Thursday, February 23, 2012

Blogger How To Questions

I want to do a Blogger tips / tricks / fixes segment on my blog soon. Now, I know that not everyone who blogs uses Blogger blogs, but does seem to be the majority. (Plus, my posts on how to do things in other blogging programs would be about as helpful as a computer without a keyboard. Or a mouse. Or a touch screen.)

I blogged on Blogger for years before starting this blog, so it's possible I'll know some answers to your questions. And if I don't: I just happen to not be afraid of research! That, and I have a husband who's crazy smart. He comes in quite handy.

So I'd love to hear what things you think would be helpful!
  • Things about images?
  • Links? 
  • Posts? 
  • Sidebars?
  • How to turn off that annoying captcha? (And never fear. Blogger is freaking amazing at weeding about the spam comments for you. FREAKING AMAZING. Seriously.)
  • Things you've seen on other people's blog that you'd love to know how to do on yours? 
  • Crazy things Blogger does that you don't know how to fix? 
  • Things you've wished it could do, but you're convinced it can't do?
Let me know any questions, and I'll do my best to do a post on them. I know that not all questions will come to your mind right at this second, so if you come across any while blogging, come back or email me.

29 comments:

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

I actually really like blogger and haven't had many problems with it. But I think your tips would be helpful - my husband could have used them - he got so fed up, he's switching to wordpress. But I think it's actually his crummy computer that's at fault :-)

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Down with Captcha! That's my only tip.

Nicole McLaughlin said...

I like this idea! I'd like to learn anything new about blogger. I currently know enough to really mess things up. :P

Emily R. King said...

Google search is a huge help. You can find the answers to anything there. I even play around with HTML code now. Yeah, I know, I feel like a badass.
:)

Christina Lee said...

Looking forward to seeing what you come up! I've been blogging for almost four years and have only had 1-2 problems in all that time with Blogger (knock on wood).

Maybe people would want to know how to add cool stuff to sidebars (like word clouds or link within)etc.

Mara Rae said...

I would love to know how to create a cute little button like yours!

Angela Cothran said...

Blogger is so intuitive to use. Even someone technically challenged like me can do it.

I love your blog, by the way. It is so cute and professional.

I think you should tell people how to make it so they get all comments by email. It is SOOO cool. And tell all those crazy people who don't have an email on their profile how to add one, so I can email them back. I promise I'm not a stalker.

Donna K. Weaver said...

I wanted to put just an audio clip on my blog for a giveaway. Apparently, Blogger doesn't do that. I had to create a movie with Moviemaker and use the audio in it before I could post it to my blog.

Did I miss something?

Carrie Butler said...

I'm pretty comfortable with Blogger, but this is a great idea! :D

DRC said...

Funny you should mention blogger tips: Not sure if you're aware but Google are discontinuing their Google Friend Connect widget for blogs that aren't powered by blogger. I'm not too up on what this all means, but it's something that should be looked into. I have a feeling many followers will be lost...

Krista McLaughlin said...

I have to say that EVERYONE should take off the word verification... it's very annoying to try and post comments when you have to decipher what the heck those words are.

Alice said...

I'd love to figure out how to customize my blog. I've tried but can't find the images online that I want that will fit into my heading or background.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to know how to get 4cute buttons under subscribe rather than messy separate things for fb twitter etc
Also... My header pic somehow became narrower... And I want to stretch it out across the top of m blog again....
So if you could answer those .... I'd be over the moon.
Xx

Z said...

I think any and all tips about Blogger could be helpful. Even if we've figured it out on our own, having somebody show you how to do things (like where to put the html for your header pic, how to create a button people can take and put on their own sites, how you make your cute little cookie images at divides of your posts, etc.)
Plus, your blog is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E and it's nice to get tips from nice-looking blogs such as yours :)

ps, I like the way the comments section of your blog works for me--it's a cute little pop-out with options for identity and no awkward little decipher thing to worry about--I'd like to know how to do that :)

Golden Eagle said...

I can't think of any questions right now, but I'm interested to see what posts come out of this! I'm sure I'll learn something new. :)

Oh, wait. I do have one question. How does Blogger add all those new fonts and how visible are they on all browsers? I like some of them and have considered using them, but I wouldn't want some viewers to come across unreadable text if they have an older browser/one that doesn't handle them.

Iain said...

How do I get more time to read all the blogs I subscribe to and make comments? ;o)

Susan Kane said...

Just how important are all the sidebars and stuff? I see them and wonder if my blog needs more interest in it. I really simplistic when it comes to tech stuff.

Trisha said...

I think this is a great idea for beginning bloggers at least! How about posts on all of the above? haha

Trisha said...

I have actually always wondered how other bloggers manage image embedding in their posts. I mean, I always have to go into the html to create tables and stuff, but it'd be a lot easier if I could just drag a picture around in my editor & put it where I want, and have the text 'wrap' around it.

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

I wouldn't mind knowing more about what blogger can do. And I should probably look into how to add on links to Twitter and Facebook. Great idea for posts!

Rachel said...

I wonder how people are able to personalize their blogs so much. Like backgrounds and stuff. But, I'm not at all tech-savy, so I suppose it's a good thing I don't know how to do too much in the way of personalizing. I may bring down all of blogger!

TerryLynnJohnson said...

I'll be back to see what you come up with! Great idea.

In Which We Start Anew said...

My gosh, I can't think of anything, but I'm really looking forward to what you come up with. I've JUST started to really dig in and decide to get serious(er) with my blog, and I'd love to see what you have to say. :)

Julie Daines said...

Sounds like you've got your hands full answering all those questions. I think I've got blogger figured out pretty well, but I'll definitely check back to see if I'm missing something.

You might want to advise bloggers to make the link back to their own blog more accessible. I've often tried to link back to someone's blog, but when I click on their name or thumbnail picture, it doesn't take me anywhere helpful.

Susanna Leonard Hill said...

Great idea - I never know what I'm doing :) I would like to know if there's a way to jump down the page in blogger. For example, on my Perfect Picture Book tab, I'd like to be able to jump directly to the Alphabetical List or the Title List or the Blogger List... Thanks!

Linda King said...

I would definitely like to know how to turn off CAPTCHA. Also, how to use linkys, how to add other pages to my blog, how to use side-bars. Thanks!

Stacy S. Jensen said...

I hope this isn't a repeat: I really like the new reply function on comments, but I've heard more bloggers say they don't read responses (don't want to sign up for email follow-up, etc. I tend to fall into this category more too). Several bloggers make a point to send responses via email. Is there an easy way to do this in Blogger? I may be overthinking how this is done.

Sarah Tokeley said...

I'm one of those who would love a new background for my blog but I'm not inspired by the template ones. How do people create their own?

Valerie Hartman said...

At the bottom of posts for several blogs, I am seeing a "You Might Like" section with only images and a title presented horizontally. How do they do that?

I am new to Blogger, so just about everything listed above sounds good too. Thanks!