Some things change, others stay the same

This is my first post using a new blogging tool for me, TypePad.  It’s the paid product of the same, free software I’ve been using for about 3 years, Moveable Type.  Why the switch? Glad you asked!

I realized my time has being spent keeping the back-end (the part not seen) running, while ignoring the actual fun of blogging.  Believe me, the joy of figuring out how to edit a .pl file to insert the direct server path to a library pales after just a few moments.  So, I’ll leave the actual operation of the site to pros, and just work on the part you, valued reader, see.

This has other benefits: a WYSIWYG editor, just like stripped-down Word, so very little <put obscure thing here> in my future!  (I did find an interesting way to completely hose a .php blog is to close a tag with a ? instead of a /).  Also, a spell-checker is added, so I’ll just use the wrong word now, instead of a misspelled one.

With all the benefits come some changes.  All the old permalinks are now dead, sorry.  And, to add insult to injury, TypePad doesn’t have a search function (inexplicably), and trials with the Google version have been fruitless. 

Also gone are the pretty picture-links in the sidebar.  They were a lot of fun, but actually really became an impediment to adding new blogs to the rolls, as it took some editing to make a pic, etc.  Downside, no pics; upside, more links (to come).

So, thanks for reading, and now (hopefully) I’ll spend more time on the blogging.