Long neglected Blogger accounts.. Oy.

UPDATED :: Are we there yet?! (spoiler alert, grin)

Rambling today just to try to keep in writing mode. Sometime yesterday afternoon, I started fiddling around with my long neglected Blogger accounts. What a mess.

What happened was for some reason the Backyard Pishing blog was suddenly displaying as a single column instead of two. Sometimes that will happen if you're using a higher zoom percentage so I did a quick CTRL plus "-" couple times to take it down a few notches. Didn't help.

Next I figured maybe it had something to do with my getting back into actively featuring Amazon affiliate ads. Thought maybe it had something to do with the newest ads' width(s) causing the layout to squeeze something out of whack. So far, doesn't look like that was it, either.

Ended up being a review worth its weight in time spent as I discovered a whoopsie. The newer Linux Bible I was featuring does not appear to include the live CD/DVD disks the way earlier editions did, namely the (AD ALERT >>>) Linux Bible 2010 now currently faved. My whole point was about being able to test drive various Linux distributions without having to install anything. Can't do that if there's no CD/DVD to insert and poke around in while reading the book's tutorial. *blonde moment*

Immediately after Amazon felt "fixed", a Google Adsense block was the next to visually pop as being way outside its own dedicated "gadget" space. It's now reassigned below blog posts as a 728x90 header size, I think it was. Also set it to echo the blog's template theme. Never have to worry about color clash with that one again.

So far, so good except... blog is still displaying single file.... hm. *grin*

Next line of attack was to literally just sit back and stare at it, ponder it. Ever since I set the Backyard Pishing blog up, I've liked the spring like green grass with blue sky option under the Blogger Watermark themes. Especially loved the Dandelion powder puff spewing weed seeds into the air. Seemed perfect for a low income blog about getting outside.

Like it as much as I did, though, the theme always seemed to feel just a little too "busy" for cognitive comfort, and that was the final impression it left last night... right before I clicked through to a new template theme. New theme choice was supposed to be a 30-second pitstop before reverting back to the old. Had hoped a new theme would bring back the two columns. It wasn't and it didn't... Wasn't 30-second, became a "still there", and so did not bring the two columns back from whence they've eloped. *sigh, grin*

Have now moved on to the fiddling with aka customizing the template HTML stage. Memory serves that this was what I had to do with the grass theme. I remember columns not lining up initially for that theme, either, but have no idea what change eventually worked for it.

AND UNFORTUNATELY the HTML containing that answer was effectively zapped into oblivion as soon as I switched themes last night. Did not think through the entire action/consequences process first. There's a high probability that the zapped file contained comments stating "I CHANGED THIS FANCY TECHIE THINGY RIGHT HERE", intended as personal reference notes just for moments like this.. *oops*

One thought I keep having to fight back against is about Blogger's server possibly treating my Lenovo Thinkpad as a mobile device. Once in a great while, a website will do that. Sites will occasionally serve up an altered, low cal "m.websitename.com" URL instead of "www.websitename.com". Good answer, good answer, but not the case here since Backyard Pishing was displaying properly until yesterday. Back to the ol' drawing board we go...

That ol' drawing board today... consists of some 2,734 lines of code... to serve up one single webpage. I say again..... oy.

Ope, ope, ope! Just learned something new. Was about wrote out but then thought it'd be nice to attach some kind of pic to go with the rambling. Decided to take the above printscreen, screenshot of the alleged 2,734 lines of Blogger template code. Noticed in the process that the numbers were jumping upward inconsistently. Kneejerk was that it must have something to do with our author content filling in the holes then noticed those little black arrows appearing each time the line numbers jumped.

Turns out those arrows are clickable. They expand to display yet more lines of workable code. May get the two columns back yet. Just have to figure out which one of those 2,734 lines of code is concealing the trigger for column, the right's side-by-side alignment. *but must. have. coffee. first*

Happy Safe Surfing out there.. :)

PS No, never did end up doing the Tiger Direct free 8gb SDHC memory card deal. It became a coin toss of that or something mundane like going into town for food or some such other Life supporting purchase. The food or some such other Life supporting purchase won out.... Yay for at least being in a position to have those CHOICES to make. :)

UPDATE? Nope, not there yet BUT did stumble upon the following through trial and error not to mention serious wear and tear on the eyeballs...

• Group description="Sidebar Background" lets you change the background of... your sidebar. Hey, it's a start... :)