Today I'm posting a few more photos of Notre-Dame de Paris before the 2019 fire.
Tomorrow, we'll see if I can post anything at all. See my explanation below.
Maybe you are aware that Google and Blogger have introduced a new interface for blog authors to use to produce formatted posts as HTML code. What you might not know is that the new interface, along with the HTML code it produces, is a complete mess. It just doesn't work.
I've spent nearly an hour this morning trying to get just these photos uploaded and put into a satisfactory format. Also, you probably don't know that I have spent the past 15 years working with and tweaking Blogger-produced HTML code to size images, format paragraphs, and make everything fit together. The tweaking had become almost second nature to me, and I was usually pretty happy with the result (well, except for all my typos...).
Until yesterday, we bloggers could still fall back on the old interface to produce our posts. While it was not perfect, was at least reliable and stable. I've continued experimenting with the new interface and found it really frustrating. It's hard to think about what you're writing when you have to spend so much time fixing the HTML code. Now Blogger has taken away that old interface. The new interface is absolutely not ready for prime time. It produces unpredictable code and results that are nearly impossible to clean up.
I'm starting to wonder if it is worth it to try to continue blogging using this Google/Blogger service. I'm not at all sure what to do next. I remember companies in Silicon Valley that went belly-up when they introduced new versions of software that were not reliable or did not give predictable results. Blogger may well be going down that path right now. I hope somebody from Google is reading this and will take it seriously.
I'm starting to wonder if it is worth it to try to continue blogging using this Google/Blogger service. I'm not at all sure what to do next. I remember companies in Silicon Valley that went belly-up when they introduced new versions of software that were not reliable or did not give predictable results. Blogger may well be going down that path right now. I hope somebody from Google is reading this and will take it seriously.
While I haven't been as active on my blog since returning to Australia, I certainly understand the struggles of working with Blogger. It was great while Microsoft had its free Live blogging tool to upload to Google, but I doubt that the open-sourced version will ever keep up with Google's meandering intentions.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think of moving to a new platform like Wordpress, but keep reading of all the problems there... Plus ça change...
That's what I've heard about WordPress too — problems, and you have to pay good money for the privilege of trying to solve or work around them. That doesn't seem to be a good option. I think blogging has run its course. It was bound to end one day.
DeleteKen, have you seen Jean's latest entry...
ReplyDeleteshe's switched to Chrome, which is of course Google's own, money gathering platform...
now there's a surprise!!
Jean is still using Blogger, from what I gather, but running it in Chrome rather that in the IE dinosaur. Note that both Chrome and Blogger are owned by Google. I prefer Firefox on Windows. Maybe Microsoft Edge would be a good option. Still, the real problem is the "new and improved" Blogger interface. Actually, it's not just an interface — the HTML code it produces is ragged, gives unpredicable results, and just generally fails to serve the purpose. I think blogging may have run its course and now needs to be given a proper burial.
DeleteI use Firefox and have more or less got to grips/come to terms with the New Blogger.
DeleteI've made a lot of progress this morning, after the days first missteps.
DeleteTypical exemple of New, Improved! Probably, google is too big and has too many fingers in too many pies. I know Blogger is free bu, then, why not keeping it simple, stupid!
ReplyDeleteBroken record, CHM. LOL
DeleteLet him who has never typoed cast the first stone.
ReplyDeleteI desperately need an editor, but I can't pay a salary.
DeleteI sure hope everything will work out because I will miss your posts every day . I have enjoyed this trip to Paris with you. So many memories and they were so good. I wish I could come for another visit. Good luck on the new format .
ReplyDeleteI'll figure it out. I just got so frustrated this morning. Working with it today (it's been a rainy day here, so experimenting with Blogger was a good distraction) I made some progress. I think I'll continue. It's my equivalent of volunteer work!
DeletePlease..., don't give up, Ken!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jan.
Deletei look forward to your posts every day....one bright spot in a dismal year! please keep it going somehow
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear from you, Melinda. Merci.
Deletemais oui continuez..
ReplyDeletej'ai un blog privé et c'est vrai que la nouvelle interface réserve quelques surprises mais on s'y fait ! allez courage, on vous pardonnera quelques mauvaises mises en page ou photos mal cadrées !
Merci, Christiane, je vais essayer de maîtriser la bête. Apprendre une nouvelle façon de travailler ne peut être qu'un bonne chose.
DeleteWell, if it frustrates someone as knowledgeable as you are about HTML and the blogging interface, it clearly needs some improvements. I've been doing my Sears houses blog on Google for about 5 years, but not daily. Using the new interface, yup.... problematic. I made another blog for a different topic, and could not, for the life of me, get the text to move away from being crammed up next to the photos. Since I have some basic HTML skills, and I used to (like, 20 years ago) use HTML for an old website I had, I knew what I was doing when I went into the HTML version, but my changes didn't help - and they should have. Finally, something "took", and I had success, but I think it involved removing everything I had and starting an entirely new post.
ReplyDeleteBottom line: messy.
Take some deep breaths, do some other things you like, and come back fresh in a few days or a week :)
I know just enough about HTMl coding to be dangerous. I'll muddle through.
DeleteBlog on please. Your typos are few. Seeing Notre Dame whole again is worthwhile in this pandemic when we are feeling broken apart .
ReplyDeleteI will, E. Just a little tantrum...
DeleteI've been blogging with Blogger for 10 years now, mostly for our yearly France trips. But since there is no trip this year, I haven't blogged, and didn't realize Blogger had changed. If you, with far more computer skills than I have, are having trouble with it, I'm sure I won't be able to figure it out. That would be too bad, because I've found my travel blogs to be very useful. Among other things, it's like keeping a diary of my travels, and enables me to keep friends updated about our trips.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is like that — it's my daily record and a source I can draw on to remind myself what has worked or not, what has been fun or not, and when major event occurred over the past 15 years since I started blogging. And recipes too.
DeleteKnowing your skills with everything electronic, I'm sure you'll domesticate this "improved" platform to your own satisfaction and the enjoyment of your fidèles readers. Yours is the first blog I read in the morning, after checking my mail. I keep all my fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteI'll probably keep plugging away. This morning I made some progress in taming the shrew that is the new Blogger interface and code generator. Blogging, like cooking, is an important part of my life and daily routine now, so I'd find it difficult to give it up. I started learning HTML coding back in the 1990s but it was never my main focus. At least I have a grasp of the fundamentals.
DeleteAs I understand it, in the last photo, those light green statues at the base of the spire were removed for renovation before the fire occured.
ReplyDeleteThat is right. They were saved.
DeleteOh, no! More bad news.
ReplyDeleteJoanna and Evelyn have perfectly expressed my thoughts, so I'll just leave it there.
Glad to hear from you Chris. What would my life be without blogging? Miserable, I think. So I'll persevere. Maybe I'll learn something new!
DeleteKen: A decision to continue would make me very happy.
DeleteI enjoy your photos a lot, but I like your words more.
Thanks for saying that, Chris.
DeleteI hope you will continue blogging! I enjoy your blog so much, like so many others! But I know all these changes are frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI'll be coming back to food posts before long. My virtual vacations are not going to go on forever.
DeleteIt is not only because I am on the west coast that I get to your blog late, my french zoom meetings take up my mornings! Your blog is the first I read when I get past the news, too! Especially with the travel restrictions, but for many years your blog and Walt's, bien sûr, keep me thinking about France and wine! It sounds like you will continue, if not, please let me know how I can follow you: blukazam@yahoo.com. Another blogger I follow, Where 5 valleys meet has been expressing her frustration with the software for some time, now. I'm sure you have other blogger-friends who have shared their problems as well.
ReplyDeleteBTW, your typos have had to have been very intermittent, because I cannot remember when I have noticed one and I get frustrated with all the typos in the new books that I read.
Merci, Ken! Mary in Oregon
Thank you for the encouragement, Mary. I'm so glad you haven't had fires right where you live. I will keep you posted, but today I'm feeling better about the blogger changes.
DeleteOnce again, I'll sound like a broken record, but I'll repeat what I've said many times, you're a gifted writer and whatever the subject matter, you treat it well, clearly and interestingly. I really do hope you find a way to keep up with the blog, without it being a burden, but rather a pleasure. Through the posts and the comments, your readers have the opportunity to learn something they didn't know. That is valuable. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteToday I'm feeling better about continuing the blog. I've made some progress in figuring out what the new Blogger interface does well and what it does poorly. It's good for the old brain to try to keep up with changes like these, though I think Google/Blogger could do a much better job of keeping people informed of changes and "improvements."
DeleteWhat chm said.
ReplyDeleteAnd, selfishly, I hope you will leave up the old posts. They are hugely informative, and oh, those recipes. Walt's, too.
Thanks, Emm. I don't plan to delete the blog. I hope Blogger doesn't delete it.
DeleteI'm a Blogger user as well (fifteen years of daily blogging!) and so far, I've been able to keep using their old interface. What I can't figure out is how to post photos in the new one. For fifteen years I've been picking them out of flickr and posting them from there via code. But the new interface wont permit that. So my question to you is -- how do you post your photos? From your computer? Are there limits as to the amount? And if not, do you first load them onto Google photo storage? I'm just mystified as to how to proceed. Like you, I have developed numerous workarounds over the years. My main stumbling block right now is how to do the photos. What's your strategy??? Thanks in advance! (from a longtime reader and very occasional commenter.)
ReplyDeleteWalt and I both upload our photos from our computers into Blogger. Uploaded that way, they go directly into Google Album Archive where all the photos we put in blog posts are archived on-line. I've never used Flickr, so I don't know how that works. Thanks for your nice comment.
DeleteKen, that's helpful! So you actually do not "max out" in terms of permissible Blogger storage space, because Blogger uploads them into Google Album Archive? Did I understand that correctly? Or did you have to set that link with Google Album Archive up yourselves? Sorry to bug you, but I'm also struggling with this new stuff. Your answers here are immensely helpful. It seems that I can upload by moving the pics from Light Room, to the computer desktop and from there to Blogger. Is that the strategy you use? Many thanks for helping!
DeleteNina, if it's any help, I blog with Google Blogspot (have been for about 5 years, 1 or 2 posts a month), and I, too, upload my photos directly from my computer into the blogging interface. I don't store them anywhere online. I have no idea if Google archives them somewhere for me, but my blog posts are image heavy, and I have no problems. I don't add them using HMTL code, I just upload with the editing buttons.
DeleteThat's super helpful! I tried posting my Q to the Blogger help forum and of course got nowhere with that. I should have known that Ken's community would rise to the occasion! Thanks!
Delete