A few of you have asked me about the various shortcuts and alt keys available for Blogger. Like where do I come up with all the little hoo-has such as ♥ and • and ♦ and ☺ and so on. It's really quite simple once you know the code. The heart, for example is just clicking the alt key and the number 3 on your key pad. Thusly giving you the ♥ symbol. There's a complete list of all the alt codes here or you can make use of TwitKeys - originally designed for Twitter - but they work here as well. Just click here, which will bring up the TwitKeys window - double click on the symbol you wish to use and then copy and paste into your blog post. There are beaucoup fun stuffs on this one: ☪ ☁ ☃ ♫ ✿ (You can adjust the size of the symbols just as you would any other text. I keep my TwitKeys as a bookmark in my toolbar for easy access.) These work in blog layouts as well. (Have a peek at my older/newer links at the bottom of the page - you will see the ☚ and ☛ pointing the way.)
Blogger also has several keyboard shortcuts you can use while editing posts. They definitely work in Internet Explorer 5.5+/Windows and the Mozilla family (1.6+ and Firefox 0.9+), and might work in other browsers.
Here they are:
control + b = Bold
control + i = Italic
control + l = Blockquote (when in HTML-mode only)
control + z = Undo
control + y = Redo
control + shift + a = Link
control + shift + p = Preview
control + d = Save as Draft
control + p = Publish Post
control + s = Autosave and keep editing
Hi! My name is no-reply@blogger.com! And you can not send your carefully composed reply to my carefully composed comment until I do this:
1. Go to your Dashboard on Blogger
2. Hit Edit Profile, right next to your picture, avatar or whatever else you have showing
3. Scroll down to the line that says : Show my email address and CHECK THE BOX
4. Hit Save
Now, for those of you who do not want a regular email address to show, go to Gmail, Yahoo or any other number of places and get a FREE, yes FREE, email account and set it up.
I can't run my mouth back atcha if I can't email anything to ya!
Word Verification:
I know this one freaks a lot of you the flark out. It really doesn't do anything but annoy the pee sprinkles out of people trying to comment. I tested it both ways. With or without. No noticeable difference - actually, no, I got a grand total of TWO spam comments with the captcha codes ON. I have yet to receive ANY with it off. Go figger. So rest assured that the ghost of Mother Teresa is not going to come crashes through your window in pink sequined boom-boom shorts and do a lap dance on your basset hound. It will be okay. How to fix it, you ask?
The answer... TURN OFF THE WORD VERIFICATION!
1. Go to your Dashboard on Blogger
2. Click on Settings, which is under the name of your blog at the top left of the page.
3. Click on Comments, which is on the top of the page
4. Scroll down until you see this: Show word verification for comments?
5. Click the box that says: NO
6. Click Save settings at the bottom of the page. Please do not leave this page until you have saved settings.
I am sure there are more that I am not thinking of right at this moment. More to come... Give me a holler if you have any questions! And if you know of some nifty tricks I missed, please feel free to add them to the comments!
OH! And the F5 key is a Blogger/Twitterers secret weapon. Hit F5 to refresh the page you are on without having to mouse back up to the top of the page. Almost forgot that one - and it's the one I use the most!
[No Reply & Word Verification instructions borrowed in part from The Hot Flash Queen]
