Saturday, November 11, 2006

Blogger Beta Revealed

Up until now there has been one very large issue with switching over to Blogger Beta. We were not able to post a comment on an old blogger site with our new Blogger Beta ID and password. I've discovered that we can though; there is just a little trick to it.

If you go to an old blogger site and try to post a comment by putting your new Blogger Beta ID and password directly into the comment section, it won't work, giving you an error saying your ID is not recognized. The old blogger comment section won't take your new Beta ID and password, but if you go and log into your Blogger Beta dashboard with your new ID and then go to someone's old blogger site, when you go to leave a comment, it will post it without even asking for your ID and password. The idea is to be logged into the server first, then go to people's sites and comment.

I am very close to the point where I am going to blow off the Old Blogger site and just start using my Blogger Beta site. This last week with all the problems the Old Blogger servers had, has pretty much convinced me. While the Old Blogger was down quite often, the new Blogger Beta, on it's new servers, was chugging right along with no problems (in fact right now the Blogger Beta let me post this while the Old Blogger won't even let me log in). I'm not saying that there are no problems lef
t with Blogger Beta, there are still is some issues with mobile blogging, team blogging, and if you need a dashboard in any language other than English, French, Italian, German or Spanish, but most the other bugs seem to have been worked out.

The new Blogger Beta does have some nice new features like being able to categorize your posts by adding "Labels". The new templates (though there are only about 8 of them that look like the old ones) have a nice GUI feature for adding sections to your sidebar easily. My Blogger Beta site, D
agoth's Domain, is an old template and does not have this feature but my Blogger Beta Site, Dagoth's Board Room, is one of the new templates and does have this feature.


There may still be some problems with posting a comment on a Blogger Beta site that has its security features turned on. If you have an anti-spyware filter running, the secure site wants to put a tracking cookie on your computer before it will allow you to comment and your anti-spyware software won't allow this. The ant-spyware could be shut off temporarily, allowing you to comment, and then turned back on removing the cookie afterwards. I presently have an email out to the Blogger Support Team asking them about this issue and a few others, hopefully they will get back to me soon.

Since I have been running dual sites I haven't heard of anyone having problems posting comments (other than the issues the blogger server had the other week) on either of my sites and have had some people posting on both. Having two identical sites has caused a little confusion which is why I am thinking about ending this practice. I would really be interested in hearing what you think, is it time to switch?

6 comments:

Josh said...

I know one thing between beta and loads of other people moving to ther host sites it has been a pain to try and keep up with who is where. I have this one down for you and I seem to be able to comment, so I will stick to it.

Thanks for the low down on beta. I am still holding off.

BostonPobble said...

I've switched as of this evening so we'll see...

Belizegial said...

I'm sure the best thing for you to do is switch. My techhie daughter has switched over already and she is urging me to do the same. It has such great features, etc. and the old blogger server appears over stressed at this time. Onward and upward! LOL

Dagoth said...

Thanks Guys

Liz - It never hurts to wait, just to make sure...

Pobble - That's the way, just dive right in...

Enid - I actually did months ago, I'm just debating over whether I should end the mirror site in old blogger which has become really annoying lately...

Spider Girl said...

I've had a few minor problems, but nothing too much yet. But thanks for the tips. I'll read them again if I decide to switch. But I'm not always fond of technology change once I'm used to something.

On the subject of change and fear of it I saw a tip jar that said: "If you're afraid of change, leave yours here."

It amused me.

Lynda said...

I don't even see where I can convert my blog, but I am staying with the old for the moment anyway.

I do have a Beta blog just to see what it was all about though.