A Consuming Experience

Thoughts on my experiences as a consumer of products, services, people (well maybe not that last one...), from reviews to raves, rants and random thoughts - concentrating on technology, gadgets, software, product usability, consumer issues, customer service. Including some introductory guides and tips on various subjects (like blogging!) which stumped me until I figured them out. And the occasional ever so slightly naughty observation.

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Blogger navbar: show-hide peekaboo navbar - allowed?

Sunday, May 07, 2006
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Craffter/Avatar has come up with a hack for Blogspot blogs he calls the "Hovering Peek-A-Boo Blogger Navbar" hack, which hides the Blogger navbar (the bar you get across the top of each page of blogs hosted on Blogspot.com with the Search this Blog, Next Blog, Flag etc buttons) when you first visit the blog page. However, when you move the mouse to the top of the browser window the navbar slides out kind of in a show/hide or "peekaboo" style. This works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer (but - corrected 7 May - not in older versions of Opera, where the navbar is always visible, overlapping the top of the blog - it should work in Opera 9.0). It's pretty straightforward to implement from the instructions on his blog.

Update: Avatar informs me that the Hovering Peek-A-Boo Blogger Navbar has been released for Blogger v3.0 and the pure CSS version option for Blogger v2.0 has also been added:

It's an interesting and neat hack but as Blogger have said (and I've mentioned it before) that "We consider it a violation of the terms [i.e. Blogger's TOS or terms of service] to modify the Blogger navbar", I don't think I'll be doing it myself. This hack is ingenious and I can see that in principle there shouldn't be any reason why Blogger would object to it - people can have a nice clean blog but those who want to access the navbar can do so by hovering over the top of the blog page - but if you don't know the hack's been implemented, you won't know that to get the navbar back you can just move the mouse to the top of the page. So for a lot of people, unless they happen to move their mouse to the right place, the navbar could effectively be hidden.

I haven't heard of Blogger deleting any blogs even for completely removing the navbar permanently, but I suspect that theoretically they could, and maybe theoretically they could take action against someone who used this hack too, just from a literal "It is in fact a modification of the navbar" viewpoint. But that's just me, I'm the cautious (some would say over-cautious) type, so I wouldn't take the risk - I'm not talking about is it ethical, is it sensible etc, but simply "Would Blogger's lawyers be able to justify taking down a blog that uses it?" based on a strict reading of the TOS. Don't take this post as criticism (it's not!) and don't let me put you off if you'd like to use it, I'm sure a lot of people will - it is indeed very clever and I like it a lot, I'm just the paranoid type when it comes to things like the TOS, so I'd just say on your own head be it if you do!




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13 Comment(s):

wow, you sure are cautious then.

Anyway, i wanted to clear out that it indeed works in opera. if you are using 9.0 that is. and everyone should do so becuase is way better than 8.5, it also works in any other gecko/ms based brownser of course..

(By Avatar, at Sunday, May 07, 2006 12:13:00 AM)  Edit Comment

oh, and about the unless they hover to the top, is easy to but a image ate top with any kind of sign to give the hint about the navbar. i will do a little post about it this week.

(By Avatar, at Sunday, May 07, 2006 12:18:00 AM)  Edit Comment

It is a spiffy little hack.
Looks good on Bloggeratto. As we've all been back and forth on this issue about what constitues a violation unless blogger specifically approves something, then it's possibly a no-no..but like Imp said , I really really doubt that ANYONE has ever had a blog deleted or reprimanded for just removing or hiding the navbar.

But it is pretty cool method. Much better than hiding it completely. And good to see craff...er um Avatar's new site up and running.

I used to hate the navbar myself. But I've changed. I've grown to embrace it, love it, matter of fact I was thinking about making another one for use along the bottom of the page...heheee. Now there's a new hack I haven't seen before, Get MORE navbars!!!!! (Actually I was seriously thinking about it)

(By phydeaux3, at Sunday, May 07, 2006 12:31:00 AM)  Edit Comment

well, you are in luck K, i also thought about it.... so let´s see.

But let´s not forget the coder in here, my right hand Aditya did the code.

:D

i am glad that is actually getting atention, becuase that was the intention. it eliminates a lot of hassles to have it this way.

(By Avatar, at Sunday, May 07, 2006 6:51:00 AM)  Edit Comment

Avatar, thanks, I've corrected the Opera mention - I hadn't got round to upgrading mine yet!

Yes I'm cautious. I think it's a fab hack, as a practical matter, but as a technical legal matter Blogger might if they wanted to take issue with it, and I'm not so bothered about the presence of the navbar myself that I'd want to take the risk, even though it's probably a pretty small one.

Look forward to hearing about your image/hint that the navbar is accessible.

(By Improbulus, at Sunday, May 07, 2006 11:04:00 PM)  Edit Comment

yeah, i mean, is ok. you can feel proud, your series of post about the blogger navbar made think of it as is stated in the post.

and glad to see you upgraded your opera, much better i must say than 8.5 and this is the 2 preview of 9, so i do look forward to it. in my case it makes no difference i have 3 brownser engines on at all times.. maxthon 1.53 (with 50 plugins)-firefox 2.0 (with 100 extension and 100 greasemonkey scripts) -opera 9.0 p2(slightly modded).

(By Avatar, at Monday, May 08, 2006 8:53:00 AM)  Edit Comment

Thanks for the hack, I'm glad I inspired it!

I do like Opera in terms of speed, but for various reasons (mainly to do with cookies but I could just be being slow not figuring out how to get them to work the way I want) I have ended up mainly using Fox & IE and then Opera only occasionally for testing.

You seem a hardcore browser fiend! Tried IE 7 yet?

(By Improbulus, at Thursday, May 11, 2006 9:01:00 AM)  Edit Comment

Well, you have inspired 4 more, but. let´s have a surprise at a time.



About IE7? yes, every single build.

(By Avatar, at Saturday, May 13, 2006 10:19:00 PM)  Edit Comment

Well I shall look forward to your surprises then!

(By Improbulus, at Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:54:00 PM)  Edit Comment

The Hovering Peek-A-Boo Blogger Navbar has been released for Blogger v3.0 and the pure CSS version option for Blogger v2.0 was also added:

Blogger v3.0 (the new Blogger)

v3.0

Blogger v2.0 (The Now Classic Blogger)

v2.0


so Imp,if you could add this notice as a edit, or to include it in your next round up, i would be delighted.


Thanks,

-Avatar

(By Avatar, at Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:01:00 AM)  Edit Comment

thats a really cool hack, but i cant access the link? it says the blog is only for invited readers...

thanks.

-phil
www.switchfeed.com

(By Phil, at Tuesday, January 23, 2007 5:06:00 PM)  Edit Comment

Hi Phil, I've heard that Avatar's now made his blog private, so most of us won't be able to access it. Maybe he'll make it public again sometime. Or you could try contacting him (his email's in his profile, above) and asking him for an invite.

(By Improbulus, at Saturday, January 27, 2007 7:19:00 PM)  Edit Comment

Oh I see. Thanks for your reply.

-phil
www.switchfeed.com

(By Phil, at Monday, February 12, 2007 2:27:00 AM)  Edit Comment

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