Which Migration Experience Would You Prefer?

Here are two migration scenarios, brutally simplified.

Unplanned Migration.

1. Accept the migration invitation, and let your account, and blogs, be migrated.
2. After migration, select your blog, select and accept a Beta template, and convert the blog to Beta status.
3. Get email or read blog comment

   Dude, your blog looks like crap.

4. Look at blog.
5. Go into forum, and write

   I just migrated my blog, and now it's broken. What do I do now? HELP.

6. Repeat as necessary.
   • Field complaints from readers.
   • Accept advice from other victims.
   • Patch blog, and test, repeatedly.
7. Vow to never do this again.

Planned Migration.

1. Plan the migration, as outlined in my article Don't Stress Yourself - Convert The Template By Hand Before Converting The Blog.
2. Accept the migration invitation, and let your account, and blogs, be migrated.
3. Select your test blog, select and accept a Beta template, and convert a test blog to Beta status.
4. Carefully test the test blog in multiple browsers, and note that it looks like crap.
5. Go into forum, and write

   I just migrated my test blog, and now it's broken. What do I do now? Please help.

6. Repeat as necessary.
   • Be thankful that your readers aren't affected by the test.
   • Accept advice from other victims.
   • Patch blog, and test, repeatedly.
7. When testing is successful, migrate production blog.
8. Maybe get email or read blog comment

   Dude, your blog looks great. And what is this new feature?

You choose for yourself. I have already made my choice.

Planning The Migration To Beta - Multiple Blogs, Two Stages

It appears that Blogger Support has thought the migration process thru just a bit. There are two key processes involved in migration.

• Account migration - from a Blogger account, to a Google account.
• Template migration - from a Classic template, to a Beta template.

Each of the above processes will go better, if planned properly. Dividing the migration into two steps, if you have multiple blogs, makes it easier to plan.

• Your Blogs are migrated, together, from Blogger to Google authentication.
• Each blog is migrated separately, from a Classic to a Beta template.

Barbara, aka Flounder, makes a very useful migration description in Blogger Help Group: How Do I? Can I Sign for Blogger Beta.

What we do is upgrade them one at a time. I'm working here from a defective memory, but here goes, I will try. I have upgraded 7 so far and have 3 to go. Yes, each one needed work, but at least they didn't all fall apart once they crossed into Beta. They were intact, and I could work on them one at a time starting with my old classic practice blog which is loaded with stuff. It was a good workout getting used to changing it into the new Beta toys. After I felt better about my ability, I started with another one - the easiest one. And so it went. And here are the steps as best I remember.

I made copies of all the templates into NotePad and dated them in the titles, which gave me copies of all the latest Classic templates in my own familiar old NotePad territory. I had recently, in anticipation of the move, copied all the posts in their Edit HTML form. I know, probably didn't need to do all this, but I was headed for the unknown and wanted to be prepared. Later there is opportunity to download copies to your computer. I did that too - ha! added a belt to go along with my suspenders - you never know when something might break! Screen shots of the first page of each blog turned out to be helpful later.

Once your account is switched -
Go to your dashboard. Find the blog you want to start with. Click on 'Template'. Once there look in the row of tabs. There is one labeled 'Customize Design'. If I remember correctly, clicking on that is The Point of No Return that takes that blog into the New World.

Read the paragraph 'Give Your blog a whole new look!'. Click on 'Blogger Layouts Customization' - a page of instructions comes up. Read that then minimize it so if you need to look back at the instructions during the process, they will still be there.

Then click: UPGRADE YOUR TEMPLATE . There is a small window within the large one. Slide the small one up and down to see all 16 templates available. (It's much like looking through a keyhole.) The one like you have will already be selected, but you can change to another one, if you'd like, by clicking in the tiny circle that looks like a hole punched. Then Click: 'Save Template'.

You will then be on the screen where you can add to and arrange the layout of your blog. If you want to go back/revert to your old template look near top of screen and click 'Edit HTML'. In that screen look at bottom left-hand side for options. As you know by now, as everyone is preaching, if you revert you will not have the benefit of the new features.

So, here's the bottom line.

• You migrate all blogs, at once, from Blogger to Google accounts. That's the simple part, where you surrender control to the Blogger migration process.
• Once the account migration is done, you can migrate each blog, separately, from a Classic to a Beta template.

With the template migration isolated from the account migration, you can let the account migration proceed at will. Account migration will be a homogenous process - all Blogger blogs currently use Blogger authentication, and all Blogger blogs will use Google authentication.

Onve the account migration is out of the way, proceed to the template migration. This is a heterogenous process. Each blog has a different template, with some templates containing custom code that won't be retained by the migration process. If you have any concerns about migration of the template, proceed with my two stage template migration process.

There's good news, and bad news, here. The good news? Almost all custom Classic code is plain old HTML / Javascript, and can be migrated by copying the code straight from the Classic template, into another HTML / JavaScript page element. The bad news? Some Classic code involves HTML in two places in the template - you may have to search for variable definitions at the top of the template, to support JavaScript at the bottom. This is where you will definitely benefit from a testing period!

If you consider this to be excessive thinking, consider my hypothetical experiences in Which Migration Experience Would You Prefer?

Don't Stress Yourself - Convert The Template By Hand Before Converting The Blog

I just did a dry run on a Beta migration, and not my blog. This was good.

It gave me a chance to sit back and say to myself

Now, how would I convert this feature?

a few times.

And what I decided made me think.

The Blogger migration process will migrate the blog account - from a Blogger to a Google account. And that will happen for all blogs owned by a given Blogger account, simultaneously.

After the account migration, for all blogs, comes the template migration, each blog, one by one. With any blog of any size and complexity, I will have to have the Classic to Beta migration migrate the posts and comments. No question there.

Anybody who has been posting, or helping, in any of the Blogger Help Group forums has seen this query.

I just finished entering a post into my blog. I previewed it - and it looked fine. Then I published it. And now, my blog looks like crap. What happened to my blog?

Well, what happened is that you didn't test your post enough. The Post Preview wizard simply doesn't provide a valid test, for every blog.

And my guess is that the Beta template migration process won't provide a valid test, for every template, either. There will be template features, on any blog with any complexity, that will have to be tested in a live browser. Preferably, two, or more, live browsers.

Expecting that, after migration, there will likely be template features, in any Classic blog of any complexity or size, that won't be migrated automatically, I'll ask a rhetorical question.

When would you prefer to be testing your new Beta template?

1. Now, while your blog is online and operating (as a Classic)?
2. Or later, after migration, while your blog is down (with missing features to be patched in) (And with complaints from your readers)?

I'll bet you'll answer

#1

in a heartbeat.

Why stress yourself? Having added various features to both Classic and Beta blogs, I'd bet that any Classic template, that originally took more than an hour or two to setup, probably won't migrate as is, with all features intact. I'll waste an evening, to reduce stress and make a more successful migration happen. Start this process before you accept the migration invitation.

1. Before you accept the migration invitation.
   1. Be aware of current migration issues. Learn from other folks mistakes.
   2. Be aware of New Blogger 2006 design deficiencies and limitations. Learn from others disappointments.
   3. Setup a test blog.
   4. Copy the current template, and half a dozen posts with comments, from your current Classic blog.
2. Accept the migration invitation. Let all of your blogs, production and test, be migrated to use your Google account.
3. After you accept the migration invitation.
   1. Migrate the test blog, to a Beta template.
   2. Customise the test blog, adding template features, as necessary.
   3. Test the test blog, with the Beta template, in multiple browsers.
   4. When you have the test blog all working, so it looks like you want your blog to look, then migrate the production Classic blog to a Beta template.
   5. Finally, copy the fully tested Beta template, from the test blog, to your newly migrated production Beta blog.

The bottom line? Some planning, and extra (and redundant) effort, will make for a less stressful migration. Less stress will make for less mistakes. Less mistakes will make for a better experience by your readers. And your readers are The Bottom Line, aren't they?

If you consider this to be excessive thinking, consider my hypothetical experiences in Which Migration Experience Would You Prefer?

No More Previous Posts

The old 10 Previous Posts list is no more. Knowing that a blog was originally designed as a journal, it made sense that any post would link to previous posts only. You can't predict the future. But the limitation of 10 posts always bothered me, as it did many Bloggers. And every month, somebody would ask

• How do I get a list of more than 10 posts?
• How do I get a list of previous posts, in reverse order?
• How do I get a list of the 10 earliest posts?

So now, previous posts is combined with the archives. And you can see a list of all posts, in any one of three styles.

• A collapsible hierarchy.
• A flat list.
• A dropdown menu.

Each of the styles can list the selections in reverse order (oldest first). Each can display by month, by week, or by day. And the first, hierarchy, even has an option to display post titles, ie table of contents, with chapters by date. No more muttering to yourself

Now, I know I wrote that post sometime last month - but what did I call it?

So, as I described it elsewhere, it's not

New Blogger doesn't have a previous posts list.

It's

New Blogger doesn't need a previous posts list.

So How Do I Use This New Feature?
Adding the Previous Posts, in a Classic blog, required you to edit the template. With a New Blogger blog, properly migrated, you simply go to Page Elements, under Template. Then add another page element, a Blog Archive, and configure it as you like.

My Blog Archive is called "Other Articles", and is selected as

• Hierarchy.
• Show Post Titles.
• Archive Frequency: Monthly
• Date: 2006 and Month: January (this is key in the collapse mechanism).

Configure yours as you prefer. Experiment with different possibilities, and find which suits your needs.

Beta WishList

Some items are actual bugs in Beta, others are design deficiencies. They all need to be communicated to Blogger, by the Blogger WishList.

(Note): This article is where I list my personal wishlist items. If this list encourages you to complain to Blogger, about these or other issues, I'm encouraged when you comment here, but you have to use the Blogger WishList, for any real chance of seeing positive results.

The purpose of this post is merely to identify the technical issues, so you can objectively state the facts to Blogger when you recommend changes to them. It's not a substitute for the Blogger Contact or the Blogger WishList forms.

1. With blogs published on Blog*Spot, "www.myblog.blogspot.com" appears to be equivalent to "myblog.blogspot.com". This is nice, but not so essential. But with blogs published to custom domains, "www.mydomain.com" does not appear to be equivalent to "mydomain.com", even with carefully setup DNS references. And AdSense does not work, in this situation.

   Custom Domains: Make "www.customdomain.com" reliably equal to "customdomain.com", in all cases. And end the monolithic error - provide diagnostics.



2. Provide a tool to use before, and during, blog migration.

   Migration Support Tool: Provide an estimate of time required for any blog to be migrated, AND / OR a migration progess indicator.



3. Give us the ability to transfer Beta blogs from one administrator account to another. Don't give the creator of the blog permanent, unrevokable administrative status.

   Blog Ownership: Give us the ability to transfer blog ownership, from one account to another.

   (Edit 6/13): This ability has now been provided.


4. Fix the spacing problems caused by including an indented post component, like <blockquote>, <ol>, <ul>. The workaround required, to make our posts look clean and consistent, is either painfully tedious, or causes reduced readability.

   Text Formatting: Fix the spacing problem caused by inserting an indented text element, like <blockquote> ... </blockquote>, into our post.



5. If we create or edit a post, we get the Post Published screen, which has links to View Blog. How about the ability to view the post just updated? If it's not the most current post, it won't be at the top of the blog. It would be so cool to be able to view the post itself, without having to search thru the blog again.


6. The New Blogger NavBar lacks components found in the Classic NavBar. Are these omissions intentional? If not, how were they overlooked?