Friday, February 18, 2011

I the Writer Who Is Barely Blog Proficient and Wishes It Were Otherwise....

.
I need some blog help.
.
If you don't mind:
.
.
1. When I am writing a post, before I publish it, why do I have to insert periods in between my paragraphs or photos because when I don't and I hit 'publish', there there are no longer spaces in between even though there should be? (see, look at these distracting darn dots)
.
.
2. Suddenly every image I try to put on my header (and i love to change my header!) is coming out mega large. The preview shows the whole picture I've selected but it doesn't come out that way. Anybody know how correct this? (I need simple steps. I am a slow blogger learner.)
.
.
3. Is it time for me to upgrade my template? If I do, is it a no-brainer with no problems? Is it simple to do? (Should I? And should I change my background color?)
.
.
4. How come people I don't know and who don't comment on my blog add themselves to my follower list? (I don't mind at all, but I don't understand it.)
.
.
And does it bother you when someone stops being a follower and you don't know who that someone is? (Does your ego start acting up? I'm not admitting mine does unless I'm not alone)
.
.
Thank you very much.
(at least I know how to make a ♥)
kj

25 comments:

  1. #1 - Try going into "Edit html" and take out the spacer codes (the ones with div in them) and then hit return twice while still in "Edit html." Then you shouldn't need divider dots, which are acting as paragraphs.

    #2 Sorry, can't help with that one since I never change my header!

    #3 There's no right or wrong here - change it if you feel like it.

    #4 I have wondered this myself! I only follow blogs I comment on.

    #5 Um, no - but only because I don't keep track of how many followers I have. I do notice if someone who used to comment disappears.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm never had the dot problem. Don't care about followers either. Thank you for the card! It arrived today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are ahead of me - I still can't figure out how to make a heart :(
    (But I can make a sad face using a colon and a parenthesis! ha!)

    I actually like the look of the spacer dots... I kinda thought it was your "thing".

    Do you have the "shrink to fit" box checked for your header?

    When I leave a comment on a blog I like to leave a personal (sometimes long-winded!) message... I don't always have time to do that, so even though I've read something I may not comment - but I'll follow (because I plan on someday commenting and I like what I've read and want to read more).

    Yes - when I lose a follower I take it as a crushing blow to my self-esteem and wonder what I did or said that caused them to remove themselves. (But I cry at commercials too - so I may not be the best person to base your comparison on! ha!)

    xo
    Kristin

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't ask me! I have a zillion of my own problems with Blogger!
    I will say that your blog is always so attractive, and it seems you change your template quite a bit; it's always different. I wish I had your skills in changing the sidebar and side colors and the header.
    Honestly, kj, YOU could teach US! ♥

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. oops! and then went and messed up my first comment on your blog.

    I hate the compose feature and always try to write in the edit html format. That #@$%^!!! scres up my posts all the damn time.

    I'm more of a lurker than a commentor. I love the subject matter, don't have anything to add.

    I've had horrible problems when I've changed my template and have never gotten a picture to fit in the header properly.

    Yes, it bothers me when someone stops following my blog. Thus, I very rarely stop following a blog once I started following, even though, for whatever reason,I don't read it anymore. However, recently I discovered I am only allowed to follow 300 blogs. I found a blog that I wanted to follow so I had to go chopping through my blog list (about 200 of them I never look at and about 75 I read only when the subject du jour is why I first became interested) Now I am free, again, to add about 200 blogs to my blog list. Blogger does not make it easy to stop following, by the way.

    I will now return to lurkerdom. If you're lucky, I will sit quietly, enjoying your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can't imagine why you have to make those darned dots! That's just weird.

    I wonder about those "followers" as well, and have had those that stop following, too. Ah well, easy come, easy go.

    ReplyDelete
  8. cs, that first instruction sounds above my capacity for new learning but i will try it :) thank you. i tend to wait abit myself before i become a follower for the same reason you do. xoxo

    happy valentine's day hells ♥

    kristin, do you want to know how to make a heart? tell me if you do and i will tell you! :)
    yes, i hit the shrink to fit box and it used to work with no problem. damn if i know what changed. i think we are abit alike... xo

    margaret, HAHAHAHAHAHA! not on your life! ♥

    giantspeckledchihuahua, thank you for commenting. very interesting. i had no idea any one would read my blog for the sake of reading it. so thank you. i just visited you :)

    barbara, easy come, easy go? good attitude!

    ReplyDelete
  9. it seems like you are quite proficient to me!

    blogging is so interesting, everyone having their own style and design. i think you should do what feels right for you. you like changing yours! so yes, new photos and new colors would probably be fun!

    have fun playing!

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Kj don't know the how to's and why's either - had help with mine.

    I'm impressed with the heart making and new colours are like the changing of the seasons. Tsup with a heart ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. #1 My paragraphs work most of the time but sometimes I have to put


    (depending upon how many breaks you want) to serve as spacers. Also, in my sidebar I have resorted to "adding gadget, text" and putting in a vertical line of periods--then coloring the periods the same color as my background so they don't show. I know it sounds neanderthal but it works.

    #2 I would go to Blogger Help and look for your particular problem. Chances always are that umpteen others have been troubled by the same issue and there are fixes noted there in the help community.

    #3 I think your blog is great. But you might be in the mood for a change, in which case I think you should do it. Be sure to archive your blog at the beginning of the process (there is a prompt button reminding you to do so). I found using the new Blogger templates so easy. Just go step-by-step. Doing it in Blogger Draft means never having to say you're sorry.

    #4 Darndest thing, isn't it? It always is a sweet surprise and sometimes I reciprocate as a follower of their blog, sometimes not. How about the blogs that you comment on and become a follower, but they do not follow your blog afterward? I don't follow to be followed, not at all. But sometimes it hurts that they didn't "pick me" too. :(

    Ditto on the issue of someone stopping following your blog. It got my ego the first couple of times. But the last time it happened I thought it best to remember that I never lived my life so that everyone would like me (that is my husband's MO). Coolest thing is that I lost the one follower, but in the next two weeks I gained nine!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, good god! The very thing I was showing you in #1 of course worked (else why would I suggest it to you) but what you see is only blank space. So. Let me see if I can explain graphically.
    Key in a left-pointing bracket-thing <
    Key in br
    Follow br with a right-pointing bracket-thing >
    Go down a space and repeat
    Go down a space and repeat
    Keep doing that until you have sufficient space! I think I keyed in three of the little goodies in my first comment to you, the one with the blank spaces!

    p.s. I want to know how to make a little heart. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Kj, your post is questioning some of the thoughts and feelings of having a blog. I think if someone leaves my blog , I wasn't for them. I find many understand my art but when it comes to finding myself, there are a few that do.
    You carry on the way you are, because what you are is beautiful.
    Your paragraphs always look structured and intelligent to me.
    I've noticed the photos going in huge at first then quickly going small just recently. It maybe a simple update needing on your comp? Try in another search engine. If you use firefox, try internet explorer?
    Thank you so much Kj for writing me such a beautiful message. Really warmed my heart!
    Lovexx
    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hmmm. Basically, I just let Google do what it wants to do, heh!I might add a list or two to the sidebar, but I haven't really changed much since I started the blog seven years ago! Oh, I think I upgraded my template maybe five years ago...

    I thought the dots were a part of your blog...different and interesting!

    I haven't changed the background colour much either, except to add more indigo to the base colour. The dark blue shows off photos really well.

    I follow people and don't always leave a comment. The reason I follow is I like the blog and want to remind myself of it. The followed blog comes up in a reader on my dashboard, with some on the sidebar. And sometimes, I will leave a comment, just to introduce myself.

    It doesn't bother me at all when someone quits following...people change and what was once interesting becomes humdrum. And if one can only follow 300 blogs, one of these days I'll be cutting some out, as well. With no malice intended.

    You are far ahead of me, kj, I don't know how to make that heart thingie. So all I can leave you are a bunch of xoxoxoxoxoxox's!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Kj - this is why I never, ever change anything. This is why my blog is BORING to look at. I don't have time to figure all this stuff out. I am still working on understanding my Mac and my CELL PHONE! LOL!! Good luck to you, and don't give a second thought to people 'unfollowing' you. For all you know (in the altered world of Blogger), they were doing something else completely and the Blogger troll did it. :) Happy weekend! xox Pam

    ReplyDelete
  16. Kj this sounds like a Blogger 'issue' to me - report it to them! You can force a line break in edit html mode by inserting
    after your sentence, para, photo ... I think!
    Perhaps you need to find out the exact measurements the header space has and make sure your new pic is exactly that size - have had to do this with my new template. By the way, Blogger's new templates are good and the options for editing them excellent and it really is simple!

    Following and not following - I'm guilty - sometimes I find I have just too many blogs to follow and have to delete the odd one occasionally - it happens to me too - you win some, you lose some! xxx
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hmm, I see that blogger has ommitted my solution which is:

    ReplyDelete
  18. OK - not there again, so I'll email you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Kj, I can't help with any of this, sorry, but I do relate, why be a follower if you never comment, I guess they just like to read the posts, which is okay. Many people also leave comments and never become a follower. Also, yes, it does bother me when people unfollow, but I don't like that it bothers me :-). xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  20. Well I can't answer the first question KJ I don't use dots and my space bar does the rest...

    My image is always huge as well on my header..

    I like your template but I'm thinking the same thing about my blog as well.

    I have Many followers and most of them don't comment...

    There's many times I go to my favorite blogs that I FOLLOW!!!! Like yours and it says I'm not following you but I have been... So I have to click follow all over again. So if people don't see that they aren't following you well then that's why they aren't blogspot had a glitch somewhere...

    Going to check right now to see if I'm following you : )

    I love reading your blog with what ever you do!
    XXX Pattee

    ReplyDelete
  21. wow you sure got a lot of answers. i know nothing.

    i just ignore the followers thing--i have no idea who most of those people are or why sometimes it says 126 and then 125. my little brain needs to not think about it.

    from my end as a commenter though, i do follow blogs i dont comment on very often. i see them and think they are neat and intend to comment regularly but i only have the energy to comment on about 10 or so blogs. that's it. i'm full. still i like to know what they are posting as every now and then something most interesting catches me and then i read and comment.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You know, Suki pretty much has my answer! I do notice when my followers number has decreased, but I don't know more than half the folks who are following me anyway. I wonder sometimes if it's a way to "phish or spam" us.

    I'm loyal to the ones I choose to follow. I may not be able to comment every day, right away, but eventually I get there. Like Suki, I feel full most days.

    Ego can get us into a heap o'trouble! I'd just as soon focus on my good intentions for blogging and let the rest fall into place ;)

    I hope you had a great writing day, PP!

    xo
    Lo♥

    ReplyDelete
  23. Leave blogger and go to wordpress...
    http://wordpress.org/

    It is also free and much better than blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Yes, it's me - late again!

    Secret Agent is right...her #1 instructions will work!

    I remember hearing that the new template will make your header photos really big - and you are stuck then.... your photos look a perfect size to me.... (but then, I am a "baby blogger" still....

    And as for "followers"...I only have a handfull - and it's a miracle I have any - as my Blog fails to appear on most sidebars...

    But, I hold to it's the "Quality - not the Quantity" of one's followers that counts!

    MUWAH!

    Kiss your Mom tomorrow, Stella tonight!

    Love,

    ♥ Cupcake ♥

    ReplyDelete
  25. If I was to give you advice...I'd say - hand over your blog to Marianne and ask for her help since she's pretty good at this stuff. I know nuthin...

    ReplyDelete