Easy Blog Backup for Bloggers!

Blog Backup has always been a bit of a problem for bloggers ever since the advent of the New Blogger. In Classic Blogger it was easy by using the Httrack utility from httrack.com.


In the new Blogger data was separated from template/layouts. XML was introduced. Hence one could backup blog by saving each post via browser or by using feeds. Now with Blogger introducing import-export facilty backup has become easier..........



Here are the steps to backup your blog :

1. Login at Blogger in Draft : http://draft.blogger.com/home. Soon this feature will be out of draft (testing) phase and you will be able to login at Blogger.com to backup your blog.


2. Go to Settings---->Basic----->Blog Tools----->Click Export Blog link.


3. Click the Export Blog button.


4. In popup window click Save.


5. In explorer window you can rename the file and choose location where to save it on disk. It is saved as an XML file.


6. NOTE : You can use this file to restore the blog usng the Import Blog feature. This feature to restore blogs was not available before.

Backup Widgets Template Data.

Widgets are the modules which make up the New Blogger Template. For more information see What are Widgets. However the data they carry to and from your blog displayed in browser to the Blogger database is kept separate. When you backup the template this data is not backed up. When you copy widget code to another blog the data is not transferred along with it. If you upload a template with widgets to your blog the widgets are added without the data they carry........

To backup your blog you should backup the template also as described in How to change Template. The widgets are also backed up along with the template. For example my Link List widget is backed up in the template as follows :

<b:widget id='LinkList2' locked='false' title='BLOG RESOURCES' type='LinkList'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:title'><h2><data:title/></h2></b:if>
<div class='widget-content'>
<ul>
<b:loop values='data:links' var='link'>
<li><a expr:href='data:link.target' target='_blank'><data:link.name/></a></li>
</b:loop>
</ul>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>

However I have a long list of links within the widget which does not appear in it. They are retrieved from the Blogger Database the moment the blog is displayed in a browser using this code :

<b:loop values='data:links' var='link'>
<li><a expr:href='data:link.target' target='_blank'><data:link.name/></a></li>
</b:loop>


To backup this link list, so that you need not type it out all over again should you require to change blog template, you have to look at the page source. For this open your blog in a browser and go to View---->Page Source(in Firefox) or View---->Source in Internet Explorer. The source file will open in Notepad and save this file as MyblogPageSource.txt. Scrolling down this file will give you the data in all the widgets in your blog. For example the Link List widget data appears as follows :

<div class='widget LinkList' id='LinkList2'>

<h2>BLOG RESOURCES</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<ul>

<li><a href='http://www.nutrocker.co.uk/3dheader.html' target='_blank'>3D HEADER</a></li>


<li><a href='http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl' target='_blank'>ADD BLOG TO GOOGLE</a></li>

<li><a href='http://www.adfreeblog.org/' target='_blank'>ADFREE BLOG</a></li>

<li><a href='http://www.autopinger.com/' target='_blank'>AUTOPINGER</a></li>
</ul>

<div class='clear'></div>

Select only the links from the above code and copy and save to another Notepad file as LinksWidgetBackup.txt. See Below :

<ul>

<li><a href='http://www.nutrocker.co.uk/3dheader.html' target='_blank'>3D HEADER</a></li>


<li><a href='http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl' target='_blank'>ADD BLOG TO GOOGLE</a></li>

<li><a href='http://www.adfreeblog.org/' target='_blank'>ADFREE BLOG</a></li>

<li><a href='http://www.autopinger.com/' target='_blank'>AUTOPINGER</a></li>


</ul>

Do this with other widgets to save their data.

Technorati Tags:widgets, backup, template, page element, data

Backup your Blog.

Backup your Beta blog regularly to your PC so as to be prepared for any emergency.....

In Classic Blogger you could use WinHttrack utility from httrack.com to backup your blog. However in beta blogger the present version of this software takes a long time.

Hence to backup beta blogs you can use Scrapbook extension of the Firefox browser. You will need Firefox Browser for this. Download it from here : Firefox Download .
You can download the Scrapbook extension from here
After downloading install it and restart Firefox.





To backup your blog go to your blog by typing its url in the address bar of the browser. Place the mouse anywhere in the browser window. Right click to see the context menu. Choose Capture Page As. You will then have the choice between filing into the Root Folder,into up to five of the most-recently used folders, or of selecting another folder through a dialogue.

TO BACKUP A WHOLE MONTH OF POSTS CLICK ON THE MONTH LINK IN THE ARCHIVES. USE CAPTURE PAGE AS ON THE PAGE WHICH OPENS ALL THAT MONTH'S POSTS.

The Select folder dialogue will also allow you to create anew folder if you require it. You can also choose to download linked files and the depth to which you can download files. You can also choose the folder on your hard disk where the files will be downloaded or make new folders.

You can also capture linked web (HTML) pages to a specified depth from zero to three or set your own depth. When you choose a 'Depth to follow links' option other than zero, ScrapBook generates a list of the files that would be captured. You can then Pause the process and Filter or modify the list.

To capture multiple urls go to Scrapbook--->Scrapbook to open up the Scrapbook sidebar. Then in the sidebar go to Tools---->Capture Multiple URLS. Choose the folder where you wish to save and click Capture.


OTHER SOLUTIONS FOR BACKING UP BETA BLOGGER BLOGS :

Backup Beta Blog.

BloggerBackup
Requires .NET Framework 2.0.50727

Technorati Tags:backup, scrapbook, firefox

How to change width of blog.

To change the width of your blog.................

you will have to change certain parameters in the CSS (CASCADING STYLE SHEET) part of the template. The CSS part is the fourth part of the template and is described in How to do CSS in Beta Blogger.

To do this login to Dashboard and click on Layout under the name of your blog. This takes you to Page Elements. Then click on Edit Html tab next to Page Elements tab. This opens the Edit Template page.


FIRST BACKUP YOUR TEMPLATE TO YOUR PC USING METHODS DESCRIBED IN : HOW TO CHANGE THE TEMPLATE.

Then without putting a check in the Expand Widget Templates box at the top of the Edit Template text box scroll down in the box till you come to :


/* Outer-Wrapper
----------------------------------------------- */
#outer-wrapper {
width: 1025px;
margin:0 auto;
padding:10px;
text-align:left;
font: $bodyfont;
}

#main-wrapper {
width: 530px;
margin-left: 20px;
float: left;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
}

#sidebar-wrapper {
width: 250px;
float: right;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
}

#newsidebar-wrapper {
width: 170px;
float: left;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
}


The Outer wrapper contains the main wrapper and the two sidebar wrappers. Their dimensions are described by the width parameter. Their positions are described by the float parameter. Notice that the outer wrapper does not have a float parameter. This is because its position in the center of the page is described by the "margin 0 auto" parameter. To change the width of any of the main or sidebar column change their width parameters only. Then change the width of the outer wrapper by the same amount because it has to expand to include the new width.

IMPORTANT :

CHANGE ONLY ONE PARAMETER AT A TIME.........AND

HIT THE PREVIEW BUTTON (at the bottom of the box) TO SEE THE EFFECT........BEFORE

SAVING TEMPLATE.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT RELOAD OLD BACKED UP TEMPLATE AT ANY TIME.

You will have reason to increase the width of your blog when you find your main column of posts below the sidebar or the sidebar below the posts column. This happens when a large photograph or a large link is added in the posts column. This prevents the sidebar from rising up to take its normal place besides the posts column. Increasing the width of the outer-wrapper then accomodates the sidebar.

To change the width of the HEADER scroll down in Edit Template text box till you come to :

/* Header
-----------------------------------------------
*/

#header-wrapper {
width:750px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:0px solid $bordercolor;
}

then change 750 to whatever width you want it to be.

IMPORTANT : To allow your blog/site to be viewable in all resolutions restrict the width of the outer wrapper to less than 750 px.

SOME TEMPLATES MAY NOT HAVE OUTER WRAPPER AS A DIVISON : Then go to Edit Html under Template tab and usually the first division after 'Body' and the a links will usually correspond to the outer wrapper.

Technorati Tags:backup, column, css, template, width