Too Clever By Half

JOHN KRATZ

Now, when you upload an image into your blog, it will never count towards the storage you have from Google.

That's the result of two recent changes to how Blogger handles images.

Consequently it is no longer necessary to resize images before adding them to your blog.

Dear Google,

CC BY 2.0 KITTY TERWOLBECK

I have been good this year! I've blogged regularly (not here, but on my main blog), and been helpful in the Blogger Help Forum.

I know Blogger from a user's perspective, and really like the platform. So, I have some ideas for how to make it better—not just for me, but for users generally.

THE BEST FREE BLOGGING PLATFORM

They are both good. But not perfect.

"They" are the two leading blogging platforms, WordPress and Blogger.

This month Google announced that Google+, its "social layer" that at one time seemed on track to be Google, will end for "consumers" next August.

Update: March.

The implications for Blogger, including the status of Google+ comments and the transition path for bloggers who use Google+ for their profile pages, are not yet clear.

I'd like to take a moment, though, to reflect on what this tells us about our digital lives in general and our relationship to Google in particular.

Google+ was doomed to fail. And Google is a strange place.

Avert Regret

OK, "never" is an exaggeration. But not a big one.

If you have a blog you don't want any more, a better alternative is often to make it private.

Kasabyan Musal/USAF

In yet another sign that Blogger is getting some Google love, it's now possible to manage blogs in two different accounts (1) at the same time (2) from a single browser.

Let me draw your attention to an account-management feature that you will find on your Blogger dashboard and many other Google pages.

At the top right of your browser window, Google shows your account avatar, the little round image associated with your account.

Plain

Mine is an apple. Yours should be different.

This inconspicuous image is the gateway to some useful account-identification and account-management features.

If you are ever in doubt about which account Google thinks you are in, this avatar can clear things up.

Which account does Blogger think you are using, anyway?

Just who do they think you are?

And if you need to change accounts, how do you do it?

On February 14, Google made it slightly more difficult for viewers to bypass your blog when they find one of your images in Google Search.

To the extent that this changes the behavior of the searching public, your photo or other image has become a pathway to your blog.

Google has removed the "steal this image" button from Google search while leaving the "visit web page" option.

Look, Ma, no piracy!

Google keeps your Blogger images "in the cloud," online. But where?

TL;DNR: They are in the Media Manager.