4Real Forums: about switching to Typepad

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Helen
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Posted: Aug 09 2006 at 8:43pm \| IP Logged

Blogging question here...

After my mental vacation

, I've gotten it into my head that I just don't have enough to do. I think I need to switch from Blogger to Typepad. I think I should spend a few hours transferring posts, organizing categories and finally getting some trackbacks.

Am I insane

Why do I think I should pay for this aggravation?

Has anyone switched and found the switch worth the effort?

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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate

LLMom
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 7:16am \| IP Logged

I switched and have found type pad sooooooooooooo easy to use compared to what I had.

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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
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Rebecca
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 7:48am \| IP Logged

I switched, Helen, and I am so glad I did! There is a thread somewhere here about how to do it and import your old posts from Blogger. I will find it in a bit.

MicheleQ
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 9:31am \| IP Logged

I went from Blogger to TypePad before going to Word Press on my own webpage. TypePad certainly has more options than Blogger (of course WordPress has even more but it's not as user friendly as TypePad unless you are familiar with CSS) so I do think it's worth the move - especially if you want to keep things more organized and add more options to your page.

One thing I did when I moved was to put a re-direct on my Blogger page so that if anyone went to the old address they would be automatically taken to the new one. When I went to WordPress I just changed it again on Blogger (you can see what I mean by going to my old Blogger address http://micheleq.blogspot.com/ ) but because TypePad isn't free I couldn't do it there.

Oh and importing your posts from Blogger to TypePad isn't difficult - they have directions on how to do it. However I lost all my comments though I don't know if that's common or just something I did wrong.

God bless!

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Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com

Helen
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 8:50pm \| IP Logged

THanks!
I thought there was a thread. I did a quick search with the tool at the top of the board, but I didn't come across it.

I think I've discovered that blogging has its own "communities". The blogs I read seem to be Typepad blogs. So, I feel like moving into that "community". I don't know anyone where I am now. (Well, Willa would be the exception.) I think that is my main reason for moving.

I'm glad to know that Typepad will walk me through it. (I did do a search there...but I didn't find the right FAQ.)

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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate

Lissa
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 9:16pm \| IP Logged

Helen, I think this is the thread you want: http://4real.thenetsmith.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3798&PN=1

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Lissa

Lissa
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Posted: Aug 10 2006 at 9:19pm \| IP Logged

(Oh but I do think Michele is correct about losing the comments when you transfer--as far as I know there's no way to save them except to copy them manually into a document and then enter them manually at Typepad. Or you could link to the old Blogger blog's comments on certain posts, maybe.)

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Lissa

Helen
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Posted: Aug 13 2006 at 9:32pm \| IP Logged

THanks Lissa, Michelle, Lisa and Rebecca...but I think I need some more help.

Can I still get the things I'm looking for and stay with blogger?

I visited Karen E's blog tonight andd she was talking about applying categories to her blogger blog. I would love to have "Categories" and that is one of the main reasons I would like to switch to Typepad.(I thought categories were a luxury when I first started blogging, but they are important. I think many people don't realize what they will blog about until they start blogging. I didn't know I would post frequently about classical music, until I started posting about it.

.) (I'm saying all of this for someone who might be considering blogging.) I also would like to have the strike through feature and spell check. I would prefer a simpler way of organizing the sidebar.(I've sort of figured it out with blogger...but any modifications are a little difficult.) I can't seem to change my font color...I should be able to do this, I've checked their help page...

So, can I import some of these things and not go through the trouble of switching or is it worth biting the bullet and switching?

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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate

Christine
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Posted: Aug 14 2006 at 5:45am \| IP Logged

Helen, with blogger you can change the font color in one of two ways. The easiest way to do so is by clicking "Compose" and then choosing the font color you would like (click on the little box marked T). If the text is already there, highlight it and then do the above. The other way to do it is in the "Edit html" mode. Put the following around your text, <font color=red>text</font> Some colors are not standard (only 16 are) in which case you will need to use the html color code to obtain the color (do a google search for html colors), <font color=#CC00FF>text</font>
For the sidebar, use the same code as you would do for the "Edit html" mode.

For strikethrough, until blogger gets this feature, you can do it in Word and then paste it into your post.

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Christine
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Lissa
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Posted: Aug 14 2006 at 5:56am \| IP Logged

You should be able to do strikethrough in the "edit HTML" mode also: the code is <strike>your text</strike>.

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Lissa

Christine
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Posted: Aug 14 2006 at 6:29am \| IP Logged

Thanks for the tip, Lissa. I never even thought about it as html.

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Christine
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Helen
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Posted: Aug 14 2006 at 8:35pm \| IP Logged

Christine wrote:

Thanks Christine,
Just call me blind AND stupid (and I'll think you're offering me a compliment.

)

Thanks to all your help I'm not as eager to switch. (Besides, now that my eyes have opened I see that half the blogs - like Christine's - that I read are blogger afterall.) Let me see if I can think of more things that fit the category of "the grass is greener over at Typead" and see if you can disabuse me of these ideas.

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Ave Maria!
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Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate

Karen E.
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 2:49pm \| IP Logged

Hi, Helen --

You can also change colors (font, background) in the template. Just go to the template, and once you play around with it a bit, I think you'll see what I mean -- that's the nice thing about the "Preview" button ... you can tinker with the template to your heart's content and preview it, but then just click "Clear Edits" if you don't like it, or if you make a mistake.

I have used this site for color codes.

I *do* wish I had categories built in ... I hope to create (and maintain) more categories, but maybe it's a pipe dream.

We'll see how dedicated I am. Like you, I didn't think categories would be important to me until I was immersed in blogging.

Michele, how do you the automatic redirect? I'm completely ignorant about that.

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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."

Karen E.
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 2:52pm \| IP Logged

AmyAble --
Is Blogspirit still free?

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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."

JennGM
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 2:59pm \| IP Logged

Karen E. wrote:

AmyAble --
Is Blogspirit still free?

I'm not Amy, nor amiable, but I do use Blogspirit. It's still free, but it's a very basic service.

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Jennifer G. Miller
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& ds1

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Karen E.
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 3:02pm \| IP Logged

Well, I think you're quite amiable, Jenn, to get back to me so quickly.

Thanks -- I just popped over there and it looked like they were offering only paid options.

Still, I think both your blogs and Amy's look great -- the free level appears to offer all the basic options.

What is it lacking that you'd like to see?

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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."

JennGM
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 3:08pm \| IP Logged

Karen E. wrote:

Well, I think you're quite amiable, Jenn, to get back to me so quickly.

Well, just minor things. I am nervous that one day I will go over the maximum requirements for storage and find my sites all shut down. Need to make backups to ease my mind. So far I've only done one month!

I'd like to have the option of one side bar, so I can have wider main text. I don't have that option. I might be able to tweak the code, but I don't have time to do it. When I try to use pictures from another source, like Photobucket, they won't resize and get cut off. So I'm using up my media storage...not good.

I wish I could find an option that didn't cost money, or very inexpensive so I could have as many blogs and storage as I needed, with minimal work for me. A Pipe dream, I know. $100 a year is too much for a hobby that doesn't bring in any income.

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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to

& ds1

'03 & ds2

'07
Family in Feast and Feria

Helen
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 4:11pm \| IP Logged

Karen E. wrote:

I have used this site for color codes.

Thanks Karen,
I did try that and I couldn't really figure out at what point in the template code I was supposed to plug in the new numbers. But, I can just use the button on the "create a post" screen to change color each time.

Karen E. wrote:

Michele, how do you the automatic redirect? I'm completely ignorant about that.

I would like to know as well.

I can begin by using Karen's way of making categories with links on the sidebar and see how that goes.

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Ave Maria!
Mom to 5 girls and 3 boys
Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate

MicheleQ
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 4:32pm \| IP Logged

Helen wrote:

Karen E. wrote:

Michele, how do you the automatic redirect? I'm completely ignorant about that.

I would like to know as well.

Very simple. Edit your template by putting

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://www.whatever-your-new-site-address-is.com">

in between <head> and </head>.

That's it. Easy peasy.

God bless,

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Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com

Christine
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Posted: Aug 15 2006 at 5:47pm \| IP Logged

For those wanting to add tags to blogger, you can do so by using a tool from Technorati. Scroll down on this page, Technorati Tools, and you will find a couple of options. I have not used any of them, as I have not seen the need to do so yet. My blog is basically an online family journal without wonderful writing like you find on Helen's and other 4Real blogs.

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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose

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