Just for the record, Sitemeter must have crashed. They're displaying backups from two days ago.

Testing

I've been having some problems with posting which I think are related to my browser. I'll be watching how it behaves over the next couple of days.

More expandable post summaries

I figured out how to come up with the effect of that cool hack where you click on a post title to reveal hidden content without the words "...Read more". It's actually very simple. Click on the post title to see my recipe.

First of all, you don't need a hack to expand a post by clicking on its title - you only need to make sure you have "Post pages" in Settings enabled, i.e. set to "Yes", which is actually blogger default. With that setting, blogger gives each post a separate, individual post page, which is displayed by clicking on the post title. It's only hiding a part of the post from the front page of your blog that requires a hack. The hack I've already installed from coderstalk does just that, and more: it truncates the post into a summary which shows on the blog front page, then searches for a label "more" on that post and, upon finding it, attaches the clickable words "...Read more" at the end of the summary. Clicking "...Read more" takes the reader from the post summary on the blog front page to the individual post page, where the full content of the post is displayed. (That's why you need to have "Post pages" in Settings enabled for this hack to work). Now if you don't include the label "more", the hack will only be able to execute its first step, i.e. truncate the post. It will not attach the words "...Read more" because it can't find the label. Et voilà! You will have a truncated post with hidden content revealed upon clicking on the post title.

So there's no additional hack to install - the first hack already gives you two options for abbreviating posts. The option with "...Read more" will suggest that the post was taking up too much of the front page, while the option without "...Read more" is better for hiding content some readers might prefer not to see: the post seems complete at first glance but it actually has hidden content which you can warn them about, telling them to proceed at their own risk by clicking on the post title. Both are cool. It is also very convenient that you can switch between the options only by means of applying or not applying a post label, rather than switching between post templates.

Note that if you skip the label "more", you won't be able to search for your expandable posts using that label. So you might want to distinguish them with some other label just in case.

Also note that a post will not show truncated if the reader is browsing your monthly Archives and accessess that post directly by clicking on its title listed there. That's because upon clicking the post title a full individual post page opens. Posts will only show truncated on the front and following pages of your blog (accessed via buttons Newer posts/Home/Older posts) because those pages host several posts each and you do not open individual post pages to read them.

Expandable post summaries installed

All right, so I successfully installed a hack allowing for creating expandable post summaries (from coderstalk). It didn't take me more than an hour, so don't be shy. You won't regret trying it. And it works. I don't seem to have a problem uploading images into such posts, and it can be applied retrospectively (manually, you'll need to briefly edit old posts). I think I will slightly modify the font style and the placement of the link "...Read more" within posts but otherwise I will be happy with it least for a while.

I'd also like to have that cool hack where you click on a post title to reveal hidden content without the words "...Read more" but I haven't found one yet. I'll continue looking.

Update: you'll have to reinstall the hack once you select a new template. Now I have to test if all the abbreviated posts will have to be modified again, or if they will pick up on the hack introduced to the new template.
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I watermarked my images

And I feel a bit uncool about it. But I want to be credited for them. I tried to keep the watermarks as little in your face as possible. I will still be touching up some.

Still learning how to blog

I am going through the help files and it's tiresome. While I am pleased to discover that I made a couple of correct guesses regarding why I had problems with images, I am also disappointed to see that quite a few technical problems seem to arise in various areas of blogger on a daily basis. I realize this is normal but my eyes can only take so many hours in front of the screen. I'll certainly restrict myself to only working on whatever absolutely must be fixed in order for the blog to remain operative and reasonably looking.

Right now I'm working on another imperfection I noticed, which is that posts of interest to a few are displayed in their entirety for everyone to load and scroll through. Annoying. So I thought I'd try to hide items like food recipes or tech support details after the jump. Not only as of now but also retrospectively. I know a simple recipe for doing this exists somewhere.. I just have to find it, LOL.

Inevitably, I will also be testing those expandable posts. This may involve deleting them and multiple reposting after I change blog settings. If you are a follower, please bear with me or unsubscribe for a while.

Blogging is time consuming

I am just discovering this. I thought I'd simply be writing a post or two and hitting enter but then there's posting images. Should I keep them small for transfer's sake or large for clarity's sake. How do I keep them small and clear. Why doesn't my Picasa web album load properly but instead keeps reloading constantly and I have to catch the images with my mouse to edit them. Why doesn't the fourth image I uploaded today to my Wednesday's post October roses open larger when clicked, while the first three images do. Is it Picasa malfunctioning, the post too large, my alternative browser or perhaps applications running in the background? I am helpless and, in truth, not excited at the prospect of testing this. Any advice will be greatly appreciated :-)

Update: I did some testing and I don't think images won't open because a post is too large. There seems to be some kind of transmission or browser error.

I also spammed whoever is following this blog by deleting and reposting the same post three times. I am sorry - I'll try to refrain from doing so as much as I can. I understand only editing posts is safe in that respect. But is it possible to fix image opening errors by editing posts?

Update: Apparently, yes (while another hour has passed). I reset the PC. I changed the image name and reuploaded to the same post. It worked, the renamed image opened. Then I cut and pasted that image to place it correctly within the body of the post, and it got stuck again. I renamed and reuploaded again and this time cut and pasted text without touching the image. It opens. Phew! So it's either a question of some internal links and file names or it may have to do with the image being selected within the post - I wasn't sure if it was or wasn't selected. Perhaps I should work with the html code rather than the image displayed in the "compose mode" tab. Research to follow.

Also, apparently the Picasa web album only stores copies of blog images, as I deleted some from there (by mistake - it mixed up the numbers of displayed images) and I still have them, both small and larger versions, on my blog. Hooray. I feel like getting rid of Picasa should be my next step.

P.S. I noticed I had my background application off after resetting the PC.. but I doubt it affected test results. ... read more