Compose Mode

I always include a picture on the top of each of my blog posts. However Blogger seems to not want to add the pictures when I upload them. Initially I had to always try inserting the pictures twice. Then it got so that I could hardly add any pictures. Epic fail anyone? I run Internet Explorer 7. Perhaps that it part of the problem. I bet there is no problem with the Chrome browser.

I did find a work around. If I go into Compose mode, then adding pictures normally works the first time around. WTF? I usually an in HTML mode to hand code work arounds for other formatting issues in Blogger surrounding paragraphs. Sheesh. Time for a new CMS I would say. But I have so much invested in my Blogger blogs.

So now I go into Compose mode, add my pics, drop back to HTML mode, and type out my posts. Sometimes the picture disappears when I go to HTML mode. Then I need to start the process all over again. Come on Blogger. Step up your game.

Going Into HTML Mode

Previously I used to use Blogger to write blog posts using Compose mode. I just typed in my text. The output was a sort of WYSIWYG feedback. The resulting posts looked good. I especially liked the ability to put some space between my paragraphs. Then I started to notice that the paragraphs would be bunched up next to each other. Must have been some sort of Blogger update for the worse.

I had invested a lot in my blogs. It would be a chore to rehost them somewhere other than Blogger. So I changed the way I worked with Blogger. I dropped down to using the HTML view to enter my blog posts. I know enough HTML to ensure the paragraphs have space in between them.

I should not have to know HTML to make this happen. Does anyone else notice the spacing problem between paragraphs. Surely someone other than me is experiencing this fail. Good thing Blogger has me tied down to the platform.

Blogger Upgrade

It looks like Google has done another upgrade to Blogger. Each time they do this, it seems like the service gets worse. Now my blogging tasks feel much slower. Come on Blogger team. Do not fail.

Aside from the performance, it looks like this just got shifted around. Why are they moving things around when I already know where the usual controls are? This reeks of the Microsoft fiasco when they upgraded Office to 2007. Epic fail.

I guess I can't complain too much. Blogger is free. I wish they would give me the option of staying with the same interface instead of forcing an upgrade on me. Ahh the pains of working with a web based service. Is it time to move my blogs to another platform? Wordpress anyone?

Truth in Blogging

I somehow found myself navigated over Penelope Trunk's blog. In this episode, she related her World Trade Center trauma, as well as some worse disturbia. I know I have read some of Penelope's writings before. And I liked them. Now I know why. She has been through a lot. And she writes about it.

Can those of us with more boring lives compete with such a blogger? I would hope so. We may just not be as exciting. This then is the challenge. Be a strong writer/blogger to make normal life sound enticing. Or we could go out there and live that exciting life to write about.

This post goes out to Penelope. Keep writing about those personal details. They are precious.

Feedback Fail

I read a post about a site that blew up in terms of visitors because it was on a popular site. The developer had to deal with an overwhelming number of new visitors. One of the pains was the form submission. I never heard of the site. When I visited it, I saw a contact form on the bottom of the page.

However there was verbage that the contact form results were ignored. In fact, the form did not submit anything anywhere. Can you say fail? If you don't want feedback, then you don't have to have a place to submit feedback. But if you waste my time with a feedback form that you ignore, then guess what? I ignore you.

I won't even provide a link to this bozo's site. Don't want to drive any more traffic to it. Respect your visitors and users. Otherwise the bad karma will bite you in the end.

Blogging Platform

Just read a post about a guy trying to decide upon a blogging platform. He passed over Blogger due to a lack of control. Ummm okay. He tried out Wordpress but gave that up too. He ended up choosing Jekyll.

Generating a blog post for this dude under Jekyll amounts to redeploying his site. He needed to enter a bunch of commands at the shell script to do this. He patted himself on the back for sticking the commands in a script. There is just one problem. He needs to be at the command promopt to issue the commands. No blogging from a phone or through email anymore. Oh well.

I am all down for putting power in the hands of the blogging. However easy of blogging is tops for me. I should not have to pull teeth just to get out a blog post. No thanks Jekyll. Blogger is fine for me.

Blog Comments

I was reading the blog over at Betable. They were talking about great music from video games. I recalled some of the sounds of old from games I used to play. It was strange that nobody was commenting on this post. So I decide to add my 2 cents and chime in.

After entering my info, I the submit button. At first I thought that perhaps I did not click the button successfully. There was no feedback from the browser that it was waiting for the click to process. Then I saw that the Submit button changed its text to Submitting. That was 10 minutes ago.

Yep. This thing is hung. Left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I think this was the first time I visited the Betable blog. It was probably be my last as well.