UPDATES - OLW Error 400 Bad Request and Google+

A couple years ago the Error 400 Bad Request was common problem.  My blog then HERE was a workaround for this error.   But it did not resolve the root cause. 

Well it’s back!  The root cause is now confirmed – The Application Program Interface (API) used by Open Live Writer requires access to the Picasa calls.  Picasa has been deprecated for several years, but OLW has not kept up.

The basic error is that OLW cannot post to Blogger any graphic since OLW uses the Picasa API to post. 

I found a workaround that works, for me, in my blog HERE.  By using links to photos already on the web, OLW works fine.  The links are HTML text, not graphics, and avoid the Picasa API altogether.

The remaining gotchya is the demise of Google+, I mentioned how it effects me in my blog HERE.  In that blog I mentioned that I requested a download of all the data Google has targeted for deletion. 

I made the request on Feb 2 and received the data on Feb 9, ‘19.  A full week and a few hours after the initial request. I used this LINK to request a download my Google+ data.  And received this email on the 9th with a link for the download

I was OK with the loss of ‘My Circles’, ‘My Profile’, etc.

But the loss of Google+ comments was a biggie!, HUGE!

My blog philosophy required and still requires threaded comments and the ability to reply to each individual  comment.  I believe the comments are interactive, if a reader takes the time to leave a comment I’ll take the time to respond.

Here's what I did to resolve this issue.  Before I tried a different templates or comments plugin I made a backup of my current Theme, including Template and Layout.  This was to preserve as much of the existing blog contents as possible:

Today I have a way that works for my template to not only thread comments, but also reply to comments individually.  And all this without a new template.  Older templates may require a bit more tweaking, but it can be done.

 My comments were set to Blogger default of ' Full Page' and looked like this, with inline comments:

For my case in Blogger Settings –> Posts, comments and sharing, I selected Embedded:

Next in Blogger Settings –> Other I selected Allow Blog Feed and set all entries to Full:

With that minor change my comments are again threaded and very similar the the old Google+ comments I had been using.  With this minor tweak my comments and replies now look like this:

Unfortunately Google is not providing a means to place comments back on the blog in the post where they belong.  They were included in the archive that Google provided, I do have them, just not where they would be most useful.

At lest now I have a means of maintaining the blog.  However it s more work, and more importantly more bandwidth!

It has taken a few days to test this out and today it was a nice rainy afternoon to sit inside and  write up this post. 

Next I either have to figure out thumbnail photos, or simply use full width graphics as many others do.  The graphics above do not enlarge when they a selected.  Another gotchya of OLW and the old Picasa settings.

Again there were No Bad Days, and I trust your day was good too.

If you have any additional suggestions please leave a comment, I can now reply!