Sunday, May 20, 2012

"The Old Blogger Interface Will Be Removed in the Coming Months." -- Google

That's the warning flag that popped up on the "Blogger Dashboard". Some clown at Google apparently set all of them that had opted for the old interface to the new one, for when I switched it back,that warning appeared.

I don't get it. What does it cost those fuckers to just leave the old one operational for those of us who are comfortable with it?[1] The new interface isn't just cosmetic, the "edit html" part doesn't work the same. The old one at least recognizes carriage returns, the new one doesn't. So unless you want to enter the html code for that manually, it doesn't come out right. (How to fix that one craptastic feature.)

This stupid-ass new interface, a solution to an apparently nonexistent problem,[2] came, for me, on top of weeks of spotty Internet access. So things that normally would have inspired me to post,[3] have, instead, merited a solid "meh". The return of reliable broadband to my life has not inspired/motivated me to go back to posting frequently.

And that's the way it'll probably be from here on out.
________________________________
[1] I'll admit to not desiring to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. I used WordPerfect 5.0 for seven years (on a DOS box), I have a fondness for revolvers and bolt-action rifles and I had the same cell phone for a long time. Yes, I can use autoloading rifles and tupperware handguns, but I have little use for them. I adopt new technology when it suits me to do so.
[2] Other than finding something for Google's children to do.
[3] Such as the congressman from "the party of fiscal responsibility", who forced the Army to buy $17,000 drip pans for helicopters.

13 comments:

  1. WordPerfect 5 was probably the pinnacle of word processing.

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  2. I like the "revolvers and Bolt action rifles" part. Nice to have something actually happen when you pull that trigger.
    However I am stuck on my colt 1911 A 1, and my Armalite Black Plastic Rifle. They both work flawlessly. Just like my revolvers and Bolt action rifles.
    Sometimes new stuff Is good.
    w3ski

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  3. wordpress - where pissed off blogspot users go.

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  4. Add in that Blogger doesn't like Ipads. I don't have issues on any other site, except BLogger blogs. Anyway, see if this: http://www.scaryyankeechick.com/2012/04/28/new-blogger-not-doing-paragraph-breaks-solution/ solves your paragraph problem. Can't help with the rest of it, I paid for my own internet space to get away from Blogger.

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  5. Those of us that have fought in the trenches, in a real war with mud , sand , dirt and body parts galore do not believe "Plastic is fantastic".

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  6. Ditto with the Gmail interface. You've got 5 minutes to get some work done and Poof!...they hit you with an hour learning curve and days worth of lost productivity.

    And Apple has done the same thing. They've dumped Apple Works. It used to work on the new system (haltingly on occasion) but now it just blows things up. And Pages uses all sorts of different commands.

    Sigh. What's a blogger to do?

    Don Brown

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  7. Ruth, thanks. I added a sentence linking to your blog.

    w3ski, I have a 1911 and a mattel rifle. I have a tupperware handgun. I would have no problem with the 1911 or the tupperware handgun, they're reliable, and in a muddy environment, a 1911 beats the hell out of a revolver. I just like wheelguns. As to the mattel rifle, I have a distrust of its poodle-shooter round, ot to mention the point that the AR platform has to be kept cleaner than a nun's reputation in order for it to function. I suppose I could invest in a 6.5mm Grendel or a 6.8mm SPC upper, but what's the point? I have a M-1. And a new upper doesn't fix the "won't function if slightly dirty" issue.

    Don, Ruth's suggestion may be the way to go: Get a domain name and host our own blogs. I'm just not motivated to do that, at least not now.

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    Replies
    1. I found a comparitively inexpensive host if you're interested ($30 for the year, and the first year that includes your domain name). Obviously I've only been there a few months but at least one other blogger has been there for a few years and he highly recommended them.

      Glad that helped, I had to figure it out when I was still on Blogger and accidently switched myself to the new interface and couldn't figure out how to switch back. I did eventually figure out how to get back to the original interface, but that couple weeks on the new one was the final straw.

      Delete
    2. Ah yes the dirty rifle problem. You probably didn't catch the "Armalite" reference. I have a forward gas system. Much like the infamous AK. I have a chrome chamber but with the gas system it never fails to fire. My bolt has a direct attached handle so I can force it open or closed as necessary. My stock is not necessary and can be hinged to the front like a "carbine", I have no carry handle, mine is a flat top with a 1.5 power range adjustable scope (150 yds to 500 yds)and a see thru mount to access the open sights. I have used nothing but my own ammo for over 20 years and the only failures have been from magazine issues or the occasional dead primer. The powder I use is way more smokey than Winchester ball but with lower pressures and minute of angle accuracy.
      My mattel rifle is designated AR 18 and it is a huge improvement over the AR 15 in every respect.
      It had some manufacturing issues in the 60's when Stoner sold the patent to Japan/Howa, but my weapon is made by Sterling arms in England.
      It's out of production now but mine is a real sweetie.
      Sorry, didn't mean to 'jump' and I know your M1 is another jewel, I just can't let my Armalite get put down, it's Not a Mattel Toy it's a fine made rifle from England. As to the small round, I have personally shot many a deer with a .22 LRHP and seen one shot kills, If my 18 has minute of angle accuracy then I can hit them in the Eyeball, end of fight.
      w3ski

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  8. Wordpress has some issues I really don't like too but at least they don't fuck with it constantly like Blogger got to doing.

    I kept my WP site as a back up for years, just for this reason.

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  9. You know I JUST CAN'T see paying to have a blog site. Maybe it's because I'm used to being paid to write and I use the blog now for a kind of 'practice'. I mean I'm already giving a lot of good stuff away, NOW they want me to PAY to publish.

    I don't think so. When Google demands I use the new format and all its stupidity, I'm gone...

    All The Best,
    Frank W. James

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  10. "What does it cost those fuckers to just leave the old one operational for those of us who are comfortable with it?

    Quite a lot, actually. Either they freeze the back-end storage API's, which means they add no fundamental functionality changes to Blogger and how it stores data on the back end, ever, or they end up maintaining *two* versions of Blogger -- "new" Blogger that exposes the new functionality, and "old" Blogger that doesn't expose the new functionality but still has to be modified to access the back end data in the new way required for the new functionality.

    Believe me, I've been in this situation on the other side of the fence, and past a certain point even with *paying* customers you have to throw the ones that want to stick with the old way of doing things under the bus because it just gets to be too expensive to support them. For example, perhaps you had a Java SWING GUI for many years that they're accustomed to usin, but it's not usable if you want to deploy to the Amazon cloud like most of your new customers want to do, so you create a new Web GUI. For a while you support both in parallel because it takes a while for the new GUI to become as functional as the old one, but at some point you have to throw the users of the old GUI under the bus because the monetary stream they represent is dwindling compared to how much it costs to support both their old GUI and the new GUI that the new customers are using . This is especially true with something like Blogger where their revenue stream from you is pretty much $0 so they have no -- zero -- incentive to continue to support you past the transition to the "new" software.

    So anyhow, I'm sure this is more about the economics of software development than you ever wanted to know, but now you know why the numbers say they're going to throw Old Blogger under the bus sooner rather than later. Google apparently wants to add some major new functionality to Blogger to attempt to stem the flow of people away from Blogger and toward alternatives like Wordpress, functionality that the old UI is fundamentally unable to support, and they can't really start to do that until they throw Old Blogger under the bus because once they start on the back end changes to support the new functionality, Old Blogger quits working. Just how it is.

    - Badtux the Software Developer Penguin

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  11. I was involuntarily switched over to the new Blogger interface. It works OK for me. I always use the HTML version of the editor, so the only thing I've really had to get used to is put all those extra break and paragraph tags in. It turns out that makes it compatible with the way the Wordpress HTML editor works, though, so that's not such a bad thing.

    BTW, there's an option in the new editor to either use Enter or break tags. Appears the default is break tags, which isn't what the old default was. Have you guys tried setting that option?

    ReplyDelete

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