tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28287040925050619042011-11-27T18:31:30.426-06:00A special purpose blog set up to help a friend troubleshoot her blog's extra features.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.comBlogger111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-44928744822533685322009-07-08T21:50:00.005-05:002009-07-08T22:01:16.823-05:00

While trying to help several people get used to using Blogger, I've been distressed to realize the help page doesn't have much information about Blogger's Add a Gadget tool. Maybe the developers thought it was such an intuitive thing that nobody would need to be told? It might have seems like that to them, but if you're like me you had to just stumble upon it by accident, and simply try it out to

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-25603001787647356622009-06-29T21:18:00.000-05:002009-06-29T21:23:23.862-05:00

I've realized, after using this blog site for a bit of testing, that the preferred method of adding "gadgets" or "widgets" to a blog here is to use the Layout tool. I'd been simply inserting the code created by various counters directly into the template's HTML, but as seen when I changed templates and lost my changes, that's not a great idea. Using the lovely tools Blogger/Google provide not

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-27420862321796306172009-06-29T21:01:00.000-05:002009-06-29T21:03:12.986-05:00

This is the counter my friend used: BlogCounter. I'm not sure why it doesn't work on her site, as it seems to be doing fine here. It's now installed in the sidebar, between the "StatCounter" widget and SiteMeter icon. Guess I need more info from her about how she installed it.

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-31884004343107833032009-06-29T20:26:00.000-05:002009-06-29T20:29:00.894-05:00

Ouch! I changed the template for this blog, and since the blog counters were in the template file, they went poof with the old template! Back to the counter pages to retrieve the code and try again. The good news is that since the statistics are kept on the counter hosts' sites, I shouldn't have lost any numbers, but if I did it's no big deal. I think I'm the only person who's visited the site

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-25843535834549351352009-06-29T20:25:00.001-05:002009-06-29T20:25:49.086-05:00

So, of the four free counters I tried out here, two failed on Blogger because of badly formed code, but two worked fine.The three that failed were from Easy-Hit-Counters, FreeStats.com, and BraveNet, while the ones that worked were from SiteMeter and StatCounter. One suggested counter from the Blogger Help page that I did not try in this site was from Google Analytics. I didn't try this one

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-27426951744779517282009-06-29T20:17:00.000-05:002009-06-29T20:18:34.139-05:00

The latest counter I've tried was found at FreeStats.com. Blogger failed to parse this counter's code, too. Blah!

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-27472204366790809562009-06-29T19:46:00.000-05:002009-06-29T19:49:41.241-05:00

The code from StatCounter.com works fine, and they had directions explicitly for Blogger/Blogspot, as well as other major blogging software, that made installation very easy. This counter appears as an odometer right under the SiteMeter icon, at the bottom of the left sidebar.

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-72358624399326127932009-06-29T19:32:00.000-05:002009-06-29T19:41:33.515-05:00

Another counter suggested in the Blogger Help pages, from BraveNet, requires registration for a very limited free version, or registration plus money for more features. I've already got a BraveNet account from years ago, so I'm signing on with that, but if you don't have one, be aware that signing up will subject you to considerable email from this outfit.Even with all that, the counter from this

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-57261857154941373802009-06-29T19:30:00.001-05:002009-06-29T19:31:53.233-05:00

The code from Easy-Hit-Counters generates an error on Blogger. Blogger wants valid XHTML, which this code is not.

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-17735971856898040842009-06-29T19:17:00.000-05:002009-06-29T19:18:41.133-05:00

OK, I've successfully added a Site Meter counter to the left sidebar. On to find another one now.

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2828704092505061904.post-29783374274356538372009-06-29T19:11:00.000-05:002009-06-29T19:12:46.928-05:00

This is my first post. I'm trying to set up a site visitor counter, maybe more than one, to see if I can figure out why my friend's counter isn't working.

Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14225496299599668993noreply@blogger.com0