get lost you can recover them.
Thanks Gildy but it seems your taking more precautions than most so you shouldn't worry too much. Re you last point (website for storing data inc email addresses...there maybe but if you use hotmail or something similar it is fairly simple just to highlight the whole thing (it's a table format) and past it to Word or Excel or other set-up; if you mean your MS Outlook/Express then I'm sur ethere must be an even easier way...but I don't know but will check up...in January I lost the lot when I had my laptop pinched so I'm an interested party if anyone knows a way.
P.S. I plan to post today and during the week so this thread may disappear from my blog homepage but obviously i get the email when someone comments so don't worry too much :-/
P.P.S. I am now breathing again after INGEERLLLAAND won.
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