New Blog Feature - My Labeled Items

Those (few ;) of you who have read my blog before might notice the new sidebar on the right. I couldn't come up with a title that made it completely clear what the new content was without using 3 or 4 lines to do it, so I'll add a post.

I use Google Reader to read my feeds. With it, I'm able to add labels/tags to feed items and then make my labels public, if I so choose. This allows me to share items that I find important or interesting (or just want to save for later reference) without having to create a blog posting.

The sidebar shows the 3 most recent items I've labeled with each of the corresponding headings. You can click the 'Read in Google Reader' link to view the entire list (using Reader, of course), or use the 'ATOM Feed' link to view or subscribe to the list using your own reader or viewer.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: (Obviously?) My labeled items have since been removed.

Windows Live Writer Beta (And All The Crap That It Came With)

This blog entry is being written with Windows Live Writer - a desktop blog posting and management tool. I'm thoroughly impressed with the fact that it'll work with (almost?) any blogging software, including mine, TypePad. All I had to do was log in and it auto-detected everything.

You can set it up to work with multiple blogs and you can use it to do (almost) all your post maintenance. The only thing it seems to be lacking is the ability to add new categories (with TypePad, anyway). Not sure whose 'fault' that is, since a client app like this can only do what the server API allows, of course.

All the expected tools are provided - font and paragraph formatting, helpers for inserting links and images, and even one to insert a map from Windows Live Local (Virtual Earth).

The coolest feature, I think, is the layout/preview modes. Writer downloads the HTML layout and CSS, allowing you to view your post in normal, HTML, web layout and web preview modes. Web layout mode shows your post in the proper width container and with the right fonts and colours. Web preview lets you see your new post as it will look on your blog before you post it, including your menus and widgets, and even updated 'recent posts' listings!

If you also install Windows Live Toolbar, you also get 'blog this page' access to Writer, including different templates depending on whether the content is a feed item, snippet, link or image. (I haven't tried to figure out and use this feature yet, though.)

Which brings me to the second part of this post - the toolbar. As Michael Knight put it when he first saw K.I.T.T., "looks like Darth Vader's bathroom." After installing, I quickly realized I didn't want Windows Desktop Search and uninstalled it. I keep my files pretty well organized, know how to use existing search tools, and I really don't need any further drain on my system resources. As for all the buttons that come with the toolbar:

News

I get news via my RSS feeds. Uninstalled.

Gallery

Bookmarked the page it goes to - I'll browse it later. Uninstalled.

Onfolio

Took a look at the RSS reader, but I can check my feeds with Google Reader from anywhere. Uninstalled.

Maps

There was only one item in the menu, 'Locate Me,' which required me to install some software. Uninstalled.

One Care Advisor

I tried the scan on Windows Live OneCare. It identified one file in its virus/spyware scan, but didn't tell me what it was when it cleaned/deleted it, and I couldn't find a log file. Won't be using that again....Uninstalled.

Spaces

I've already got TypePad. Uninstalled.

Windows Live Mail

Outlook Express has been serving me pretty well for the last....um...10(?) years. Uninstalled.

Messenger

I've been using Trillian for quite a few years now, and, after seeing the latest version of Messenger (speaking of Darth Vader's bathroom!), I think I'll continue. Uninstalled.

Popup Blocker

Already have this with Service Pack 2 (which makes me wonder why it's included with the toolbar...). Uninstalled.

Highlight Viewer

Ctrl-F works for me. Uninstalled.

This leaves the tabbed-browsing feature (which is good, but I like Firefox's implementation better....something else to blog about, I guess!), the 'Blog It' button for Writer and the 'Favorites' button for Windows Live Favorites, which I'm hoping will help me sync favourites between my work and home computers (and with a tad more effort, it seems, even between IE and Firefox!). At least I can uninstall all the stuff I don't want, which is more than I can say for Messenger and all those blasted tabs that I can't get rid of.....but that's a whole other post/rant.

All this is not to say that the features I uninstalled aren't any good - I just didn't have any use for them and the sheer quantity of 'stuff' added to my browsing experience was a tad overwhelming. I think it would have been sufficient to give me just the stuff I originally wanted (Writer and browser integration) and a link to the gallery to see all the options available to me.

Advanced Templates in TypePad

The blog you're currently viewing is a TypePad blog, employing advanced templates. This is my third TypePad blog, and the fact that I wanted it to closely resemble my business web site, drove me to finally try it out. After all, the availability of advanced features was the biggest reason I chose TypePad and also chose to pay the $$ for a pro account.

Advanced templates are NOT something I would recommend for the non-geek, but if you're experienced with HTML, CSS and the concept of SSIs (Server-Side-Includes), the advanced template framework really isn't all that complicated, and TypePad provides a great help section with all the ins and outs. Oh yeah, and when I say, "experienced with HTML, CSS, etc.," I DON'T mean Word, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, or any other WYSIWYG editor. All template editing is done in <textarea /> HTML form elements, so the only tools at your disposal are your brain, your mouse, and CTRL-C/X/V....TAB doesn't even work, so if you're hoping to make your templates readable (and, hence, more easily modifiable in the future), be prepared to wear out your SPACEBAR.

The most time-consuming part of trying to implement a specific design is, of course, the CSS, and getting it to work the way you want....on more than one browser. After a couple of hours of hacking away at the styles for this site, I finally had to swallow my pride and go the simpler route. I'm sure it's quite possible to get the blog menu to look and function more like the roll-overs on the main site's menu, but I'm certainly not a CSS expert (yet!), and the 5 steps to view a style change (click 'save', click 'publish', click 'publish', click 'close', click 'refresh' button) was driving me nuts. If I can make one recommendation when tweaking the styles on your advanced templates: Save the HTML and CSS output of whatever template you're working on to your desktop, tweak the CSS using your favourite tool(s), and then copy/paste the results back into TypePad's text-box. Your sanity will thank me.

Just a couple gripes:

1. The comment preview isn't fully customizable. When you click the 'Preview' button, you're taken to http://www.typepad.com/t/comments, instead of some template in your design set. Dunno why this the case, but the wholly unsatisfactory work-around is to set display:none; in the button's style (yes, disable the preview entirely).
   (Just thought of a possible solution to this problem, but it'll take some work. You might be able to create a custom comment form module and a custom preview template, and then throw in some JavaScript to hook everything together. Not sure it's worth the effort, but if I try it, I'll certainly keep you posted on how it works out.)
2. There's no (easy) way to modify date header, post title nor post footer settings (the top 3 items on the Content Selections page) once you've migrated to advanced templates. I did, however, figure out the URL to use to access these settings:
   https://www.typepad.com/t/app/weblog/design?__mode=content&set_id={yourSetID}&blog_id={yourBlogID}&direct=1
   You can get your specific set_id and blog_id by looking at the URL of your advanced template on the 'Manage Your Designs' page.

Final verdict? Time consuming, but worth the extra effort (and the extra cash) to get your blog to look the way you want, instead of relying on (cookie-cutter) templates. Now, if only TypePad had an API so that I could integrate my blog posts with my existing site.... ;)