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Template Designer Wont Load (Gray Screen)

A lot of users are having issues with their Template Designer page not loading properly. So I decided to write a post on some common issues that I have seen to be the cause. By reading and following the instruction on this page you maybe able to fix it. These are methods that have worked for others and just may work for you as well.

If you find one of these solution to work for you then please leave a comment and tell us which one.

After each step below you will need to check your Template Designer to see if its working. If you need more details on the subject you may click the links within them.

1.)  Check your browser to make sure you have JavaScript Enabled

2. In a lot of cases the users displaying this issue are using Firefox 3.5 or older. The work around for this was to update your Firefox browser to version 3.6 or better.

3.) Clear your Browser Cache. (Restart your browser afterward) Read More On Browser Cache

4. Clear your Browser Cookies and Active Login. (Restart your browser afterward)

5.)  Check your Firewall and Anti-Virus for settings that maybe blocking Blogger from loading. This goes for anything referring to scripts, cookies, or Google/Blogger websites. I wish I could give you more details on doing this but everyone has different firewall and anti-virus software. Therefore it would be impossible for me to guide you through this step. Make sure to restart your browser after your done.

6.)  Try using different browsers, such as Firefox, Google Chrome or Internet Explorer. It would be best to try all 3 of them to get the best results out of this step.  Which ever browsers you try make sure you are using the updated version. 

7.)  Start a new blog using the Blogger default templates. Do not use a blog you have already made because this may alter the results. We want a clean and content free blog for this step. Check the Template Designer in the new blog to see if its now working.

If the Template Designer was working for the new blog then your problem is related to content or coding within your main blog. You will need to go through and remove gadgets and or cut down on how many post are displaying on the homepage. The most common gadgets that have been known to causes this issue are third party gadgets that contain scripts or images. (Make sure to back up the gadgets content before removing it. You can do this by pasting the HTML code from the gadget into a Notepad.)

35 comments:

vrochi said...

i have this problem about my blogger template designer.
how can i go to tools, options, content from firefox ?
can you tell me the steps?
thanks..

Dawn Farias said...

Thank you for this post. I have been having this issue for the past two days. I checked off everything you suggested and still no solutions. I usually use Firefox but just now I loaded up Internet Explorer and can see the Template Designer options just fine!

What's up with that? I don't like using Explorer. I like my Firefox.

AiresOFwar said...

@Vrochi
If you look at the top of your browser tool bar you should see options like File, Edit, View, History, e.g. If you click the Tools option, then then Options, then go to Content. You will see the option to enable or disable javaScript.

@ Dawn Farias
The bigger question is did your template designer work when creating a new blog? If it did then it sounds like a template problem. If it did not then it sounds like a browser issues. Something on your browser has changed in the past few days. If clearing your cache and cookie did not solve it then you might try clearing out everything in your browser history.
Also check and see if you had any adons or updates to your computer/browser. Like I said I had a game bar on my browser that worked fine for a few months. Then out of no where it started giving me problems.

Dawn Farias said...

Updating to the newest version of Firefox did the trick. It's beyond annoying to have go through that, though, KWIM?

Thanks for your time!

AiresOFwar said...

Was that the new FF 4.0 beta that was just released? Yeah it is indeed a problem that boggles me to no end. I have been seeing this issue a lot on the help forums so I gathered all the info I could and put it in a post. But still we have yet to get down to the root of the problem.

Leah - Cartoonist UK said...

Brilliantly helpful, many thanks. :)

Aunt Amelia's Attic said...

Thank all, for the chatter.

Dawn Farias says the same as an earlier blogger, that Newest Version of Firefox fixes it. But I can not use it. :-(

I have not tried making a brand new blog, and will do that next.

Btw AiresOFwar, seems most photo resizing programs are for Pc. They don't work, on my iMac. But!!!!!! -drum roll please- I figured out another way, to resize pics for my Header!!! And I am so proud of myself! Me! The totally non techy blogger, of all time!

Again, thank you for all you have done and continue to do, to help me/us with this %^&*&^% issue.

An early wish for a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Aunt Amelia's Attic said...

AiresOFwar,
Tried making a brand new blog, and template designer page there, doesn't work. Same as my other blogs. So now, I've exhausted all my options.

For now, the blog colors I am stuck with, are OK. But part of the fun of blogging, is changing my blog look. So, don't know how long I'll want to stick with this... Same, same, same blog look, other than different Header pics.

Thank you for everything you have done, to try to help me!!! You have been great!

Hope you'll keep your ears open, for anything new on this topic. Maybe something will work for someone else, and for me...

Again, thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dan said...

Hi, thanks for your advice!

I had the same problems with Firefox 3.5 and Chrome 7.0.517.44.
Firefox 3.6.12 solved the problems.

Dan

Jérôme said...

I solved the problem by switching from Firefox to IE (damn!).

AiresOFwar said...

Jerome, it looks like you were using Firefox 3.5, might I suggest updating to 3.6.

Dawn Farias said...

I, also, didn't have this problem when using IE.

Sandy said...

Thank you, you were way more help than Blogger! It was a Firefox issue for me too. IE didn't have a problem.

Elin said...

Firefox 3.6.12 solved the problems for me too.
Thank you for all the help:-)

Hunnee B said...

I have tried everything suggested - cache and cookies cleared, javascript enabled, different browsers - google chrome, IE, Firefox and nothing is working. Still no access to Template Designer, just a gray shell with links that don't lead anywhere. I can preview my changes but no changes are actually being made when I view blog. I am at my wits end I do not know what to do. Can somebody help me please?

AiresOFwar said...

What is your blog URL?
What is your primary browser and version?

Amanda Costner said...

Updating Firefox did it for me! Thanks so much. My old plan was to wait around until Blogger fixed it. Who knows how long that would have taken.

AiresOFwar said...

Browsers are updated almost every month to keep up with the ever changing world. If your not using Firefox 3.6 then your browser has not been updated in over a year. As you can see this will cause problems with systems that use more advanced coding such as the template designer. You also run the risk of having security issues when using outdated browsers.

Jodie said...

Templates don't work with Mac's That's the problem. I've done everything and nothing works on a mac.

AiresOFwar said...

It does work with Mac because I have seen these methods fix a few Mac users. But a few odd cases on a Mac these methods did not work for. From my understanding Blogger is currently looking into the problem. So hopefully they can find something on their side that has been causing the issue and fix it. This does not mean the problem is coming from their side as they have yet to put this in Blogger known issues.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! I performed the Firefox upgrade and the Designer Template as well as the stats information on blogger came back and works excellently!

Terry

Anonymous said...

I recently created my blog on a mac while on vacation and I just got home and went to change the width to find that the template designer was not responding! I used blogger's help function and found something with a link here. JavaScript was already enabled, so that didn't help but then I updated to 3.6 and viola! Template designer working again. Thanks a billion!

Clan Hill said...

updating Firefox did not work for me, but switching to Safari did work. Thanks for the tip. I've been trying to change my font color for over a month!

Melinda said...

Thank you sooo much. I am new to blogging and a relative neophyte with the computer so I was totally stumped - I kept thinking I was doing something wrong. Updating to Firefox 3.6 was like a miracle. thanks again.

Hanna said...

Yes, updating Firefox worked for me too. Thanks!

Courtney Lockerby said...

Updating Firefox worked for me! Thank you!

Mom's Cafe said...

Template Designer isn't working for me using Camino on an iMac OS X 10.4.11. It is the updated version of Camino too. I did get it working on Safari, a bit of a pain going between 2 browsers but it does work.

February Jones said...

Thank you thank you thank you! I thought the problem was just a glitch that would sort itself out and it didn't!! The fix that worked for me was upgrading my Firefox.

Sandie said...

Thanks for your help...After trying to use IE it worked as it should... I guess it doesn't like Google Chrome.

Mich said...

Thanks so much! I upgraded to Firefox 3.6 and now it works just fine.

Maria Palma said...

Thank you for posting this! I thought it was just me. I installed Firefox 3.6 and now it works. So grateful...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post! I just needed to update Firefox.

Anonymous said...

Amazing help! Turns out I unknowingly had a VERY old version of Firefox on my home computer. When I downloaded a newer version the problem was miraculously solved. Thank you!

babajide said...

the one that actually worked for me is to change my browser
thanks

Athallia said...

Clearing my browser worked. Thanks!

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