Using Haloscan to enable trackbacks (only) in New Blogger

by - Monday, May 07, 2007



Trackbacks are a way of linking blogs to each other when referencing another blogger's post. They're quite useful and interesting to use, but unfortunately Blogger has not yet made this an inherent feature of the new Blogger software.

As an alternative, I decided to install Haloscan on my blog, to enable trackback links. So far, I've found Haloscan to be very useful! It has a feature where you can automatically install Haloscan comments and trackback features into your Blogger template, which is great for those who have a classic template and don't wish to use Blogger's comments system.

Unfortunately, I don't fall into either category: my template is now heavily modified, and I do want to use Blogger's comments! So I tried to install only the trackback links. Big problems there...

To cut a (very) long story short, I believe I have found the way to do this. Here's my step by step guide to what has worked for me:
  1. Get yourself a free account with Haloscan

  2. Once you have your account (and most importantly, your username), open your Blogger dashboard, then click on Template>Edit HTML. Ensure "expand widgets" is ticked.
    Just before the closing head tag, insert this code, being sure to replace "yourhaloscanusername" with your appropriate UN:

    <script src="http://www.haloscan.com/load/yourhaloscanusername"
    type="text/javascript">
  3. Then add this code where you want your Trackback link to appear, again replacing the username:

    <a class='comment-link'
    expr:href='"http://www.haloscan.com/tb/yourhaloscanusername/" + data:post.id +
    "/"' expr:onclick='"HaloScanTB(" + "\""+ data:post.id + "\"" + ");return
    false;"'><script
    type='text/javascript'>postCountTB('<data:post.id/>');</script></a>
  4. I included this just after the comment link as in the following example:
    <b:if cond='data:post.allowComments'> <a
    class='comment-link' expr:href='data:post.addCommentUrl'
    expr:onclick='data:post.addCommentOnclick'><b:if
    cond='data:post.numComments == 1'>1
    <data:top.commentLabel/><b:else/><data:post.numComments/>
    data:top.commentLabelPlural/></b:if></a>
    </b:if> </b:if><a class='comment-link'
    expr:href='"http://www.haloscan.com/tb/yourhaloscanusername/"
    +
    data:post.id + "/"' expr:onclick='"HaloScanTB(" + "\""+ data:post.id + "\""
    +
    ");return false;"'<script
    type='text/javascript'>postCountTB('<data:post.id/>');</script></a>
  5. Preview your template first to make sure everything works okay. If it does, then save your template and begin to receive your trackbacks!

Please let me know if this modification works for you by leaving me a comment below. Happy trackbacking!

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5 comments

  1. Just a quick test of my new template layout. Please ignore

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the tip. I have enabled trackback links on my blog following your instructions but when I click my trackback link I get a pop-up window that says "usertable error". Maybe I'm not supposed to click my own trackback links?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi again. The trackback links are working now. I guess my Haloscan account had not propagated yet. Thanks for your kind help, and best of lucks on your "glamumous" project!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've read this method at a couple locations and tried it out 3 times... none of which worked. I keep getting errors when I preview:

    We were unable to preview your template
    Please correct the error below, and submit your template again.
    Your template could not be parsed as it is not well-formed. Please make sure all XML elements are closed properly.
    XML error message: The element type "div" must be terminated by the matching end-tag "
    ".

    I just did a straight copy-paste and replaced with my haloscan account name. So sad.

    ReplyDelete