Blogger Magic - Managing The Pages In Your Blog

Some blog owners are never quite sure how to manage all characteristics of the Pages, in their blog.

From time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see evidence of the confusion.

How do I hide the Home tab?

or

I can't rename my pages!

Some blog owners may know of one Pages management wizard, but not another. To the untrained eye, it may all seem like one big magic show.

There are actually 3 wizards, which let us manage the pages.

• The Configure Page List wizard (aka Pages gadget).
• The Layout wizard.
• The Pages wizard.

The Configure Page List wizard (aka Pages gadget) is accessed from the Layout wizard, by Editing the Pages gadget. Alternately, if QuickEdit is enabled, use the QuickEdit icon, on the blog itself.

If the Pages gadget is not visible on the Layout display, you may need to add the gadget, before you can Edit it.

To make the Pages gadget function as a horizontal link bar - the most popular layout - you add the gadget into the "crosscol" template section, in the dashboard Layout page. The "crosscol" section, on standard Blogger templates, contains CSS rules which make lists display horizontally.

"Configure Page List" has various functions, to assist you in managing pages.
The Layout wizard is accessed from the dashboard. It has three functions, in managing pages.

• Provide access to the "Configure Page List" wizard, by Editing the Pages gadget.
• Relocate / restructure the pages list, by dragging and dropping the Pages gadget.
  • Drag the Pages gadget to the top of the blog layout, and it morphs into the tabs gadget.
  • Drag the Pages gadget into the sidebar, and it morphs into a linklist.
• Let you add the Pages gadget, using "Add a Gadget".

The Pages wizard is accessed directly from the dashboard menu. It is now used solely to add, edit, and delete static pages, with the same look and feel as the Posts wizard. All other functions, formerly provided by the Pages wizard, are now provided by "Configure Page List".

None of this is magic - though the complementary functions of the different wizards may make one think of a typical MMORPG team. And the recent redesign of the wizards has caused some confusion, being recently discovered.