BP Web News and Tips

Second Test of Intense Debate

This is not really a test, but verification that I was able to remove Intense Debate code from the template on my own. I'm very disappointed by the lack of support especially since my commenting system was lost in Intense Debate. Neither their system nor Blogger commenting was working for new posts. Funny, the actual change to the template was very easy since IntenseDebate commented around the code they had added. One wonders why someone in support could have told me that.

Anyway, back to blogging....

Test Intense Debate Commenting

This is a test. I changed Blogger commenting settings to 'new posts have no comments. --- to see if Intense Debate will now generate a comment form. Prior new post has no comment form by Blogger or Intense Debate commenting system.!!!

Update: Well that did not help! This one has no form either... Bummer.

Update: Still no response, but I was able to get something working by adding ID comment widget in sidebar --- don't know why that worked.

Update 2/4/2010: Since ID can not import Blogger comments at this time, I'm left with two different systems:
Blogger's form for older posts, prior to Jan 28 and ID for newer posts. Of course I could close out comments on older posts but why would I do that???

There is no consolidated 'recent comments widget' --- I'd have to use two! I don't like ID's widget for recent comments [can't edit options; shows full long post titles and for some it shows raw url addresses; don't like the 'jump to button' in terms of styling... ] I was hoping to get away from widget links like "comments by Intense Debate" in sidebar --- there's enough of that under each comment on the post...]

At this point I'm looking to uninstall and try something else before the split gets too deep [good thing no one is leaving comments lately --- did I really say that? ]

Update 2/6/2010: Support contacted me and said I should remove the sidebar widget (they think it is causing the problem because it refers to my test blog, but adding the widget was how I got it to work on this blog). So, I removed it and now there are no comments on new posts -- Back to square one. Hope they can figure it out. If not, will revert to Blogger comments.

Update 2/8/10: Guess I'm impatient -- no word yet. So I tried to uninstall the template code using the IntenseDebate site (upload template, then copy/paste their edited version). The edited one had an error in the preview --- glad I did not save it! Now I'm really upset. Sounds like Blogger is a big problem for plugins built for WP and then converted (twisted?) for blogspot --- reminds me of CommentLuv's abandonment of Blogger. Lots of headaches on both sides... Just get me out of here!!!

Quick Tip: Change Default Blogger Text like Older Posts

Recently Brent, owner of The Right Brain asked how he could change the ubiquitous "Older Posts" at the bottom of Blogger pages. Actually there are two types of links.

When you're on a page with multiple posts, then "Older Posts" returns the next set of multiple posts. Older means those with earlier publish dates. Similarly, "Newer Posts" would return a set of post with more recent publish dates.
On a single page, "Older Post" goes to the previous post chronologically. "Newer Post" shows the next in line with a later calendar date.

Adding a Retweet Button to Single Posts

Continuing the theme of selectively showing widgets and stuff, I added a retweet button on single posts only. The button appears just below the post title.

If you have one or several full posts on your homepage then you want a retweet icon for each one! But if you use the readmore excepts then you don't want 7 or 8 buttons on the homepage. Besides, who would tweet before reading the entire post?

One of our readers, goh left this question on the Beautiful Blogger Table of Contents tutorial:

"Wonder is this possible. Let's say if a blog post has 5 labels. Is it possible to create a TOC for each label and therefore have 5 TOC (one for each label) and in separate pages in blogspot?

Blogger introduced its New Editor as part of the 10th Anniversary celebration. Even though the celebration started in August, some bloggers don't even know about it yet. Others want to wait for bugs to shake out. Those who have tried it give mixed reviews --- you either love it or hate it. I'm using it and can say I like the new Editor. I suggest you try it. The new features can solve one or two of those nagging, pet-peeve type problems.