Tips for Those Using Blogger

The Blogger Buzz is a great place to get information and help for issue in setting up various aspects of Blogger. I already posted a link from there in the previous post. Here is one with Tips for New Blogger users.

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/09/tips-for-new-bloggers.html

Anyone using Picasa for photos may know it is already intergrated into Blogger. So for those looking for a place to move their photos, this may be helpful.

You can get a button for your browser called Blog This! If you are on a web page reading something and you suddenly get a blog idea from it, you can click the button and it goes instantly to a post page with the link already there and you can write your post.

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/06/blog-this.html

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/07/creator-vs-curator.html

Not for everyone but there are a number of template types in Blogger. The video here will help you see them a bit more clearly.

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/09/dynamic-views-seven-new-ways-to-share.html

The dashboard's new look

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/10/update-bloggers-new-look.html

You can see that the Buzz is a good place to find help on the basics.

Grow your Google Blog

The following link will show you how to connect your Blogger account with G+ and allow you to share content and comments on your blog via G+.

http://buzz.blogger.com/2012/07/socialize-with-googleplus.html

Sundries

I started this in response to a post of Jilly's! When it got so long I thought, that's rude! I decided to make it a post but Jilly.... it was in response to your's. LOL

I really wish Multiply would give us an import tool! I'd like to save all my post as there are some I posted here but not on Blogger! I think that is why people are leaving now. If we wait to the end to get our stuff off, we might lose it. If we have to go to all this trouble now, why stick around? 

I've nearly downloaded all my videos but it takes days to download one year and I've got six years of them. I already did my photos and I can only hope I got them all as I could only download full albums from the specific album page. It was so tedious. I will never save photos to a blog site again.

I shall stick with blogger. I'm having more trouble on Blogster trying to get into blogs to read and post. It is already stressful enough having to backup multiply that I don't have the patience to deal with the technical issues on a strange site. And I've been trying to help people with Blogger questions. I know it is all confusing but as Jilly said, we were in similar straits when 360 failed. I know everyone will find a suitable site and settle in... but some of us may, in fact, lose track. It is why I'm so glad everyone is exchanging emails and links. If you're my contact or just a person who pops in and reads me, my blogger link is at the bottom and send me an email. 

My Google reader is full, too, but you can get rid of some of it all at once. Just have it mark "all as read". Once you get sorted out you can go to those sites and read. I have about 20 blogs on my reader now, this doesn't include other things I subscribe to. I think it will take time to sort it all out. The one good thing about the reader is I can scan and see if it is something I'm wanting to read today. LOL! Not everything is.

I'm going to get very busy in another month. National Novel Writing Month is November but I am the Municipal Liaison for my region and I plan on starting in October to rope people in and have my meet and greet for them before the end of the month. I think it will be easier if I do that. Maybe a cake and some drinks and enough time to chat everyone up. I enjoyed it last year. 

It is now well after midnight. I stopped to watch something on t.v. and time got away. I'm posting this anyway as I can't remember if there was anything else. 

Hasta manana, amigos.

A Series of Unforeseen Circumstances

"If things improve with age, then I am approaching magnificence." - From the side of my blue coffee mug.

Insights, Ponderings, and Certainties

I've has several questions and comments on Blogger/G+ use and features. Google has intergrated Blogger and G+. This is a good marriage and I expect, over time to see it fine tuned. The features of commenting and seeing comments people make are in G+ and your Blogger links are added to G+ by the you at the time of posting. 

People can comment both places. Only G+ has a notification icon in gmail or as an extension in Chrome. I'm not sure about other browsers but I'm guessing if not it will eventually. You select who you want in your circles and who you follow.  It can be five people or as many as you like. You can limit who is allowed to comment in both G+ and Blogger. Anyone can follow you in G+ but not everyone has to be allowed to comment.  If you "Follow" a blog on G+ you will get all the updates. There is a widget on the top of my blog for that.

 

That's what G+ is for, really. People comment on blogs on G+ and notification is sent to you by means of a little red button extension in Chrome or your gmail account. It's all linked and will become more so I think.  I see a notification about every post I commented on when someone else comments through G+. 

G+ is doing everything Multiply and FB do because of this integration. I'm not crazy about some G+ features but I wasn't crazy about all of M's either. And I really don't like FB. Google is known for modifying things to meet the demands of their members. I suspect some features will morph over time.

Getting all kinds of questions from all quarters on the features, or lack thereof, of Blogger. I'm definately going to be using Blogger/G+ as my primary blog. I've been experimenting with Blogster and I just don't find it any fun at all. It has basic blog features and comments with a list you can read them from but I'm getting all kinds of glitches. 

I've been using Blogster to see how I like it. I don't really like it at all. I'm not finding a lot to interest me there. Or maybe I'm just bored with the whole thing. But it has issues I don't like.

For instances, I usually can't get in Jilly's blog there. We're on each other's lists and notices arrive but the links don't work. I'm not going to mess with that long... I've already reached my limit, in fact. There are problems with fonts being small and you can't adjust them half the time. Most of the people I've been running into are nice enough but most of the material is not as interesting as the bloggers I ran into here. Could be because it is still small and I don't really know more four or five people. There is limited "decorating" ability and I really enjoyed that. It's rather boring to look at, actually. I can't email post to the blog. I can't cross post to any other blog. This is a great feature to have and multiply and blogger both have it. In fact, with both I could cross post to half a dozen other sites! So this means I can blog on breaks at work even if I can't get into the site. I also get emails of your posts. That is a feature of Multiply and Blogger. I have it turned on for Multiply but not Blogger. I subscribe to a lot of blogger blogs! The reader works better for reading them and the active link allows me to got to it to comment.

Some mentioned you can't get the threaded comment feature in blogger and the responses to your comments. Yes, you can. When you comment on a Blogger post, you just have to "subscribe to the comments". You will get a notification when other people make a comment to a blog you've commented on. IT goes to the email you have in Blogger.

I elect to get things via my gmail because everything is integrated and it just makes it easier since I'm at work 40 hours a week. And even at home it is convenient at times. For a long time I've been using the email features of Multiply and most of you didn't know unless I said so. I even comment on comments via email. I'm writing this post in email in response to comments to another post that I got in email. In Blogger you can't see comments on other blogs without going back to the blog unless you are getting email notifications for that. 

Threaded comments are possible in blogger. Someone mentioned this previously. Under Post and comments > Settings make sure you select "Full" for embedding. Under Settings> Other, Allow Blog feed should be set to "full". 

Instructions here: http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725597&topic=12456&ctx=topic

To seen comments you leave on other blogs, you have to backlink feature on and you also need to subscribe by email to the comments on the blog you comment on. As with all sites you have to select the features you want to work. The backlink instructions are here: http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42533

Subscribe to comments to get updates: http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=79117

Ultimately, you're not going to find every feature you want anywhere. You are also going to have to learn something new.That's hard for most of us. Annoying for all.  Every site has features you're not going to know how to use unless you learn. I've been using Blogger long before 360. There are features available now that were not available when I started there. It has evolved tremendously but it is a stable site that will probably be around when others leave. I should know. I've been on two sinking ships. The fact that Google bought blogger several years ago is good indication of its stability. So, for me, that makes it a good choice, even though I can't do some of the things I want in the way I'm used to doing them. I've compensated for the social interaction by utilizing G+ for hangouts and FB. If more friends sign up, it will become feasible to utilize G+ more than Facebook. My writing group is already using it for meetings. We use FB for group interaction on a group page. So there are ways to link up and make do. 

Unfortunately, it is difficult to start over at anything. Most of us took a long time to set up our page and get it like we wanted it. We liked changing wall paper for each season, hanging photos, videos, and  gifs that reflected our personality. There are places that offer all that without the depth of social interaction found on Multiply. But if you want to keep in touch the way you have here, there are alternatives that make it possible, too. You just won't have as much of the other.

I'm not letting Multiply rob me of the friends I've made and I'm not going to sweat over recreating the wheel. I'm almost done downloading my videos and photos. I should be done in another week. I'm gradually learning more on how to coordinate blogger and G+ to get features as much like the ones I've used here and to utilize the features of FB to my advantage. I'm having a great time in my group page. I'm enjoying G+ and the hangout feature. I have always loved Blogger and more so now. So, all I really have to do is keep up with all the people who have been with me through some wonderful times and who have held my hands through the darkest time of my life. 

We'll all survive. We've done this before. We're pros at surviving sinking ships.

"The greatest blessings are not seen, they are experienced." -- Dixie

A Series of Unforeseen Circumstances

"If things improve with age, then I am approaching magnificence." - From the side of my blue coffee mug.

One Problem Solved!

I'd like one a day, please!

I've been fretting over Multiply closing and not being able to keep up with all my friends in the variety of formats they are choosing. I mean Blogster, Blogger, G+, FB.... my head is spinning and I'm going nuts trying to keep up. Also, I don't want to register with another potential sinking ship. I know things change on the internet. It is in constant flux. But come on... Multiply was a badly thought out decision and they will be the ones to pay. I just don't want to do this again.

So, my solution was right in front of me. RSS feeds. Yes. I went to my Friends on Blogster and subscribed via RSS Feed. I have Google reader in Chrome but you can get it in IE, too. Or you can chose another reader. Doesn't matter. For me, every single blog I subscribe to on Blogger is already out there. Every blog I subscribe to on Blogster via RSS fed is also on the reader. I now have all the blogs of I subscribe to in ONE place. I can read them! For the blogger blogs I have only to click on the title and it takes me right to that posts where I can then comment. I can't seem to get into Blogster that way but I can at least read and when I have time, go comment on the site.

Jilly, I can't get into your second blogger site. Not sure it if matters if you aren't going to be on there but I can get into one of them. Blogster gave me trouble today getting into your site. I tried on clicking on the notice of your post at the top and it would only take me to the home page. You're site was the only one to do that so not sure what caused it.

I feel better. But I also see that I have more blog friends that I realized! Still, it is nice to know I can still read them.