Mysteries of Weebly that Await Discovery
Mike DeHaan
This page is dedicated to mysteries within Weebly. As and when I resolve them, they should move to the "Discoveries" page.
Weebly Mystery #1: Cursor Control within Ordered Lists
On Jan. 4, 2011, I tried to build an ordered list. It worked, but I had trouble controlling cursor position. Let me see if it recurs. I will click the "123" tool:
- (When I was at the end of this row and pressed the left-arrow key, my cursor jumped to the start of the line for item 1. I fear that when I clie-ck the ENTER key, the rest of this owRwoRow which started with "The toolbar did indeed" will jump to item 2. Lets Let's see.
- The toolbar did indeed start this list. My cursor was beside the "1.". Yes indeed, the cursor jumped. And I just went back with the backspace key to make some corrections.
- I left some typo's in the first items because I could not move the cursor properly. I think I still cannot.
- When I use the mouse to click within this list, it seems to show that the list is inside some kind of box-like element. I am going to give up on this for now.
- Except for one thing. Right now I am in row 5. I am going to click the "123" tool again and see if I can continue this. [NEXT DAY: Looks like I did not publish my later tests. This morning I logged in using FireFox (v3.6.13) rather than Internet Explorer 8, to see if that makes a difference. The backspace key still works inside this ordered list. I just used the mouse to go to a specific place in another list, and made a correction. I also used the forward/backward and up/down keys; they work.
- I tried clicking the "123" tool again while in the above item (the one starting "Except"). That changed the item to a non-list paragraph. I clicked the "123" tool again, and that paragraph became #1: the start of a new list.
- I will finish publishing this item from FireFox and return to using IE8.
Weebly Mystery #2: How Long Before Search Engines Find My Weebly Blog?
I started my "The DeHaan Blog of Writing" in the dying days of December 2010. It still is not reported by the world's most popular web browser. Other "DeHaan" references when searching for "inurl:Weebly.com" are found, so why not my blog?
Did I miss something in Weebly's terms of service? These are, after all, the "free" rather than "upgraded" versions. Or has it been a slow couple of weeks in the web database engines? Did they over-imbibe on New Year's Eve? Did so many people take up blogging on new sites that the search engines have fallen behind?
Why do the search engines not find this blog? Tonight (Jan. 5, 2011, the same day I started this section), I found that my "thedehaanblogofwriting.weebly.com" was found, but not the same title under "weebly.com". Odd, very odd indeed.
Time may indeed tell. Patience is indeed a virtue.
Success came on Jan. 11, 2011: Google finally found the quotation-delimited string "dehaan blog of writing" in my Dec. 30, 2010 Weebly blog article and in my Jan. 2nd, 2011 cross-reference from my DeHaan Services website. It continued to find the Squidoo "Lensography" site. Oddly, all three references were considered "cached".
So the rule of thumb may be to wait about two weeks.
Did I miss something in Weebly's terms of service? These are, after all, the "free" rather than "upgraded" versions. Or has it been a slow couple of weeks in the web database engines? Did they over-imbibe on New Year's Eve? Did so many people take up blogging on new sites that the search engines have fallen behind?
Why do the search engines not find this blog? Tonight (Jan. 5, 2011, the same day I started this section), I found that my "thedehaanblogofwriting.weebly.com" was found, but not the same title under "weebly.com". Odd, very odd indeed.
Time may indeed tell. Patience is indeed a virtue.
Success came on Jan. 11, 2011: Google finally found the quotation-delimited string "dehaan blog of writing" in my Dec. 30, 2010 Weebly blog article and in my Jan. 2nd, 2011 cross-reference from my DeHaan Services website. It continued to find the Squidoo "Lensography" site. Oddly, all three references were considered "cached".
So the rule of thumb may be to wait about two weeks.
Weebly Mystery #3: How to Save and View a Blog Post
I had been clicking on "New Page" rather than "New Post" in my DeHaan Blog of Writing. I finally went back to add another post. I did not see the updates...any updates.When updating that "first" blog post, I had to find a "save to live" button in the upper left of the main screen, at the same height as the "Post Settings" button. I clicked "save to live", and then clicked "publish". After that, the blog page was indeed visible.
I assume the button's word, "live", is pronounced "L_EYE_VE" rather than "L_ih_VE".
I seem to have a vague memory of finding that button for my first Weebly site, also.
Further, one must click "save to live" before each "publish". A "page", such as this one, does not have a "save to live" button. "Publish" sends the changes to the Internet. For blog posts, however, "save to live" is mandatory.
I assume the button's word, "live", is pronounced "L_EYE_VE" rather than "L_ih_VE".
I seem to have a vague memory of finding that button for my first Weebly site, also.
Further, one must click "save to live" before each "publish". A "page", such as this one, does not have a "save to live" button. "Publish" sends the changes to the Internet. For blog posts, however, "save to live" is mandatory.
Weebly Mystery #4: What Can We Control?
Thanks to Jason for posting a comment that started this section:
- A blog lists 10 entries at a time, and starts with the most recent 10. A "<<Previous" and "Next>>" button support navigating through earlier entries. Question: Can the default number be changed? (Updated 2011-07-19: "Jason" asked this question in Trivial post #30. So far, I have no idea).
- Can the "<<Previous" and "Next>>" buttons be modified, either as text (bold/italic/colour/size) or into flashy buttons?
Weebly Mystery #5: Does Auto-Save Set a URL Based on the First Title?
I remember seeing this effect somewhere this week...but where? Was it a Weebly blog post? Or was it on a different site, using a different platform?
I do know that, in both Environmental Graffiti and Suite 101, if you save a draft version of an article, that sets the text in the URL forever. Although you may later change the title (the H1 heading), it will never change the URL again.
I made the mistake of saving some draft articles without a title. While everything seemed all right, I was surprised that the URL was something like "...title-to-be-determined....". This is not good for SEO.
TIP: Whatever the article or blogging platform, plan and enter your title for SEO before you start typing the story.
YET TO DO: I still have to check whether this was a Weebly situation, or another platform's.
I do know that, in both Environmental Graffiti and Suite 101, if you save a draft version of an article, that sets the text in the URL forever. Although you may later change the title (the H1 heading), it will never change the URL again.
I made the mistake of saving some draft articles without a title. While everything seemed all right, I was surprised that the URL was something like "...title-to-be-determined....". This is not good for SEO.
TIP: Whatever the article or blogging platform, plan and enter your title for SEO before you start typing the story.
YET TO DO: I still have to check whether this was a Weebly situation, or another platform's.
Weebly Mystery #6: Is a Free Weebly Account Limited to Two Blog Sub-Domains?
For example, I have my Xperimental Blog and my Blog of Writing. Can I set up another Weebly sub-domain inside my free account?
Resolved: Weebly Mystery #7: How to Set and Use Categories?
In "Edit" mode, for my "Weebly Tips" blog, I had made the first category "Introduction" and the second "Tip". In "Edit" mode, I see those choices plus "All".
As a reader, I did not see either.
I tried using the top-most "Publish". That solved the problem!
As a reader, I did not see either.
I tried using the top-most "Publish". That solved the problem!
Weebly Mystery #8: Does Weebly Support LaTeX?
In November 2013, the editor and publisher of Decoded Science added support for LaTeX, a mark-up language, so I could enter math symbols to my articles.
The new Weebly mystery is whether plain vanilla Weebly supports LaTeX.
Does ” latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right> ” translate into math symbols if we include ‘$’ at the start and end?
$latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right>$ ?
Perhaps it has to be an HTML paragraph rather than a formatted paragraph. The next paragraph will be from the "More... Embed Code" selection in the left-hand margin of the editor.
The new Weebly mystery is whether plain vanilla Weebly supports LaTeX.
Does ” latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right> ” translate into math symbols if we include ‘$’ at the start and end?
$latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right>$ ?
Perhaps it has to be an HTML paragraph rather than a formatted paragraph. The next paragraph will be from the "More... Embed Code" selection in the left-hand margin of the editor.
$latex i\hbar\frac{\partial}{\partial t}\left|\Psi(t)\right>=H\left|\Psi(t)\right>$
That did not help either.