Beta Evaluation #2

OK, this should be #4, if I was anal and did one each month. So my bad.

But today is December 15. I started this blog on August 16, so this is my four month evaluation. And I guess that it's time to look at the handwriting on the wall (crayon scribblings, some might say). Pete, in Blogger Buzz Switching with team blogs and getting out of beta warns us

At this point, the pieces are in place:

• The new Blogger is feature complete
• All new accounts are created on the new version
• Known issues on the new Blogger are few and getting fewer
• (Almost*) all users are able to move their blogs to the new Blogger

This all means that we’ll be removing the “beta” from the new Blogger very soon! At that time, we’ll begin the process of requiring that users of old Blogger move to new Blogger.

So, if you have gotten the tap on the shoulder, you should at least do a dry run migration. Decide when it would be most convenient for your blog to be out of action for a few hours, or a day or so (hopefully not at all, but you cannot tell).

Planning now beats scratching your head later.

But how about a bit of cold water reality for Pete and the gang. I'lll bet that you've read my series of posts about Migration and Project Management. Maybe you could also read advice from AMR: beta blogger: not for everyone, and from Roberto: What Does Migrating Involve?.

These are real people, guys. Real people who work for you (though unpaid in cash). And real people, with real concerns. Maybe (Almost*) all users are able to move their blogs, by your standards. Does that mean at any time, or just occasionally?

Authentication - And Confusion

One of the long awaited features in Blogger Beta was the ability to restrict access to your blog. Designating your blog as private, to be read by authorised parties only, was a much requested feature.

Blogger Beta uses your Google account to identify you, and verify that you are authorised to view any blog (including yours). And that causes occasional concern, fortunately unnecessary in this case. Seeing your Google account, which coincidentally may be the same as your email address, as you peruse your blog, is a bit scary.

Rest assured, though, as you see your email address in your Navbar, every visitor to your blog is seeing their own email address in their Navbar. Nobody else sees your email address.

And if you're seeing an increase in spam recently, rest assured that it's not related to your Blogger Beta account, or your Google account, being visible to spammers.

• Improved spam filtering requires increased spam volume, in order to allow the spammers to maintain a constant income level.
• Increased availability of bots makes the increased spam volume possible.

None of this, unless your computer has become part of a botnet, is related to anything that you have or haven't done.

Relax just a bit. Concentrate on other, more urgent, issues - like the coming Beta migration. But accept the inevitable - you will need a Google account to use Blogger.

Your (Blogger) Google account, and your (GMail) Google account don't have to be the same, though. Google accounts are free, and you can set up another, if you like.

(Note 2/13): As noted by Pete in his separate comment, your email address is kept private, by carefully designed code:

The iframe separation keeps arbitrary Blog*Spot blogs from reading (for example) your Google Account e-mail address when you're logged in.

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Photo Uploading Problems In Beta Blogs

I recently upgraded the appearance of this blog - just slightly - by cleaning up the header. What you see above is a graphic. I did this a couple days ago, with no problems.

The following day, I decided to write about my work. So I wrote text, and composed it, and made Customising The Header #2. Then I added some pictures, showing the blog header appearance, as I progressed with the project. Or I should say tried to add pictures.

I could select a picture, and hit the Upload button. And the spinner would run for a few seconds, but nothing would upload. Even clearing cookies, which I tried twice, and verified that I was using a different Blogger server, brought no relief. Nor did uploading to a blank post, tried in both "Edit HTML" and "Compose" modes. Nor using Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Meanwhile, simultaneous improvements to PChuck's Network, which is a Classic blog, proceeded nicely. Pictures were a useful addition to my Network Connections wizards instructions.

So, I guess Beta blog picture uploading is broken. I'm not alone anyway.

• posting pics OPEN 9/7
• Why can't I upload a pix? OPEN 9/7
• Images - Blogger Team's Not Looking So Good OPEN 9/7.
• Pictures not Posting OPEN 9/6
  

(Edit 9/7 17:40): A very interesting forum thread involving Blogger Employee AND Jehovah himself, Pete Hopkins, Google Blogger Help - Publishing Trouble: Why can't I upload a pix? is a start. Watch this post (or the thread).

(Edit 9/8 17:00): A post in Blogger Beta Known Issues: Some users are unable to upload images suggests clearing cache. This seems to work, though not always on the first try.

(Edit 9/13): The procedure of clearing cache appears to be effective against cases where the upload appears to be successful, yet clicking on Done takes you back to a post editor where no code is inserted. Now we seem to have a new symptom - no Done button appears. Clearing cache appears to have a mixed effect here. This problem is still open in Blogger Beta Known Issues: Some users are unable to upload images, though some links there may be misleading.