Using Haloscan to enable trackbacks (only) in New Blogger

Sunday, May 6, 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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