October 18, 2020

Blogger's Custom Theme Settings

Warning! Don't mess with Blogger's custom theme settings. I just tried to change the background image on my blog and they shrank the full-size photo I uploaded down to a teeny thumbnail and stuck it in the upper left-hand corner. They want you to tile it, which looks terrible. So I picked one of their generic backgrounds and lost my blog's unique look. The other consequence is the blacked out date of the post. Not sure where that came from because there's no setting to change that. 

If their goal is to take the fun out of blogging, they're certainly succeeding.

18 comments:

Helen said...

Yes, I ran into this type of mess when I wanted to change one small thing. Barely got to something I found acceptable. Hate when someone thinks their improvements are wanted by everyone and ... well. Anyrate, I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this. :)

Michelle said...

I've had my suspicions which is why I'm not TOUCHING any of my settings!

The Wykeham Observer said...

I dread trying to blog with the new system. It will take me some time! Phil

Cockeyed Jo said...

Leigh I've changed my background several times including several homemade backgrounds. Take a look at the css, see what size it is and make your image to fit the whole screen.

Gorges Smythe said...

Progress requires change, but not all change is progress.

Leigh said...

Thank you for the commiserations! We're not alone. The Google help forum for blogger is loaded with the same and other problems.

It puzzles me that any tech company of repute would release something so bug riddled. My daughter is a software developer, so I know the amount of testing that customarily takes place before the public release of new programs. All the standard things people do should have been thoroughly tested. I would think this is an embarrassment to Google.

In the past, Google has been wonderfully responsive to problems and things quickly got fixed. Now, they either so overwhelmed with glitches that they are in over their heads, don't care, or maybe someone is trying to sabotage them? Or maybe it's just the first sign of a sinking ship?

Jo, that's a good idea. But where do I find the CSS? I've dabbled in the html, from time to time, but always assumed the CSS was off limits because it's universal to numerous blogs.

Anyway, I can't find anything in the html addressing background image size, but I'll keep looking. Their choice of default backgrounds all work, it just seems to be the upload your own that doesn't. Maybe there's a clue to the blacked out blog dates in there too.

daisy g said...

Oh no! I really don't like it when they change these things. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

SmartAlex said...

I stopped tweaking my layout a long time ago. Even the individual entries have fewer functionalities. They've made tagging difficult (near impossible IMO). The program has become so unfriendly. I suppose if you are tailoring it towards people who use their phones simplifying makes sense, but for the rest of us its a PITA.

Leigh said...

Daisy, I suppose it depends on one's definition of "broke!"

Alex, yeah, I don't get the phone thing. The old interface was also set up for mobile, at least mobile viewing. It seems most of the blogs I frequent, however, are using desktops, and mention looking forward to posting from their computers again. I'm not sure how a phone keyboard is designed for lengthy articles or essays, which is more the nature of a blog. Cell phones, IMO, are more suited for short, conversational items of text.

Rosalea said...

I am gradually finding my way around the program, but some things I want to change just seem to be impossible, and I'm afraid of messing the whole thing up!! I have no experience with the old program.

Cockeyed Jo said...

Leigh, Go to theme, click down arrow, click edit html the css comes up. But if you'll advance button under customize, you can add a picture for your background there, make sure you click upload image. The image should stretch to fit the entire screen. The entire blogger background is 1500 px. I do seriously dislike the new interface. You can't tweak the blog like you used to.

I just changed mine for fall.

Leigh said...

Jo, okay, found it. I'm used to CSS being a separate file. I'm looking through it to see if I can figure something out. When I upload new 2000 px wide image (they say minimum of 1800 px), blogger displays it as a thumbnail in the upper left-hand corner of the blog. The rest of the background is whatever color I choose. So that's how my live blog is now, until I can figure out the tweaks that are needed to change it.

Florida Farm Girl said...

I'm sorry you and a lot of other folks are having problems with the new blogger format. I know mine is much simpler than yours but other than a few different ways to do things, I haven't found the new format to be a problem at all.

Leigh said...

Sue, I'm glad to hear somebody isn't have problems! That makes you one in a million. :)

Leigh said...

Okay, I fixed the date background color.

Old code:
.date-header span {
background-color: $(date.header.background.color);
color: $(date.header.color);
padding: $(date.header.padding);
letter-spacing: $(date.header.letterspacing);
margin: $(date.header.margin);

Replaced with new code:
.date-header span {
background-color: #ffffff;
color: #222222;
padding: inherit;
letter-spacing: inherit;
margin: inherit;
}

Now to figure out the background image problem.

Leigh said...

BUT! If I try a custom photo background again, the date is blacked out again, even though I make no other custom adjustments to my blog theme. Something's screwy.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Leigh, after suffering through the new “improvement” for a bit and. Losing the ability to restore back to the old format, I went to the helpdesk to look it up. Turns out there was more than one request to reset - and a bit of finger pointing. Blogger said their software was completely outdated and that they had no choice but to switch it basically because of their parent company, that being Google. Google apparently considers this to be insufficiently worthy of restoring.

I suffer through it grudgingly.

Leigh said...

TB, that makes sense. On all points. One comment I ran into at a tech forum as I tried to figure it out, was that the new code is riddled with errors. If Google has no interest in Blogger, then that's that. But it doesn't surprise me because that's been a pattern with Google, to start a project, dabble with it for awhile, lose interest, then announce an imminent end of life. I fear it may be the same for Blogger. The alternatives for blogging don't look very hopeful, especially for a photo-heavy blog like mine.