Saturday, November 15, 2008

Testing custom domain permalinks before conversion to custom domain

One of the worries that prevented me from using custom domain for my more active blog is that permalinks (individual post URLs) may become dead links. So before I converted my less active blog http://dummies-guide-to-google-blogger.blogspot.com/ custom domain, I saved all the permalinks before conversion to custom domain.

I tested clicking on those permalinks. I was expecting either of 2 results:
  1. permalinks become dead links

  2. permalinks lead to new custom domain permalinks


What I got was a surprise, neither of the above. Clicking on the permalinks led to the old permalinks (individual post page URL) prior to conversion. The only clue that there is something strange is a little message at the task bar "Done but with errors on page":

error message for permalink

I will check them later to see if the situation changes. Update: All pre-custom domain permalinks lead to the new custom domain permalinks seemlessly

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Testing future post scheduling

I am going to try to schedule this post for November 13 2008 at 2.16pm directly in Blogger post editor. If this post is published immediately, test is a failure, but if it doesn't, check back later to see if post is published on scheduled date and time.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Testing Page Rank Checker in Post

If I read the codes correctly, it should be able to be published in a post itself. Let's see:




Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly:




This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service

Friday, November 07, 2008

Testing thumbnails making with ShareAPic

I tested making a thumbnail album at Candlelight vigil at Dataran Petaling Jaya.

Conclusion: Making the thumbnail album is as easy as ABC. Just upload the photos, copy the given HTML codes and paste it into the Blogger post editor and publish.

Test alt="" title="" tag for videos

I wrote about using images as SEO trick and received a query - "would it work for video?"

Now I am a retired scientist, not an IT expert, so I can guess but cannot say with absolute certainty about whether it would or would not work. I suspect it wouldn't because Google hasn't come up with a video search yet. However, as a retired scientist, I would like to put it to a test:





I added the tags alt="world's youngest drummer" and title="world's youngest drummer" etc. to the above embedded videos. When I hover the mouse over the videos, no tool tip appear unlike for images. So looks like my suspicions turned out to be right.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Testing background color

Let us see what we get below:

What is the background color of this block of text?



If the above what you want, please refer to short introduction to inline CSS

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Testing Google Translator widget

I tested Google Translator widget at my main blog Blogger Tips and Tricks>. Installation was easy. Just copy-paste

<script src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://www.google.com/ig/modules/translatemypage.xml&up_source_language=en&w=160&h=60&title=&border=&output=js"></script>


the script above into a HTML/Javascript Gadget and save. Very simple.

Testing Recent Comments Widget

Amanda of BloggerBuster has a recent comment widget generator which I tested at Safety Tips and Tricks.

What I did was copy-pasted the blog URL (actually you can put any URL, it will make no difference) and pasted into the box for the blog URL and just left all the other variables at the default. It is best you do that in a browser where you are logged into your Blogger account which has the blog you want the recent comments widget. Click APPLY, then GENERATE and another tab or window will be open where you will need to select the blog again from a list of your blogs.

Result: It works, but once the widget is added to your LAYOUT, you will not be able to drag and drop (move) initially but was able to finally move it to the bottom of the left sidebar of Safety Tips and Tricks. You can test it - try leaving a comment there.

Test latest comment widget

Customize Recent Comments Widget

http://
(eg: "yourblog.blogspot.com" or "www.yourblog.com")

characters


           

A test for a recent comment widget

Monday, October 27, 2008

Testing 4 column Minima Dark template

There are some bloggers who are of the opinion that photos looks better if posted in a blog with a dark background. So I am testing this 4 column template. I have posted the image of a book Why French Women don't get fat which is at the same time a hyperlink to Amazon.com's search page for "Why French women don't get fat". I hope you will have a look and give me feedback as to whether images really look better with a dark background by leaving a comment

Light fixtures


Have you ever wonder why lighting shops are so prolific around town? This question is almost as good as the question "can you leave a house in darkness?" Light fixtures are essentials in a house to dispel the darkness and to make a house a home. How many people like a naked bulb that is glaring to the eyes? Light from bulbs need to be diffused so that it is no longer glaring to the eyes. home lighting chosen correctly can make a home more homely and create an homely ambiance to make anybody feels at home.

Some house owners may want lighting fixtures to do more than just diffuse the light to make it less glaring. Some house proud residents may want the light fixtures to add some class to the house. Such house proud residents should think of chandeliers.

Bethany 5 Light Chandelier Vintage Bronze

The light fixture you fit in your home has to be appropriate to the room it is in. One would not fit a chandelier in a kitchen. For the kitchen, there are kitchen light fixtures and for the bathroom, there are bathroom light fixture.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Testing scroll box 3

Testing this HTML for scroll box:

<form><table width="400"><tr><th align='left'><textarea rows="10" cols="100"></textarea></th></tr><tr><th align='left'></th></tr></table></form>



Saturday, October 25, 2008

test scroll box no 2

Testing this scroll box:

<form><table width="400"><tr><th align='left'><textarea></textarea></th></tr><tr><th align='left'></th></tr></table></form>


Testing scroll box

Testing this scroll box:

<div style="overflow:auto; height:300px; width:300px">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:250px;">
<tr>
<td> stuff here</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>







<div style="overflow:auto; height:300px; width:300px">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:250px;">
<tr>
<td> stuff here</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>

testing scroll box

this is head area


head








<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html expr:dir='data:blog.languageDirection' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' xmlns:b='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b' xmlns:data='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data' xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>
<head>
<b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>
<b:skin><![CDATA[/*
-----------------------------------------------
Blogger Template Style
Name: Minima Black
Designer: Douglas Bowman
URL: www.stopdesign.com
Modified by: Peter Chen
URL: http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com
Date: 26 Feb 2004
Updated by: Blogger Team
----------------------------------------------- */

/* Variable definitions
====================
<Variable name="bgcolor" description="Page Background Color"
type="color" default="#000" value="#000000">
<Variable name="textcolor" description="Text Color"
type="color" default="#ccc" value="#cccccc">
<Variable name="linkcolor" description="Link Color"
type="color" default="#9ad" value="#99aadd">
<Variable name="pagetitlecolor" description="Blog Title Color"
type="color" default="#ccc" value="#cccccc">
<Variable name="descriptioncolor" description="Blog Description Color"
type="color" default="#777" value="#777777">
<Variable name="titlecolor" description="Post Title Color"
type="color" default="#ad9" value="#aadd99">
<Variable name="bordercolor" description="Border Color"
type="color" default="#333" value="#333333">
<Variable name="sidebarcolor" description="Sidebar Title Color"
type="color" default="#777" value="#777777">
<Variable name="sidebartextcolor" description="Sidebar Text Color"
type="color" default="#999" value="#999999">
<Variable name="visitedlinkcolor" description="Visited Link Color"
type="color" default="#a7a" value="#aa77aa">
<Variable name="bodyfont" description="Text Font"
type="font" default="normal normal 100% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif" value="normal normal 100% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif">
<Variable name="headerfont" description="Sidebar Title Font"
type="font"
default="normal bold 78% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif" value="normal bold 78% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif">
<Variable name="pagetitlefont" description="Blog Title Font"
type="font"
default="normal bold 200% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif" value="normal bold 200% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif">
<Variable name="descriptionfont" description="Blog Description Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, Sans-serif">
<Variable name="postfooterfont" description="Post Footer Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif">
<Variable name="startSide" description="Start side in blog language"
type="automatic" default="left" value="left">
<Variable name="endSide" description="End side in blog language"
type="automatic" default="right" value="right">
*/

/* Use this with templates/template-twocol.html */

body {
background:$bgcolor;
margin:0;
color:$textcolor;
font: x-small "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, Sans-serif;
font-size/* */:/**/small;
font-size: /**/small;
text-align: center;
}
a:link {
color:$linkcolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
a:visited {
color:$visitedlinkcolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
a:hover {
color:$titlecolor;
text-decoration:underline;
}
a img {
border-width:0;
}

/* Header
-----------------------------------------------
*/

#header-wrapper {
width:990px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}

#header-inner {
background-position: center;
margin-$startSide: auto;
margin-$endSide: auto;
}

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}

#header h1 {
margin:5px 5px 0;
padding:15px 20px .25em;
line-height:1.2em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
font: $pagetitlefont;
}

#header a {
color:$pagetitlecolor;
text-decoration:none;
}

#header a:hover {
color:$pagetitlecolor;
}

#header .description {
margin:0 5px 5px;
padding:0 20px 15px;
max-width:950px;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
line-height: 1.4em;
font: $descriptionfont;
color: $descriptioncolor;
}

#header img {
margin-$startSide: auto;
margin-$endSide: auto;
}


/* Outer-Wrapper
----------------------------------------------- */
#outer-wrapper {
width: 990px;
margin:0 auto;
padding:0px;
text-align:$startSide;
font: $bodyfont;
}

#main-wrapper {
margin:0 0 0 20px;
width: 450px;
float: $startSide;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

#left-column {
width: 170px;
float: left;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

#rightsidebar-left {
margin:0 0 0 10px;
width: 200px;
float: left;
word-wrap: break-word;
overflow: hidden;
}


#rightsidebar-right {
width: 120px;
float: right;
word-wrap: break-word;
overflow: hidden;
}



/* Headings
----------------------------------------------- */

h2 {
margin:1.5em 0 .75em;
font:$headerfont;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
color:$sidebarcolor;
}


/* Posts
-----------------------------------------------
*/
h2.date-header {
margin:1.5em 0 .5em;
}

.post {
margin:.5em 0 1.5em;
border-bottom:1px dotted $bordercolor;
padding-bottom:1.5em;
}
.post h3 {
margin:.25em 0 0;
padding:0 0 4px;
font-size:140%;
font-weight:normal;
line-height:1.4em;
color:$titlecolor;
}

.post h3 a, .post h3 a:visited, .post h3 strong {
display:block;
text-decoration:none;
color:$titlecolor;
font-weight:bold;
}

.post h3 strong, .post h3 a:hover {
color:$textcolor;
}

.post-body {
margin:0 0 .75em;
line-height:1.6em;
}

.post-body blockquote {
line-height:1.3em;
}

.post-footer {
margin: .75em 0;
color:$sidebarcolor;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
font: $postfooterfont;
line-height: 1.4em;
}

.comment-link {
margin-$startSide:.6em;
}
.post img {
padding:4px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}
.post blockquote {
margin:1em 20px;
}
.post blockquote p {
margin:.75em 0;
}

/* Comments
----------------------------------------------- */
#comments h4 {
margin:1em 0;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.2em;
color: $sidebarcolor;
}

#comments-block {
margin:1em 0 1.5em;
line-height:1.6em;
}
#comments-block .comment-author {
margin:.5em 0;
}
#comments-block .comment-body {
margin:.25em 0 0;
}
#comments-block .comment-footer {
margin:-.25em 0 2em;
line-height: 1.4em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
}
#comments-block .comment-body p {
margin:0 0 .75em;
}
.deleted-comment {
font-style:italic;
color:gray;
}

.feed-links {
clear: both;
line-height: 2.5em;
}

#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: $startSide;
}

#blog-pager-older-link {
float: $endSide;
}

#blog-pager {
text-align: center;
}

/* Sidebar Content
----------------------------------------------- */
.sidebar {
color: $sidebartextcolor;
line-height: 1.5em;
}

.sidebar ul {
list-style:none;
margin:0 0 0;
padding:0 0 0;
}
.sidebar li {
margin:0;
padding-top:0;
padding-$endSide:0;
padding-bottom:.25em;
padding-$startSide:15px;
text-indent:-15px;
line-height:1.5em;
}

.sidebar .widget, .main .widget {
border-bottom:1px dotted $bordercolor;
margin:0 0 1.5em;
padding:0 0 1.5em;
}

.main .Blog {
border-bottom-width: 0;
}

/* Profile
----------------------------------------------- */
.profile-img {
float: $startSide;
margin-top: 0;
margin-$endSide: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
margin-$startSide: 0;
padding: 4px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
}

.profile-data {
margin:0;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
font: $postfooterfont;
color: $sidebarcolor;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 1.6em;
}

.profile-datablock {
margin:.5em 0 .5em;
}

.profile-textblock {
margin: 0.5em 0;
line-height: 1.6em;
}

.profile-link {
font: $postfooterfont;
text-transform: uppercase;
letter-spacing: .1em;
}

/* Footer
----------------------------------------------- */
#footer {
width:990px;
clear:both;
margin:0 auto;
padding-top:15px;
line-height: 1.6em;
text-transform:uppercase;
letter-spacing:.1em;
text-align: center;
}
]]></b:skin>
</head>

<body>
<div id='outer-wrapper'><div id='wrap2'>

<!-- skip links for text browsers -->
<span id='skiplinks' style='display:none;'>
<a href='#main'>skip to main </a> |
<a href='#sidebar'>skip to sidebar</a>
</span>

<div id='header-wrapper'>
<b:section class='header' id='header' maxwidgets='1' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='Header1' locked='true' title='Best Photo Store (Header)' type='Header'/>
</b:section>
</div>

<div id='content-wrapper'>

<div id='crosscol-wrapper' style='text-align:center'>
<b:section class='crosscol' id='crosscol' showaddelement='no'/>
</div>

<div id='left-column'>
<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar' preferred='yes'>
<b:widget id='Followers1' locked='false' title='Followers' type='Followers'/>
<b:widget id='BlogArchive1' locked='false' title='Blog Archive' type='BlogArchive'/>
<b:widget id='Profile1' locked='false' title='About Me' type='Profile'/>
</b:section>
</div>

<div id='main-wrapper'>
<b:section class='main' id='main' showaddelement='yes'>
<b:widget id='Blog1' locked='true' title='Blog Posts' type='Blog'/>
</b:section>
</div>

<div id='rightsidebar-left'>
<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar2' preferred='yes'/>
</div>


<div id='rightsidebar-right'>
<b:section class='sidebar' id='sidebar3' preferred='yes'/>
</div>

<!-- spacer for skins that want sidebar and main to be the same height-->
<div class='clear'> </div>

</div> <!-- end content-wrapper -->

<div id='footer-wrapper'>
<b:section class='footer' id='footer'/>
</div>

</div></div> <!-- end outer-wrapper -->
</body>
</html>

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Third jQuery Expandable Post Summary Test

I have previously tested jQuery Expandable Post Summary at Testing jQuery expandable post summary and Testing jQuery expandable post summary. However, the test was not too satisfactory as I had added too many Gadgets (Page Elements) and the whole posts was initially displayed and only after all the Gadgets have finished downloading was the posts truncated to a short summary ending in a [Read More....] link to display the complete post.

This third test was done on Holidays and Festivals and this time, the test was initially conducted with the blog without any Gadgets. This time the moment the blog was displayed, the jQuery expandable post summary was executed, that is, what was displayed was a short summary of the posts terminated by a [Read More...] link. The Gadgets was added one by one, and each time a Gadget was added, the blog was viewed again. If the posts were truncated to a short summaries, another Gadget was added. This was continued until it was observed that instead of truncated short summaries, the whole post was displayed and jQuery expandable post summary was only executed when all the Gadgets were completely downloaded. When the happened, the last Gadget was deleted. You can check for yourself Holidays and Festivals. You should see short post summaries immediately. If not, please leave a comment and I will look into it.