Blogger Magic - Links And Colors

We see an occasional question in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue about blog links - and the captions that change colour, mysteriously.

Some blog owners seem to regard the colour changes as one more Blogger pecadillo - ignoring the fact that colour changing link captions have been part of Internet design, since the early days.

In most blogs, you can change link colours - and prevent the colour changes - using the Blogger dashboard Template Designer.

You can change any color using the color code, or a color chart, part of any colour wizard.



To access the Template Designer, start from the dashboard Template page.

The Template Designer is behind the "Customize" button, on the dashboard Template page.

From the dashboard Template page, click on the "Customize" button.

Start with the Template Designer main page.

Click on Advanced - and look for "Links".

On my blog, I can adjust "Link Color", "Visited Color", and "Hover Color".



Template Designer menu and wizard combinations may vary.

The Template Designer menu / display can be adjusted according to the decision of the template designer.

Your template, when customized, using Template Designer, may have a "Links" section, with "Link Color", "Visited Color", and "Hover Color". It may have additional colours - or colours and fonts may be combined. All of this is as setup in the template "Variable definitions" section.

You can change any colour using the colour code - or a color chart.



If you want your links - including titles - to remain one colour constantly, change the 3 colours (or whatever your blog has) to one common value.

My blog uses "Link Color" = "2d25ce", "Visited Color" = "ce25c5", and "Hover Color" = "583fff". Your blog may use a different colour combination.

For a useful color number / visual chart, you can use W3Schools: HTML Color Picker.

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Not all #Blogger blog owners understand link captions - and how the caption colours change, to indicate pages that have been visited from a given browser. Some think the colour changes are a Blogger novelty.

In reality, link caption colours have been a feature, since browsers were first used in the Internet.

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Recovering From A Corrupt Template - Persistence

Of the many Blogger Mysteries that confound blog owners and readers, none are more obscure than the many bX codes.

Some problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, start so innocently.

As I edited the Template HTML, I saved my changes - and the bX error suddenly appeared.

Each different bX code refers to a different problem, with Blogger in general. Of the bX codes that refer to template corruption, each different bX code may refer to a different template corruption problem.

When a template corruption problem can be reset, the resetting process may involve repeated use of one or more dashboard pages.

Different problems may enable - or prevent - use of a different dashboard page. For problems with multiple causes, you may have to use each different wizard, persistently.

1. The Template Designer page.
2. The Template page.
3. The Template Editor ("Edit HTML") page.
4. If the blog is not operational, you start again.

Unfortunately, some problems may prevent use of all 3 pages. For the problems that permit use of one or more pages, you try each available page, repeatedly, until the blog becomes operational.

To access each page, you may need to bypass the dashboard menu.

The Template Designer page.

The Template Designer is used for one task - "Remove customizations".

The Template Designer.



"Remove customizations" may be the simplest reset that you may try - when possible. Some customizations, when removed, may enable subsequent use of the Template page, or the Template Editor.

The Template page.

The Template main page is used for two tasks.

1. Backup / Restore the existing template.
2. Get a new template.

The Template main page.



Some problems, when reset using the Template main page, may enable subsequent use of the Template Designer, or the Template Editor.

The Template Editor ("Edit HTML") page.

The Template Editor ("Edit HTML") is used for two tasks, as an alternate to the Template main page. Also, it may be used to reset any "rgba" colour combination problems.

1. Backup / Restore the existing template.
2. Get a new template.

For template corruption problems that prevent use of the Template main page, the Template Editor - combined with a second blog, where a clean template is developed and tested - can be used.

The Template Editor (aka "Edit HTML").



Some problems, when reset using the Template Editor, may enable subsequent use of the Template Designer, or the Template main page.

If the blog is not operational, you start again.

If you get a new bX code, you repeat the above sequence. Some problems, with multiple causes, may require repeated retries.

In extreme cases, you may end up creating a new blog at the URL.

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Some #Blogger template problems, which lead to a bX code display, may have multiple causes - and all causes may require solution, to make an affected blog operational. With some causes preventing solution of others, a repetitious use of the various dashboard pages may be required - to solve some template corruption problems.

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All Template Changes Won't Always Be Visible, When The Blog Is Published

Not all blog owners appreciate the differences between using the various template wizards, and what they will actually see, once the blog is published.

The confusion about the various template wizards, and what is actually seen, expressed in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, is numerous.

Why aren't my changes to the template being saved?

This question is expressed in a number of ways - and has a number of causes.

There are a number of causes of template problems, in general.

• Some problem are caused by Blogger Engineering, as they manage the Blogger application.
• Some problems are caused by the blog owners, as they use (and yes, misuse) the Blogger application.
• Some problems are simply caused by the perception of the blog owners, and will never be resolved, to everybody's expectations.

If you're viewing this blog using a desktop / laptop computer, with a "normal" browser, and you can find the "View Source" control, take a look at the source for this page. Compare what you see there with the display in the Template "Edit HTML" wizard (and allow for some confusion, when using "Edit HTML").

• If you have a "normal" browser, and are viewing this blog in a "Designer" / "Layout" template, you'll see a lot of the same code, in both "Edit HTML" and "View Source".
• If you have a "normal" browser, and are viewing this blog in a "Dynamic" template, you'll see very little of the same code, in both "Edit HTML" and "View Source".
• If you have a "normal" browser, and are viewing this blog using a redirected "mobile" browser view, you'll see very little of the same code, in both "Edit HTML" and "View Source".
• If you're using a "mobile" computer, you probably won't even have an option to "View Source".

The bulk of the options in the Template "Edit HTML" wizard, in the "Layout" wizard, and in the Template Designer, are intended to change the "Designer" / "Layout" template views. The three wizards have much less effect, against the "Dynamic" / "Mobile" template views.

If you tweak the CSS settings in "Edit HTML" or the Template Designer - or if you change the layout using "Layout" or the Template Designer - you may not see all of the changes reflected in either a Dynamic or Mobile view.

Sometimes, this is because you have already tweaked the template improperly, preventing the wizard from saving your latest changes. Other times, it may be simply because the Dynamic and Mobile templates are not designed to let you tweak the settings in question.

We've also seen vague suggestions that having the mobile template active can cause the Template Designer font and style selections to be non operational. Font settings, made using the Template Designer, won't be saved and won't appear in the blog, when published. Right now, we're unsure whether the Live Preview window updates reliably.

And recently, uncontrolled customisation of the blog accessory complement, and of the dynamic template code, have caused instability in network access, when viewing blogs using dynamic views.

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Some Blog Owners Reporting The Template Designer Changes Do Not Update On Their Blogs

For several weeks, we're been seeing various reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, mentioning problems with template updates, being made using the Template Designer wizard.

The reports are not so widespread to indicate a complete malfunction - but neither can we dismiss the problem, as being unique to one browser, one template type, or one particular update pattern.

It's likely that we are looking at a number of problems, aggregated and compounded, into one common symptom.

I cannot Save changes in Template Designer.

With a problem report like this, some examining of the details may be appropriate.

The Template Designer wizard, which is a component in the Blogger Dashboard, is a complex and sophisticated collection of menus and utilities, which runs on the blog owners computers.

Like most Blogger code, the Template Designer is subject to the effects of other programs, and various security settings - which may be installed or set on each individual computer, with or without the understanding of the blog owner and / or computer owner. In some cases, the blog owner and computer owner may be different people.

If you are seeing a problem with the Template Designer, when trying to update the layout on your blog, there are several tests which you can make, which may help to isolate the problem.

• Try making the same updates, using another computer.
• Try making the same updates, using another browser on your current computer.
• Try setting up a new blog, with the same template, and make the same updates to the new blog.

If you're able to make one or more of the above alternate updates, that will help to eliminate some, or many, alternate suspects, as the cause of your problem. If other people are reporting this problem, their results from the above tests may or may not correspond with yours - because their base problem may differ from yours.

Right now, we're seeing seven different causes of these problems.

1. Changes made by Blogger Engineering, to support new browser versions and browser updates, and to provide new template features.
2. Changes inherent in new browser versions, made by the browser vendors.
3. Third party browser add-ons, installed by the owners of the various computers.
4. Security settings, inherent in new browser versions and third party add-ons.
5. The cumulative effects of various template tweaks, both made using "Edit HTML" and the Template Designer itself.
6. Unrealistic expectations of blog owners, about effects of Template Designer settings, against all templates provided by Blogger.
7. Unrealistic expectations of blog owners, about effects of Template Designer settings, against templates not provided by Blogger.

Of these possible causes, only #1 (and possibly #2 and #6) are the sole responsibility of Blogger Engineering. The blog owners (and computer owners) must assume some partial responsibility for #2 - and sole responsibility for #3, #4, and #5. The blog owner, and the developer of any custom, third party template, must jointly assume responsibility for #7.

Recently, Blogger Support acknowledged the problem, in part.

Some users have reported that the Apply to Blog button in the Template Designer is non-functional for some Dynamic View templates.

We also have a Rollup Discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where individual details are being provided by various blog owners.

Right now, we're starting to suspect that some "problems" are actually caused by the blog owners, who are simply not aware that not all changes made, using the Template Designer (or the Layout or Template "Edit HTML" wizards), are designed to update all templates used in viewing our blogs.

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Template Designer Upgrades Require Supporting Updates To The Individual Blog Templates

This week, we're seeing a small flood of problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about problems with the Template Designer.

Every time I change something, I have to refresh the page in order for it to show up. It won't "Save" when I try to save the layout changes. It just says "Saving..." at the top of the page and fades away, but doesn't actually save any changes.

Many problems involve changes made to the template, using the Designer, which aren't being saved - or are broken when saved. Most of the people reporting these problems have made changes to the template, previously - some are so experienced at making changes, they can't believe that their latest changes could ever have problems.

Interestingly, this history of changes is not a coincidence - and it's likely that some of the changes helps to cause these problems.

Take a look at the template code in your blog, some time. You'll notice a lot of code which doesn't look like CSS, HTML, or XML. Some of it is code which supports the various blog features that are adjusted or configured using the Template Designer.

Many template features involve two sets of code.

1. The Template Designer wizard, part of the Blogger dashboard, is common code used by all blog owners.
2. The blog template, post template, and / or widget template, is part of the individual blogs. Some template code does nothing but support the Template Designer - and let you configure your blog layout,

Every time Blogger Engineering adds or updates template features, they have to make changes to both sets of code.

Blogger Engineering does not edit each individual blog, after they upgrade the Template Designer. They make changes to the master template code - and their changes replicate into the individual blog templates. These changes replicate much more consistently, when the individual templates have not been changed.

The more custom a template is, with changes applied by the blog owner, or possibly in a third party template, the less likely it is to properly update, to support each succeeding Template Designer update.

Any time Blogger Engineering updates the Template Designer, to add a new feature, or maybe to support a new browser version, their updates may require changes which are not properly applied to all blogs - and the Template Designer stops working, in some blogs.

When the Template Designer stops working, the usual recommendation is to refresh the post or widget template - or maybe to upgrade the blog template - and things start rolling again. And the blog owner goes back to tweaking the template, until something breaks again.

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