Tuesday, October 06, 2020

Helpful Blogging Hints for the New Blogger Interface

 
I know so many of you are learning the new Blogger Interface. I've been seeing a few helpful hints around some other blogs that I thought I would share with you. 

On the new blogger, the word 'normal' comes up at the top when you first open the post-draft page. When you click in the body of the draft page it switches to 'paragraph'. You have to switch it back to 'normal' in the drop down menu to get single space at the top of the page instead of the double space I had been getting when adding pictures at the top of the page.

For things like Youtube videos. Switch to HTML, I have to use the HTML format to change the size of the Youtube videos that I sometimes put on my blog. It's the pencil icon on the far left top area when you are on the draft page. This the size that I like my videos. I'll show you how I did this. 


On the Youtube page, click share and then embed. Copy the embed code and come back to the Blogger page. Click on the pencil icon and switch to HTML and paste the embed code on the page. 


The code circled in the big red circle is the embed code. The small red arrow is pointing at the width number that you can change to make the video narrower. It's automatically starts with 560 but I erased that number and added 350 instead. That makes the video the right size for me but you can change it to whatever number works for you. 


Now you can see that I changed the number. When you are done, you just go back to where the pencil icon was, it now shows this symbol ( < > ) instead of the pencil. Just click on the drop down menu and click on "Compose view" to get back to the regular draft page. 


Pictures seem to be giving a lot of people problems and I can see why. They keep changing things. Now when you click on a picture on the draft page it turns blue and has dots around it. This is so you can resize it. But you can also click on that middle button that comes up on the picture with the drop down menu and pick from small, medium, large and extra large. I usually pick large for my pictures. But I don't click on that until I have added any words I want to under the picture on the page because it sometimes messes up what I'm writing. It's turned my paragraphs blue and the whole thing was underlined. So now I wait until I've added all the commentary about the pictures and then click on them to resize them or to right align or left align a picture. To get rid of the blue on the picture, just click away from the picture anywhere else on the draft page and it will disappear.

If you want to delete a picture, just click below the picture, not on it and backspace until it's gone. I used to be able to click on the picture and delete it but I can't do that anymore. 

So those are a couple of things that I have seen on blogs that have been problems for people and I found fixes for them either from other blogs or just from clicking around and figuring it out.  I hope this helps. 

54 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting these. You'll save a lot of people some serious aggravation.

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  2. I've always used the HTML version interchangeably with the compose one for years now, as the compose one is difficult for lots of things. The new blogger just offers nothing new except tons of new fonts. The rest has become more difficult to use which negates the need for a change. The same happened with Twitter when they changed it for worse a few months ago, it is still difficult to use on many things.

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    1. I really liked the legacy interface better. I don't use HTML a lot as I just mess things up when I do so compose is what I'll stick with for now.

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  3. Thank you.
    I found a fix which gave me back Legacy Blogger. I have no idea how long it will last but for the moment at least it works like a charm - and I am very happy.

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  4. Thanks so much for taking the time to put together all these helpful tips! Hugs, RO

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  5. That's why I always use html formatting. Less chance of a mess with the new interface. But for those who don't, that will help them.

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    1. I'm not comfortable with using HTML all the time so I'll just keep using the compose for now.

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  6. Great post, Mary. I managed to figure out some of these before migrated to self host WordPress.

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  7. i know some people are having trouble with it and wordpress did the same thing. i am still figuring out some things. there are advantages and disadvantages with the old and new wordpress, just like blogger. i self host with wordpress.
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. I tried using wordpress when I first started out but I'm not comfortable with coding.

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  8. Thanks Mary. I hate the new format but I'm getting used to it

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  9. Thank you for these helpful hints. I’m still getting used to it.

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  10. I hope that helps some of the bloggers, they seem to be struggling with the latest changes.

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  11. Oh man. I hate change when it comes to computer platforms. I'm sure this post will help a lot of people navigate the new system.

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  12. I don’t have to worry about that now

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  13. Nice hints. I see that they keep changing things as they find stuff not working well. I don't mind new changes I just want them to work.

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  14. I thought it would be hard for me to switch to the new blogger platform but it was pretty easy! Great tips!

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    1. Thank you. I'm learning to deal with it.

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  15. My biggest problem is my text sitting together so I have to triple space every paragraph

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  16. These are very helpful! Thank you. It took me forever to figure out that paragraph/normal thing on my own. :)

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  17. Good tips indeed. It just seems like they made matters worse with something that worked just fine before.

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    1. They really did. Things worked just fine before they messed with it.

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  18. Great tips, Mary! I was having issues with that whole Paragraph/Normal thing just tonight. I really wish they didn't change things. I like the old version better. :(

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    1. I like the old version better too.

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  19. Thanks for those great tips, Mary. I wish I came here about an hour earlier. I just figured out how to add a video in one of my blogs. That normal look, I didn't realize it changed so you had a double space. That was driving me crazy, now I know. Thanks again and have a nice evening or day. It's 11:20pm here right now.

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    1. You're welcome. I'm glad you figured it out.

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  20. Thank you for these tips! Blogger is always fighting with me and I have to go into html to fix and resize things. I don't understand why they changed things without making things easier! Blogger and Wordpress will be the death of me.

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    1. I don't get it either. It's definitely harder now.

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  21. The new blogger is a pain in the ass but I'm finally getting to grips with it. The photo changes you mentioned was particularly annoying until I worked out how to fix it so I imagine your guide will save others a lot of time!

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    1. Thank you. I hope it helps someone. It took me a while to figure it out too.

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  22. Everything takes twice the time now, and there are things I have to do in HTML because if I do them in Compose they mess with my review format (that is, the frames).

    You have a nice tutorial here! I'm going to share it in my next Tooting Your Trumpet post (though I guess most of my followers overlap with yours LOL).

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    1. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm glad you found it helpful.

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  23. The problem I have is, it doesn't stay on normal when I select it. Before I can even do anything it just keeps changing back of its own accord. I spend whole blog posts battling it, having to change it back countless times and each time I only get a few words typed before it just does it again. Each blog post takes an eternity!

    I'm ok with getting graphics deleted-it's getting three book covers lined up in a row that I battle with! Thanks for the post-I'm sharing it on Around The Blogs to see if it can help others with their issues. I just wish Blogger would fix mine!

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    1. Ok, that is weird. I wonder how they messed things up so bad that people like you are having more problems than others like me. That's just crazy.

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  24. I am not loving the new blogger. I used html a lot anyway but I feel like that is the only way to have things look the way I want it anymore. Thanks for the tips!

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  25. I've always gone to HTML to change the width of youtube videos. Like you say they post as 560 but I change them to 440 to get the whole video on the screen plus the controls at the bottom.

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  26. I also hate the "improved" interface but this may help. Thank you.

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    1. I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for stopping by.

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