BLOGGER TIP - CHANGE YOUR FONT STYLE AND SIZE

Did you know that font size and style affects who actually reads your blog posts? 

The smaller your font, 

               the more difficult it is to read, 

                             slowing down readers of all ages. 

The larger the font size, 

               the more easily visitors can read your blog

                          and the more quickly they can read it.

But more importantly,

               the larger the font size,

                          the more likely visitors are to actually read

                          what you write.

Did you know you can permanently change your blog post fonts, and still be able to manually manipulate them if you want to?

CHANGING THE FONT SIZE ON YOUR BLOG

Go to the draft side of your blog...

1. If you contribute to more than one blog, be sure the correct blog has been chosen.
2. On the left, click on THEME.
3. When the THEME Window pops up, you will see what your blog looks like “Live on Blog” and what it looks like on “Mobile” devices.
4. Under LIVE ON BLOG is an orange tab that says CUSTOMIZE.
5. Click Customize.
6. You are now on the BLOGGER THEME DESIGNER page.
7. On the left, choose ADVANCED.
8. In the column immediately to the right, at the top, is the option PAGE TEXT. Select it.
9. To the right you will see FONT choices. There are 7 universal fonts at the top, and several more decorative Web Fonts under. You may choose any of those fonts. Keep in mind that the “fancier” the font is, the more difficult it is to read for international visitors, and for people with eye problems.
10. Choose your font by clicking one time on it to highlight it.
11. Under those choices, you also have the options to “bold” it or “Italicize” the font.
12. Next to the B and I is a number. Try choosing anywhere from 16 to 24. If the number you want is not available, you may manually type it in, and Blogger will automatically adjust the font to that size.
13. If you have a blog with a colored background, You might consider changing the color of your text to WHITE or a very pale choice.
14. Just above the gray bar where all your choices are, on the top right side, is an orange button that says APPLY TO BLOG. Click that.
15. Then you can go back to blogger, and check out your blog. You may change your fonts, styles and sizes as often as you like.

NOTE: when typing your draft in Blogger, it will automatically appear as chosen TIMES font. Any time you want to correct a font issue in your post (especially as a result of copy-and-paste from a document), simply highlight the portion of text you are working on. Then go up to the tool line (to the right of the “COMPOSE/HTML” words. You’ll see 2 curved arrows, and then a “F” (for FONT). Click on F and select DEFAULT FONT. To the right of F is “T” for sizing. Click on that and choose NORMAL. Now your selected writing will be in your chosen font style and size. 

I hope this helps!

hugs,

de

Remove Excess Blogs from Your Blogger Profile

BLOG TIP:

Do you contribute to several Blogger Blogs? The default setting is to show all the blogs to which you contribute.

Correct this by choosing which blogs to show in blogger.

Go to your personal blog’s dashboard. On the left scroll to SETTINGS. Under Settings, choose USER SETTINGS (it is the bottom option in settings on the left side)

On the right is a button to Edit User Profile. Click it.

The EDIT USER PROFILE page pops up.

Under the section for PRIVACY, click on SELECT BLOGS TO DISPLAY to the right of SHOW MY BLOGS. Select the blogs you want displayed, and UNCHECK any blogs you don’t want to show up in your profile. 

Be sure to click on SAVE.

Why is selecting the blogs important?

1. We don’t want “visitors” coming to the private or secret blogs.
2. This helps visitors who look at your profile trying to locate your personal blog in response to comments you left on their blogs.

For example: 

I contribute to eleven blogger blogs. I don’t want people to wonder which of those blogs are mine, so only 2 of my blogs are checked.

I also don’t want them to click on the links to the private-admin blogs that the general public should not be seeing (especially if proprietary information is available on them)

Be sure to click on SAVE!

Would You Like To Gain More Followers?

Would you like to gain more followers, or make it easier for some of your existing followers?

Did you know there are a variety of ways your visitors can follow you?

On Blogger, they can follow using their FOLLOW feature, and by email.

Some people prefer "follow by email" as it prompts them to visit more quickly and frequently than if they are using a Reader.

To add the FOLLOW BY EMAIL option:

1. Go to your dashboard.
2. On the left side, choose LAYOUT.
3. If you have a sidebar on your blog, that's a good place to add this gadget/widget.
4. To the right side of LAYOUT, click on ADD A GADGET.
5. A new window pops up.
6. Scroll down to FOLLOW BY EMAIL (blue envelope on left and PLUS symbol on right). Click on the PLUS SYMBOL. 
7. In the new window, both Title and FeedBurner URL should be populated for you. All you need to do is click on the orange SAVE button.

And that's it!

Hoping this helps you and your followers.

hugs,

de

Important Blogger Profile Options STEP-BY-STEP

Good Morning!

A quick STEP-BY-STEP on how to enable your profile and help your blogging friends find your personal blog(s). It especially helps bloggers return the favor of leaving a comment on your own blog when you have left a comment on theirs.

1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard (the "draft side" of your blog)

2. On the left, scroll down to settings and click on the little gear.

3. Click on BASICS just under the gear.

4. On the right, under BASIC, click on PRIVACY and click on YES to both those questions.

5. Click on SAVE CHANGES.

Now, Stay in Settings and scroll down to USER SETTINGS. It is the last setting option on the left..

1. GENERAL - USER PROFILE pops up. CLICK ON EDIT.

2. Click the box for SHARE MY PROFILE (very important).

3. Show my email address (use your preferred email address)

4. Select blogs to display (click on that)

5. UNCHECK any boxes that are not your personal blog. That way, when visitors see your profile, they will know exactly what your personal blog is, and not have to figure out if it is one of the others.

Hope this helps!

Hidden or Unknown Google Plus ID?

Some of my recent answers to blogging friends seem ambiguous.

Again, I certainly don't claim to understand the workings of Google Products.

However, if you have EVER used Plus Products, you MAY have a "hidden" ID.

How do you know?

Why do you care?

If your ID happens to be tied in UNKNOWINGLY with any Google Product, you may lose your stored information.

BEFORE DELETING YOUR GOOGLE ID, make sure you have downloaded any photos or YouTube videos to your hard drive or other device.

To discover if you have a Google Plus ID, try this.

Go to Google.com or your Google home page (click photo to make larger):

On the right side, click on your picture or login (click photo to make larger):

Notice that directly under my email address, it shows Google Plus Profile. Click it (click photo to make larger):

On the left side, in pale gray, is SETTINGS (click photo to make larger):

Scroll down to bottom and DELETE YOUR GOOGLE + PROFILE (click photo to make larger). When I deleted the profile, I was sent to a "Aw Snap Error Page". Disgusted, I checked my profile, and the Plus was still there. So I quit the Chrome Browser Application, waited 30 minutes, and went back into it. My profile was all clean:

Next, I went into my YouTube account:

I downloaded my 6 little uploads JUST IN CASE it was tied in with that unused Google Plus ID.

I hope this helps anyone else who still has questions.
hugs,
de

BLOGGER - SAFE as long as you do not have any features tied into G+ option ---- GOOGLE PLUS GOING AWAY

To preserve as much of your hard work as possible, please do this ASAP.

Because I've received several requests for assistance, and because one of my friends may have removed information from her Google Account unnecessarily, I am prompted to write this post. Sorry for how long this is, but there are several scenarios, even if you think you are not affected - you MUST be sure you don't have an old Plus ID somewhere that may be affiliated with your email address or account:

Google Plus features are being eliminated: see this link:

https://support.google.com/plus/answer/9195133?hl=en&authuser=0

Already have a Blogger ID? Please see suggestions highlighted in yellow at the bottom of the post.

Blogger features should be safe AS LONG AS YOU ELIMINATE YOUR GOOGLE PLUS ID AND SWITCH BACK TO A BLOGGER ID before the deadline - please do this as quickly as possible to not lose your blog altogether:

IF YOU ARE USING BLOGGER WITH A GOOGLE + ID:

Because some Blogger users (like me) have enabled a Google + ID, but NOT a Google+ Blog format, the Blogger User/ID information is in the top right corner. I went to someone whose blog was Google + ID and clicked on the banner there to delete my Plus ID (the delete option is at the bottom of the page)

1. For Blogger Blogs using Google+ IDs in addition to Blogger ID, instead, do the following:
2. For Blogs using Google+ IDs also do the following:

1. Go to Dashboard
2. Go to SETTINGS (left column)
3. Go USER SETTINGS
4. On the right side of the page are some options. 
5. Under GENERAL, select USER PROFILE.
6. Make sure that BLOGGER is selected and NOT Google+ :

(click on the graphic below to better read those tiny letters)

Click on EDIT (directly under the BLOGGER selection):

A new window pops up:

NOTE:

• if you are reading this on my blog, please click on the photo below so you can see the full size photo completely, and the writing on the right will not interfere with the photo. 

• if you are reading this via email, I'm hoping it already is at full size for your viewing. If it is not, please click on the title of my blog post in the top of your email, and it will take you to my blog post so you can read it there.

MORE TO DO

A few disappointing things will happen when switching to Blogger ID from Google Plus:

• Comments you left on any blogs using Google Plus ID will disappear. This means that if you left comments on my blog (or any blog) using your G+ ID, those comments will disappear forever.

• If your photos are stored in Google Plus ID and NOT JUST A GOOGLE ID, then wherever those photos have been uploaded, they will disappear, including your blog posts. Check your photos stored in the Google Photos. If they are tied in with your Plus Account, DOWNLOAD THEM to your hard drive so you will not permanently lose them. As you have time, you could then revisit old blog posts that have lost their photos and upload from your hard drive.

• You will lose all your Google Plus followers. Establish the gadget FOLLOWERS by:

1. Going in into your dashboard
2. Choose LAYOUT
3. Click on ADD A GADGET
4. Choose Followers, and Save:

1. 

• It's ok to ask people to re-follow you using this feature, or perhaps you may want to offer other ways people can follow you. Try to put all your follow options in the same place on your blog, to make it easy for them to find. Remember, several of our blogging friends will be going through this transition, so let's be supportive and patient.

• Because Blogger and Plus are two different platforms, you are also going to lose all your previous comments. Please don't be discouraged. Remind your blogging friends about this issue, and ask them to please help you rebuild your existing blog by leaving new comments going forward, and following you.

• The sooner you switch over, the sooner your new blog posts will be safe from purging.

One other suggestion for Blogger ID:

• If we all would enable our email address, it would allow for email replies from comments left on our blogs. For example, if someone leaves a comment on my blog, asking me a question, I cannot readily/conveniently reply if they do not have their email enabled. Instead, I see the "no-reply" option when clicking reply. To enable your email address for your followers or visitors:

1. Go to your Dashboard. 
2. Click on SETTINGS
3. Edit User Profile > Show My Email Address (and be sure this is the correct address - many Blogger users have old addresses shown in there because they forget to correct it, and they forget to hit SAVE).

I hope this helps everyone. I will try my best to help you individually after you have followed these steps if you still have problems. Please keep in mind that I am not a professional, and do not know all the ramifications this may hold in store for us.

hugs,

de

Email Notifications for Comments left on Blogger Blogs

Google has fixed the issue of receiving comment notifications on an individual's blog where they are the sole contributor.

The article is here:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/V611KU-BUOQ

NOTE: JULY 5, 2019 -- If you have done this in the past, and it is not working for you, please remove your email address from the appropriate boxes, SAVE. Then wait 60 seconds and add your email address back into the correct boxes. SAVE.

If you want TO BEGIN RECEIVING EMAILS go to your dashboard:

On the left - Go to SETTINGS scroll down to EMAIL and click EMAIL. In the two slots on the right:
COMMENT NOTIFICATION EMAIL
and
EMAIL POSTS TO

add your email address.

SAVE the changes.

You can save up to 10 email addresses per box. This is helpful for group blogs.

An email will be sent to you offering you the choice to SUBSCRIBE. ACCEPT THE INVITATION TO SUBSCRIBE.

You will now receive email notifications. KEEP IN MIND that each and every notification you receive will have an option to UNSUBSCRIBE. If you accidentally hit unsubscribe, the notifications will stop.

IF YOU ARE PART OF A GROUP-CONTRIBUTOR BLOG, just follow the same steps on each blog to receive comments and posts from those blogs.

hugs,
de

TWO BLOGGER TIPS - ENABLING E-MAIL AND CHOOSING BLOGS TO SHOW

This is updated from the February 24, 2014, original post due to Blogger/Google + changes.

Since a few people each week still ask about this, the blog post is being republished.

BLOG TIP: Enable email address

Why would you want to do this?

Do you have Email notification set for your Blogger Blog? If so, you know that each time someone leaves on comment on your blog, an email notification is sent to you.

Sometimes it is nice to “reply” via the email, like when someone asks a question. Unfortunately most people do not have their email address “enabled” so that an email can be sent. It might show up as DonnaEllis@no-reply.blogger.com

Not having that email address makes it difficult for anyone who owns a blog and wants to respond.

Sometimes, we don’t want people to have our email address. But mostly, it is a case of not knowing how to enable our email address.

To correct this, go to your dashboard.

IF YOU ARE USING BLOGGER WITH A GOOGLE + ID:

*NEW* Because some Blogger users (like me) have enabled a Google + ID, but NOT a Google+ Blog format, the Blogger User/ID information is no longer in the top right corner.

For Blogger Blogs using Google+ IDs in addition to Blogger ID, instead, do the following:

1. Go to Dashboard
2. Go to SETTINGS (left column)
3. Go USER SETTINGS
4. On the right side of the page are some options. 
5. Under GENERAL, select USER PROFILE.
6. Make sure that BLOGGER is selected and NOT Google+ :

Click on EDIT (directly under the BLOGGER selection):

A new window pops up:

NOTE:

• if you are reading this on my blog, please click on the photo below so you can see the full size photo completely, and the writing on the right will not interfere with the photo. 
• if you are reading this via email, I'm hoping it already is at full size for your viewing. If it is not, please click on the title of my blog post in the top of your email, and it will take you to my blog post so you can read it there.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BLOGGER ID, THE FOLLOWING SHOULD WORK:

In the top right (where your name and picture are), click on Blogger Profile.

On the right is a button to Edit User Profile. Click it.

The EDIT USER PROFILE page pops up.

Under the section for PRIVACY, click on SHOW MY EMAIL ADDRESS. Add the address you’d like to have people respond to. This does NOT “advertise” your email address. It merely shows up when people hit “reply to email” when you have left a comment on their blog.

Be sure to click on SAVE!

If it does NOT have a Blogger option in the top right corner of your dashboard, simply follow the directions above for Blogger users who have a Google + ID.

________________________________________________

BLOG TIP: Choose which blogs to show in blogger

Why would you want to do this?

Do you contribute to several Blogger Blogs? The default setting is to show all the blogs you contribute to. This means when people visit your profile (as in returning a comment from their blog), they will see all the blogger blogs you are affiliated with, and have to choose which of the blogs they want to take the time to visit trying to locate your personal blog.

It's frustrating to want to return a comment, only to have 7 or more blogs pop up, forcing you to hit or miss which blog might be the author's personal blog.

To correct this, go to your dashboard. In the top right (where your name and picture are), click on Blogger Profile.

On the right is a button to Edit User Profile. Click it.

The EDIT USER PROFILE page pops up.

Under the section for PRIVACY, click on

SHOW MY BLOGS, select the blogs you want displayed, and UNCHECK any blogs you don’t want to show up. This helps visitors who look at your profile trying to locate your personal blog(s) in response to your comments left on their blogs. Be sure to click on SAVE.

For example: I contribute to NINE blogger blogs. I don’t want people to wonder which of those blogs are mine, so only 2 of my blogs are checked.

Be sure to click on SAVE!

________________________________________________

hope this helps someone today!

hugs,

de