Serendipity Forums

I've had this blog since 2006. A friend helped me with setting it up and is no longer involved with the blog.
I never had a problem until about a month ago when my blog totally looked different.
I do not know how to fix this, I tried searching on here but do not know what I am looking for since I do not understand "computer language".
When I upload to pictures to my blog they do not stay within the entry they are supposed to be linked to, the pictures are all over the place. My blog also changed format/style.
It used to look organized and neat but no longer looks like that.
I also noticed some of my comments appearing scrambled.
To sum it up, my blog looks scrambled.
How do I fix this? I am not very computer smart. Can somebody explain this to me/assist me in an easy way? I would like for my blog to look the way it used to!
Thank You!

Tatiana wrote:How do I fix this?

Step 1: Give us the address of your blog so we can take a look.

YL

My blog is
www.fargosisters.com
Click on the blog option to enter the blog.

Problem 1. The look of the blog totally changed by itself, I didn't change anything. It looked neat before.
Problem 2. The pictures I put up, if it's two or more, trickle down into previous entries like this example, first page scroll down to September 3, "Early night" entry, pics trickle down to "Eating strawberries" September 1 entry.
OR pictures totally block what I wrote in an entry, like on second page, entry from August 20, "The chai last night" here the pics overlap each other and block the text in the blog entry.
This is happening throughout the blog.
OR the pics I put up are totally unorganized like here, August 25 "Fall Fashion".
Problem 3. The comments don't look like they did before either.

How do I get the blog back to normal again?
Thank You!

Tatiana wrote:How do I get the blog back to normal again?

Your serendipity.css sends a 404 error, meaning Serendipity can't find the file which contains all the rules on how to style the various elements of a page. Solving this should cover all the issues you mention, which is good since it's just one error responsible for a lot of issues. What's rather bad is that this could be caused by a lot of things, most of them of a rather technical nature. Let's start with the easy ones.

First, try changing your blog's theme. In the admin backend under "Manage styles", check which one is selected now and report it here. Pick a different one by clicking on the little disc icon on the right of any theme block. Try Bulletproof. Then go back to your blog and reload it in your browser, preferably by pressing Ctrl or Strg plus r. Does it change?

YL

How do I know what is selected for my blog under "Manage Styles"? I believe I have "Blue Streak" though since my blog started acting weird it doesn't look like that option anymore.
When I go to "Manage Styles" it first says "Select the template you wish to use for your blog."
There are 20 different options but no "Bulletproof.". Do I just pick another one then?

Thank You for helping!

I think Tatiana should not only see the days pass by and write about her curious adventures and life. Yes, she should know that rice water is good for her hair - but also, that keep updating is good for her blog too. With Tatiana running Serendipity v.1.0.2 she is quite on top of all listed museal versions I have seen in the last years!
I don't think it could harm Tatiana to do this immediately and then have a look inside it the weired look disappears.

Timbalu wrote:With Tatiana running Serendipity v.1.0.2 she is quite on top of all listed museal versions I have seen in the last years!

While I don't think it does help very much to comment in a "funny" way on a thread by a poster obviously not very firm with anything technical, you do have a point.

This installation of s9y needs to be updated to a current version (1.5.5), update instructions are on http://www.s9y.org/37.html.

YL

Are you saying I should choose "Serendipity v.1.0.2 " as an option from "Manage Styles"?
Well, that does not show up as an option for me, neither does "Bulletproof".
I have "Serendipity v3.0" and "Serendipity v2.3" as choices. Should I pick one of those or something else? I don't want to make a mistake and mess the blog up even more.
Help please......!

Ok, so I need to update to a newer version of Serendipity to be able to choose one of the options mentioned and then my blog will be fixed?
Well, I looked at the instructions for upgrading and I am totally clueless, "saving every file to a backup folder on your local hard drive, and be sure to save a dump of your database as well. Using phpMyAdmin, select your database from the left side drop down, then click 'export' from the main navbar, select the options you need, then click 'save as file' and 'Go.: etc.

If I make a mistake with the upgrade, will my blog get erased?

Normally there is no reason to worry about and it will be a one-click experience.

Notes on updating from 0.8 / 0.9 / 1.0 / 1.1 / 1.2 and above

No specific tasks are required to update Serendipity versions after 0.8 to the current ones. The complete upgrade path is automatted and can be performed with a single mouse click.

I dont think you did have an individual template running, so you dont need "saving every file to a backup folder" first, while your pics are in /uploads and dont get touched by an upgrade.

The database is sometimes good to be saved first, or time by time as default.
As far as I know serendipity being stable, I dont think you need to worry.
Just drop the new one onto the old one and off you go...

Hmmmmmm.......ok I will try. Thank you for the help!
And if you have any more helpful advice, let me know.
I will attempt this upgrade sometimes tomorrow or the next day.

Tatiana wrote:Ok, so I need to update to a newer version of Serendipity to be able to choose one of the options mentioned and then my blog will be fixed?

Probably, but you should update your s9y installation to the latest version regularly anyway for security reasons and to get new features.

Tatiana wrote:Well, I looked at the instructions for upgrading and I am totally clueless, "saving every file to a backup folder on your local hard drive, and be sure to save a dump of your database as well.

First of all, you need access to your webspace, most likely through a technique called FTP. Since you've probably never heard of this before, you first need to get a FTP client, i.e. a software to be installed on your computer to establish a connection between your webspace and your computer via FTP. Which software to pick depends on whether you're on a Mac, on Windows or Linux.

You should also have some kind of data sheet from your web hoster containing your FTP access data – most likely a host name, a user id and a password. You need these to set up a connection in your FTP software. If you don't have them, contact your web hoster about them, you can not upgrade your blog without an FTP connection.

Once you have this set up, you should backup your data, i.e. the files (photos etc.) you uploaded to your blog as well as the database containing all your entries. Most web hosters offer some kind of web-based software like phpmyadmin to do this. But I guess we better wait with this step until you have FTP set up.

Tatiana wrote:If I make a mistake with the upgrade, will my blog get erased?

Not necessarily, but of course, there are various things that could go wrong, especially with a rather major upgrade like this. That's just why a backup is recommended.

YL

Thank You.
This all seems very complicated (for me).
Maybe I can hire somebody to help me.
Thank You for all the help!

Ok, this is the latest regarding my blog problems.
Tried to write a new entry today, did not work.
It takes me back to the log in page and I see this:

"Warning: Unknown(): write failed: No space left on device (28) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown(): Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp) in Unknown on line 0"

Also, when people try to leave me comments, they can't.

What does it mean?

Tatiana wrote:"Warning: Unknown(): write failed: No space left on device (28) in Unknown on line 0

Warning: Unknown(): Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp) in Unknown on line 0"

Also, when people try to leave me comments, they can't.

Looks like your web server (i.e. the computer your blog is running on) ran out of disk space. Please contact your web hoster about the issue.

YL