How to set a mobile template on your Blogger blog

If you have a Blogger blog, you can display a different template on your mobile phone if you wish.

To do this, simply go to your Blogger dashboard and select the blog you wish to change. Then click on the "Template" choice on the left side.

There, you will see two template frames. The one on the left is the template that is live on your blog. The one on the right is what will display on your mobile phone browser. If you want to change it:

• click on the wheel below the mobile display (which brings up a little pop up)
• click the choice: "Yes. Show mobile template on mobile devices" at top left,
• then on left under "Choose mobile template", pull down the menu to view choices (note that Default is a valid choice)
• select a template
• press the "Preview" button to see your mobile template
• and lastly, press the Save button on bottom right.

If you have a relatively new mobile phone with browser capabilities and the internet, you will then see your new template appear on your phone.

I did this a while ago but nothing happened with my 6 year old phone. But, I replaced that with a new Blackberry about a month ago and was thrilled with the difference.

I use the "Default" template and it loads extremely quickly on the phone. It isn't fancy, but looks real good.

So, if you haven't looked at your mobile template lately, you may want to make this slight improvement to your blog.

Caution: Old Blogger publish date bug returns.

Two nights ago on Tuesday, I began writing a new blog post on one of my other Blogger blogs.

The next morning, I completed the post and published the article.

I have done this many times before and believed all would be well. However, when I checked my Adgitize publish logs, I discovered that I was not awarded credit for publishing an article on Wednesday.

I checked Blogger and discovered that it recorded the publish date as the time that I created the post, not the time that I published it. Being certain that I did indeed publish the article on Wednesday, I decided to check my Feedburner feed. Sure enough, the post was correctly timestamped with the Wednesday morning publish time.

I then examined the feed XML and found the following:

<entry gd:etag="W/&quot;CkQAQ3g6fSp7ImA9WhRSFEk.&quot;"> <id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1840318485170380914.post-9195612107966537627</id> <published>2011-11-15T14:32:00.001-08:00</published> <updated>2011-11-16T02:45:42.615-08:00</updated>  <app:edited xmlns:app="http://www.w3.org/2007/app">2011-11-16T02:45:42.615-08:00</app:edited>   <category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Mega Millions" /> <category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Crazy Combos" />  <title>Tuesday Mega Millions Results 11/15/11 - Next Jackpot $40M</title>

Sure enough, Blogger marked the post publish date with the creation date (in red). It does have the correct update time and Feedburner has the correct entry as well (both shown in blue).

This is an old Blogger bug that I wrote about in August of 2009, but it was fixed shortly thereafter (see Feedburner Publish Date verses Blogger Entry Date).

For whatever reason, it appears that this old bug has recently resurfaced and the original fix is lost.

So, if any of you any of you begin writing a post on one day and publish it on another date, beware!

Hopefully Blogger will realize its error and fix it shortly.

PS:  I am not sure if this same behavior applies to scheduled posts as well. So, I am writing this on Thursday and have scheduled a Friday publish time. If this works properly, then the bug is limited to the new Blogger post editor only. If not, then the problem is more widespread.

What a week!

This past week was really crazy.

First, it started off with a snowstorm last Saturday. While we only received about 3 to 4 inches of snow, many of the tree limbs and power lines in our neighborhood fell down. Things seemed be fine at home until that night. We were watching the 11 PM TV news that was reporting the various power outages in our area. Then, all of a sudden, "click", everything went off. We were without power. The next morning the power was still off. We passed the day, hoping that the electricity would be restored but it wasn't. So, we packed our bags and drove to a friend's house.

Monday was Halloween and the power was still off. The local police were estimating that the lights would come back on Wednesday. That night, instead of hosting the Trick or Treaters, I had an MRI of the brain.

When I was leaving the facility, my wife called and said the power was back. We then repacked our belongings and went back home.

On Thursday, I visited the doctor who gave me the good news that I did not have a brain tumor, just water in the ear. Thank God.

Now tomorrow, we are flying down to Florida to enjoy a week in the sun. We haven't been away for quite a while and we are looking forward to just relaxing before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays begin. Because of this, I will be skipping next week's posting on this blog.

But, if you would like to keep up with our vacation and see what we are doing, I will be posting quick daily summaries on my other blog: The Traveling Fundraiser. 

I'd appreciate your stopping by there and reading it while I am gone.

Cheers!

JL.............