Category: Web/Tech

home or elsewhere

I’ve been trying to get my blogging software on my home machine to work. It was because it went on the blink, that I started looking around for alternatives and happened upon TypePad.

In reconstucting it (my home blog), I have come to appreciate even more, the way TypePad is put together. I’m starting to sound like a commercial for them. The fact is that both have their advantages and disadvantages. Having the blog on your home machine means that your blog is totally under your control. What you write is not in a server someplace else. That doesn’t seem to mean much nowadays, but there is an added sense of security to that.

The disadvantage, of course, is that you have to be home to make entries.

Singing Praises

The nice thing about TypePad, which I have said already, is that you can post from anywhere. I know this seems to be no different from Blogger, but it is. It is just so much easier to use.

The interface is clean and the colors are not as distracting.

Right now, I’m definitely interested in keeping the account after the 30 day trial membership, and the only question is whether I want to upgrade or not. Posting photos would be a plus, but I have that on my Verizon account now. It’s only 10 megs, but it’s free.

Posting from NetNewsWire

This Post is coming from my desktop news client NetNewsWire. Let’s see if everything works.

This is bold
This is italic
This is a link

It works!!! I’m a happy camper!

The only thing I have to alter from the Typepad screen, is the category. I’ll have to check NNW and Typepad manuals for that, but it’s minor.

another test. Looks like the category thing does work.

This Is Easy

I have to admit, TypePad makes it easy to get up and running very quickly and with style. I’m still disappointed with the text formatting however. It seems as as though they are using MS Java, which is notorious for only working well with windows machines.

What I like, is the ability to publish from anywhere. Just wish it was easier to add links.

Back At Work

As I said, one of the cool things is being able to post from anywhere. I have to go someplace soon, so I think I’ll test out the setting posting time and see if that works. Let’s try 11:30am, shall we? Hmmm, that doesn’t seem to work. I see, this is a Pro feature. The little clock on the posting page is simply for setting the time of the post.

Well, it’s the end of the day and I’m heading home now. I just checked the help area to see if there has been a response yet to my question about using the buttons on the posting page. No response yet. However, I have noticed that I can use a desktop client like NetNewsWire and that does allow me to use those features very easily.

Testing TypePad

The first post is always the hardest because in an attempt to find out how things work, I lose track of what it is that I want to say.

Okay, the first post will be a sacrifice. I’ll post something, but it won’t be of importance to me. It will simply be to see how things look and how things work. I expect that I won’t be writing anything… really… for a week or so. Then, by the end of the 30 day trial period, I’ll know if I want to stay with TypePad or not.

Let’s begin…

What about bolding and italicizing (sp?)?
Can they be done without HTML or is that necessary?
What about editing, once a post is done? I can already see that there is no draft mode in the basic implementation. Ooops, my mistake. Yes you can work in draft mode. I think I’ll do that now, and take a peek at the manual.

Well, according to the manual,

“If your browser supports it, you will see the formatting buttons above your post text area on the Compose a New Post/Edit Post page, otherwise theyre hidden from view. One of these is for creating a link.”

I had to do that italicizing by embedding the HTML code, because the browser I’m using at present (Internet Explorer 5.1 for OS 9) doesn’t show any formatting buttons. I’ll have to try with another browser later.

Home Now

What’s interesting is that the buttons show up in OmniWeb, but don’t behave properly. If I highlight a word and then click on the ‘B’ button, it places the HTML code for “strong” after the word and then pastes all the text from the beginning of my entry to the end. The buttons do not show up in Safari or Internet Explorer. I get the same results no matter what button I use, including the ‘link’ button. This is a major drawback. I’ll have to check the site and/or contact tech support to see if this issue has been handled.