TechnoBlog : open your blog.

New features have been added to your blog, template name is wrote in [...] :

• A "Remember Me" feature that remembers user information on comments (by cookies) : your visitors don't need to fill in the comment form each time ! [permalink, comments]
• Subscription to a comment feed, you may be alerted by email when a new comment has been added to a post and unscribe when the discussion is over. [permalink, comments]
• A "Email this" feature to send by email a post to a friend you find interesting (or not..) [index, permalink, archives, categories]

If you have never updated your HTML templates (Design -> Advanced Configuration), a massive update has benn made by our robots : these new features should be available on your blog.

If you have already updated your templates by adding some code for ads, banner, ou something else, here is what you should do to get these new features :

1. Save 1 by 1 the following templates content on your hard drive :

• Index Template
• Archive Template
• Categories Template
• Comments Template
• Permalink Template
• About page Template
• List item Template

2. Restore each original version of these templates

Caution ! Do not restore the following templates :

• Stylesheet
• 1st sidebar Template
• 2nd sidebar Template

3. The new features are just set up, you may now add your own updates with the help of the files saved in 1.

The other new features (photoblog, HTML editor) are just available in your admin account, we have also corrected some bugs due to TimeZone and archiving posts. Have fun on blogSpirit !

I have noticed that some blogs are using survey modules in their column (here or here). This custom block idea seems good as many bloggers use it.

There is still something wrong with their cascading stylesheet (CSS), as their own style name are the same used on blogspirit blogs ! This can make your center column green, blue or maroon depending on the blogspot settings...

Here is a solution to integrate in your stylesheet if you meet this bug :

#center .content {
background: transparent;
}

It is a pity blogpoll choosed this names for their own styles as .content, .footer or .header are used on many css code. The .content style is used on the middle column and blogpoll apply the following css property :

background: #DDEEDD;

The solution is easy for blogpoll to make their (good) service compatible with any blogging platform (blogSpirit can't be the only one) by using an ID on their table like id="blogpoll-service" anyother css property can be declared inside this table like "#blogpoll-service .content { }".

As the blogpoll developpers didn't let any email, I hope they will read this post and solve this css bug...

Currently, our 3D photos album module don't manage the .PNG and .GIF images. These formats are made for graphism (logo, stickers, animated images, ...) that's why your 3D album may not display some of your album images.

If you are using a software to export your photos, don't worry : most of these softwares export in .JPG or .JPEG format and you'll get a better quality with these ones as they are made for pictures.

Learn more on blogSpirit premium services (also know as blog à la carte)

Caracters [ à © ª è ] etc...
These caracters may also appear in your column content or in google results for your blog.

Don't panic ! This is just because of the new caracter encoding for blogSpirit. This lets any user writting in any language having a blog with special caracters from his language. (blogSpirit launched a chinese version)

This problem has been resolved for all blogs BUT if you have modified your HTML templates, the new encoding caracter may be absent on your blog.

So the best idea should be restoring all your templates (blogSpirit recommands this way) :
- get the differences by comparing your templates and blogSpirit default templates
- restore
- copy the differences

If you really don't want to update your templates, here is how to debug your blog using Advanced Configuration of Design (not recommanded by blogSpirit) :

Get the following code in <head> </head> tags :

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />

And replace it by this code :

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

As you may have noticed, Blogspirit China and Blogspirit Taiwan are now open. It appears that the caracters size of Blogspirit blogs is too small for Chinese caracters, the Blogspirit team will work on this problem and offer a solution for this great community. By now Austin has already found a solution, you may find it here. I can't really say if the solution is good as Idon't speak chinese at all but Austin shows screenshots of his Stylesheet and It seems clear. I have just noticed that some titles such as "About Me" are still too small, however the main content is OK.

Thanks Austin !

Finally !

A new Blogspirit version is born with the following new features :

- Custom Blocks that will let you insert HTML or Javascript code for any feature you may find on the Internet such as multimedia modules, search motors or sponsorised links. ("Columns content" section)
- Trackbacks. Did you ever want to comment a post directly on your blog ? Trackbacks let you do that, you'll find this new feature in the "new post" -> "advanced settings" sections. More is coming soon about Trackbacks on Technoblogs.
- Security from "evil links" and spamming. Blogspirit has already a system to protect every blog from spamming, you will now have a security level on your own blog by closing automatically comments and trackbacks on old posts after 1 month, 2 weeks or 3 days... ("Post Settings" section).
- International Bloging : chinese blogs will now have an blog administration in chinese ! Blogspirit supports any language from any country for bloging.

New features mean new tips that will be soon available on TechnoBlog !

What you need to do to get all these new features. :

Restaure ONLY the following templates (Design-> Advanced Design) :
Index
Archive
Categories
Comments
Permalink
About Page
List Item
Album Templates : all
Atom
Syndication

NB : You may restaure these templates by ticking each template and clicking on "Restaure original version", don't forget to not tick the "Style" template and the "Calendar" template (you could have mean surprises on your blog...)



If you have already modified your templates by yourself, you will need to check the differences and edit your templates. (Leave a comment for help if needed and I will post something on it).

You may have noticed some strange behaviour in your blog stats this last month !

Don't worry, all Blogspirit stats are saved in a log (not blog ) file. We have worked on it to make everyone's stats OK. Now the statistics displayed in the "stats" section are 100% definitly true.

You may also find a "hole" in your february stats, this is just because of a lack of operations at this time. The good news is Blogspirit can now work properly on your stats !

Have fun on Blogspirit !

Are you asked for any login and password when you visit your blog ?

Don't worry you may have activated "Private Blog" function !

What is a private blog ?
It is a blog which access is limited by the author of the blog with login and password. You can use it for family photos or friends photos, but you can also use it for work for managing a project or share information with a limited area.

You can delete the "Private" function by :
- going to "Control Panel" -> "Site Access"
- delete every acces.

Click now on "View my blog", it is not private any more ! Everyone can visit you blog now !

NB : More information available on Blogspirit Help.

Q: I have a blank page on my blog, nothing is displayed on my categories/my permalink/my archive !

A: Don't worry, nothing is lost ! Every html page is cached by Blogspirit in order to display your blog in a more quickly way. If your blog displays a blank page, you can make a reset on cache easily :

Go to Control Panel.
Under Basic Settings->Weblog title and description : Click on "Update Information".

Your cache has been reset, now go back to your blank page : your posts are back !

Remember that Blogspirit never "forget" your posts and this trouble about the cache rarely happens....

More info :
The cache system is performed by Smarty, a template motor.
smarty.php.net