Some Spiffying Up :)

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm doing a little bit of moving things around again, trying to make the blog function a bit better.

Most obviously, I've now divided my blog list into two sections - the Friends I follow regularly, and converse with in the comments and/or off-site, and the blogs that I read but don't really interact with under Blogs. Hopefully, as time goes on, I'll be able to add more entries to the Friends list, but I am thankful and honestly surprised that I have met so many wonderful stitchy people in such a short time, and wanted to highlight those special ladies ;)

On a less happy note, I've had to add a stern Copyright warning down at the bottom of my sidebar. Initially, I was going to put it further up, but I didn't want such unpleasantness to be a main focus. Please note that this warning is not for fellow stitching bloggers, and if anyone is interested in linking to content or reprinting articles, I'm open to all requests (just e-mail me!).

My problem lies in the sickening discovery that some of posts have been lifted, title and text - without my name or my website - and reprinted on a few so-called 'aggregator' blogs, which are little more than spam-bots that roam the Internet and collects bits of text to steal and post. These bits of texts, often from far-flung and far-different sites, are then posted on the 'aggregator' site to attract search traffic. The goal of most of these sites is to sell junk, or to spread viruses, or to attract high traffic and therefore move up in search engine rankings.

Eglantine Stitchery does not endorse any of these third party sites or the products, information and services they purport to sell, and I wanted to put up some text indicating that I do not consent to having my content aggregated. The text that is pulled is taken out of context, often 'translated' into broken English, assembled out of context (parts of sentences or paragraphs without the rest of the text), and not credited to the original source.

And I am upset that most of these sites can be harmful, selling dubious goods and sometimes spamming visitors or giving visitors viruses. So please be careful when visiting any third-party site, and know that Eglantine Stitchery is in no way associated with such sites, and unfortunately cannot protect you from harm that may occur to your computer or yourself.

Additionally, if you should come across any of my content on such sites accidentally (some look and function like legitimate blogs these days), please let me know by sending me an e-mail or leaving a comment. Fortunately, the search algorithms change fairly frequently, so the stolen content - especially since ES deals with rather commercially insignificant stitchy things - turns over fairly frequently. Still, it is very unsettling, and I urge all stitchy bloggers to keep an eye out for stolen content by searching their blog title or post titles occasionally.

Back to happier news! I have finally figured out how to make and post those neat little project progress bars under my Work in Progress (WIP) and Finish In Progress (FIP) projects! Thanks to Meari's Musings' How-To info on Progress Bars, I discovered the Yarn Tomato Percent Bar Maker which is a wonderful site!

For my FIP progress, I downloaded the Ready-Made set in Green, and had no trouble unzipping the files. For my WIP progress, though, I wanted something to echo the yellow roses in my banners, so I made my own set. It was very easy, and only took a few minutes. There are literally hundreds of colours available, so you can make custom colour matches to go with your blog's background and graphics!

Furthermore, if you're a Blogger blogger who uses Picasa Web Albums like I do, uploading is much easier than the instructions given for the third-party storage site Photobucket. Go to your sidebar, select Add Widget and then choose the Photo Widget. Browse to the bar you want to use (say, the 25%). Upload (and this is quick since the files are small). Then move your new Widget Percentage Bar in your sidebar widget list until it is beneath your WIP or FIP. Repeat as many times as you need! How neat is that, hey?

As you move further along, just go to your Progress Bar Widget, select Edit, remove the current image and Upload the new progress image (say 50%), all in the same window. This time you don't need to move the widget - unless you wish to - as placement stays the same! I think this little tool is very neat, and it's something I look forward to using, even though my estimates aren't all that scientific *rolls eyes*. For example, you may notice that my Monarch Stitching Tools are ar 25%; that's because I'm thinking roughly of four different tools, and have finished only one to date (the Scissors Fob). So it's not going to be super-precise (at least where I'm concerned, lol) but it's nice to have a general idea ;)

I will be trying to update the Free Patterns section soon, and will be making a few other minor changes. I'll be posting up a real stitchy update ASAP.

Until then, Happy Stitching!

Important Info for Fellow Bloggers!

On the advice of a good friend, who has learned this lesson from painful experience, I have been intending to look into how to backup my blog. In light of the major Blogger glitch that just occurred, it would be a good time for any of us who don't already have an established backup procedure in place to acquire one.

But finding out how to backup information from Blogger wasn't as easy as I thought it would be; putting "how to backup Blogger" in the Great Google will get you tons of results, but most of the hits are message board questions that were never answered, or answered - incorrectly - with "you can't, no way to do it". After some digging, it turns out that you need to follow the Import/Export instructions (from the Blogger Help Center).

All the step-by-step instructions are here, but for the backup instructions, you need to scroll down to the very bottom of the page for the "Export" information.

Basically, the way to backup your content (your posts, including text, photos and formatting), is to go to the "Settings" tab in your Blogger and select the Export blog button. I had assumed that, like the "Import" option, this was only of use if you intended to move platforms or change blogging services. I had no idea that this was the way to make backups. But, according to Blogger, saving the "Export" .xml file on your hard drive will enable you to keep a copy of your blog.

That way, if your blog should get get deleted or corrupted, as happened to thousands of people during the Blogger glitch, you have a file that you can use to restore your blog, following the "Import" instructions. This is very important, because although the Blogger service has been working to restore the blogs and contents that were deleted, there is no guarantee that your data and hard work will be able to be retrieved or will be retrieved in excellent condition. It seems most reasonable to download an "Export" copy every month, but special effort should be made (I think) after major posts or design changes. Or before long periods of absence (e.g. vacations).

Which brings me to a very important point - from what I can gather, the "Export" file will only contain your posts, pictures and formatting. It will NOT contain your blog design and widgets. So Step 2 is to download and save a copy of your template.

Frustratingly, I can't find the full step-by-step instructions for this in the Blogger Help Center! But this discussion in the Blogger Help Forums covers most of it, although the only right answer is the Best Answer. I've been saving my template for some time now (although I realized that my content wasn't saved), and I make sure to click the "Expand Widgets" box right above the code box before I download my template so that the all the coding for my "Widgets" (all your sidebar stuff) gets saved in that download.

Otherwise, you save a copy of the basic design template and changes, but when you upload it again (if you need to!), all of your sidebar gadgets will not work and will need to be installed and customized again! And that would be a total nightmare! I find it's helpful to put the date in front of the the template name before you save it, so that if you do need to restore it, you can search by date and easily find the most recent copy.

So, in a nutshell, to backup with Blogger you need to regularly get into the routine of following the two steps of 1. Saving the "Export" file, and 2. "Downloading" your Template, with the "Expand Widgets" box checked, to save the most complete facsimile of your blog to your hard drive for future reference and in case of emergency.

I hope that this is clear! Honestly, I have no idea why this isn't explained clearly with the two steps (and instructions for how to do them) linked together, but I can't find anything like that in the Blogger Help Articles or the Blogger Help Forums (user discussions).

Nevertheless, I hope that this information will be helpful to you, and perhaps save you some grief! I know I'm going to have to get into doing the Two-Step Blogger Backup dance in a sort of schedule soon, because I don't want to lose all that I've created!

* I do realize that confessing so much ignorance is embarrassing, but I figure that some of you that also use Blogger might have similar problems, and I thought I'd better fess up and share this with you just in case, on the principle that it's better late than never!