Technical Difficulties
April 3rd 2008 12:03
4/8/08: I'll be doing a little experimenting with my blog's design, to see if I can find a way to make the default template look better; so please bear with me! Thanks! Right now, I'm attempting to make the banner ads look less obtrusive.
Why not check out my new "Writer's Notes Pillar Posts" section. You'll find a link in my left sidebar under "Spotlight Posts." You'll find blog carnivals there, as well.
Update (4/7/08): Orble has partially reconfigured my preferred template, but they've left the banner ads, which dwarf my blog's title banner and make for a very unflattering look. For the time being, I have little choice but to stay with this template until I (hopefully) manage to talk Orble into providing a link ad option for that template, in place of the banner ad--a real disappointment!
Update (4/5/08): Since writing this post, I've learned that the Google ad configuration which appeared while I was rearranging my sidebar was a formatting experiment done by Orble and not the result of anything I did to my blog. I'm very disappointed in this experimental setup and can only hope they'll come to their senses and return to the normal, attractive, symmetrical three-column design and get rid of the unsightly fourth column they've added to most of their templates--including the one I usually use.
This fourth column contains nothing but a Google ad tower floating in space, pushes the entire blog over to the left, uncentering it and making it appear lopsided and--along with the unsightly banner ads it forces upon us--makes a blog look extremely unattractive. I want to provide my readers with an attractive design--as well as helpful and informative content--to make your experience here more pleasant; and the latest formatting experiment simply doesn't help me do that.
The only good thing about all this is that the experiment is only supposed to last 48 hours, and it was begun April 3rd. Hopefully they'll stick with that schedule. If they do, I might actually be able to restore my original blog format before my blog is judged in the March Madness blog tournament.
Unless and until they do get rid of the new design monstrosity, I'll likely be sticking with this adless format--not because it's my chosen format, but because it's far, far better than the mutated version of my usual format. I hate gaudy banner ads, and the floating ad tower looks ridiculous. I really do miss my lovely, symmetrical design with one sidebar on the left, one on the right, and the blog in the middle! And I'm extremely disappointed that Orble would even consider such an unattractive design. My only hope is that they'll realize that the "experiment" has been a failure.
Stay tuned for further developments. In the meantime, please take a look at this Writer's Notes thumbnail, at AboutUs.org, to see what my blog should look like--and will, as soon as I'm able to restore it.
____________________
Blog Formatting Problems
Please bear with me while I work out my blog formatting problems. Some changes I made to my blog have created technical difficulties with my Google ads, causing them to become unconfigured and move to other parts of my blog and also causing the wrong ad type to be displayed (i.e., banner ads--which I hate).
In order to remove the unsightly ad problem, I've had to choose a template that has no ads (other than the referral links under the header); but, unfortunately, it's also one that displays both sidebars on the left side of my blog--which I find quite unattractive.
I've also had to temporarily remove some other items from my sidebar: my Helpful Sites for Writers link list, and the MyBlogLog and TheGoodBlogs widgets.
Please bear with me, while I wait for technical help from Orble. Hopefully Writer's Notes will be back to normal very soon. This is even more critical right now, since my blog is set to be judged in the Writer's Resource Center March Madness Blog Tournament in a few days! (Believe me, this was not the way I'd intended to make that announcement!)
Thanks for your patience!
Jeanne
____________________
UPDATE (4/4/08): I've replaced the Sites for Writers links, as well as the widgets for MyBlogLog and TheGoodBlogs, though I've arranged them somewhat differently than they were before. Unfortunately, I'm still unable to use my preferred blog format (the more symmetrical one that has one sidebar on either side of the blog), due to continued problems with the configuration of the Google ads.
Thanks so much, everyone, for your understanding and support! I really appreciate it!
| 82 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
Sleezer's World
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
I had no choice but to use this template, though, because my regular one looks horrible right now! I'm hoping Jon will be able to fix it for me before my "moment of truth" arrives!
In the first round of the tournament, 32 blogs are competing in pairs, with 16 blogs going on to the next round. After that round, 8 will continue on, and so on, until only one blog is left. Even though I don't expect to win, I'd certainly like to earn as many points as I can--and maybe even stay in the running for a while. But, with this lopsided look, it's not looking very good...
Thanks for the moral support!
Jeanne
Comment by AmyHuang
Sydney Table
Project Job Search
Travel Debate
Travel String
Love Adventures
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
Sleezer's World
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
And thanks, Amy and James for your good wishes!
You're all the best!
Jeanne
Comment by Danceswithwords
Poetic Sedition
Inspiration
The most disturbing thing for me is navigating to your link. I am astounded by the number of click throughs - 'read click the tickets', web cookies, and general "let everyone know about my navigation" to your page.
Orble is like this and the technical difficulites you are experiencing relate to this (I'll use the world awful) environment.
I guess in writing - if we are to be heard at all - or make a dime from efforts - relates to they type of mechanisms that run behind the scenes - most of which writers aren't aware.
The story behind the scenes isn't pretty - all for gain, knowledge & profit, and a place to float arts & crafts (like writing) to attract more... gee... TRAFFIC.
I can't fix or help your problems - I struggle with this interface - often - I guess its more important that you are there and we read and hear you - despite who's listening and making revenue out of taps on our keyboards.
Hope your problems get resolved soon. I'm sure the Orble community has experienced same issues and is sympathetic to your cause. For me I think life could be so much easier.
DancesYour text goes here
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Thanks for your support, understanding, and good wishes! I appreciate them!
Most of the time, I don't really have trouble with my blog template. But, something really went wrong today! I do tend to put a lot in my sidebar, which can't help the situation; and at times I do strange things to it. But I'm still trying to figure out why the block of Google ads moved over from the bottom of my left sidebar to create a fourth column on the right side of my blog (in the other template that I generally use). And even stranger is the fact that many other Orble blogs now also have the Google ad block over on the right side, creating that fourth column, too. (I've never noticed that before.)
Jon has always been helpful whenever I've had a problem with my blog. I only hope he'll be able to fix this before my blog is judged in the tournament in just a few days, because this template configuration is not one I like--and my blog design will be judged--but right now my regular template looks worse, so I have little choice!
Thanks for the visit and the words of encouragement!
Jeanne
Comment by Lynn Smythe
The Pagan Path
Freelance Online Work
I Love Herbs
Good luck with the blog tournament!
I understand your frustrations with having problems with the formatting of your blog.
One of my blogs, on another site, just changed their entire format. I can no longer get into my site to add posts or anything.
The techies on the other site have no clue as to why I can't get back into the system. My spider senses are telling me their whole system might be about to crash.
So, I've spent the past few days creating a brand new site under the blogger/blogspot platform so I can copy all the old posts from the other site.
FRUSTRATING, the original site was finally starting to get bookmarked by other sites, etc... Oh well, the EXCITING life of a writer, HUH!?!
BUT on a positive note, although I no longer have the cool domain name, the bells and whistles on the new site are much cooler. Think it's going to work out better in the long run. But for now I just have to be patient.
Take care,
Lynn
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
And thanks for sharing your story. So sorry to hear about all the problems you're having with the other blog! Who would ever think something like that could happen--that you could actually be locked out of your own blog! What a frightening thought!
Hope things work out well for you at your new site. Glad you're able to look at the positive side of it all. That's really the only way to move forward when we face setbacks, isn't it?
I know a blogger who attempted to upgrade to the new version of WordPress and lost all her posts--700 of them! I felt so bad to hear that, but she, too, is moving forward--and actually excited about heading in a new direction.
Now that's resilience! And I admire that--in both her and you! You are both great role models for me right now, as I face the prospect of having my blog judged with this template design that I don't like. (I like symmetry of design, and this template is not symmetrical!) Thanks so much for your encouragement!
Best wishes,
Jeanne
Comment by krissyknox
Krissy
Really Long Link
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Sorry to hear that you've been having blog formatting problems too! Mine couldn't have happened at a worse time! I don't really expect them to be fixed in time, because my blog will likely be judged in about the next two days. One can always hope, though! Glad your sister was able to help you get your problems worked out.
I've put back the list of links to the various helpful sites for writers, as well as the MyBlogLog and TheGoodBlogs widgets; but I've placed them differently.
Thanks so much for your encouragement!
Jeanne
Comment by Lynn Smythe
The Pagan Path
Freelance Online Work
I Love Herbs
The techies said that IE is really buggy when using the new Wordpress version. They suggested I try downloading the FREE Firefox internet browser. So I did that and can now get back into the Bike Diva site.
Kind of extreme having to download a whole other internet browser. But some of my other programs aren't supposed to work that well with Firefox so I kept IE on my computer too.
Stinking computers. And I went to all that trouble to copy my blog to blogspot. Kind of like how the new site came out. So I might change the original blog to just road biking and make the blogspot one concentrate on mountain biking.
Take care,
Lynn
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
What a fiasco! Sorry to hear how much trouble you had to go to--and now to end up with two of the same blog and two browsers to boot! Pretty incredible!
How can you take on so many blogs? With my other writing, it's all I can do to keep up with one!
I've looked at your sites, and both look great! Sounds like an excellent idea to change the focus of one, so they're not identical. Wouldn't you need to change the name of one of them, too? Would you be able to do that easily?
Best of luck to you in getting your blogs set up the way you want them, and may they enjoy great popularity and success!
Best wishes,
Jeanne
P.S. Don't you think the people at WordPress should be warning their bloggers about the IE/new WP version incompatibility--or are they already doing that?
Comment by Lynn Smythe
The Pagan Path
Freelance Online Work
I Love Herbs
I just renamed the blogspot Bike Diva blog to Charity Fitness Events. The new URL is http://charityfitnessevents.blogspot.com.
So I'll be able to keep the Wordpress Bike Diva blog as it is. At the present the blogspot blog just looks like a clone of Bike Diva. So I'll be slowly changing it to focus on charity events, like marathons, triathlons and century bike rides that benefit various charity organizations.
Like I need another blog!?! But after spending all that time to redo the Bike Diva site I can't bring myself to delete it.
Take care,
Lynn
I guess the next time I have blog problems I need to find some patience. But I really didn't think I was going to be able to bet back into the original Bike Diva site after they upgraded Wordpress.
I guess Wordpress can be a great blogging platform if you are a bit of a computer guru. I'm not, so I prefer blogging platforms like Orble and Blogger/Blogspot. Just point and click. All that computer language stuff gives me a headache. I want to write, not learn how to program a stinking computer!
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Great idea! It looks good! With all those blogs, you should be keeping quite busy!
I certainly understand why you wouldn't want to delete your newest blog after all the trouble you went through creating it. At least now you've got two fantastic biking blogs, and there's something to be said for that!
They say that patience is a virtue; yet how could you have known at the time that you'd be able to retrieve your content later? (How long were you locked out, anyway?) I suppose it never hurts to give it a little time to see whether things correct themselves; but, I think it's only natural to feel as if we need to do something to fix the situation. Better that you did get your blog back, though, so you didn't lose the "Google juice" it had built up!
Wishing you the best with your newest blog--and all the others!
Thanks for the update!
Jeanne
Comment by Yvonne Russell
Comment by Robyn
All the best!
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Thanks so much! Appreciate your support!
Jeanne
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Your encouragement is greatly appreciated! The technical side of blogging can certainly be a problem--as can the lack of control inherent in hosted-community blogging! Orble has actually always been great about addressing my technical issues. It's the design and other top-down decisions that are most difficult to deal with.
Thanks for stopping by!
Jeanne