News!! Blogger's Static Pages Are To A Greater Extent Than Problem Than They're Worth

Blogger's "static" or stand-alone pages convey about benefits - but also a number of disadvantages. Use them sparingly!

Overview:

Previously I've described the Pages feature that Blogger introduced inwards Feb 2010, in addition to the differences betwixt Pages in addition to Posts.

There are times when stand-alone Pages are a handy feature.

But overall I've decided that the disadvantages are a lot greater than the advantages. From instantly on, whatever blogs that I function on volition learn horizontal card bars made from Link-list gadget, or perchance precisely menus made amongst HTML, in addition to the vast bulk of content volition leave of absence into Posts non Pages.

Here's why.

The Page championship is the Menu-bar value

When you lot create a page (Dashboard > Pages > New Page), you lot can

Give it a title,
Write the content,
Allow viewer comments or not
Handle <br />'s (or not)
Say whether whatever HTML inwards the page is interpreted (ie used to command the display), or displayed (the code vales, non their effects, are ever shown).

Blogger has touchstone rules for how the items that you lot come inwards are turned into HTML. In particular, the Page-title (and Post-title too) is given a H3 (header three) tag. And this detail tag is real of import to the search-engines, hence bloggers who attention nigh whether the search-engines detect their spider web log or non pay quite a chip of attending to the words inwards the title.

The work is that the Page championship is also the value that's seat on the card bar if you lot are giving access to your Pages amongst the Pages-gadget (and most people are):

That's ok, if you lot role only a short-ish titles.

The HTML behind the Pages gadget used an un-ordered list: this it what lets it display horizontally if it's inwards the header, in addition to vertically if it's inwards the sidebar. But when it's horizontal, if the values are longer than 1 business hence it merely spills onto the adjacent line. This tin give the sack hand off if a viewer had a depression enshroud resolution - or if you've used lots of search-engine friendly key-words inwards the Page-titles:

And there's the crux of the problem: since the Page-title is the H3 header, it needs to live on long in addition to descriptive to give the search engines a practiced peril of finding your page. But learn inwards long, in addition to the Pages gadget looks awful, in addition to is confusing for viewers.

Of course of teaching I could role Pages, in addition to construct a menu-bar to access them using a linked-list gadget (or fifty-fifty precisely HTML for a table). But if I'm doing that, it's precisely equally tardily to brand the menu-bar "items" out of Posts equally it is from Pages - in addition to using Posts avoids the disadvantages which Pages convey (eg non included inwards the RSS feed, no Labels, etc).

Other problems:

There are about other problems amongst Pages, including:

An unclear name:

Blogger decided to telephone telephone the characteristic that they introduced "Pages". Most help-article writers exterior of Google used the phrase "static pages", to brand a clear distinction betwixt these novel "pages" in addition to the existing principal page, layout-page, archive-page (not to advert the way that "page" refers to a enshroud inwards most websites). But in that place are even hence dozens, maybe hundreds, of official assistance articles from Google, in addition to unofficial ones from the residual of us, that refer to "Pages" inwards the older screen-full-of-text sense.

User confusion:

New Blogger users encounter Pages, in addition to assume that it's possible to seat blog-posts onto the private pages, precisely similar you lot tin give the sack seat content into pages inwards other websites. Some pass a lot of fourth dimension looking for ways to do this - fourth dimension which IMHO would live on improve spent precisely adapting to Blogger's way of working, or moving to about other tool that has native back upwards for classical web-pages if that's what they actually need.

RSS Feed:

Pages aren't included inwards a blog's RSS feed - a novel page is non notified to Followers or feed-subscribers.

Backups:

When the characteristic was offset introduced, Pages weren't included inwards exported blog-content files. So the only way to dorsum them up, or fifty-fifty transfer them to about other blog, was to manually re-create the contents. (This feels similar the form of affair that Google mightiness quietly laid - I haven't tested to encounter if they convey or not.)

No labels or date:

Static-pages don't convey Labels or dates, hence there's no way for them to live on included inwards the display shown on Archive or Label pages. This also confuses about readers. It also agency that a Page tin give the sack never live on used equally the target page for whatever of the touchstone tricks that tin give the sack live on used to give your spider web log a "home page".

Conclusion:

None of the private problems were plenty to brand me halt using Pages.

But the combined trial of the SEO / header-display work in addition to all the other issues agency that I instantly believe that

"Static-pages are problem than they're worth."

I'll even hence role the page-gadget area inwards designer templates to brand my ain horizontal card bar, because I rather similar the way that linked lists are formatted inwards most of the templates. I mightiness fifty-fifty make it await similar I've seat posts into pages using this menu. And I'll happily role Pages to display the results of Google Custom Searches (since there's no bespeak for these to live on fed, backed-up etc)

But I won't live on pointing to whatever novel stand-alone pages made amongst the Posting > Edit Pages menu.

Blogger's Static-Pages feature

Putting Posts into your Pages

Google Custom Searches - putting 1 into your blog

The differences betwixt Pages in addition to Posts

Blogs, Blogger in addition to bloggers; Post, Pages in addition to Screens: about basic definitions

Giving your spider web log a "home page".

News!! Blogger's Static Pages Are To A Greater Extent Than Problem Than They're Worth

Overview:

The Page championship is the Menu-bar value