23 January 2021

Edit icon now missing from blogspot posts - updated

It's always something.  Now something has happened at Google's Blogspot hosting service that has made the little icon for editing existing posts disappear.   There used to be something to click down in this corner that allowed the blogger to make updates, changes etc.  That disappeared several days ago.

I'm not the only one to notice this.  The problem is present while using either Chrome or Firefox.  There is one workaround that involves adding an extension to one's browser, but I'm reluctant to do this.  For the present I need to go to my dashboard of 17,000 posts, search for the one I want, and open the post there to edit.

Seeking comments and input from other bloggers.  Regular readers can ignore this.

Addendum: And this evening I find I can't delete comments from old posts, even via the dashboard. ???

Addendum #2:  It's back -

I don't understand these things.  It's some kind of magic.

9 comments:

  1. click the "B" icon in the upper left corner. should take you to a list of your posts & stats etc. you might have to sign in or something. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that takes me to my dashboard, which I have bookmarked and visit every day. But I still have to search through all the posts to find the one I want to modify, which means I have to remember a title or keyword.

      Delete
  2. Yeah, I've been updating and reposting old videos for the last year or so, since the classics are funnier than what's being produced now. The new interface made searching by date impossible, so I switched to searching by date from the front page. Now I can't edit from a published page, and it's driving me nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you'd like a lightweight means of adding the pencil icon back that doesn't require installing an extension, you can add a "bookmarklet" to your browser. This will run a small piece of JavaScript that will reveal the pencil icon, comment delete links, and other controls on the page until you reload / navigate to a new page. It's not automatic like the extension, but for those of us who prefer to see under the hood, it does allow you to see the entire extent of the code which is being run in your browser.

    The snippet of code is: document.querySelectorAll( '.item-control' ).forEach( el => el.style.display = 'initial' )

    What this does is scan the HTML document that represents the page and gather a list of all the "elements" (the web page building blocks like paragraphs, dropdown menus, icons, etc) that are defined with the class of "item-control". It then performs the same action once "for each" of those elements; this action sets the "display" style of that element to equal "initial", which is the right setting to make it visible.

    From what I can tell, this is the equivalent function of the extensions linked above.

    To set this up in your browser, you must create a new bookmark with the following details.

    - Name: Reveal Blogger Editing Control (or whatever you'd like to title it)
    - URL/Location: javascript:document.querySelectorAll('.item-control').forEach(el=>el.style.display='initial')

    For Chrome/Firefox, you can follow these steps to do so.

    1. Right-click the bookmarks bar (below your address bar) and click "Add Page"/"New Bookmark". If your bookmarks bar isn't visible, you can use the key combination "Ctrl-Shift-B" to toggle it.
    2. Enter the information from above and save.

    Now whenever you're on a Blogger page, click that bookmark to reveal the blog controls. This will also show comment deletion and other widget controls. This works for anyone viewing the site, but Google will not allow an unauthorized individual to actually edit the items referenced by those controls. If you're not the blog author or a deputized editor, clicking on the icons will do you no good.

    Hope that helps!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The screwdriver and wrench are BACK!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ayep ~ same problem here; on Firefox. What idiot thoughg that one up?!?!?!?!?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bloody Blogspot. My traffic is a fraction of yours but I now delete spamocomments via the Comments menu in the left margin {Posts-Stats-Comments-Earnings} because "delete" stopped being an option on the post itself. I note that "delete" has re-appeared beside "reply" on each post. I baulked as long as possible at adopting the new design of their dashboard but find it has better functionality than the old one. BobTheSclerotic

    ReplyDelete

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