Private Blogs Limit Other Blog Features

Private blogs affect other Blogger features - and the combination of results are inconsistent.

With dynamic templates, the private blog selection causes an inoperable display. Conversely, with Google+ Comments, enabling Google+ Comments disables the private blog (designated reader) selection - and vice versa, in the various Blogger dashboard pages.

The two interactions - and differing mutual exclusiveness - contribute to some interesting diagnostic sessions, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Intriguingly enough, when one of the known limitations with private blogs is diagnosed, some blog owners may treat the limitation as a personal insult.

Not all blog owners understand the technical limitations, with private blogs and other Blogger features. The limitations are based on simple technical interactions.

• Dynamic templates, and private blogs.
• Google+ comments, and private blogs.

Dynamic templates, and private blogs.

Private blogs do not publish blog newsfeeds. Dynamic templates require comments and posts newsfeeds, to generate the displays.

You can make a blog private - and you lose the "Dynamic Template" selection, in the dashboard Template page.

Some of the templates offered on the Template page, for a public blog.
Simple.
Dynamic Views.
Picture Window.
Awesome Inc.

Some of the templates offered on the Template page, for a private blog.
Simple.
Picture Window.
Awesome Inc.



If the blog has a dynamic template already, you can change to private access (edit Permissions, and designate readers), with no warning. The next time the blog is accessed, you will see the Spinner of Death.

My Dynamic Template test blog, set to Private.



Google+ comments, and private blogs.

When Google+ is used, no access to the Blogger permissions database is available. Since Google+ Comments are (or can be) Google+ stream posts, Google+ Comments can only support public blogs.

If you enable Google+ Comments, you will see a warning in the Permissions wizard - and you'll have no ability to Edit "Blog Readers".

Google+ Comments enabled. Learn more

If the blog is private already, you'll similarly see a warning on the dashboard Google+ page.

Google+ Comments are unsupported on non-public blogs and blogs marked as containing adult content. Learn more

So Google+ Comments, and private blogs, are mutually exclusive, on the dashboard - though Dynamic Views and private blogs are not, with intriguing result.

Why won't my blog load? It was fine, yesterday!

And when the blog address is provided with the problem report, we can see the problem.

Learn More.

• More information about Dynamic Views blogs.
• Manage Google+ Comments for Blogger.
• Control access to your blog.

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The option to designate permitted readers, for a #Blogger blog, affects other Blogger features. Not all blog owners know about or understand the limitations that exist.

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Dynamic Templates, And Jump Break

We see occasional evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who are using a dynamic template.

Why does the Jump Break not show up, in the blog display?

or

Why can't I see the entire post?

Not all blog owners understand the limited options, in the dynamic templates.

Compare the main page of this blog, to a formatted feed page of this blog.

Do you see the differences? I use Jump Break consistently, on my main page posts. Unfortunately, newsfeeds do not include the Jump Break, because the newsfeed standard was developed before Blogger developed their post summarisation feature, Jump Break.

Blog feeds will not contain Jump Break tokens.

Since dynamic views format the display using the blog posts feed, they have no way to include the Jump Break. The posts feed contains each post, in its entirety. The "Jump Break" token is part of the main page display, not the posts.

This is just one more reason why dynamic templates won't be chosen, on all blogs.

If you want to display your main page as I do, you can't use a dynamic template. Dynamic templates format their posts without using jump break. Some dynamic template "main page" views include text, broken; others include text, unbroken; and still others include only photos. None of the dynamic views include the Jump Break.

Dynamic templates require a full blog feed - comments and posts.

Remember that to use dynamic views, you have to set the blog feed to "Full". If you set the feed to "Until Jump Break", dynamic views won't work. The dynamic views format the post displays to the requirements of each different view (selected by the reader), and require the complete post content in the feed.

To see an example of what happens, using "Until Jump Break" - and with a Jump Break included, you can click here. If you want to display your blog in a dynamic template, you have to let the template determine (or not) where to break the posts.

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Blogger Magic - Activating The Blog Feed

One of the neatest - and easiest - techniques, to make your blog available to a larger audience, uses a replica of the blog posts - the blog newsfeed.

Most blogs, when new, have the feed activated by default. Oddly enough, some blogs - even published publicly - do not publish a newsfeed.

Some blog owners, wondering why their blogs are not being indexed by the search engines, are perplexed.

Why isn't my blog publishing a feed?

If you want full visibility, activate the blog newsfeeds.

You activate the various newsfeeds, for the blog, from the dashboard Settings - Other - Site Feed wizard.

Routinely, you'll have one setting - "Allow Blog Feeds" - and this setting will affect all feed options equally. If you select "Custom", you can enable or disable any of the 3 feed options, separately.

• Blog Posts Feed
• Blog Comments Feed
• Per-Post Comment Feeds

Each setting will have 3 possible selections - Full, Until Jump Break, Short, None.

(Note): If you enable a feed, it is available to anybody with a feed reader, either a feed reader that they personally use, or one built in to a blog. There is no option to limit feed access - feeds are available, equally, to all interested parties. This is why feeds are not published by limited access (private) blogs.

If you fear that unknown parties might steal content from your blog by using your feed, don't publish a Full feed, publish a Short feed. This will require anybody wishing to read a complete post to access your blog, rather than reading it in their newsreader.

In most cases, though, a "Full" setting, for all feeds, is best.

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