Blogger limits update & workarounds

Blogger Help: What are the limits on my Blogger account? is overdue for updating as the number of blogs in a single Blogger/Google account is still stated as unlimited. In truth, Blogger.com has limited it to a maximum 100 blogs per account. However it is easy to go around this limit as you can create a new Blogger/Google account, create a new blog then invite your old account as team blogger and after acceptance of the invitation, make yourself (old account) as administrator.

Update 2: Thanks to Mary of Google Sites Hints and Tips who says that the limit of 100 team members per blog is actually a limit of 100 invitations and that by forwarding an invitation email, the forwardee can accept the invitation and become a team member as well and in this way, one can have more than 100 team members per blog.

Read rest of post >>>

Post in chronological order hack

Blog posts are by default arranged in reversed chronological order in the home page, that is, the newest (latest or most recent) post right at the top and followed by older post. A very common request from bloggers is to have the posts arranged in chronological order instead, that is, the oldest post at the top to be followed by earlier posts.

Up till now, the best solution we had been able to offer is to ask the blogger to play with dates and time or alternatively, edit the template to add extra "add a gadget" and then make a "sticky" post.

Now apparently the David Merriman had come up with a Blogger Hacking: Chronological Order where apparently all you need to do is to copy some script and paste it into your blog template just before the </body> tag and it will make posts in the home page display in chronological order instead of the usual default reversed chronological order of blogs.

Read rest of post >>>

Simple adjustable way to hide Navbar

An email from a blogger regarding his problem with hiding the navbar caused me to revisit the hiding the navbar issue plus recheck the Blogger TOS (Terms of Service) plus discovered a very simple way to hide the navbar which I tested at A-Z Products and adapted from Disable/hide navbar.

In order to hide the Blogger navbar, all you have to do is to sign into Blogger dashboard, click LAYOUT then EDIT HTML to open the template editor. Look for the body section in the stylesheet which in the standard Blogger Minima template is as follows:

background:$bgcolor;
margin:0;
color:$textcolor;
font:x-small Georgia Serif;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
text-align: center;
}

Now all you need to do is to copy and paste this small bit of CSS

margin-top:0px;
position: relative;
top: -40px;

and paste it, say, at the bottom of the above script just before the last } like this:

background:$bgcolor;
margin:0;
color:$textcolor;
font:x-small Georgia Serif;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
text-align: center;
margin-top:0px;
position: relative;
top: -40;
}

Depending on your template, you can play with the variable -40 until the extreme top of your blog header sits right at the top of the browser window or at any position according to your desire. To illustrate, see the screen shots below showing the original, the appearance with the variable as -50, then -40:

Original appearance with standard Blogger Minima template with Blogger Navbar plus space visible

Blogger Navbar plus part of Header hidden

Update: A commentator commented that the comments of J and Carol helped him, I think, with the new Blogger Template Designer, so I figured I will add their comments into the post proper:

For those using the new Template Designer, go to Design - Template Designer - Advanced - Add CSS.
Paste this code:

div.navbar {
opacity:0.0;
display:none;
}
body
{
margin-top:0px;
position: relative;
top: -50px;
}

Curse Blogger for making me spend two days on this!!!!

7/23/2010
Carol Schultz said...
j-
I tried yours and the only modification I needed to make was the last line from top:-50px; to top:-40x;
Maybe it's different depending on the template? Thanks for your help

Related posts:
Another way of hiding the navbar (February 2007)
How to hide Navbar for New Blogger (May 2007)
How to hide New Blogger Navbar (October 2008)

"Horizontal scrolling recent posts" for your blog

Found this hack to make a horizontal scrolling recent post at IdeasBubble, tested it at Star Home Improvements. Before you implement this, read this caution note.

If you want this horizontal scrolling "recent posts" just below your blog Header, first you got to add extra "Add a gadget" to the blog Header section (more specific instructions at Adding "graphic" to blog Header)

When you have this extra "Add a gadget" (gadget were previously called page element), sign into Dashboard, click LAYOUT then the "Add a gadget" in the Head section. Chose the HTML/Javascript gadget:



then copy-paste this script into the HTML/Javascript gadget:

<script style="text/javascript" src="http://dreamydonkey.googlepages.com/scrolling_blogger_posts.js"> </script><script style="text/javascript"> var nMaxPosts = 15; var sBgColor; var nWidth; var nScrollDelay = 175; var sDirection="left"; var sOpenLinkLocation="N"; var sBulletChar="•"; </script> <script style="text/javascript" src="http://YOURBLOG.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=RecentPostsScrollerv2"> </script>

Replace http://YOURBLOG.blogspot.com/ with you actual blog URL, preview, and if satisfied, save.

Caution

I tried varying some of the parameters (attributes) like changing

nScrollDelay = 175;
to
nScrollDelay = some number;

and got eratic results, among which were getting error messages when trying to access the edited blog like this one: Recreation and sport (blog only displayed by clicking OK in the error message. Would do more testing later if I find the time) (Update: managed to get rid of that irritating error message by changing templates, and finally by going to LAYOUT > EDIT HTML > click Revert widget template to default at the bottom of the page, publishing a few posts. Don't know exactly what cleared the problem. Will do somemore experimenting later)

Optimize blog and post title for search engines

When Blogger blogs are listed in the SERP (search engine result page), the default is the blog title is displayed first followed by the post title. See screen shot below:


This is bad especially if the blog title is long, the post title may be truncated. It is better to have the post title first before the blog title like the screen shot below:



In the above case, the post title is displayed first and the blog title is nowhere to be seen. Having the post title displayed first will result in better click through rate from search engines.

Note that had the blog title been as long as the post title you see in the above, the post title would have been obscured, not visible. Even if the blog title did not obscure completely the post title but is before the post title, this will result at less hits (traffic) from search engines. It is also bad for SEO (search engine optimization). It is thus advantageous to have the post title displayed first followed by the blog title.

I tested a hack I found at Optimize Blog Title for Search engine Results and increase visitors on this blog yesterday, Friday 6 February, 2009. I recorded the test at Testing SEO tip - post title and blog title in search engine result page. It will take some time before the change is indexed by the search engines.

And today, one day later, I found the very first search engine result which have the post title displayed before the blog title. Google for countdown for blog and see for yourself or refer to the screen shot below:



Note that the result is displayed as Countdown clock for blog: Blogger Tips and Tricks with the post title displayed first followed by the blog title.

Footnote: I discovered the above by examining the "Recent Pageload Activity" in Statcounter visitor counter statistics. This is one of the thing you can gain from installing a visitor counter. Note that not all the results will have this feature. Some not re-indexed by search engines will not have this feature and it will take time before the rest will display the same. How long I do not know but will continue to check the statistics in my visitor counter

Related posts: Post title SEO

Update: Received a comment "yOUR new custom domain is not configured good. Link http://www.bloggertipsandtricks.com/2009/02/seo-tip-increase-traffic-display-post.html took me on the google aps page."

The commentator is right. It was only yesterday I converted to custom domain. It will take a few days for the conversion to complete.

Enable surfers to apply to Blogger private blog for permission to view

Many bloggers wants surfers to be able to apply for permission to view private blogs. Previously this was possible by typing a message (for example email address) into the private blog title. Blogger changed that. Private blogs no longer display blog titles, only the URL of the private blog. Now the only way to get a message to surfers on how to apply for permission to view private blogs is to add that message into the blog URL. Look at the screen shot below for example:



In the example above, the blog title is myemailatgmaildotcom@blogspot.com

An alert surfers should be able to guess that he or she need to write to myemail@gmail.com to request permission to view blog. As for the blog title, you can set it to whatever you may wish. It is not the ideal solution, but the only available option at the moment unless Blogger changes how private blogs are displayed again.

Hide navbar for New Blogger

Blogger has started advertisement above the navbar (the usually blue navigation bar at the very top of a blog) on a random basis (now you see it, now you don't) and this has taken valuable space. See screen shot below:



Since that is taking valuable real estate plus the fact the the Blogger TOS (Terms of Service) did not specify that one must have it for the blog, I have decided to hide the navbar.

There are various ways to do that, not all of them effective. I have found that the hack by Aditya to be effective.

Aditya's hack is simple. Here is my interpretation of his hack: Go to LAYOUT > EDIT HTML to open the template editor. Look for <b:skin> and paste the following after that:

/* By Aditya http://the-lastword.blogspot.com/
----------------------------------------------- */
div.navbar {
opacity:0.0;
display:none;
}

Related posts:
Simple adjustable way to hide navbar
How to hide navbar for New Blogger (xml template

Adding a "Print this" option for your blog.

Here is a hack to enable your blog visitors to be able to print your blog, HP has provided a hack. This is what you need to do. As usual, BACKUP your template before you make any changes to the template. See Backing up and changing New Blogger template.

In your template, paste this script just below the <head> tag: (actually, it can be anywhere between the <head> and </head> tags, but pasting it immediately after the <head> tag is the easiest and the easiest to explain):

<style type="text/css" media="print">
#noprint {display: none;}
// Hide unwanted elements
body {background:fff; color:000;}
// Black text on White background
a {text-decoration: underline; color:00f;}
//Underline Hyperlinks in blue
}
</style>

Preview, and if everything seems OK, click "Save Template"

Then in one of your post (or all your posts if you want) put this at the bottom of the post in the post editor window:

<a href="javascript:window.print()">Print Page</a>

If you want the "Print Page" to appear in all your post, go to SETTINGS > FORMATTING and paste the above into the post template window.

To see an example, go to My Photo Store. I have only put "Print Page" in the first post (sticky post) "Picassa - Google Photo software". Don't try clicking on this button if you have your printer connected and switched on. You are going to waste a lot of paper. Install CutePDF writer (search for that in the search box above for the site to install this). You will have to install 2 things, the free CutePDF writer and the free GPL Ghostscript 8.15 converter. An extra option will be added to your choice of printers. If you have that installed, click "Print Page" and select "CutePDF Writer" as the printer and the page will be printed to a PDF file, saving you lots of paper and ink/toner.

How to hide the navbar for New Blogger

Refer to Simple adjustable way to hide Navbar for an easier way to hide the Navbar. Also see earlier update at the bottom of the post.

The navbar is compulsory for bloggers using blogspot.com for their blogs, and it can also be useful. It has a search box which will allow visitors to search the content of your blog. You can also change the color of the navbar to blend with the colors of your blog by going to the LAYOUT and right at the top, you will see a section for navbar. Click EDIT and chose the color for the navbar.

However, many people have expressed the desire to remove the navbar as there is "Next Blog" in the navbar which when click will lead to an unpredictable blog which may contain sexually explicit content, etc and about which people like educators who set up blogs for their students are very unhappy about.

Update 29 July 2007: Accoring to Kawaljit of Maybe it is OK to remove Blogger navbar, Google did a series of road show in some Indian cities to promote their Blogger platform. Ankit attended the event and asked for clarification on the navbar policy from the Google representatives at the roadshow. They called up their office in Bangalore office and confirmed that it's legal to hide the navbar.

If you really want to hide the navbar, this is how to go about it. Whenever you make changes to the template, it is always wise to backup the template first. If you are not familiar with that, refer to this post: Backing up and changing New Blogger template.

Sign into Dashboard, click LAYOUT for the relevant blog and then click the EDIT HTML sub-tab. This will open the template editor window. Look for this tag: </head>. Paste this script immediately above that tag:

<style type='text/css'>
#navbar-iframe {
display: none;
}
</style>

so that what you see will be

<style type='text/css'>
#navbar-iframe {
display: none;
}
</style>
</head>

Preview, and if satisfied, click "Save Template".

To demonstrate, I will hide the navbar from this blog DIY (Do It Yourself) which is a blogspot blog.

There are New Blogger templates by Final Sense which you get via links in New Blogger 3 column templates by Final Sense. Although there is a navbar Page Element in the Layout of the most blog templates, there are no navbar for blogs using Final Sense Color templates. So if you don't want a navbar, but have an excuse for it perhaps you may want to consider using Final Sense templates.

Update 5 July 2007: A blogger commented this method don't seem to work anymore. I tested before I published and it work, but on getting him comment, I tested again and found that what he said was true. I have tested a slightly different way of doing it at Another way of hiding the navbar and found that the alternative way worked. So if you still want to hide the navbar, refer to the new post.

Amazon products for Blogger

Related posts:

Another way of hiding the navbar (February 2007)
How to hide New Blogger Navbar (October 2008)
Simple adjustable way to hide Navbar (January 2010)

Redirecting a New Blogger blog to another site

I have previously done a post for redirecting a blog to another site for the old classic Blogger at How to redirect from old URL to new URL. However, on testing, it was found not to work on the New Blogger blogs anymore, even with changes.

This is the way to do it for the New Blogger. First thing to do always before you make any changes to the template is to backup the template PLUS the Page Elements. Some or all of your old Page Elements will be deleted or become empty when you upload a new or backup template. If you are not familiar with the method to do it, refer to Backing up and changing New Blogger templates.

First, sign into your Blogger Dashboard, click LAYOUT, then click the EDIT HTML sub-tab. This will open the template editor window. Add this block of codes into your template just below the <head> tab which should be very near the top of the template:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex" />
<script type="text/javascript"><!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
var url = "URL of where you want the blog to be redirected"
(document.images) ? location.replace(url) : location.href = url;
//--><!]]></script>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=URL of where you want the blog to be redirected" />

Then add this just below the <body> tag:

<p><a href="URL of where you want the blog to be redirected"></a>.</p>

Make sure you replace URL of where you want the blog to be redirected with the actual URL of the site you want to redirect to. If you are not familiar with URL, refer to What is URL and how to get it.

Update 5 August 2007: Two readers have complained of problems with this hack. I have taken the trouble to retest following exactly the instructions given above with a test blog Testing New Blogger Redirect.
Update 1.9.2008: Apologies, I have unknowingly deleted the above test blog. But be assured that I have successfully tested the redirect.

The link is supposed to take you to
http://testing-new-blogger-redirect.blogspot.com/
but click on the link and see where it eventually takes you. It will take a short interval before you get redirected.

One think I suspect is they have left out the http:// from their URL.

Expandable Post Summary for the New Blogger (formerly beta)

Update: Blogger have already implemented its own version of expandable post summary which they call JUMP BREAK and which require no or very little coding on your part. Being wanting to update this with a new post on JUMP BREAK but need pushing. If you are looking forward to reading a new post on JUMP BREAK, do give me a nudge at my contact form.

If you just want to read the instructions, click here

Update 3 March 2010: If your template doesn't have the line: div class='post-body'
look for
div class='post-body entry-content.
The above is from the comment of Kid Novice

Please also note that Blogger.com has recently introduced "jump break" which is what others call expandable post summary. Look out for a post detailing a test for their jump break,

What is expandable post summary

Expandable post summary is the term applied to blog posts where only short snatches (usually the first few paragraphs or sentences) are displayed with a link at the bottom that may say, usually, "Read More..." which if a reader is interested and when clicked, takes the reader to the full post. Expandable post summary is useful if you have the habit of writing long posts and you don't want your visitor to scroll through long line of text to see the next post in your main (home or index) page.

Instruction to implement Expandable Post Summary for New Blogger

To execute expandable post summary for your blog, the first thing you have to ensure is that "individual post page" (permalink) is enabled. Sign into Dashboard, then in the section for the relevant blog, click SETTINGS, then ARCHIVING and ensure that ENABLE POST PAGES is set to YES.

Next step: click the TEMPLATE tab, and highly advisable, click DOWNLOAD FULL TEMPLATE to backup your current template in case anything goes wrong or you want back your blog as they were before. Save it into a suitable folder with a suitable name like blog29jan07 or blog29jan07beforePostSummaryHack or something like that, so you can figure out why and when the template was saved. This is an important step you should take which you should not neglect. Make sure you have also backup the Page Elements as some will be deleted and some will become empty if ever you need to upload back your backup template. Then the backup Page Elements can help you quickly put back the deleted or empty Page Elements. See

Backup New Blogger template PLUS Page Elements and change new template

Backup New Blogger template PLUS Page Elements and edit template

The following instructions will need you to search for particular line of code in the template. There is a section "How to easily locate the code you are looking for" near the bottom of the post to help you quickly locate the code. So if you have problems is scanning through long lines of codes and do not know the trick on how to make it easier, scroll down the post and read that section first

Next, click EDIT HTML, then tick the "Expand Widget Template" and wait for the template to be fully expanded. In the template editor window, look for this line of code:

<div class='post-body'>

and just below that paste this code:

<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<style>.fullpost{display:inline;}</style>
<p><data:post.body/></p>
<b:else/>
<style>.fullpost{display:none;}</style>
<!-- post summary hack end -->


Note: I have added comments:
<!-- post summary hack begin --> and
<!-- post summary hack end -->
to mark the beginning and the end of the necessary codes. These comments are not essential, and do not do anything except to tell the reader of the program what the codes are for, where the hack begins and end and is a very common practice to document programs so that it is easier to read and understand, and to edit if necessary.

Amazon computer products

Now look for the following line of code which should follow immediately after the codes above:

<p><data:post.body/></p>

an then paste the following code after that line:


<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>Click Here to Read More..</a>
</b:if>
<!-- post summary hack end -->


After the you have pasted the codes in the relevant places, the whole thing should look like this:

<div class='post-body'>

<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<style>.fullpost{display:inline;}</style>
<p><data:post.body/></p>
<b:else/>
<style>.fullpost{display:none;}</style>
<!-- post summary hack end -->


<p><data:post.body/></p>

<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>Click Here to Read More..</a>
</b:if>
<!-- post summary hack end -->

<div style='clear: both;'/> <!-- clear for photos floats -->
</div>

where the codes in black are the existing codes and the codes in green are what you add in. When done, save the template.

What to do when you prepare your post

When you type your post, where you want the post summary to end, add in this code:

<span class="fullpost">

and then type in the rest of your post. At the end of the post, just add the last line of tag:

</span>


If you want to make the above task easier, you can go to SETTINGS > FORMATTING and then in the POST TEMPLATE, add in these lines:

Type your summary here
<span class="fullpost">
Type rest of the post here
</span>


then save the settings. If you do this, then each time you create a new post, the above codes will already be in the post editor window. Then all you have to do is to delete "Type your summary here" and replace it with the beginning of the post you want displayed in the post, then delete "Type rest of the post here", leaving <span class="fullpost"> at the place where you want the post summary to end, and type in the rest of the post. The last line of the post should be </span> which had already been added in by the post template.

For me, (and for you, if you understand completely what is explained above), I would just type in the post template the following:

<span class="fullpost">

</span>


and leave out "Type your summary here" and "Type rest of the post here". Then you will not need to delete anything, just type in the part of the post in the relevant section.

If you are still not clear about how you should go about typing the post, I append below one of the posts I have typed for the post What is a healthy diet (scroll down to the bottom of the scroll box to see where the </span> is placed):

What IS a Healthy Diet
by: Chris Chenoweth

There is so much information about what is healthy and nutritious these days that it is very difficult to sort out the hype from the truth. Following a healthy diet can be accomplished by making some simple adjustments to your current diet.

If you think it is just too much trouble to make some simple changes to improve your family’s diet, think again. Most people do not realize the incredible impact that a healthy diet has on our bodies, making the difference between poor health and good health.

<span class="fullpost">

Along with regular physical activity, a healthy diet is the most important factor that determines your weight. If you are overweight or obese, your chances of developing many diseases or conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers, increase significantly.

EASY STEPS TO A HEALTHY DIET

Your first step to following a healthy diet is to make sure you include food from all food groups. Vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, legumes, lean proteins and low fat milk products should all be incorporated into your daily diet.

*VEGETABLES – A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. It also contributes to a healthy weight, reducing your risk of obesity and the conditions associated with it. There are a multitude of vegetables to choose from, the healthiest being dark green vegetables like broccoli, lettuces, and kale, orange vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash, and red vegetables like red peppers and tomatoes.

*FRUITS – Eat a variety of fruits each day, canned, dried, fresh or frozen. Stay away from fruit juices as they can be high in sugar. (Unless you make the juice yourself.)

*WHOLE GRAINS – Choose whole grain cereals, breads, rice, and pasta. Read the food label and make sure the grain that is listed such as wheat, rice, oats or corn is referred to as WHOLE in the list of ingredients. Whole grains are an excellent source of fiber. Fiber can help reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

*LEGUMES – This class of vegetable includes beans, peas and lentils. They are low in fat, contain no cholesterol, are high in protein, and have phytochemicals, compounds that help prevent heart disease and cancer. They are also a good source of fiber. Add pinto, kidney, black and garbanzo beans, split peas and lentils to your daily diet.

*LEAN PROTEINS – Choose lean meats, poultry, and fish. Bake, broil, or grill it. Do not fry! Beans, nuts and seeds also provide protein.

*LOW-FAT MILK PRODUCTS – Eat low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheese or low-fat milk every day. Dairy products can lower your risk of diabetes and help build strong bones, reducing your risk of osteoporosis.

There are a variety of foods that should not be present in your diet except in very small amounts. These foods, such as sugars, alcohol, and some fats, contribute to diseases and poor health.

*SUGARS – Avoid foods containing sugar. You know what they are! Always check food labels to see how much sugar is present as some foods contain sugar that may surprise you.

*ALCOHOL – Avoid alcohol. If you must drink, limit intake to one drink a day. Alcohol can increase your risk of many conditions including some types of cancers.

*FATS – There are different kinds of fat in our foods. Some are detrimental to your health and others are very healthy.

1. Monounsaturated fats (olive oil, flaxseed oil, peanut oil and avocados)

2. Polyunsaturated fats (safflower, sesame, sunflower seeds)

These fats raise your good cholesterol levels. To stick to a healthy diet, choose foods with these fats.

3. Saturated fat and trans fatty acids raise your bad cholesterol levels, contributing to your risk of heart disease. Limit your intake.

Saturated fats are found in beef, veal, lamb, pork, lard, butter, cream, whole milk dairy products and can be present in processed foods like frozen dinners and some canned food. Always check food labels before purchasing.

Trans fatty acids, the kind of fats that increase the risk of heart disease, are formed during the process of creating cooking oils, shortening, and margarine and are found in commercially fried foods, some baked goods, and crackers. When checking food labels, make sure the ingredients do not include hydrogenated fats.

Following a healthy diet is a necessary step for the improved health of you and your family. It is not difficult to make the simple changes necessary to change an unhealthy diet to a healthy one. The advantages, better health, longer life, and more energy, far outweigh any inconveniences you may experience.

About The Author
Chris Chenoweth is the author of the DO-IT-YOURSELF HOME, HEALTH & MONEY GUIDE, 500 pages of household tips, home remedies, diet and nutrition information, health issues and thousands of recipes! Money Home Biz. If you would like additional information on healthy ways to lose weight, learn how to burn fat with one of the most effective and healthy fat-burning systems available, the BURN THE FAT program. Burn the Fat
</span>

How to easily locate the code you are looking for

To make your task of scanning the long lines of codes in the template, press ctrl+F and a Find [ ] will appear at the left of bottom of the browser. Tpye all or part of the code you are looking for and the scrollbar will scroll down to the part where the code is located and highlight it. See screenshot below:



Do all the necessary editing and preview. If everything seem OK, click "Save template" and VIEW BLOG" to ensure everything is OK

If this method don't work, click on the inside of the template editor window and press ctrl+A (or right-click and chose "Select all") to highlight all the template. Click ctrl+C (or right-click and chose "copy") to copy the template into clipboard, open a Notepad file, click ctrl+A again (or right-click and chose "Select all"), then click EDIT > FIND in the menu bar of Notepad at the top (or press ctrl+F), and in the "pop-up" FIND box, type or copy all or part of the code into the box and click "Find Next" and again the code you are looking for will be located and highlighted (see screenshot below):



Do whatever editing you need to do, then press ctrl+A (or right-click and chose "Select all") to highlight all the edited template in Notepad to copy into clipboard. Go back to the template editor. The whole unedited template should still be highlighted. Click the DELETE key and the template editor window will become empty. Paste the edited template into the empty template editor window, preview, then save.

---

Update 10 March 2007: There have been numerous enquiries about how to not display the "Read More..." link in short post with nothing additional to read. Unfortunately, this hack will place the "Read More..." even in short posts. Perhaps a good way to let your readers know that there is no more is to add in the word END OF POST. THERE IS NO MORE at the end of the short post.

This can be done by adding the HTML shown in the scroll box below:

<span style="color:red;">END OF POST. THERE IS NO MORE</span>

.

Alternatively, if you don't want "Read More" to appear in short post, refer to Testing Hackosphere peekaboo expandable post summary. This long post Guanxi. The First Word in Chinese Trade. On the other hand, a short post in the same blog Why the emphasis on things Chinese has no "Read More" at the bottom of the post.

UPDATE: This is in response to a reader who asked if the "Read More" can be made bigger. Yes, it can. The way to do it is simple. Simply surround the "Read More" with an inline CSS as follows:

<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<a expr:href='data:post.url'><span style="font-size:150%; color:red;">Read More......</span></a>
</b:if>
<!-- post summary hack end -->

I have, in addition to increasing the font size by 50%, have also changed the color to red so it is more visible. If you don't want the red text, just leave out color:red;

You can see this hack in this blog: Buy or Sell Advertising

Update 21 April 2007: Someone asked for help because she spent hours and couldn't implement this hack. The reason was she used a non-standard template and <div class='post-body'> didn't exist in her template. I had to spend some time to find the alternative place to paste the script for the hack. See the comments.

Update: 27 April 2007: A blog reader asked how to make the "Read More" link open in new window. I think it is not wise to have links to the same blog open in new window, but if you still want it, add target='_blank' to the script


<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<a expr:href='data:post.url'>Read More......</a>
</b:if>
<!-- post summary hack end -->


so that it becomes


<!-- post summary hack begin -->
<a expr:href='data:post.url' target='_blank'>Read More......</a>
</b:if>
<!-- post summary hack end -->


Update 16 May 2007: This hack will show "Read More" even for short post. You have another alternative. Have a look at this post: Testing phydeaux3 peekaboo expandable post summary

Update 22 May 2007: If you are worried about the effect of implementing expandable post summary for your blog, I did a test and it should have no effect. See post Expandable post summary and search engines

Acknowledgement: This post is a redo of Ramani's Expandable post summary with beta hack which I believe contain some additional information you should know when doing the hack plus I have attempt to make it easy, clear for those new to Blogger to follow the full instruction and implement it.

How you can easily do a sticky post with Blogger Beta

UPDATE 3 April 2009: It is now possible to use the dates and time POST OPTION to schedule posts to be published in the future by chosing a future date and time for the POST OPTION. Thus now if you put a future date, the post will not be published until later. To use the date and time POST OPTION to make a "sticky post", you will first have to publish using current or past date and time and only change the date and time to the future after publishing.

UPDATE 5 November 2006: Now, there are two ways to do a "sticky post", the one mentioned in the update below, and now another one in this post: Bloger Beta: How to add Adsense ads or permanent "sticky post" at the top main column of every page of the blog (click "BACK" button to return to this page).

UPDATE: I have done some testing and I believe I have discovered a way to make a "sticky post" in Blogger Beta. Look at this post: Adding a graphic to your Blogger beta blog (close new window to get back to this page). The post was written with a graphic in mind, but can be used for other things like AdSense ads, text for a "sticky post", etc. The stuff (text, etc., will end up in the Header

There have been numerous requests for ways to do a stick post. Now, the only way to do it is to play with the dates, to future date it:
How to make a post remain at the top of the page
However, this expire at that future date (2007 I believe) which is not too distant in the future. When that date is reached, you will have to future date it again, and this will cause the URL of the post (permalink) to change. That means dead links, fruitless search engine results, etc.

With Blogger Beta, there is an easy way to do a sticky post, provided Blogger put an extra "Add a Page Element" just below the header (just above the post). Anything you put in that new Page Element will appear at the top of every page. Thus you can add text (perhaps an introduction to the blog, instruction on how to navigate the blog, ads, etc,)

I have made a suggestion to Blogger support. But whether they eventually implement it will depend on how many people request for it. Those who want to be able to do a real sticky post for themselves, for fellow bloggers, for friends and relatives, should make a suggestion. You can do it here: Make suggestion to Google Blogger

Update: Got a couple of comments from readers that they are not even aware that there is a new Blogger Beta. Please understand that this is a beta, and there are bugs to iron out, which I suppose they eventually be. However, if you have not been invited to join the beta, you can still start a new Blogger Beta blog to test it. Go to Blogger in Beta, read about it, and if you want to start a new Blogger Beta blog, look for the link "create an account" and click on it. (Ah, I might as well give you the hyperlink here for your convenience: Create an account). I would suggest you proceed with caution. Use an email (Gmail) account that is not associated with any of your current blogs, as I have read reports of numerous problems with not being able to post to current blogs, can't see current blogs on Dashboard, etc. If you do decide to sign up for a test blog, I think you will enjoy the many new features, and especially if you do not like to deal with HTML, this will be good for you.

LATEST UPDATE: You can add an extra "Add a Page Element" to the header by yourself. See Adding a graphic to your blog header. I have used it to add a graphic to the header as well as an AdSense link unit.

Books from Amazon

The Rational Guide to Google Blogger (Technical accuracy is assured by Biz Stone, Former Senior Specialist on the Google Blogger Team)

Book: Blogging for Dummies

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How to prepare a post to be published in the future

Here is a workaround to create a post to publish in the future. You will have to use Email Scheduler. This post was prepared on Friday, August 4 at 10:34 and is scheduled to publish on August 5 at 12:00. This is how it can be done. First you will have to enable blogging by email. Log into Dashboard, select the blog, click SETTING>EMAIL, then in the Mail-to-Blogger Address box, type in a secret word in the box and make sure you tick Publish box. Save and republish. Then create an account at Email Scheduler. Click "Scheduler" at the top bar and you will see a window like in the screen capture shown below. Type in the Mail-to-Blogger Address in the "to" box, the title of your post in the "subject" box and prepare your post in the content box. Then choose the date and time at which you want the post to be published in the "Remind on" boxes and click "submit". If you want to confirmed your email is saved, click on the "Pending email" button on the right sidebar. This is how you will do it if you are familiar with HTML. If you are not familiar with HTML and if you want to post photos, there is an alternative. Log into Blogger Dashboard and prepare your post as normal. You can do it in either the Edit Html mode or the Compose mode, but when you are finished, make sure you change over to EDIT HTML mode. Highlight the prepared post and copy. Follow the method as described above, but instead of preparing your post in the content box of Email Scheduler, paste your post prepared in the Blogger post editor. Chose the date and time you want to post and click "submit" and you are done. Note: If your post editor have word verification turned on, you will first have to get it removed or it will interfere with your future posting. This blog had post editor word verification turned on. I contacted Blogger Support and the word verification was removed within 24 hours. To contact Blogger Support, see How to contact Blogger Support (click "BACK" button to get back to this page). You will normally receive an automated email. Make sure you reply to the email.

Update: This post was prepared on Friday, August 4 at 10:34 and was scheduled to publish on Saturday, August 5 at 12:00. How, the post was published on Sunday, August 6 between 9.00 and 12.00 according to my computer time. I live on the other side of the globe from America.



You may also want to take a look at iContact for your blog, especially business blog.

Books from Amazon

The Rational Guide to Google Blogger (Technical accuracy is assured by Biz Stone, Former Senior Specialist on the Google Blogger Team)

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OLDER POST

___________________________
Sent by Peter via the free Email Scheduler service.
Register now at http://www.emailschedule.com

Tip: Hiding the navbar

Update 24 May 2007: A blog visitor complained that the instruction didn't work for him. This post was written before New Blogger was introduced and perhaps it wouldn't work for New Blogger. If you are using New Blogger template, refer to How to hide navbar for New Blogger

Update 24 October 2006. Some people have very stong opinion about the hiding of the navbar as it violate Blogger TOS (Terms of Service). They feel that Blogger is asking very little of bloggers in return for providing this free service. Please read the rest of this post with that in mind. And be reminded that there are advantages of having a navbar at the top of your blog. However, many people are wary of the Next Blog link in the navbar which takes to to random Blogger blogs, some of which may contain explicit sexual content, hate messages, etc. Some educators who want to set up blogs for their students are understandbly wary of this and want to remove the navbar, and I can understand why.

The navbar is the bar at the top of every blogspot.com blog that contains from left to right, the Blogger logo, a search box, Search This Blog, Search All Blogs, Blog This!, Get Your Own Blog, Flag, Next Blog. It is by default dark blue in color, but it may have been changed to tan or some other color.

Many bloggers for some reasons or other want to hide this navbar. To hide the navbar, try adding this code in between the <style></style> tags, in the <head> section.

<!--Code to remove blogger navbar-->
#b-navbar {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}
<!--End of code to remove blogger navbar-->

However, here are some reasons why one should keep the navbar. For one, I believe the navbar is required as per Blogger's Term of Service. Another is to allow visitors to navigate around your blog by using the blog search box at the top left-hand corner. In fact, on my blog, I have 2 search boxes, one in the navbar and one Google sitesearch box. I have noticed that the search results from the 2 boxes differ. One search result may turn up a relevant topic when the other one fails to do so.

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