How to Disable Blogger's Sometimes Problematic 'Next Blog' Button
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core Memory 4GB kit $154 / 2GB kit $94, New 2008 iMac 2GB $46. MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO 2GB $44 / 1GB $23--Free shipping available.
Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.
OWC: Juice up your iPod w/NewerTech High Capacity Battery from $19.99 Free Installation Videos for most models. Pro Installation Service w/FedEx Shipping From $57.95 (Battery Included). - www.MacSales.com
Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.
MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...
- 2006.03.28
Thanks to Linda W. Uhrenholt, an Education Advocate for AT&T, I've learned about a potentially troublesome "feature" of Blogger, the free blogging tool now owned by Google. Linda wrote to ask:
"Today I noticed that in the upper right hand corner
[of my blog there] is a button/arrow called 'Next Blog.' I clicked
on it and with horror realized it went to someone else's blog - and
it sure wouldn't be appropriate to show this particular blog. I
went to your blog to see if it was the same deal. Sure enough on
your http://espaceacademy.blogspot.com/
in the right corner was that link and it went to 'body pump' and
one time it went to 'meat treats' from your site. I emailed the
Blogger Support to see how to disable that function but wanted to
know if you had ever asked them how to disable it?"
I noted that she is correct. While on campus, the district filtering software will do a pretty good job of preventing that link from going anywhere objectionable. But at home it's another story altogether.
I took a look at the template supplied by Blogger to see if there were any simple way of removing some lines of code to make the button - or at least the navbar - disappear. Alas, if there is, it's beyond my quite meager HTML skills.
So I did what any red-blooded power user would do: I searched in Google to find a way to suppress Google's navbar. Sure enough, I discovered Instructions to Remove Blogger navbar.
I found the following instructions. Take the CSS code below, copy and paste it into your Blogger template, and voilà, the navbar is gone.
<style type="text/css">
#b-navbar {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}
</style>
These kinds of things sound so simple on tech help sites, but to novice users there are still barriers to prevent them from figuring out what to do. For example, maybe you've never tried to see the source code for your template. So here's a more detailed step-by-step procedure:
- Log into your blog account at www.blogger.com.
- Click the Template tab.
- "Edit Current", the sub-tab, should be automatically selected. If not, click it.
- Scroll down through the code until you see the end of the heading section: </head> Your template may not look exactly like mine does, but search for the </head> tag somewhere near the top. Perhaps you can copy the template to an external word processor as a backup just in case, especially if you've customized your template in any way.
- Copy the code from the article above, then paste the code between the end of the heading </head> and the beginning of the <body> section. Check for extraneous carriage returns or beginning or ending letters being missed during the copy and paste.
- Click "Save template changes." then "Republish your entire blog."
There may be a delay of several minutes, as the site warns, if you have many posts.
This will remove the navbar and place a strip of blank space at the top of your blog. See the cited website above to investigate options for removing the blank space.
Unfortunately, the search box is deleted, and one of the links back to Blogger disappears; but as long as there's a "Powered by Blogger" button at the bottom of your blog, I think I agree with the original source: You aren't violating the terms of service.
If Blogger provided an option to disable "Next Blog" (even if it isn't the default choice), it would go a long way towards easing the minds of educators using Blogger for whatever purpose.
Linda and I traded a few comments on this problem, in which she indicated that the folks at Blogger essentially pointed her at the help forums and left it at that.
In many ways, Google and Apple have a lot in common. Google is noted for its simple interfaces and clean (some would say sparse) page layouts. Like the Macintosh, using Google services such as Google Maps or Google Chat makes doing specific tasks either easy or impossible with little middle ground.
This points to the great strength of the PC - while much of it is either mildly more difficult than the Mac or insanely difficult, there is middle ground, and someone, somewhere has figured out how to do the thing you need to do.
Their minimalist approach makes getting Google's attention difficult, because (like Apple) they resist feature bloat. Apple likes to add new features, but not every new feature that can be imagined, because they look at the Windows paradigm and see how this actually inhibits the user in many cases.
Nevertheless, uncontrolled links to inappropriate sites is a fairly big issue for the adoption of blogs in the education space, and if anyone at Google reads this, they should know this is a Pretty Big Deal - even bigger than the text editing tools not working in Safari.
For many education users, this will be a deal breaker.
Many thanks to Linda Uhrenholt for pointing it out to me.
Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.
Recent Mac Lab Reports
- Microsoft Word 2004 vs. iWork Pages 1.0 for writing a book, 01.10. Microsoft Word is great for technical writing, powerful yet slow, while Pages lets you concentrate on just writing, making it great for novels.
- iWeb a great tool for quickly creating an attractive website, 09.11. Apple's iWeb software isn't just easy to use, it also integrates nicely with .mac and other programs in the iLife bundle.
- Use your Bluetooth phone to control your Mac? Maybe, 02.27. Salling Clicker software turns many Bluetooth phones into remote controls for Bluetooth-equipped Macs.
- More in the Mac Lab Report index.
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Mac malware count reaches 3, desktop PCs making a comeback, Mac mini in the living room, and more, Mac News Review, 07.25. Also the 'second coming of Apple' threatens Microsoft, McCain and Obama are Mac users, standing up for Steve Jobs, Apple and Acer tied for #3 in US market, and more.
- Best Power Mac G4 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.25. Used 450 MHz AGP, $79; 533 DA, $100; 733 DA, $199; 1.25 GHz MDD, $375; 450 MHz dual, $200; 867 dual, $300; 1 GHz dual, $395; 1.42 dual, $500.
- Best iBook G3 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.25. Used 366 MHz clamshell, $150; 500 MHz CD, $169; 600, $200; 800, $250; 600 CD-RW, $240; 900 Combo, $299; 14" 600, $360; 900, $449.
- Best Apple TV deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.25. Refurb 40 GB Apple TV, $199; new, $224; refurb 160 GB, $279; new, $322.
- Mac of the Day: 'Mirror Drive Door' Power Mac G4, Aug. 2002 - Dual CPUs from 867 MHz to 1.25 GHz on the most powerful Mac to boot OS 9.
- List of the Day: PowerBooks covers pre-G3 PowerBook users.
- July 25 in LEM history: 97: Dream Machines - 01: I'm not paying $20 for my OS X upgrade - Recording music on your Mac - The curse of being Apple - Guide to rare and collectible Macs - 02: Macs not just for designers - The iTools bait and switch - 03: The many failings of BuyMusic.com - Biking with a 'Book - 06: 2 weeks for repair is excessive - 23 reasons Zune is doomed - 07: iPhone: Apple's $3 billion cash cow - External video for a G3 iMac
- Could a minitower Mac be Apple's 'transitional product'?, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 07.24. The Mac mini has been on the market for 3-1/2 years, and some owners are ready to move on to something more flexible and powerful.
- The compressed air keyboard repair, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 07.24. If your keyboard isn't working as well as it once did, blasting under the keys with compressed air may be the cure.
- Best MacBook deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.24. Used 1.83 GHz SD, $825; 2.0, $845; refurb 2.1 GHz Combo, $949; 2.4 SD, $1,099; black, $1,299; new 2.1 Combo, $1,019 after rebate; 2.4 SD, $1,212 a/r; black, $1,394 a/r.
- Best iMac G5 deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.24. Used 17" 1.6 GHz Combo, $450; 1.8, $500; SuperDrive, $530; 1.9 iSight, $630; 20" 1.8 GHz, $580; 2.0, $650; 2.1 iSight, $700.
- Best iPod touch deals, Low End Mac Deals, 07.24. Close-out 16 GB (2007), $350; refurb 8 GB, $199; new, $289; refurb 16 GB, $299; new, $370; refurb 32 GB, $429; new, $475.
- More links in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Have a question?
Ask an expert!
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System
6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Affiliates
The Apple
Store
Mac
Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
Advertise
