Blogger Blog list reviewed and added

Head over to the blog if you are in an RSS reader and look at the new "My Blog List" that is on the right side a bit down. This is available via Blogger in draft but I was not able to Import subscriptions from Google Reader using IE7 as it just hanged, but when using FireFox it worked even though the import was really slow.

The new Blog List gadget is right now only available if you log in to Blogger in draft.

Here are settings available and how to add from Google Reader.

               

I just wish it was updated in real-time if a Google Reader tag is selected so any changes you make in Google Reader is directly reflected in Blogger.

Head over to the blog and look at it.

See also Blogger in Draft blog

Future-dated posts to Blogger with Live Writer

Blogger now schedules future-dated posts is no longer beta. Now I just wish Windows Live Writer (WLW) add support for this. It warns me about not supporting this but it sure does work if you just click on Yes. This is great news.

AutoCAD 2008 spam emails redirected via blogspot

Don't be fooled by these spam emails that shows a blogspot link like these ones.

If you click on the link you will automatically end up at another site than the one you see. If you have restricted this in IE you will just see a site like the one below.

I think Blogger (Google) should restrict usage of these kind of redirections.

Error Connecting to Weblog - solution

I got this error trying to post from Windows Live Writer (WLW) and it took a while to figure it out. I had no problem posting from the Blogger web interface.

---------------------------
Error Connecting to Weblog
---------------------------
An error occurred while attempting to connect to your weblog:
Unable to connect to the remote server
You must correct this error before proceeding.

The problem was that for some reason the antivirus/firewall had blocked Windows Live Writer.

Google Blog Search problem to get complete result

A comparison on two searches and I found the following confirming that this Search Box for Blogger still is not good. The problem is probably not so much related to this Search Box (on the right side of this blog) but it's all Google and the blog search should really be fixed. Being one of the largest search companies Google should have fixed this a long time ago.
18 found using Google Search (the result includes the monthly archives) compared to Google Blog Search that only finds 3 out of 9. That means a lot of the posts are missing on this search and other searches as well. The index is obviously very incomplete and needs to improve. Searching within Blogger 9 posts are found and is the correct.

Solution for Google Analytics tracking code problem with Blogger

Google is behind both Blogger and Google Analytics but this problem slipped through. If you get the error below when you try to add the new tracking code for Google Analytics to your blogger/blogspot blog take a look at this solution. Notice that if you just copy the code from that page you will get _gat is undefined error on your pages so use the code below and just make sure to change UA-XXXX-X to your code.

For HTTP:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google-analytics.com/ga.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXX-X");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>

For HTTPS:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXX-X");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>

Error message:

We were unable to save your template
Please correct the error below, and submit your template again.
Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
XML error message: Open quote is expected for attribute "{1}" associated with an element type "type".

Why would you want to make this update and switch from urchin.js to ga.js?

This will allow you to take advantage of the most up-to-date tracking functionality as it is added to Google Analytics.

Reading through the migration guide I also learned how to track downloaded files.

Search within Blogger

Using Blogger in draft I've added the new Search Box to the right column.

It look like this.

 

The search result is showed within the Blogger (blogspot) blog like this using Ajax technology.

What is also very useful is the Linked From Here option that searches sites I have linked to or have in my blogroll to the right.

Give the new search in Blogger a try.

Update 2007-12-24: The downside is that the search result is not complete. A lot of the posts that should be found are not found.

Email follow-up comments for Blogger added

This is great news for Blogger (blogspot) blogs. Now when you leave a comment you can subscribe to the comments and get email notifications. This is for each post so unless you are interested in a feed for all blogger comments this is so much better.

In order to subscribe to comments by email you cannot be anonymous, you must be logged in to a Google Account.

See subscribing to comments via email for all details.

Via Blogger Buzz.

Total number of posts on a Blogger blog

Here is blogger hack to show the total number of posts on your blog.

It uses JavaScript and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

The only thing you need is to change ChangeThisToYourBlog in the code below to the name of your blog.

<script style="text/javascript">
function showpostcount(json) {
    document.write('Posts on this blog ' + parseInt(json.feed.openSearch$totalResults.$t,10) + '<br>');
}
</script>

<script src="http://ChangeThisToYourBlog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showpostcount"></script>

Most people in China cannot see this post

I tried Website Test behind the Great Firewall of China and in Beijing and Shanghai this blog was not accessible (My website was accessible though). Hong Kong had no problem to see the blog though.

On topic, I have also heard of companies that blocked blogs hosted on Google's blogspot.com and blogs in general.

Should I move the blog and host it myself on jtbworld.com? What is your experience hosting your own blog?

Feed for blogspot comments

It's easy to get a feed for comments even if the blog (powered by Blogger and looking like this http://myblog.blogspot.com) does now show any feed for the comments.

http://myblog.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/full

Reading Deelip's post got me thinking about sharing this tip.

So for Deelip the comment feed would be as the above. Just changing myblog to deelip. Does only work when hosted on blogspot.com.

Then of course the feed can be burned using Feedburner.

In my case the comment feed for JTB World Blog is http://feeds.feedburner.com/JtbWorldBlogComments

To the right on my blog you can see the 5 latest JTB World Blog Comments.

PS. I have also as many others made use of Talkr so you can listen to the posts. See the link Listen to this below. There is also a podcast feed available.

Windows Live Writer - WLW is WOW

Posting from the latest beta version of Windows Live Writer. Have to blog more to try it out now. It was no problem to install above the existing one. All my drafts and refenty posted posts as well as all settings where retained.

Update. I just added tags to existing posts. Works with Google's Blogger as well.

Do you want to subscribe to a specific label?

Here is how to do it. You might only be interested in something special on this blog or other Blogger blogs.

For example a feed for what I write with label (category) as AutoCAD 2008:
http://jtbworld.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/AutoCAD%202008

If the label name contains a space make sure to substitute it with %20 so instead of AutoCAD Architecture 2008 it should be AutoCAD%20Architecture%202008.

This is another great way to put the reader in charge. You maybe don't care about VBScript or VB.NET but want to read all about the latest and greatest AutoCAD 2008.

But what if you want to know everything about multiple feeds and don't want feed items to show up more than one time. How about using pipes from Yahoo as described before. I made this little test pipe on AutoCAD and here is the resulting RSS feed that combines three labels (AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD 2007 and AutoCAD).

Here is what the Blogger help answers on: Can I get site feeds for specific labels?

Yes, you can! If a blog you read is using labels and also has site feeds enabled, then you can pick and choose which topics you want to subscribe to. The format for label feeds is this:
http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname

Be sure to substitute in the correct blog address for blogname and the label you're interested in for labelname. Also, don't miss the hyphen ("-") in the URL. That's not a typo!

Note that a URL of this form will only work if the blog in question is using this specific label, and has also enabled site feeds. However, no special site feed settings are necessary. As long as the basic site feed for posts is enabled (with either short or full descriptions) then label feeds will also work.

Practical usage of Google Blog Search

Google Blog Search can be useful if you want to stay informed on new blog posts on a specific subject. Let's say you want to find blog posts with at least one of the following words (AutoCAD, ADT, ACA and DWF) on this blog or some other blog. Use the advanced blog search.

And here is the RSS. An Atom feed is also available if you for some reason prefer that.

Here is the result of the Google Blog Search and the Blogger Blog Search with the same result but a different look.

Blogger Backup Utility

On CodePlex there is a free utility to make backup of your Blogger blog. It worked great to backup all 375 posts so far.

 

PS. Blogger is no longer in Beta. It's new. And the Backup Utility worked with it even though it says Blogger 3.0 (Beta).

Technorati tags: Blogger

Windows Live Writer and Blogger Beta problem solved

I got WLW working again after migrating to Blogger Beta. WLW didn't post at all and could not load the style template.

I got this tip by email from Joe Cheng at Microsoft that solved the problem. I initially posted about it to the msn Groups.

Find this registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Windows Live Writer\Weblogs\2e27accf-425c-4996-9c2d-a075aad9307a

Rewrite BlogId and PostApiUrl to use "beta.blogger.com" instead of "www.blogger.com" (leaving the rest of the URL the same). Then restart Writer and try again.

Windows Live Writer test

Having first read Dag König blogging about the new Windows Live Writer and reading more on Windows Live Writer team blog I had to give it a try and I must say that I'm hooked by it's clean and simple to use interface and sometimes I just prefer a desktop application instead of a web application. I've always found bloggers web editor hard and slow to use so this one I have to keep using for a while.

• Take for example this image. I used SnagIt and just copy and paste with the clipboard quick and simple.
• Then there are standard formatting, bullets and spell checking.
• The coolest thing is the Web Layout and Web Preview so I can see what it will look like when published with all the formatting. And of course I can edit the HTML code.

So soon I'll see how this will look like when published.

tags: Windows+Live+Writer

Technorati search instead of Blogger search

If you use a feed reader take a look at the left of the JTB World blog and you will see that I've added the option to use Technorati search. I've found that the Blogger Search doesn't find much. Because of the same reason I've also changed the Categories tag search on the right to use Technorati. One reason the Technorati search is so good is that it searches the feeds as well as archived feeds. Since some typical search words are on the template a general Google or MSN search doesn't give as good result.

Configure a Technorati searchlet

technoratifeedback

Refreshing blog template design skills

I've made some changes to my blog. You might not noticed because you read the blog using a feed reader. Anyway. I've added dropdowns for the archives and the recent posts. I did some CSS and DIV changes as well as changes to fonts and sizes to have the site look better. I also placed Categories to the right using Blogger search on some typical keywords. Automatic translation using Google translate. I added a little notification text that shows up if you open up the blog in a windows that is smaller than it's optimized for. I hope you like it.