First Aid for Photos Placement

 Workarounds for inserting images, stat!

The new Blogger interface has broken some methods of inserting and managing images in blogs.

If you've relied on any of these, things are pretty messed up right now.

While I hope these features are restored, until they are, here are some ideas that may be helpful to those struggling to blog.

As a bonus, one of these is an actual solution, not a mere bandaid.

Problem: Placing Photos

Many users report that they can no longer reposition images by dragging them in the editor. (For my part, I was never able to do this reliably even using the old editor.)

Some possible alternatives are as follows:

• Insert each image in the location you prefer, so that no subsequent repositioning is necessary.
• Copy the inserted image and paste it where you want. You may need to select a bit of the surrounding text for this to work, but then you can trim the extra away.
• Copy and paste the code for the image in HTML mode. Fussy, but reliable.

Special note: I really don't like to steer people to HTML mode for basic stuff that should just work in the friendlier Compose mode. 

But if you are comfortable with it, or willing to learn, it is a valid method and you can do a lot of interesting things there.

Problem: Managing Uploads

Selecting multiple photos for upload still adds these images to the Album Archive. 

However, Blogger no longer "remembers" recent uploads in the upload window.

This is profoundly unhandy, especially since there are problems repositioning photos as well (see above).

Nonetheless, we still have the following options.

• Import one at a time, placing them as you go.
• Import and insert all, moving the images using one of the above methods.
• Import all, then insert serially from "Blogger" (but we will have to scroll down to the end every time)
• Upload the images into Google Photos and use the Photos option to add them to the blog. Why: it's easier to find new photos there, versus the "Blogger" option.

Problem: Drag and Drop is Broken

If you use this method to insert images, then you already know that it creates invalid links that do not render the image at all.

It turns out, however, that the image is validly uploaded into the blog's archive. So it is possible to drag and drop, delete the bad insert, and then reinsert from "Blogger."

Again, we have to scroll all the way to the end of the selections there.

This works, but so does just uploading the image into the blog from your device.

Problem: Text and Image Wrapping

Some find that text wrapping and even placing images side by side is not possible.

I am please to report, for once, what I think is the actual solution to this.

There are two sets of justification controls, with icons for left, right, and centered.

They look nearly identical, but have different effects.

The controls on the main editing toolbar are for text, though they also have the effect of shifting the justification of an image within its own horizontal space in the column.

The effects of the controls in the pop-up toolbar visible when the image is selected are for images. 

Left and right justification dispatched from that set of control will wrap text and allow side-by-side images (if they fit).

Notes and Comment

Photos are super important for online media, and the ability to add images easily to blog posts is critical.

We can only hope that Google addresses these and other issues with the new Blogger soon. Some of these workarounds are clumsy at best.

The image-wrapping issue is arguably the exception. It's not broken, just mysterious!

Yet there we see the effect of a poor design choice, using identically styled controls to do different things.

Leaving feedback for Google is still the best way to tell the Blogger team about things that are broken or wrong.

Not on this blog, though your comments are welcome, and not in the help community, but with feedback.

P.S.

Wouldn't it be useful if the "from Blogger" entries were newest first? Or better yet, sortable and searchable?