Blogger Beta

Dee738 · #1 September 2, 2006, 01:21 PM

Ok, for those of you who use Blogger, you may have noticed when you log into the dashboard, there is a link referring to Blogger Beta.

I clicked it, and looked at it, and when it said that one of the features was categories, I jumped at the chance to switch my account to the Beta. they warned me before doing so that I could not switch back. Now, I'm regretting it a little.

I decided to post this here for anyone considering trying it. For the bugs I have encountered, when it seems to be fixed, I will post an update.

We'll start with the pros:

Love, love, love the labels. Makes it easier for visitors to browse the posts. And you can sort your archives by topic, date or both, if you so choose.
Template editing has been simplified for people who have no HTML experience. It's all drag and click, and changing colours, fonts, text size, and general layout is now very very easy.
Posts and pics upload much much much faster, which is less frustrating
You no longer need to republish the whole blog in order to see changes you've made to your template

Cons:

It appears if you've changed to a Beta account that non Beta users have trouble posting comments. I am unsure whether this also effects people who are not Blogger users at all.
If you like being able to mess with HTML, it's not quite as easy as it was, due to the way the drag and drop features of the edit function effect the template.
At this point, if you have gotten a template from your blog from one of the free template sites (such as the one I have for my non-crochet blog), there isn't a way to make it compatible with the new Beta features. Which means I can either have labels on my other blog, or my pretty template, not both.
I have not yet been able to get the Technorati script to work in my blog

A couple of sidenotes to this. Both of my blogs are linked to the same blogger account. While I did not "upgrade" my template on the cerebellum confectionary one, my whole account is a Beta account, which is effecting the comments on both blogs. (For me, the comments thing is the most annoying issue, followed closely by not being to have both my pretty template and labels).

Overall, I like the beta, and when the few glitches that annoy me are fixed, I will be very happy with it. From reading the Blogger help forums, there are more glitches than what I have mentioned, but so far, they haven't bothered me.

Does anyone else have any experience with the Beta version, or questions about it I may not have thought to mention?

Dee738 · #2 September 2, 2006, 02:01 PM

Just wanted to add a quick update. I had someone without a blogger account try to post a comment, and it worked. So it appears the comment glitch happens *only* when someone who has a normal Blogger account tries to post.

OneCraftySAHM · #3 September 2, 2006, 08:50 PM

Ya know, I switched to blogger beta and I have trouble LEAVING a comment! It asks me for my username and password and when I enter it, it tells me that the blogger doesn't accept anyonomous comments! Frustrating, I eventually get it to go through by doing it a few times but it is still annoying! Do you have this problem as well?

kahud48 · #4 September 3, 2006, 01:48 AM

Hi, just wanted to tell you that I like your beta blog. I like the look and wanted to share this with you.
You can add this HTML code just under <head>
and it will hide the blog bar at the top. Then you will see all of your pretty page there:

<style type="text/css">#b-navbar {
height:0px;
visibility

dden;
display

ne
}</style>

Hope I helped you make your nice page show up better for you with out that ugly blog bar there at the top hiding some of it

HMMM, well, where you see visibility, it is suppose to be ... visibility: hidden;
I do not know why them smileys are showing.
And, is suppose to be, display: none;
but put these back together, they just are not working here to show you when they are up next to each other

OneCraftySAHM · #5 September 3, 2006, 09:09 AM

kahud48,

Ya know, I've tried that before and it doesn't seem to work with my template! I just tried again and the blogger bar is still there! Not sure why! That's ok though, I don't mind it much!

Thank you for the info!

Dreamingintx · #6 September 5, 2006, 01:26 PM

Thanks for all the info, it's much appreciated

I'm still unsure what I want to do about my blogs! Beta looks pretty cool, but I can only just about work the regular blogger accounts as it is

Question for you.. when you switch to a Beta account, you dont lose any of the content on your blog do you? I'd hate to have to start over!

OneCraftySAHM · #7 September 5, 2006, 02:07 PM

No! You do not lose anything from your blog, you just have access to more features.

Dreamingintx · #8 September 6, 2006, 06:44 AM

Thank you

Dee738 · #9 September 17, 2006, 11:48 AM

quick update to note:

People with non-beta accounts can now leave comments on my beta blogs.

I still can't use my blogger id to comment on non-beta blogs, though

And the technorati script now works again

If i could get find free customized templates for blogger beta, I'd be golden..lol

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