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Dawn
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| Posted: April 20 2006 at 7:24pm | IP Logged
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There are so many blog threads I wasn't sure where to post this, so I started a new topic. 
I have reached the end of my 30 day free trial and after talking it over with dh, I have decided to continue blogging. Now I need to decide which Typepad service level to choose. I am signed on as Plus, but I am wondering what features make the Pro level worth it. For example, I would like to do a banner like some of you do, but I don't think I can at the Plus level ...
Any fellow Typepad users, would you mind commenting on which level you chose and why? Thanks!
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Elizabeth
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Lissa told me to subscribe at the pro level and I'm so glad we did. My son, the budding photographer, has a site with photos. Three other children have private blogs that are daily journals and updates for dad when he's away and for grandparents. We've started working on an online nature journal. I have a private blog along the line of the kids' and of course, there are now two public bogs. So...PRO gives me unlimited blogs and I could never have foreseen I'd want them. But we all know Lissa is the wise blogging sage...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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stefoodie
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| Posted: April 20 2006 at 7:51pm | IP Logged
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i'm not a typepad user but i looked at typepad before going with my own hosting/domain name/wordpress. i'd go with pro, one reason being that if you wanted to you could at least recover some of your hosting fees by using the TextAds, wishlist, etc.
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stef
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Meredith
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Ditto what Elizabeth said!! I love my typepad pro, and as we all know I have more than one blog going  But it's totally worth it! I don't spend money on anything for myself, haven't for a long time, don't do home parties, it's groceries and an occaisional dinner out with my family, so, the expenditure is well worth it's price for the benefit to myself personally and anyone I can reach over the world wide web, but mostly my 4real friends!! 
I also have a personal prayer journal, and two of my dc have private journal blogs, and we are also trying a nature journal online for ourselves, the Pro unlimited has well, unlimited possibilities  It works for me, and I love the customizing possibilities too, thanks to Lissa, I think I've got CSS down now. Good luck deciding
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Meredith
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Sweetness and Light
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Dawn
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 5:03am | IP Logged
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Thank you Elizabeth, Stef and Meredith, for your replies. I admire all of your blogs so much, so I appreciate your thoughts on the Plus/Pro choice.
I have been feeling my blog is in need of tweaking or at least a bit more pizazz (must be the 30 day itch ) and I wondered if there were more custom design options with the Pro level.
I am also glad to hear how you are making use of all the blogs that come with Pro ~ my boys are just itching to blog like their Mama. And I think dh wants to start one on environmental issues.
Are the online journals something different from a blog?
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 6:50am | IP Logged
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Now here's a question for all y'all:
How do you find time to allow your kids 9and dh) on the computer to blog too? Do they have set times, their own computers or what?
Do you limit your own computer time?
I ask as I like this idea of using Typepad (I use blogger now) and including private ones for my kids. But how much time would they each need -- I'm a little stingy with sharing "my" computer
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 6:58am | IP Logged
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Mary G wrote:
Now here's a question for all y'all:
How do you find time to allow your kids 9and dh) on the computer to blog too? Do they have set times, their own computers or what?
Do you limit your own computer time?
I ask as I like this idea of using Typepad (I use blogger now) and including private ones for my kids. But how much time would they each need -- I'm a little stingy with sharing "my" computer |
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We have one (and a half) computers. When dh is home, he uses his laptop, but wireless internet is sporadic. So, if his laptop can't get access, we don't have a computer for us that day. He gets the computer so he can work. Period. Those are the days when you hear nothing from me. Most days, though, the children and I share one computer. I get up before they do and do anything I absolutely must get to (i.e. a column deadline, etc). After that, the kids get the computer pretty much when they want/need it. Tehir internet access is on a timer so that no one is actually online more than an hour a day. They don't seem to have trouble self-regulating. For instance, if Michael needs to edit pix for a class and he needs it right away, he gets it. We do have two ancient computers that work for standard word processing. So, composing papers and such happen there. I guess it's kind of like the way Julie controls "unlimited" access to video games. When you have a bunch of people competing for the machine, no one spends too much time on the computer (including Mom).
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 7:35am | IP Logged
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Thanks Elizabeth for the response. This is exactly what I needed to hear -- actual experience from a source I trust (that'd be you, Elizabeth )!
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MaryG
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Lissa
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I'm late jumping into this conversation, but Dawn, re pro vs plus: I had the plus level membership for the first year and found it adequate for my needs, but eventually I wanted more flexibility with the templates *and* the ability to have more than three blogs (for the kids, etc), just like Meredith and Elizabeth mentioned. One other nice option with Pro is that you can have multiple users on one blog, so that (for example) our extended family (spread out all over the world) can have a site where we all can upload photos for the others to see. We used to do this through MyFamily.com, but now I'm transferring that to Typepad.
It IS possible to customize your banner at the Plus level, if you decide to stay there--you just need to use Photoshop or something like that to add your blog title to the image, and then you can select that image as your banner image in Plus. (But only with the custom templates, not the pre-designed ones.)
Re computer time for kids--my poor Kate! She has a blog but we haven't yet hit upon a consistent schedule where she gets regular computer time. I have promised to address this problem as we revise our daily schedule now that baby has joined the party!
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 8:57am | IP Logged
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You also might want to change your sig line, Lissa
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MaryG
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Lissa
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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LOL! I think I was doing just that right as you posted! 
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 9:10am | IP Logged
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Lissa wrote:
| LOL! I think I was doing just that right as you posted! |
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Just another case of GREAT minds thinking alike, no?
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MaryG
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Dawn
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| Posted: April 21 2006 at 10:45am | IP Logged
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Lissa wrote:
| It IS possible to customize your banner at the Plus level, if you decide to stay there--you just need to use Photoshop or something like that to add your blog title to the image, and then you can select that image as your banner image in Plus. (But only with the custom templates, not the pre-designed ones. |
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Thanks for all the great info. Lissa!
I am going to try to play around with my blog - oops blogs! - this weekend and see what I can come up with. I like the color templates, but they're a bit plain ... I really love the way your blog has that beautiful banner at the top (and Elizabeth's and Meredith's and now Rebecca's too! ).
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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Lissa
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Dawn, here's an example of a banner I made when I had the Plus level...I also did one with photos of the kids for our family photo blog. I used Photodeluxe (photoshop-like program that came on my Mac) to put the text on the photo.
Also, to dress up the plain template a bit, I made a smaller version of the strip of weaving I used in that banner and inserted it as HTML in the notes section at the bottom of each Typelist to serve as a graphic element dividing the lists, if that makes sense!
(To do that, I went to Typepad's Control Panel, clicked FIles, uploaded the photo--which I'd already made the size I wanted in Photodeluxe, clicked on the uploaded file to get its URL, and then inserted it in the Typelist notes as <img src="http://yourURLhere">.)
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Dawn
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Lissa, you are so generous with your time and talent! Thanks for all the instructions.
Lissa wrote:
| I used Photodeluxe (photoshop-like program that came on my Mac) to put the text on the photo. |
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I *was* wondering if I would lose my "By Sun and Candlelight" title text if I used a banner image. But I can see you all have your text across yours, and now I know how to do it.
Lissa wrote:
| Also, to dress up the plain template a bit, I made a smaller version of the strip of weaving I used in that banner and inserted it as HTML in the notes section at the bottom of each Typelist to serve as a graphic element dividing the lists, if that makes sense! |
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I think it does!
Oh, I've got lots do this weekend (other than laundry, cooking, lesson planning, laundry, a sheep festival to attend, Mass, laundry ... )
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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Lissa
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Dawn wrote:
I *was* wondering if I would lose my "By Sun and Candlelight" title text if I used a banner image. But I can see you all have your text across yours, and now I know how to do it.
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At the Pro level, you can do it using CSS instead of photoshopping the text onto your image. I think we have instructions for that in one of the blog threads--I'm trying to organize & archive our blog how-to discussions, so I'll mark it when I find it.
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Dawn
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| Posted: April 22 2006 at 4:14am | IP Logged
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Another Typepad question again (what would I ever do without you all? ) ...
Is there a way to have your photo appear *only* on your About page and not on your blog home page? Every time I try to uncheck my photo from my contents selection page, it comes up with an error. 
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys
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Lissa
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Dawn wrote:
Another Typepad question again (what would I ever do without you all? ) ...
Is there a way to have your photo appear *only* on your About page and not on your blog home page? Every time I try to uncheck my photo from my contents selection page, it comes up with an error. |
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Dawn, that's really strange...you ought to be able to just uncheck it on that contents page. I'd send a note to Typepad's support folks--I bet they'll fix you right up.
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Dawn
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Thank you, Lissa. I tried it again, just now, and this time it worked! Before, when I did it and clicked "preview" it came up with a strange configuration, my page looked all messed up. But I decided to chance it and went ahead and "saved changes." Then when I refreshed my blog homepage, it had worked! My photo is just on my About page now.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Blog Q&A: Typepad Plus vs. Pro level
