Making Changes to the Google Blogger Navbar

In this post, I talked about working on fixing up the navbar on my Google Blogger blog. It was going okay so far, and, now, I’ve actually finally finished fixing it. Well, at least until I decide to make a few more changes / modifications to it or something.

Remember that screenshot from the navbar post? Yeah, well, let’s just say that my navbar doesn’t really look like that anymore.

Forgot to get a screenshot, but I don’t think it even matters anymore since I might just end up changing my mind anyway (Update: yep, I did end up changing my mind. LOL. For instance, the Movies Meta blog doesn't even have a navbar anymore).

Currently, my navbar now has the following:

• Blog title
• The menu links (about, contact, categories)
• Search

So, I kept the title and the menu links, and they still look the same as in the screenshot. But I decided to remove the follow buttons and the “subscribe to the RSS” icon.

I decided that they shouldn’t be on the navbar anymore and will just place them somewhere else.

Transformation of the Google Blogger Search Box

As for the search - it’s no longer a search box. It now looks like one of the menu links that you can see on the screenshot.

There’s the search icon and then the word “search” beside it. When you click it, a modal shows up. This modal contains the search box that you can see on the screenshot.

Update: the search box has also changed. For instance, the Anime Meta Archives blog has a full-screen search feature. Once the search icon is clicked, the full-screen search bar will show up. 

Stop the Google Blogger Navbar from Looking Cluttered

I thought it was better that way so the navbar doesn’t look so cluttered and people will only see the search box when they actually want to use it.

So far, I think the Google Blogger navbar looks okay now, and I’m so totally done with it. At least, I really hope I’m done with it.

I dunno though. LOL. Who knows, I might decide to add the follow buttons and RSS icon there again or something.

Until then, I’m just gonna say that I’m done with the Google Blogger navbar and can now focus on the right sidebar.

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Sunday, January 1, 2017 at 11:42 AM

Fixing The Google Blogger Navbar

So- am still working on my Google Blogger blog. I’ve decided to focus on the navbar for now. So far, it’s going sort-of okay. Sort-of, but not really. What does that mean, you ask?

Google Blogger Navbar

I wanted a fixed navbar so that when you scroll down, you can still see the blog title and the menu links (plus whatever else you added to said navbar).

The fixed part is working a-okay on my Google Blogger blog already. It looks pretty nice too 😊. I’ve also got the blog title on the navbar in fancy-looking, but still readable font.

I’ve got some of the menu links listed already, and they even have icons (from Font Awesome, which is really awesome, by the way).

I’ve got follow buttons too (Pinterest and Twitter) as well as a “Subscribe to the RSS” icon though the links haven’t been inserted yet.

The buttons initially looked rather small (was using the default in Font Awesome), but I decided to make them bigger. I first tried fa-lg then fa-2x before finally settling with fa-3x.

I’ve got a search box too though it doesn’t really work yet. Currently, the entire navbar looks like this:

You can’t see the title with the fancy-looking font, but, yeah, it’s there. It’s to the left of the “About” link. What do you think about this navbar?

Some Problems / Issues with the Google Blogger Navbar

Well, the navbar looks nice on bigger screens, but I still need to fix the way it looks on smaller screens.

Am also planning to fix up the search box some more. I’m thinking of getting rid of the large textbox and just using the search icon.

Then, when the search button is clicked, that’s only when the search box will show up where people can type whatever they’re looking for.

It should make the navbar look less cluttered, and it should make its appearance on mobile screens much nicer.

Looking forward to finishing up with fixing the Google Blogger navbar so I can move on to the other parts of my blog that need fixing (that would be pretty much everything, unfortunately). Hopefully, I can start blogging there soon.

Update: have decided to forgo the fixed header navbar for all my Google Blogger blog themes. And, yes, as can be seen with this blog, I've started blogging on Blogger already. You can check out a list of my Blogger blogs here.

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 11:40 AM

Google Blogger Blog Themes Basic Framework

Remember my last post about Google Blogger? Yeah, that one. I wasn’t exactly pleased with the aforementioned blogging platform when I wrote that.

But, right now, am feeling kind of pleased with it, and that’s totally awesome. What’s going on, you ask?

Creating a Theme on Google Blogger

So, I mentioned I was trying to make a theme on Google Blogger, and it wasn’t exactly working out, which was super frustrating.

But, now, it’s really kinda working out, so that’s really great. I mean, I still have a lot to do before having a finished blog template, but, at least at the moment, it’s going kinda well.

Basic Theme Framework

I kinda have the basic framework already. I have the:

• Navbar at the top

Update: have decided to forgo the navbar

• Blog posts on the left side
• Sidebar on the right

Update: currently, all my Google Blogger blogs, except Movies Meta, which doesn't have a sidebar, have this feature

• 3 column-footer at the bottom

Update: have decided to go with a 2-column footer instead

Hopefully, I can finish fixing this theme as soon as possible. I’m trying to make it as simple as possible and yet still make sure that it looks nice/to my liking so I can finally start blogging there.

Looking forward to it though it might take a while (unfortunately) unless things continue going well. Wish me luck?

Update: have finished a lot of Blogger blogs already, including this one. Am currently working on a few more.

*Notes:
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 11:38 AM

Problems With Google Blogger

Argh, mein gott, this is terrible. Uff, Google Blogger is seriously driving me crazy. I just wish it would work already. I do wanna blog there too, you know?

And, yeah, I totally mean that even though I have like more than enough blogs here on Tumblr as it is. Sigh. So, what’s going on? What’s up with Google Blogger?

Complications and More Complications

Yeah, it really is complicated. Like, really, super times infinity complicated. Which means it’s also a very long story.

I’ll expound on it more later on, but, for right now, I’ll just say that I’m trying to create my own Google Blogger theme.

Google Blogger Themes and Templates

Initially, I tried to look for Google Blogger themes that I could use. This takes a whole lot of time though ‘cause, not only are there like a million zillion templates out there, I also have my own preferences/opinions on what kind of theme I wanna use on my blog.

I’ve since stopped looking for blog templates though. Why? Lots of reasons actually. I’ll discuss that in another post. Right now, let me just say that it’s just not worth it anymore.

No to Themes With Encrypted Codes

Also, I wanna say that I don’t wanna use templates that have encrypted codes, not that I’m saying they’re bad or anything, but- that’s the point, isn’t it?

Since the codes are encrypted, how do you know that there isn’t anything malicious or bad hidden behind the encryption? How can you know for sure that your blog is perfectly safe and a-okay even with these encryption codes?

Creating Google Blogger Themes

So, anyway, thanks to all the reasons mentioned above and more, I’ve decided that I should just create or make my own Google Blogger theme. That’s totally easier said than done though. Sigh. The problem is- wait, scratch that.

Actually there are a lot of problems with this, but, probably the most important is simply the lack of time. I’ve other blogs and stuff to do, so I can’t fully focus on Google Blogger. And that’s why I’ve just decided to create a pretty simple theme.

There’s no need for all the bells and whistles and stuff. But, well- meh, the codes refuse to cooperate. It’s really not that easy. I’ll need more time to figure all this out. But I really wish I could just blog right away already.

Sometimes, I get/feel all frustrated and annoyed and think that eh, forget it. I’ll stick to Tumblr. But then I get all these ideas and think, argh, but I wanna blog on Blogger too. And I also wanna make Blogger themes. Sigh. Hopefully, all the issues will get resolved soon.

I really wish that Google Blogger offered some sort of customization documentation on how to create themes on their blogging platform. You know, kind of like what Tumblr does with their custom theme docs. Totally love and appreciate that, by the way.

Update: So far (yep, I've got plans to make more. LOL), I've managed to create the Blogging Sites Meta, Writing Archives (this blog), Anime Archives (Anime Meta), Movies Meta, and Writing Sites Meta blogs.

Have also started regularly writing and publishing articles on all of them. What can you say about their design and layout?

*Notes:
- First image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Second image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Saturday, November 26, 2016 at 11:36 AM

Where Do You Get Your Free Google Blogger Templates Or Themes?

Do you have a Google Blogger blog? It's free to make one (or a lot, if you like), and there are a million (well, it seems that way anyway) free themes and templates that you can use for your blog.

If you use Google Blogger, or if you have a Google Blogger blog, are you using a free template? If so, where did you get your free theme? Which website did you use to download it?

I've seen and found lots of pretty awesome and cool themes (free, of course 😊), but it's hard to choose which one to go with. And they're all scattered around on various websites, so it can be hard to find them all.

It's unfortunate that Google Blogger isn't like Tumblr, which has a theme garden. It's got lots of other templates posted on other sites too, but Tumblr itself already offers a multitude of awesome free themes.

You don't even need to download anything. You just have to pick your chosen template while you're logged on to your Tumblr account and then click on the "install" button that they helpfully provide.

Unfortunately, Google Blogger isn't anything like that. The built-in or free themes it offers on its site are, well, let's just say they ain't awesome, okay?

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? Have you found free Google Blogger themes? What website do you use? What kind of them do you like? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Friday, October 21, 2016 at 11:30 AM

Google Blogger Blog Themes Updates

Here are some news updates about the Google Blogger blog theme that I'm currently working on.

It's one of the many reasons (also working on other themes and blogs plus lots of other stuff, etc) why I haven't been around here on Persona Paper (writing site) much lately. How's it going here, by the way? Anything new? News? Stuff going on? LOL.

Edited to add: While Persona Paper is still around, it has stopped paying. I never even got to cash out from this writing site.

Google Blogger Blog

This one's going pretty well so far, considering I started all over again pretty much from scratch.

Already chose a free template before and was just trying to customize and modify it to my liking, but- eh, stuff happened, and I decided to just start from the beginning.

So I started creating my own Google Blogger theme. Now, it's looking pretty nice and fine. Here's a list of some of the stuff it currently already has:

• Popular posts with circular thumbnails, opacity change, and tooltips on hover

Update: Did this with the Writing Sites Meta and Blogging Sites Meta blogs, but without the tooltips on hover. Here's a screenshot from the Writing Sites Meta blog:

• Fixed up the Feedburner widget since the default version doesn't look all that inviting

Update: currently, all my Google Blogger blogs have a subscribe to Feedburner widget that opens in a modal. Here's a screenshot from the Movies Meta blog:

• 3-column footer and copyright/credits section

Update: changed my mind and decided to go with just 2 columns.

• Fixed navbar with blog title and pages links including search

Update: No more fixed navbar for any of my Blogger blogs. Have decided to go with a different layout.

• The search opens in a modal just like with Mystic Summer (free Tumblr theme. You can install it via the Tumblr Theme Garden)

Update: search now opens in a popover except with the Anime Archives (Anime Meta) blog. Said blog's got a full screen search instead.

• I like the automatic drop-down effect on hover so have that for the categories list on the fixed navabr

Update: since there's no more fixed navbar, there's also no more automatic drop-down on hover.

• Fixed floating social media sharing buttons - they're on a fixed footer bar alongside other buttons like the back to top button, subscribe to the RSS icon, etc

Update: Some of my Tumblr themes still have this feature, but it's a different story for my Blogger blogs. For instance, the social media sharing buttons on Anime Archives opens in a modal.

• When the user scrolls down a bit, the fixed footer bar shows up. If the user is on a post page, the social media share icons will also show up on the footer bar. Otherwise, only the back to top button and other icons will show up on the footer bar

Update: there's still a fixed footer bar and a back to top button, but no more social media sharing buttons on said bar

• And more

Update: yup, there's a whole lot more features. LOL.

'Course, there's still lots that needs to be done, but, hopefully, can finish it all up soon. Right now, am working on the appearance of the posts on the homepage.

Update: Finished working on the Writing Archives, Anime Archives, Movies Meta, Blogging Sites Meta, and Writing Sites Meta blogs, but am currently still working on a few other blogs.

Already have an automatic read more link (in button format) plus short snippet, but also wanted to show a thumbnail.

• What's supposed to happen is that, if there's an image in the post, it will show up on the homepage right above the snippet and read more button. This is regardless of where the image is located inside the post
• The thumbnail was too small though, so I enlarged it
• It looks sort-of okay, but still need/want to fix it up some more
• See, the pic is responsive, but, on bigger screens/devices, it looks stretched
• It's not pixelated, so it can still be seen clearly, and, technically, I could maybe leave it as-is, but I don't want to
• The stretched look is annoying me. Want/need to fix it some more. LOL.

Update: got this issue sorted out. No more stretched-looking images.

And that's all for now. There's more, am sure of it, but, yeah, will talk about it some more later on. Hope everyone is doing well. How's the traffic / activity here on Persona Paper?

The last time I was here, it seemed kind of low, but, just checked my bank now, and I seem to have acquired a few coins or so, which is great, of course 😊.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

How 'bout you guys? How's it going? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by kaboompics (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Monday, November 14, 2016 at 11:34 AM

Google Blogger Blog Tag Issue Is A Bug

I don't know if I should be happy about this or not. On one hand, now that I know it is a bug, well, it obviously can't be fixed, so, at least you don't have to waste your time trying to, right?

On the other hand, well, this bug is annoying, you know? What if it really kind of bothers you and you want it fixed?

What's Going on With Google Blogger?

A few days ago, I wrote this post on Persona Paper. It's about the tag issue or problem that I've been experiencing in my Google Blogger blog.

Tag Issues

Basically, this is what happens:

• Write a blog post and then add tags to this post
• Publish the post and then click on any one of the tags
• Doing so will take you to a page, which will list all of the articles that use said tag
• You can set the number of articles that will appear per page, so, if, say, you have yours set to a minimum of 3, only 3 articles should show up every time you decide to look at a tag page
• If there are more articles, a "next page" or "older posts" button should show up
• If there are no more articles, then the aforementioned button should not show up
• The problem is that the button shows up even if there are no more articles to display
• So, for example, you only have one article that uses the "Google Blogger" tag
• If you click on this tag, only one article should show up and the "older posts" button should not be displayed
• However, what happens is that this button gets displayed even if there are no more posts

The image above is a screenshot of part of the Google Blogger blog that I'm working on. See that "older posts" button?

If a tag only has 1 post to display, then that button shouldn't show up. The Google Blogger bug makes it so that this button appears even when it shouldn't. Have you noticed this too?

Tag Issue Happens on Unmodified Blog Using Default Google Blogger Template

It's very annoying, to say the least. After doing a bit more trial-and-error, I decided to check out another Google Blogger blog to see how the tags are displayed.

This blog hadn't been modified/edited/customized, and it currently uses the default Blogger template (since I haven't gotten 'round to fixing it up yet), so I wanted to compare the 2 and see where the problem might be.

To my surprise, I saw that the unmodified and default Blogger template was also displaying the same problem.

Tag Problem on Other Google Blogger Blogs

I then decided to check other Blogger blogs. I've only checked a few that weren't mine, and it looks like they have the same problem with the tags. So it really looks like this is a bug with Google Blogger.

Is This Happening With Your Google Blogger Blog?

Have you noticed this with your blog/s? It's really kind of annoying, but, on the plus side, at least I can now move on from this issue and focus on the other things that I still need to fix with my blog.

Right now, I'm checking the theme's responsiveness. How 'bout you? How you doin' with your blogs?

*Notes:
- Image is by FirmBee (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 11:29 AM

Tag Issues On Google Blogger Blog

So, I mentioned that I was currently working on a Google Blogger blog. I'm really quite pleased to say that I'm almost done fixing it up.

Unfortunately, there are still a few more issues that I have to deal with. What a hassle, huh? LOL. One of the issues that I have to deal with is with the:

Tags

• On Google Blogger, this is the Labels widget or gadget
• When you click on a tag, you should be taken to a page which shows all the articles that use that tag
• This feature works on my blog, so what's the problem then?
• The issue is with the number of articles that show up
• I had it showing only one post at first so I can see the look of my next-previous pagination buttons (definitely no infinite scroll anywhere on this blog. LOL)
• After fixing the look of those buttons, I made it so that only a few tags at a time will show up per page
• On some tags, this works perfectly, but, on other tags, for some unknown reason, the "older posts" button shows up even though it shouldn't because there are no more articles to display
• Basically, that button shouldn't even be present on these tags since there's like only one post with said tag
• Yeah, I've no idea what's up with that 😕

It's really kind of annoying, not to mention a hassle, since I either have to fix it or find some way to get around it. The weird thing is that this is only happening on some tags.

Well, hopefully, I can get this sorted out soon, or maybe I should just let it go? I don't want to though. LOL. We'll see 😊. So, how 'bout y'all? Hope your blogs are all doing well.

Edited to add: by now, I've finished working on this Google Blogger blog theme. I've been able to make 3 different themes. I also got to set up a few blogs on this platform. You can check out a list here.

*Notes:
- Image is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Sunday, October 9, 2016 at 11:28 AM

Revisiting My WordPress Blog

It's been such a long time since I last logged on to my WordPress.com account that I'd practically forgotten that I actually had a blog there.

When I logged on, I saw that my last post was way back in 2015. So, I wrote and published a new post to explain my long absence.

I don't know if I'll be able to post there regularly again, but I do want to. I also want to fix up a lot of things there like the Portfolio page I'd been working on.

I hadn't been able to finish it back then and, now, since so much time has passed, a lot of things have already changed.

For instance, that page still has info regarding my articles on Bubblews, but that site has long since been gone. There's also info about some of my posts on Writedge and Daily Two Cents, but I've long since removed my articles from those 2 writing sites.

As another example, consider the pics on said portfolio page, particularly the ones that talk about my Tumblr blogs. Those pics show what my blogs used to look like back when I was using a different theme and layout.

In short, I really want to fix up said page though I don't know when I'll have the time to do so since I've been really busy lately.

If it's possible, I wanted to keep the old and obsolete Portfolio page and just start a new one. After all, I did spend all that time working on it. I don't want to just delete it. That, and looking at it brings back memories, you know?

So much has changed since then and it would be nice to compare and contrast the old and new portfolio pages. Of course, that's assuming I ever get around to finishing the new one I wanted to do. Haven't even been able to start yet. Soon, I'll be able to., I hope. Wish me luck. 😊

*Notes:
- Image is by 27707 (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Saturday, January 7, 2017 at 11:43 AM