Saturday, December 13, 2008

Screenshot of Youtube embed script

Previous posts on Youtube videos are Testing embedding video in Blogger, Embed Youtube video in Blogger and Embed Youtube video in sidebar. However, a reader could not figure out what script to use for embedding, thus the screen shot of a video from Beginners learning line dancing below (click to enlarge):

Youtube video embed script

The script to use for embedding is highlighted in blue on the right side of screenshot with the arrowhead of the mouse cursor pointing to it. The actual script I put in the scroll box below for your reference:




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Saturday, November 22, 2008

Translator for blog

It is good to add a translator to your blog as it will make it easier and more pleasant for your blog readers who is not proficient in English like in the top of the right sidebar of Blogger Tips and Tricks. It is very easy to do. Just click on the scroll box containing the codes below, press ctrl+A to highlight all the codes, press ctrl+C to copy the codes into clipboard, open a HTML/Javascript gadget and paste the codes into the HTML/Javascript gadget



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Saturday, November 15, 2008

PageRank Checker for your blog

I normally use Google Toolbar for checking PageRank of my own blogs as well as other websites. However, a blogger complained that you can't install Google Toolbar for a MAC. An alternative is to use the PageRank Checker which you can find at the footer (bottom of blog) of Songs Lyrics and Video. Just type or copy-paste the URL into the box and click CHECK PR.

If you are only interested in your own blog, you can get the PageRank of every page of your blog by installing the PageRank Checker into your blog like the one you can find at the bottom of the left sidebar of Natural Remedies. Copy-paste and save the following codes into a HTML/Javascript Gadget for your blog:




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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Reset Widgets Page Elements: Symtoms - No comments link, missing author signature, etc.

SUMMARY BE
first step is to make sure that all settings are correct.
Is Javascript enabled?
Is blogger posting in any particular fashion? e.g. browser, template tweak? blog URL? Plugins?
===================
GOOD NEWS
problem is in post template
Reset Page Elements - go to template, Edit HTML, Take out Page Element code which look something like this
.................
>div id='main-wrapper'>
>b:section class='main' id='main' showaddelement='no'>
>b:widget id='Blog1' locked='true' title='Blog Posts' type='Blog'/>
>/b:section>
>/div>
................





...................
Save changes OK to delete widgets
Upload backup template or fresh or new template
put the
exact code you just removed back where it originally was

Add backk Page Elements
Preview if OK save
Page Elements RESETTED


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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Blocked accounts: what to do when wrongly identified as Spam blogs

Google Blogger is very generous in providng this free service but it is abused by spammers who create millions of spam blogs or splogs which has no useful content and only created to earn money for the creators or for other purposes. They uses up resources and create problems not only for Blogger, for search engines, but also for genuine bloggers like you and me. The draw traffic away from us via especially the "Next blog" link in the navbar (missing in this blog as it had been hidden but you can see it as a dark blue bar at the top of Blogger Tips and Tricks). I will publish a post about the usefulness of this navbar sometime in the future.

Blogger is forced to use robotic programs to hunt these splogs, disable or delete them. Unfortunately it is a sad fact that robotic programs are often not infallible and can make mistakes (false positives) and identify yours or my blogs as splogs. A few of mine and those of my readeres had so been misidentified and owner either be required to complete word verification (captcha) inorder to publish a post:

word verification or captcha

where you are shown a graphic set of text and you have to type what you see into a field (box) to complete the word verification (to verify you are human as robots will not be able to do it), then publish. In most cases, you will be prevented from publishing or even from access to the blogs.

Normally in such cases, an alert email is sent to the email address you used to register the blog plus you will get this. Anyway, if you have been neglecting the blog and the email address, there is a chance your blog will get deleted after a certain period of time but it is still possible for you to get it back if you still want it, probably with all your old posts and comments intact.

Normally, it will take a few days for your blog to be cleared. In one very rare case, a lady got it cleared with the same day it was reported. Some of my blog took very long, and if you are not patient, you can report it to

spam appeals.

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Sunday, March 30, 2008

C-box, chat box and board messenging services

C-box, chat box and board messenging services

I am not particularly interested in all the stuff above, but suspect they are all about the same. Anyway I added one at the bottom of the first left sidebar. But be quick, because that has a limited shelf life as I didn't pay for it. If that is what you are looking for and you want one for yourself, go to Get a C-box. Alternatively, copy-paste any one of the 3 keywords in the search box above, tick the radio button beside "WEB" and search. Perhaps you will get what you want.

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tagboard for your blog

A blogger asked about tagboard. Perhaps a messaging board service is what he wants. There is a demo on the above site. Check it out and give your feedback by leaving a comment.

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Spam blogs (splogs): What to do when your blog is marked as a splog

Questions and/or complaints of blogs being marked as spam blog or splog is quite common. Result can vary. In some cases, you have to complete a word verification before you can publish a new post. In other cases, you can't even publish. In the worst case, your blog gets deleted.

What are spam blogs or splogs

spam blogs (splogs) are a big scrouge (no speak english blogger hoping for spelling correction) and a big headache for Blogger as well as us innocent bloggers. Recently, I had 2 of my blogs marked as spam blog (very innocent blog and only ocassional posting). I have to click the ? icon to complete word verification (captcha) to get a human review. One of the blog has been cleared and now waiting for another

Why there are so many spam blogs

Because Google Blogger is so generous, their generosity have been abused. There is a huge amount of splogs on the web and they clog up the search engines and suck traffic from us innocent bloggers. Blogger have to use robotic programs to hunt them down and try to eliminate them as it is not possible to do them manually (too much).

What to do when your blog is marked as a spam blog

There will be false positive and we just have to be patient, click on the ? icon, complete the captcha, and wait. It cannot be helped.

If you click on a link to find out what is going on, this will be what you will see:


Your blog requires word verification

Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

AND THIS IF YOU HAVE COMPLETED CAPTCHA AND CLICK ON THE ? ICON AGAIN:

We received your unlock request on January 8, 2008. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam.




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