Thursday, December 07, 2006

should i stay or should i click?

blogger beta

Finally, Google has seen fit to extend me the invitation to upgrade to the new version of its blogging software (Blogger Beta). To my knowledge, most other blogspot users have been offered this already. Should I do it? It says "content and layout will not change," but I'm suspicious of this. Lucy said when she switched it messed up like half her template, although she seems to have it all back in order nicely. Then again, she has more computer skills than I do, and doesn't have to worry about a cartoon drawing of her head getting somehow cybermulched in the transition. I suppose the main draws of switching are that I would like to be able to tag posts, and that I already have enough angst about my real self obsolescing that I don't need to feel like my virtual self is doing the same.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't have an answer on the software front, but your post title gave me chills: that tune randomaly ran through my head last night, just before a very unfortunate tune displaced it. Thanks for displacing the former displacer! (Neither were related to anything I was thinking about, but the loopiness of the other was not a good loop. Whereas, "Should I Stay or Should I Go," makes a nice transition into another quite pleasing tune.)

Apparently omly is typed omaly. I think it's a good alternative word that can be distanced from the statistical character I attribute to randomness, so I'm leaving it. (And I'll check a dictionary, to see if it may exist, only after submitting this comment.)

Not awake enough for funnies!

Anonymous said...

I switched our blog to Beta with no apparent loss. I did it mostly because Google said we'd be forced to switch eventually anyway. I'm not savvy enough to take advantage of the features. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the paragraph spacing from double-space to 1.5.

jessica said...

I don't have any input as I STILL have not received the invitation to switch.

(So you are not Last.)

Anonymous said...

Being a "noob," as my kids call it, I only have experience with the Beta, but it is clear to me that it is still pretty beta-ish. There are a lot of things that I see on other people's blogs I would like to do on mine, but it is either not possible, or you have to do a weird word around, or you have to know a heckuva a lot more about the scripts than I do. People are creating the stuff, but it's not all there yet, so if your template is fairly complexe/non-standard, I'd still hold off for awhile. But you may be a better programmer than blue monster....

marc said...

I was offered to switch to Beta several months ago. So I clicked, and then they said I didn't qualify. This happened repeatedly for a few weeks, and now the offer is recinded. I haven't been able to even attempt it since.

Lucy said...

I think you're way overestimating my computer skills, since I turned out to be wrong about having been switched to beta. I still have no idea what happened to my template for a day or so, but I'm back to having to turn down the option to switch almost every time I post.
You could create a new beta blog and see if your template works before you decide, I suppose (and then tell me if I should upgrade, too :) )

Anonymous said...

I switched to Beta a while back, and after a bit of playing with it, and some hacks I found, I like it now.

The widgets allow you to update your sidebars more easily (no hand-coding) and move things around easily if you want to.

You also don't have to sit there when you hit publish and watch it loading. I have had no publishing problems at all since I switched.

Anonymous said...

I know.

Ann Althouse said...

I got the offer, but then was told I didn't qualify. It turns out they won't put you through if you're too large, which the help page defines as having more than 1,000 posts. So, no decision to make yet. You're fretting for naught.

jeremy said...

Ann: You're right! I can't switch because my blog is too large.

Everyone else: Sorry for asking for advice like I have a choice when actually I don't.

jeremy said...

Ann: BTW, great new photo of yourself for your profile.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Whether or not you go to Blogger Beta, please keep your current layout (or something like it)... you get a lot of information on a clean looking screen.