Tag: Blogger

Migrating From Blogger to WordPress [Under Construction / Expect Errors]

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

Hi.  You’re probably looking for something and found this generic web page instead.  I’m in the process of transferring my Blogger blog to a self-hosted WordPress solution with Dreamhost.  Check back in a few hours and, hopefully, I’ll have this thing up and running. The hard part is over, I think.  I had a hell of a time getting the DNS records right with eNom and just getting the blog to load in a browser.  Now comes the easy part… proofreading all the posts and reposting them.

Update: I was wrong. It took forever to get a few plug-ins set up and get the posts imported.  Now I have to proofread all the posts and fix the categories and tags (Blogger only has one, not both), but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Update 2:  It seems as though none of my images are loading properly, which means I’ll probably have to edit each and every post.  I’m glad I don’t have plans for tomorrow.

Update 3:  I’ve managed to fix the categories and tags on 24 of 33 pages of posts.  This is taking longer than expected.  Hopefully that’ll be done tomorrow so I can focus on fixing the problems with the images and formatting.

Update 4:  I’ve finished doing the categories and tags.  I’m sure I’ll rearrange them later, but for now, I think I’ve got them about where I want them.  Now I can get started on fixing the images, reinserting videos and removing formatting errors. =)

Update 5: I was in class again this week, so it has slowed down my efforts to fix picture and text errors.  Still working on it. (Friday, 6/9/2012)

 

Moving To WordPress

Bradley FarlessLeave a comment

I’ve finally found the time and the motivation to get this blog moved to WordPress, so if you notice some funkiness over the next few days, that’s why.  Also, if you don’t see any posts from me for a couple of weeks, then you may need to update your RSS feed, though I’ll try to find a way to make my current Feedburner feed move to WordPress with me.

The “Next Blog” Button is Worthless

Bradley Farless8 Comments

This is just a short break from the series I’m writing to say that the “Next Blog” button located on the Google Blogger toolbar is worthless.

When clicking this thing, you should be taken to a random blog each and every time.  There are hundreds of thousands of blogs, if not more, on the Blogger system.  There’s no reason why I shouldn’t get an unique blog every time I click that “Next Blog” button.  Instead, I’m sent to the same 7 or 8 blogs over and over again.  Half aren’t in English, and the other half aren’t interesting or I wouldn’t keep “Next Blog”ing past them.

I mean, seriously.  If I click “Next Blog” and the blog I see is something I don’t like, and is also a blog that doesn’t have the toolbar, I click the “back” button and then click the “Next Blog” button again.  Why is it that if I do this, I’m taken back to the same blog that I just navigated away from?  Then why does it happen 3 times in a row or more?

Also, why is it that I’m taken to blogs whose written language is in something I couldn’t even guess at?  Blogger incorporates language settings, so why aren’t they being made use of?

The “Next Blog” button has a lot of potential as a content discovery method, but only if the way it’s implemented is greatly improved.  Every few months I give it a whirl, hoping for some improvement, and every few months I’m disappointed.

Google is a giant and the world leader when it comes to search and content discovery, so why are they failing at such a simple implementation of technology?  Is it really that hard to set this thing up so that you get a different blog every time you click it?