Blogger: fun to frustrating to improved to frustrating again

This morning I finally posted a request for help on an ongoing issue which seems to be getting a lot of requests for help and little attention from Blogger/Google.  Below is my forum help request:

Your Blogs URL: http://vagrantmemories.blogspot.com

Browser(s) used: Firefox
Location:

Layout Issues [bX-q0tcxb] was posted in Blogger: Known Issues/Outstanding  on November 7, 2009.  There are numerous requests for help, clarification, a bug fix in the Google and Blogger help forums yet no one seems to answer the question of how to help users fix their blog layout problems.  Can SOMEBODY please give us a hand?

My specific problem is that I have a custom layout which I finally manged to get to work late last year.  Now I can no longer see the "Add Gadget" layout on my right sidebar in the Add Elements screen.  My individual widget configuration icons how up on my homepage but these do not allow me to fix the layout or add gadgets either.  I just do not know enough code anymore to try to edit the raw html which I did try. 
I do not want to learn the [_b:whatever goes in all these tags_] language either, when there is a WYSIWIG.

As I said above, I do not want to learn blogger code.  I am tired of learning code after 10 years.  Coding is not my profession so why should I continue to fry my valuable brain cells and waste my time?  I no longer care about the latest fabulous gadget for the most part.  All I want is to be able to write, provide relevant supporting content and be done with it.
The advent of coding wizards and widgets was supposed to take care of that problem for non-coders.  Not so apparently here on Blogger.


If you are still reading, you might guess I am frustrated.  Yes, I am.  I moved another blog here because Wordpress did not provide the functionality I needed.  Once that blog was moved, I found it receives more traffic at it's old space on Wordpress than either of my blogs here on Blogger.  I expected to receive more traffic for the same content on a Blogger based blog site but apparently Google does not drive the same amount of traffic to it's own blog function that it drives to Wordpress.  Huh?


I confess I have neglected VagrantMemories in the last year or two; I confess I was already frustrated with Blogger before moving the second blog here but did so anyway.  Maybe it is time for me to cough up for my own domain and self-host all my content in order to solve functionality problems.  I have resisted doing so over the years because it would be an out of pocket expense as I do not write for money.  In the twenty minutes or so it has taken me to write this little exercise in catharsis, my Amazon Associates widget is still "initializing" to find relevant content on Amazon.  So much for monetizing any of my content.  So much for functionality.


I would like to say that I will stand my ground and leave this post on the front page until the question in Help Forums is answered for me and the others still getting the
bX-q0tcxb error message but that probably will not happen.  I am sure the documentary review I was planning to post today will end up pushing this post into the archive, or some other thing will catch my attention.

Old Blogger vs New Blogger: What the Hey

When Google closed their purchase agreement with Blogger, we all had to
aquire yet another account [google] in order to continue using
Blogger. Fine [not really]. In the case of VagrantMemories that
included a template overhaul. Well alright, change is good, sometimes.
This morning some final changes were being made to this blog and
the frustration factor got the best of us. So we decided to
go "public" with our frustration and post our help request as
a blog entry. Perhaps the casual observer has a faster solution
than the several solutions we have already tried.
Below is a repost of our help request:

On Apr 11, 2:53 am, kendor wrote:
> I've messed around in the docs for a couple of hours, and
>am amazed I can't figure this out on my own...

and WBF 8) of VagrantMemories chimed in...

Me neither. I am going to try to not be overly snarky here, despite
my frustration;

I am using a 'new blogger' template, specifically blue denim. I have
made some mods and so far am mostly satisfied. However,
when I have tried the [several other] suggestions
regarding show inline comments each suggestion uses
'old blogger' coding syntax.
So when I try to enable inline commenting, 'new blogger' in all it's
widgety-goodness, does not display the 'old blogger' markup i.e.
[[ {itempage}
{blogitemcommentsenabled}
[ ... lots of comment code here ... ]
{/blogitemcommentsenabled}
{/itempage} ]]

The new markup allowed me to place a comment widget in the sidebar,
this is not what I want. I need to trim the fat in my sidebar already.
Choice B is to revert to the 'old blogger' markup. This has been
suggested to other users with template issues but frankly I fail
to see why those who dutifully signed up for a google account
[we didn't want] now should be ripping up all the work they did
to fit into 'new blogger'.
Thank you for your help,

WBF 8)
...who notices there is no preview button and thereby disavows all
TYPIOS and malformed coding in the attempt to be clear and show example(s).

Well then, if there is anyone out there who is running into
similar problems and has a hack for the {Variable Name...}
declarations located between {meta}{/meta} and {style}{/style}
we would like to hear from you, either here or in the
help forums linked off the title of this post.
And just to be very clear,
yes we have tried the javascript solution, yes we have tried the
two other solutions in another help thread.