My blog is getting me down. Well actually, it's not - it is the trouble I'm having with it that is making me fret. Did you know I even woke in the middle of the night worrying about it? Argh! It's only a hobby, right?It's not though, is it? Those of you who blog will agree, I'm sure, that blogging quickly becomes more than 'just a hobby', and becomes a meeting place for a group of like-minded friends.
Friends. I absolutely love my little group of followers. There are 73 of you. Like wow! You make me feel loved. And wanted. From my faithful commenters I get words of encouragement, one of my love languages. I suppose it is my history as a bullied kid that makes me crave approval, and yet never quite believe it when it comes, and I get excited afresh as every comment arrives in my inbox.
Anyhow.
Apparently some of you can't see my blog properly. I believe the posts are right down the bottom somewhere. I wish I knew what that looks like, but you see it formats correctly for me on each of the computers I use on a regular basis. They're all using IE8. It is hard to fix a problem you can't see. In fact I haven't a clue what to do. Susan from Kerugma - a very wise woman, our Susan - tells me that something in my sidebar is too big. But what? I haven't added anything for ages!
The problem is that if you can't see my blog you won't want to visit. Now those of you who know me will probably persevere for a little while (I am worth it... aren't I?), but new readers probably don't even scroll down to see what's here. And why should they? There are lots and lots of blogs out there. Which is why I'm constantly amazed that anyone would want to read my humble offerings anyway. Honestly.
Sorry, blue funk showing there.
Lots of you have told me you have this problem before, back when it first happened at the beginning of this year. The problem is, I was in Melbourne then, and was unable to do anything to even investigate the problem since we are only on dial-up there, and it is very expensive and slow. I can't even find the comments now. I need to know what operating system and browsers are having this problem. I remember that Jillian told me that her computer had the issue and her son's didn't. Or vice versa. something like that anyhow.
Now Sylvia tells me that she is having trouble commenting as well. Argh again. Will this just not go away? I do have my head buried deep in the sand.
So please, can you help me? Pretty please with sprinkles on? I need to to tell me if you have either the formatting or commenting problem or, horror of horrors, both. Then I need to know what browser and operating system you're using - whether you have a problem or not. Finally, if you can fix it for me I shall love you forever!!
I have set up a discussion in The Peaceful Community for this, hoping that the broader blogfrog readership might just hop to my aid. If you would prefer not to comment there for some reason, then just comment on this post as usual. I need to keep the replies all in one or two places to have any hope of getting to the bottom of this perplexing issue.
And it is perplexing. To start with, a blue funking Jeanne is not so very pleasant for the rest of my family. And I'm feeling very down in the dumps indeed.
Which my beloved will discover if he looks at my blog. Which he doesn't. Not often anyhow.
Does your hubby read yours?
Just curious.
Actually it does it to me also and I'm using FireFox. I have no help for you. No clue. I've just be scrooooooooolling. ((hugs))
ReplyDeleteHubby is my editor. When I've read a post 5 million times trying to catch all the errors, he comes along with a fresh pair of eyes. ;-)
No probs for me, Jeanne. I'm pretty sure it's IE8 I'm using, I upgraded a few months ago. Your blog looks as good as ever!
ReplyDeleteRachael.
Is that in your reader or directly from the link, Rachael?
ReplyDeleteno worries for me Jeanne , either in the reader or on the web but I am running IE8 as well. On firefox which my husband has, it doesn't load well. Alas, I have no ideas for you!
ReplyDeleteAs for husbands, I have it email the blog to him but he doesn't always read it. I like to add little blurbs in there to see if he's reading. lol
I'm not having problems. It is a little slow to load for me but that could as easily be me. Home Friday. ☺
ReplyDeleteBreathe girl, breathe....
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful, full and fulfilling life and family. The success of the blog is not worthe the angst!
I had the problem early on but haven't had it for a while now. The only thing I can think of is that we reformatted our computer, so perhaps that helped on my end.
I am a complete technology dummy and do not know what browser I have? Does that mean something to do with Windows or perhaps using Blogger ? I usually link through my dashboard reader but occasionally from the link on my site. I can't remember whether the times I had troubles might have been through there.
Your readers are very loyal, Jeanne. We love you and your blog. Cheer up, PLEASE1
Dear Jeanne, I feel sure there is some technologically smart person out there that will find the solution. Don't be blue!
ReplyDeleteAll I can tell you is that I use Firefox for my browser, and I can't see any posts between all of your sidebar info, just gray. If I scroll all the way down past the sidebar info I see the posts normally. The odd thing is that at the bottom of the empty gray is the "you might also like:" thing with three photos from other posts that you have at the end of all your posts, as if there was indeed a post in that empty area. Did that make sense?
I have no problems with comments.
Hope that helps!
Oh, and yes, my hubby checks my blog for posts every day. I think it's his mini English lesson. Or, maybe he is checking to make sure I only write nice things about him. ;o)
ReplyDeleteSo I've removed 'link within' and the followers' comments widget (which I actually rely on and miss!). Does that help at all?
ReplyDeleteAnyone?
Actually, what is really funny is this. For the first time in a very loooong time, when I looked at your blog today, it is all sitting pretty as before. No scrolling down as per the last month or so!! Weird! Its all good, now! I use firefox too.
ReplyDeleteHave a SUNNY yellow day,
Butter Fly
Hurray, Butter Fly!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it is working. Anyone else?
I'm sorry, I'm not so computer-minded, so I am not a good person to ask some of these blog site questions. I will say, though that I have no problem leaving comments for you and that I am sorry you're down in the dumps. I hope you get your problem resolved so you won't be fretting anymore. I have loved reading your words. Don't give up! (By the way, my husband doesn't read my blog, but I do run my poems by him from time to time!)
ReplyDeleteHey Jeanne...your awesome, did you know that? Well you are! No problems here for me to see your blog, thank God for that, otherwise I would be fretting!
ReplyDeleteHope it gets fixed REAL soon!
Cheer up Charlie, it will all be good!
Love ya more than a fat boy loves chocolate!
xxx
xxx
Hi Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is loading properly for me today, too.
I took a look at the images in the sidebar, and the only one that I could see that was sticking out was:
A Child's Christmas in Wales (links to Amazon). This image is 197 pixels wide, and the rest of your images etc are only 161 pixels wide. This could be it - I hope so anyway.
Have a wonderful week, my friend,
Blessings,
Jillian
My husband reads my blog - not sure I want him to... lol
ReplyDeleteI haven't blogged for a while though - been sick. sigh.
Hi Suzuki Mom,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you've been unwell. I had noticed your absence. Hope you're feeling better now...
So it seems the problem was the Link Within widget. Don't know why it would start playing up now.
ReplyDeleteI've added it back below the posts. Please let me know if this causes you problems again. I would prefer to remove it entirly if it upsets some browsers.
Hapy to report that your blog is where it should be today for me too! I am using foxfire as well so that might be your past (yay!) problem. We had a computer crash a few weeks ago and when the computer was reformated to a different server it did come up as it should but I wasn't used to the way the server worked so I went back to foxfire. Now we'll see if this comment wants to go through.........
ReplyDeleteWhat do you know......I was thinking that I've had problems when I've written longer comments and been interrupted while doing so - so it is probably my computer - maybe it's timing out??
ReplyDeleteJeanne your blog has been working fine for me. I had problems weeks ago but it's been fine lately, I have no idea what my compter uses, I am not technological at all sorry!!!
ReplyDeleteMy hubby only reads my blog when I tell him too. If I've posted lots of thoughts about something and can't explain it in person any better I just tell him to read it!
I was ready to print out the screen shot for you, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I'm using Chrome.
ReplyDeleteBlogging surely is far more than just a hobby! It's kind of become a part of my life now. My lovely friends come and visit, it's wonderful isn't it!
ReplyDeleteI'm not having problems with viewing/interacting with your blog. (Interacting with a blog?? You know what I mean!) And, no, my dh (lovingly referred to as Himself) does not read my blog. I'd had it going for a few months before he even knew about it. He has a tendency to look down on tech social networking (FB and the like) and even prefers phone calls to email. He's old-school, bless his heart. I do talk about my blog and he makes attempts to be interested out of love for me. :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't be blue, Jeanne! Your friends are still here!
YAY!!! It looks like it's all working now! I can see the comments and the Linkwithin and NO scrolling!
ReplyDeleteWooowho! Great job!
Looks good to me!
ReplyDeleteHow do I love thee, let me count the ways,
ReplyDeleteI love thee to the depth I have to scroll with no post in sight
For the reviews of picture books and peaceful days.
I love thy use of Charlotte's ways,
I love thee even when the format is not right,
I love it now, with posts at the proper height.
O doesn't read mine either unless I ask him to. I am surprised that my mother doesn't read my blog though. Does yours?
Yay! Everything is back to normal! I hope your blues have flown away, dear Jeanne.
ReplyDeleteHello sweet Jeanne,
ReplyDeleteI told you once and I'll tel ya again!
It's your book images from library thing that are in your right hand sidebar.
Sometimes the book that is shown is too big for the sidebar, thus pushes the main content below it.
If and when that particular book is not being displayed then all returns to normal.
If another book comes along that is too big, it will happen again.
This is quite likely to happen regardless of browser, monitor size or screen resolution. It's a matter of maths.
Hope this helps,
Susan
http://kerugmadesigns.com
Hi gorgeous Susan,
ReplyDeleteThe problem was, I removed the entire Library Thing widget and the problem didn't go away. Turns out it was Linked Within!
Thanks for your ongoing love and support.
Oh yeah, I hare you there...but the LibraryThing widget will still have the same problem, depending upon your book choices.
ReplyDeleteSee, as part of my web development business/hobby I have lots of web development tools...and sometimes it is still your Library Thing according to my tools. So I dunno. Wait and see how it goes, eh? Time will tell. I know how frustrating these things can be though. Grrrr...
WRT Link Within - does it have a customise setting which allows you to set the pixels of the images?
oh, my dear, sorry you were in a funk and I missed it...I definitely would have sent you some love.
ReplyDeleteSo sending some now, glad the problem is fixed now, it looks great.
oh I meant to say, yes, Peter reads my blog, when he's at work (I can tell from the stats, teehehe). Not often, but regularly. Sometimes he's my editor...
ReplyDeleteI thought it was just me....I can read it fine via Bloglines, but had to scroll forever to read it on Firefox......
ReplyDelete