Google Upgrades Blogger 109
thetan writes "Google has announced the first major upgrade to Blogger since taking over the creaking old platform. Still in beta, the new service offers a tie-in to your Google Account, dynamic pages, separate comment feeds, new layouts, an apparent merger with Google's Page Creator for WYSIWYG editing, integration of feeds, public/private access control and — of interest to bloghackers — tag-based labels for categories. Take the tour."
I'll Stick to nano (Score:1, Flamebait)
Even better than MySpace (Score:5, Insightful)
I am glad that Google has made this upgrade. Blogger has always had a pretty clean layout that doesn't get in the way of the content (are you listening MySpace?) and makes sites pretty easy to read. Ever since they announced Google Pages I wondered when they were going to integrate it into Blogger. I played with Pages and found that while it lacks power and advanced features, it just plain works. That is the most important thing. After all, most people above a certain coding ability will probably have their own sites and will not be using Blogger in the first place.
You know that Google has come up with something great when they announce that it has made it out of testing and into Beta stage.
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:3, Insightful)
KISS (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. This is the reason: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:1)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:4, Insightful)
Call me back when it's been released. I've used Blogger for years and frankly I don't like being jerked around with features I didn't ask for at the cost of reliability. Remember when only beta testers got to use beta software, leaving the rest of us with a presumably stable release?
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:3, Funny)
Your concerns have been heard. Here is your refund.
Sincerely,
Google
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:3, Funny)
--- Original Message ---
Re:Even better than MySpace
(Score:1, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on 08:17 AM August 15th, 2006 (#15910369)
Dear generic-man,
Your concerns have been heard. Here is your refund.
Sincerely,
Google
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:1, Flamebait)
Had you RTFA, you would know that no one is being forced to use these new features. In-fact, very few people are going to even be allowed to use them. It is invitation only, and you can reject an invitation. So, only beta testers will get to use this beta service.
Sincerely,
Someone who is actually capable of reading
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:2)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:2)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:3, Funny)
You were lucky... When I were a lad we'd walk 30 miles in the snow to the office, uphill both ways. We'd spend all day hunched over with a length of wire and a rare-earth magnet, inducing currents in the wires to build up ASCII codes. When we'd finished we'd manually upload the files by telnetting to port 21, walk 30 miles 'ome again, oop'ill, in t' snow, eat a piece of dry bread for us tea, and me Dad would beat us t' sleep wi' a length of co-ax cabling...
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:1)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:2)
content? myspace? (Score:1)
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:2)
For a while, I used Gnotepad, then discovered SciTE, which I now include in Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux. [geocities.com] No problems whatsoever with SciTE. I include Opera 9.01, build 400, and it is configured to show page source in SciTE. Provides super-fast editing of pages.
Check the screenshots page in signature, below.
I do use Blogger, mine is here. [blogspot.com] Right off the bat I had problems with Blogger handling images, so I
Re:Even better than MySpace (Score:1)
I've never found MySpace to be about content; for me, it's always been the 'social' aspect of the site. It gives 'us teenagers' a place to be "unique", and yet still have a place to talk, a place for our "Shout outs", blogs, and even that gratifying feel of denying a friend request. It recreates the high-school atmosphere that we are either still in or just getting out of, and for better or worse, that is what we are used
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:5, Funny)
Give me a break, emacs has supported whatever it is this article is about for too long now.
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:2)
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:3)
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:1, Insightful)
When I first owned a Win95 box, I preferred DOS edit to notepad. Then I discovered UltraEdit, and it was all over.
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:2)
Yes, but can emacs tell you what it's like to kiss a girl?
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:2)
Yes, but can emacs tell you what it's like to kiss a girl?
I tried and it answered my question with another question, which is pretty much what girls are like isn't it? (so I hear).
Re:I'll Stick to nano (Score:2)
Seriously.
I want Google to help rid us of FrontPage (Score:2)
The vast majority of customers just want to make simple web pages and upload some documents. They don't have need for fancy things (and if they do, we build them applications). WYSIWYG is a "must have" for the enterprise environment, and the Writely/GooglePages imple
Re:I want Google to help rid us of FrontPage (Score:2)
When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the addition of labels is the most significant upgrade to Blogger. Now, if only I could tag my Slashdot Journal [imediaconnection.com] entries.
I do have a question. Many blogs support both Categories and Tags. I understand Google's desire to simplify things, so I think if I could have only one or the other, I'd choose tags. Now that Moveable Type 3.3 has come out and natively supports both tags and categories, I'm at a loss as to when to use which. Do I stick w/ my Categories and leave tagging for a tag cloud and for hooks for Technorati?
Re:When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:2)
Re:When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:4, Insightful)
As regular readers of both I MUCH prefer categories. If I'm interested in what one of my blog heros has to say on a broad topic I have a lot more success and fun browsing through everything in a category than by trying to figure out some arbitrary keyword.
You do what you feel suits your blog content and organization best, but if it were me I'd set up categories. I might be old fashioned, though.
Re:When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:4, Interesting)
Categories also allow your users to read 'virtual blogs'. On several blogs that I read regularly, I don't have the main page bookmarked - but rather one or more category pages. This allows me to read entries on say, geocaching, while avoiding entries on cats.
Re:When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:1)
I don't think it has to be an either/or proposition. With tags, you can use your most-frequent ones as categories. You can also keep your specific words, shiboleths and "one-shot" tags in the mix, for Technorati and other tag-based searches.
That way, you get the best of both worlds [blogspot.com]. Of course, there are other views [csabaveres.net].
Tags are good for finding related entries (Score:1)
Yet, if I am interested in particular subject it might not be that easy to find it based on tags only. One would label the thing with `foo', another person would use `bar', or `ham', or even 'bacon'.
Tags are subjective and associative. This is their power and thier flaw.
Re:When to use Tags (versus Categories) (Score:1)
Upgrade to WordPress.
Re: (Score:1)
Bloghackers? (Score:5, Funny)
That is just so Web 2.0, isn't it?
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:2)
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:2)
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:2)
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:2, Informative)
The aforementioned "enthusiasts who extend Blogger in useful, novel and unexpected ways" are still digesting the implications of this change for their carefully-constructed, hand-wrought hacks. Especially those that supplement Blogger's lack of categories [netspace.net.au] and comment feeds [blogspot.com].
A good jumping off point can be found at this post: Blogger Beta Explored [blogspot.com].
Re:Bloghackers? (Score:2)
"Bloghackers"
That is just so Web 2.0, isn't it?
Actually, I think it's still Web 2.0 beta. :)
"tie-in to your google account" (Score:5, Insightful)
Not just a "tie-in", but a forced migration, similar to flickr moving to using yahoo accounts:
Am I the only one really disliking this? I don't want to tie all the pieces of information about me together. I want to keep them separate, running on different domains, having nothing to do with each other! It's bad enough that Google can tie my searches to my email, but when it's able to tie it together with my cat pictures and what I had for dinner last night (okay, so not really), that's really several bridges too far.
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:2)
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:2)
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:5, Funny)
Not fair! I want to be able to keep all my data private and my accounts separate, but also get all the benefits of letting Google see all my data and keeping my accounts in one place. We can send a man to the moon but we can't do this?!
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:2)
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:1)
I'm pretty sure he was on a rocket. I saw it on telly.
John
Re:"tie-in to your google account" (Score:2)
What? You didn't see this coming? One of the earliest (and loudest) criticisms of
Still in beta (Score:1, Offtopic)
What does Google actually have (other than search) that isn't in beta? There comes a point when you just have to release something (as much as you can do in web apps). How long has Google Groups been in 'beta' now?
Re:Still in beta (Score:1)
only slightly longer than people have been asking this same question on
how long does it take a slashdot user to realize that google stuff will always be in beta?
Re:Still in beta (Score:1)
Re:Still in beta (Score:1)
Re:Still in beta (Score:2)
Alerts, Desktop, Directory, Earth, Image Search, Maps, News, Toolbar (both a beta and non-beta version), Translate, Picasa, Blogger.
Re:Still in beta (Score:1)
Does it work with Konqueror/Safari yet? (Score:2)
Re:Does it work with Konqueror/Safari yet? (Score:2)
OpenID? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:OpenID? (Score:2)
Re:OpenID? (Score:2)
Re:OpenID? (Score:2)
Re:OpenID? (Score:2)
Also, MySpace does support RSS for blogs: this blog [myspace.com] has an RSS feed [myspace.com] listed at the top of its page.
Re:OpenID? (Score:1)
I think you're spot on in saying that, and the dupe aspect is probably very important, but I see what I guess I would call a a multi-presence problem. If you're using blogs to keep in touch with folks, and said folks are spread across a variety of services (myspace/lj/blogger/vox, etc.), it seems like there's two solutions. One is to cross-post all over the p
Re:OpenID? (Score:2)
More and more blog packages that you run on your own servers have OpenID plugins, but as far as I know 6A's TypePad is the only hosted solution that has it built in. Funny, that.
Pretty good. I like it, anyway. (Score:1)
lable (Score:1)
Google vs. Microsoft (Score:1)
Re:Google vs. Microsoft (Score:2)
Re:Google vs. Microsoft (Score:2)
Yes, but did they fix sftp yet? (Score:2)
This leads me to believe that they aren't using a standard client, but rather wrote their own, with all that implies.
I had hoped that when Google acquired them, all that would be quickly resolved, but apparently not.
Re: (Score:2)
I want an updatel filters comments out (Score:2)
Re:I want an updatel filters comments out (Score:2, Informative)
I kept this off when I first put up my blog and got hit with a few spam comments before I figured out what was happening. Turned on the word verification and deleted the handful of spam comments, and haven't seen one since (or any comments for that matter... but I think that's a different p
Re:I want an update to filters comments out (Score:2)
Of course, that will remove the few comments I get, but that's a small price to pay to prevent blog spam.
Now if only thier feeds weren't crippled (Score:1)
Re:Now if only thier feeds weren't crippled (Score:2)
What the hell are you talking about? Blogger allows images in its feeds just fine. Check out the atom.xml feed of one of your examples: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/atom.xml [blogspot.com] and you'll notice images. Lots of them. Not only that, I just subscribed to the feed in SharpReader and the images showed up just fine for me.
The problem is on your end. Get a decent feedreader and it should work for you.
Re:Now if only thier feeds weren't crippled (Score:1)
Netvibes proxys the feeds through netvibes.com, but pulls the images directly from blogger. I'll bet a feed reader that directly grabs the feed from blogger g
Re:Now if only thier feeds weren't crippled (Score:1)
Re:Now if only thier feeds weren't crippled (Score:2)
A gaping hole in functionality... (Score:2)
Give me one that generates Markov-chain paragraphs based on Google Sets metacategories, and you'll have purchased my buy-in.
Re:A gaping hole in functionality... (Score:1)
There are sites out there that attempt to compensate for your lack of anything interesting to say with annoying flashy things and "friends."
Call me an old fart. (Score:2)
But seriously if you think that what I have to say is interesting you really need to go outside.
"Get off my lawn Digest."
Re:Call me an old fart. (Score:2)
Re:Call me an old fart. (Score:2)
So stop it... And get off my lawn!
Re:Call me an old fart. (Score:2)
Re:Call me an old fart. (Score:1)
Me and my good buddy Google (Score:1)
Beta again? (Score:1)
You mean "Back to the Feature"?
Popular search engines faster [friskr.com]
Non-blogspot hosting? (Score:2)
Re: WYSIWYG editing (Score:1)
Blogger offers direct access to (near) standards-compliant XHTML code. I practically learned how to design websites tinkering with their templates. If you know HTML and CSS, it gives you everything you'd want with Google Page
Finaly saving on Googleware cycles (Score:1)
At last you decided to save on your CPU cycles and also have a faster means to index rather than crawling the static page.
tags for future and past posts? (Score:3, Interesting)
Anybody know if this will be implemented for future entries only, or if you can go back and tag your old posts?
It would be convenient if they added a way to search your blog for keywords, and tag all matching entries.
Re:tags for future and past posts? (Score:1)
sftp fix? (Score:1)
JavaScript redirect (Score:1)
Cool (Score:2)
Well behind the competition (Score:1)
Please mod parent UP! (Score:2)