Would you be able to remind me how to get thumbnails to appear again in the Blogger feed?
I remember the ‘s400’ bit of script you pointed me towards, but that no longer seems to work and I am wondering if Blogger have changed this again. I always think a thumbnail looks much nicer than just the plain text and have been meaning to ask you for the past year now.
Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks for the question, Lawrence.
I needed to create a work-around once before when Blogger changed how thumbnails in the Blogs Followed widget displayed (or did not display) thumbnail images. My fix at the time can be found in the post, Blogger Under my Thumb(nail).
While this fix worked as intended, about a year ago, Blogger again changed the manner in which thumbnails were displayed (or not!) in the Blogs Followed widget. Wanting to see a thumbnail again, I set to work on another work-around. After several trial-and-error attempts at working through this new puzzle, I again came upon a work-around. This work-around has been working for me since the widget changed its functionality.
Like Lawrence, I enjoy seeing a blog post's thumbnail of the lead image displayed in the widget. Of the blogs I follow, few blogs display the lead image any longer. The blogs with an image stand out in the widget listing.
So, what is going on?
From my investigations on my Windows 11 OS laptop, it seems that the Blogs Followed widget now requires the image to be placed into a specific location on Google's server. While the Insert Image button works to insert images into a blog post from the edit screen, these images are stored into another folder on Google's server. This folder is not recognized by the widget.
Rather than using the Insert Image button for your lead image, drag and drop the image from your photo viewer into the blog post. Then, modify the 's400' script as before.
To see the problem and my solution, try the following steps:
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| On this screen, no thumbnail images displayed here. |
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| Insert Image from toolbar |
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| Once image inserted, switch to html view. |
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| Html shows image copied to Google server under 'b'. |
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| Now use the drag and drop method from your photo viewer. |
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| Once image inserted, switch to html view. |
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| Html shows image copied to Google server under 'a'. Different path from Insert Image button! |
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| As a safety precaution, change image size to square ('s'). |
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| Thumbnail appears! |
If you miss not seeing your blog post lead image appearing in the Blogs Followed widget, give this work-around a try. Report back if you try it and it works. Actually, report back if it fails too.
Hope this little tech support diversion is useful.
Thank you Jonathan. That has made me very happy/
ReplyDeleteRichard
You’re welcome! I hope it works for you.
DeleteLooks like it worked!
DeleteI'll have to try it; rather a bother, though. Largely a consequence of the little resources allocated to Blogger by Google (understandable considering it costs us nothing to use in the vast majority of cases), and thus the succession of updates breaking things that used to work fine!. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt is easier to do than describe. I wish when software updates are released that the changes are at least regression tested to ensure nothing is broken from the new release content.
DeleteFirst, I tried your method (essentially) with my post last night, and there is the thumbnail. I couldn't "drag and drop" from the photo on my computer, so I cut and pasted the lead photo instead... and there is the thumbnail in your blog list! However, it doesn't appear on some other blog lists... probably differing versions of the blog list widget!
DeleteSoftware updates almost always break things at first. Happens all the time at work. My comment, "Doesn't IT test these things before releasing them?" I am sure they do, but not all possibilities (hard to do, but what we were taught to do when I learned basic (BASIC) computer programming back in 1973!
Don't get me started on our EHR (Electronic Health Record). Literally every hour I grump about WHY someone would have chosen to do it the way they did, with as many redundant clicks and data re-entry as they could manage. Sloppy programming!
Glad your solution worked! I think the root problem is that the Insert button uploads the image to a different server location than the widget expects.
DeleteHaving spent most of my career in software development, I know that seemingly harmless "features" can be introduced unintentionally.
Don't get Me started on EHR and the healthcare systems that use them. I could make a comment about outsourcing IT development but I won't...
Yes, that certainly seems to be the case, as you demonstrated with the HTML. Perhaps any method of adding the first photo other than "Insert Photo(s) will work...
DeleteThanks Jonathan for the detailed explanation, I hadn’t even noticed that the thumbnail was missing from most entries that I follow (which probably says much) - I also just assumed mine was working because;
ReplyDeleteA) all my thumbnails show in my ‘most popular posts’ lists
And
B) I resize my first photo to 500 x 500 or 600 x 600 and I have just generally thought that did the trick ….. obviously not!
If I visit the list of those I follow and scroll down, it appears that those who have not posted in the past 10 months or so do have a thumbnail, so there must be something in the algorithm that still allows the posts to display properly.
I must admit, it doesn’t bother me enough to do anything about it and it seems that I can now put up any old dimension of photo for my first picture, so that is one editing thing less to do :-)
I am mainly using Safari on the iPad. iOS has just had an update - I don’t know why, but at the time of updates the designers see fit to change superficial things, such as were buttons go etc to change the look and it just throws me. Last week I spent ages (had to internet search in the end) to find out why Pages no longer exports to PDF … of course it does, it is now counter-intuitively in a different location under a sub-menu button!
Also, with each update, some Apps fall over until the App upgrades to match the new Apple upgrade - it must be a nightmare for software developers.
Sorry ‘WHERE buttons go’!
DeleteNorm, your Most Popular Posts and My Blog List are two separate and distinct widgets. Each works differently. As for the old posts (10 months since last update or greater) still showing a thumbnail, that is due to these old posts still having the correct Google server path.
DeleteHmm? I'll give this a go, thanks Jonathan. Your next problem to solve is, "Why when I put more than 4 photos on my blog at once do they paste on in the wrong order?"
ReplyDeleteRay, give it a try! At one time, I occasionally had trouble with image insertion order but with care, that issue has gone away.
DeleteSome of mine show and others don’t. They are nice to see.
ReplyDeleteCurious. I wonder what the commonality is with the images that appear vs the images that do not?
DeleteThanks for this Jon I might give it a try - I dont suppose I could just go into the html mode and change the "b" to an "s"???
ReplyDeleteThe answer to that is "no, I cant, it makes no difference" ....bugger!
DeleteKeith, you cannot simply go in and edit the html changing the path from ‘b’ to ‘a’. You must follow the process of dragging and dropping the lead image into your post.
DeleteI see that Richard of “Working on the Lead Mountain” has his thumbnails working now. It can be done!
Like Stew, I am inherently lazy Jon and always look for a shortcut. I assumed it would not be that simple but thought it was worth a try!
DeleteStill, to see your lead image again, the solution is not much work.
DeleteAmazing work, Jonathan! Although I did the last thumbnail workaround, I'm not sure whether I'll go the extra steps this time around (although never say never).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed. This work-around is easier than these instructions look since I wanted to demonstrate the differences between Google location servers. Simply drag and drop your lead image into your Blogger New Post edit screen and you are done with the exception of possibly resizing the image.
Deletenice tip. I'm assuming that you have to do that for each post. I'm not gonna bother as it seems to be one skill level higher than I currently have with coding, and I'm inherently lazy. I'm sure most of the people that read my blog are doing out of obligation anyhow, so a pretty thumbnail won't matter. 😁
ReplyDeleteHi Stew. Yes, the image you want to lead must be inserted in the manner described above. No programming needed, really. Just perform a simple drag and drop.
DeleteYou make a good point on obligations.
With your blog, readers know to expect a funny post. They will click in no matter. For my blog, no one really know what to expect. An image may help...
Well i'd like to think that when my blog shows up on someone's blogroll they go "hooray, looking forward to reading that as it should be entertaining." and not "uh, THAT guy again." 😁
DeleteStew, you are clearly in the former camp. I wonder into which camp I fall?
DeleteThanks again Jonathan, I'm going to give it a go on my next post. Great research and problem solving on your part. Interesting that Peter said he might give it a go but I'm sure a thumbnail appeared for one of his recent posts as I thought at the time that he must also be using the workaround. I have just gone back and checked and there isn't one for his latest , so perhaps I imagined it.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! I hope this solution works for your application. Sometimes, I see the occasional thumbnail on blogs where there typically is not and attribute that to image source.
DeleteGosh I hadn’t even noticed your technical knowledge way beyond mine. I may try to fix it ?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see your thumbnail in the widget, give this a try.
DeletePainting tips- gaming tips- terrain tips- rules reviews...and now tech tips! Your blog is a one stop shop Jonathan!
ReplyDeleteOne Stop Shop. I like that!
Delete