here
Frankly, I've had it up to with Typepad lately. I apologize in advance that this will not be a general interest post but I a) need to vent and b) am hoping for some help from more experienced bloggers than me who might be reading this.
Back in 2006, when I was writing my first blog, I used the free Blogger program. A few months in I realized one really does get what one pays for as I fought numerous crashes, bugs and service outages to get anything published.
So when I started over last October I test drove several of the pay services including Wordpress, Squarespace and Typepad, the one I ultimately chose.
I've had several annoyances all along that I have just learned to live with but some of the recent problems - especially since they introduced a Compose Editor "Upgrade" - have me wondering if I once again chose poorly.
I'm going to share what's going on and if anyone has tips that might help please post a comment below (preferred, so we all benefit) or email me privately.
1. The newest problem is that Friday and Saturday the automated Publish feature did not work. I set my up my entries to post every morning between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. and yes, my calendar was set up properly. Yet, nothing went live until I manually did it when I logged on.
2. It doesn't matter how often I go to Design, then Change Theme, then Custom, none of the changes I make and save there translate to the Compose Editor.
3. In Compose I can find no way to change the default font from Arial, 11. I can change it manually but can not save it for next time.
4. And when I do change my font size manually by highlighting the page I write, the changes only work one paragraph, and sometimes one sentence, at a time. In other words I had to manually enlarge #3 above from default 13 point to the preferred 14. And then I had to highlight #4 and change it separately.
5. One of the Known Issues I'd like to publicly complain about is the suspension of the Post Search feature too. Does anyone know if it is coming back?
6. There must be an easier way, and one with fewer steps, than what I go through to post songs on my Christmas music sister blog each day. Each song first shows up as a link to Download the song rather than stream it. I have to save that, erase that in the Rich Text screen and then add all the embedding code manually on the HTML screen. It shouldn't be that hard. Is it me?
7. In the last two weeks there is yet another new problem. When I click on Save at the end of writing a post, or just to back it up as I go along, it's supposed to save it right away and then let me navigate off the page. Instead, I now almost always get the warning screen that says something like, "Are you sure you want to leave this page? You have unsaved changes..." even though I don't. It is an incredibly annoying extra step to have to go though over and over again.
I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of but that's all off the top of my head. Again, if you can help me, or direct me to a site or a source that might (except the non-responsive Typepad Help Desk), I thank you. For the 99% of you who understandably don't care how the blog is made, just that it is, I'll try to find something you'll actually be interested in tomorrow!
I started with TypePad a year ago, and I'm still with the old composer, but it seems like this upgrade is not something I should look forward to. In the meantime I've been looking at WordPress, and although there are some shortcomings vis-a-vis TypePad, there are other features that are very likely to win me over to WordPress if my composer upgrade has similar results as yours. I'm sorry I cannot help you, but I do feel with you.
Posted by: jan | July 13, 2008 at 05:00 AM
Sounds like its time for a change...
Posted by: Raul | July 13, 2008 at 08:23 AM
Hey, Bean! Sorry to hear about your trouble with Typepad! I wonder though if maybe it has anything to do with using a Mac OS? Seems like we run into difficulties with blogs...for me it's myspace and my computer is unable to use the blog's editor tool bar.
I have yet to try this little add on but maybe give this a try?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730
Perhaps the browser version as well with regards to your compose editor problem? It seems like when it comes to any type of blog the browser always finds a way of screwing stuff up!
I will keep searching for ya, Bean, as I know you are a busy man! Good luck!
Posted by: Sil | July 13, 2008 at 11:07 AM
I've been running a successful Wordpress blog over a year now, and I haven't had one problem with it. When they upgraded to the new version, it took awhile to get used to but I've gotten used to it since then.
Not sure if you'll be able to convert your posts/images to Wordpress but start looking into it.
No clue what made you chose Typebad over Wordpress. Nevertheless, make the switch.
Posted by: The Nugget | July 13, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Wow. TypePad just seems to get worse by the minute. I love how you have to pay at one of the highest levels to "gain access to priority support". If you're not "Enjoy[ing] professional service and support," as the pricing list says you should at any level, I think it's time to move.
I'm putting together my newest blog in WordPress (www.wordpress.org), and it's been a painless experience. I'm hosting on my own server, but I notice that if you host at WordPress.com, they have a way to import content from your old blog. There's an active support community, so no waiting around for a help desk to get back to you. Plus you've got me. What else am I going to do with my time, land and work a day job? Apparently not...
Posted by: Rose | July 13, 2008 at 01:24 PM
I tried several blogging sites over the years and I've found that Xanga is, by far, the best. The community is very friendly and diverse, and their service gives you many options. You can also publish from Live Writer or Scribefire if you choose to do so.
Xanga is a fun community! Check it out!
Posted by: Shane | July 13, 2008 at 05:50 PM
I wish the last site hadn't given you so much difficulty, I liked that blog better than this one. Particularly the comment section, how it had the writers name in bold before the comment, rather than tiny and after the comment as it is in this blog.
Also glad I ignored your suggestion to start a blog myself, bullet successfully dodged.
Posted by: Vic Rattler | July 13, 2008 at 07:59 PM
Thanks for completely ruining my vision of you up at 4 AM manually publishing your blog. Automated publish - bah!
Posted by: Maria | July 14, 2008 at 04:14 AM
I'm going to fourth or fifth what everyone else is saying about the ease of Wordpress.
Over at AFI we have our news page and blogs set up on WP and it's been a dream..BUT here's the thing- WP is ok on it's own, but it's a dream with the "wysiwyg pro" plug-in. You have to pay for that plug-in, but it's really reasonable ($30-$40-ish). It makes everything SO much easier and monkey-proof. It' some times takes a few weeks for wsy to upgrade to a new compatible version after WP releases a new version, so every so often you will have to stumble through the slightly less intuitive WP version.
If you can use a word processor you can use Wp with wys Pro.
That's my $.02, as always your mileage may vary.
Posted by: Julius Marx | July 14, 2008 at 11:17 AM
I know many people who love Wordpress. I've stayed with Blogger and it has gotten better, but if I ever move, I'd move to Wordpress.
Posted by: Kelly | July 14, 2008 at 11:21 AM
I'd love to see a Strongly Worded Letter written to typepad on your typepad. More importantly, I'd like to thank you for jumping through all those crazy hoops and keeping up with your blog. It sounds like a huge hassle, but I'm glad you do it.
Posted by: alisa | July 14, 2008 at 12:50 PM
https://www.blogger.com/
free, and mega easy. Cant go wrong with a google product.
Posted by: casey | July 14, 2008 at 02:36 PM
I'm a big fan of LiveJournal. It's free and easily customizable.
Posted by: Hey!T | July 15, 2008 at 08:50 AM
I have my webspace thru godaddy and I have wordpress installed on it. I think it's pretty easy to use and I think you can get all you features you want (search posts, ect) using widgets. I've never tried the free wordpress pages so I don't know how that is. Blogger seems to be the most popular for free blogs. Good luck!
Posted by: Nicole McDevitt | July 15, 2008 at 06:25 PM
Bean...Troubles in the blog-o-sphere? I run a small web design firm in Orange County (http://www.pixeljar.net/) and I'd be happy to help you move your blog over to WordPress (it's much better than typepad). I'm going to email you to tell you what kind of deal I can give you.
=)
Brandon
Posted by: Brandon Dove | July 16, 2008 at 11:04 AM