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News!! Novel Blogger Interface Vs Existing Help-Articles

This article explains the approach I'm taking to converting the advice inwards this weblog to the novel Blogger interface which was released inwards August 2011.

And it asks for ideas close the best way to depict where to regain things inwards the novel tool.

A novel user-interface for Blog-writers

working on a novel look for the tool that we locomote to write our blogs.  Since then, we've been able to locomote this tool, inwards various forms inwards Blogger-in-Draft.

This week, they've announced that this novel tool is available inwards "production" blogger.   ("Production" anything is geek-ese for the existent version of it.)

As amongst lots of Google's novel interfaces, inward that location is
  • A force on the one-time version to pop off to the novel one, and
  • A force on the novel version to pop off dorsum to the one-time one, and
Based on what's happened inwards other Google tools that convey had novel interfaces, my guess is that  we tin laissez passer on the axe trace out concur off these buttons to concluding shut to for quite a while.  Most probably, the choice to pop off dorsum won't concluding removed, but it testament pop off irrelevant every flake ever-newer features are introduced to the "new" version only.


New front-end, one-time help-articles

As practiced every flake the Blogger-help-forum, inward that location are many other blogs (including this one) close "how to exercise things inwards Blogger".   I've described these before, equally good equally also made the Google Custom Search of the best (IMHO) ones.

The new-look Blogger means that the advice inwards these blogs is (potentially) out-of-date, at to the lowest flat for people who are using the novel interface.   And genuinely soon, inward that location testament concluding novel Blogger-users who've never seen the one-time interface equally good equally are genuinely confused when private says "go to the dashboard, conduct Design > Page Elements equally good equally ..." - because they won't flush know that the head Blogger covert used to concluding called the Dashboard.

So we've all got a challenge of updating our advice to reflect how things are done inwards new-Blogger.   Personally, I'm non thence delighted close this:  I've spent nigh of my Blogger-HAT quaternary dimension inwards the terminal iii months re-writing every single article to apply consistent formatting (Blogger-HAT started out every flake a menage to pop off on all my working notes for myself) equally good equally character standards to each article.  I testament concluding updating my articles again, but inwards the meantime ...

Advice inwards Blogger-HAT is based on using the updated editor inwards pre-Sept-2011-Blogger, unless otherwise stated.


Which version of Blogger

Today, it makes experience to beak close "new Blogger" equally good equally "old Blogger".    But it won't concluding long before "new" isn't thence novel anymore.    Personally I'm going to refer to:

Blogger

the electrical electrical flow "production" version

Pre-Sept-2011-Blogger

The "old" version (which inludes the one-time equally good equally updated editor options under Settngs > Basics)

Draft Blogger

The experimental version where Google are trying out novel things



Describing Blogger Commands

This week's changes recollect we convey another challenge inwards writing how-do instructions for Blogger.

Previously, the links to exercise things inside Blogger were labelled amongst text.  We could say
"go to the Dashboard, conduct Edit Profile, regain Identify equally good equally ...",  or flush "Dashboard > Edit Profile > Identify".   And people who couldn't come upwards across where the ascendence was could but locomote their Browser's assistance tool to search for the right place.

But now, little pictures (ie icons) are used instead.

m taking to converting the advice inwards this weblog to the novel Blogger interface which News!! Novel Blogger Interface Vs Existing Help-Articles

So we demand to regain a way to depict the novel features which is
  1. Understandable - especially by people who are novel to Google / Blogger, equally good equally who don't know that the little circular thing amongst bumps is called a gear-wheel, equally good equally is where Google commonly hides the "setting" equally good equally "tools" type of commands, and
  2. Concise enough thence that articles equally good equally help-forum answers aspect readable  (eg needing to say "the little down-arrow to the right of the blog-name inwards the head blogger screen" every quaternary dimension I beak close that arrow).

Right now, I'm non certainly how exercise this, equally good equally would beloved to receive got hear any ideas you lot lot convey close how I tin laissez passer on the axe trace out depict the tools availabe from Blogger's screens - please locomote the comments below to let me know how you lot lot would like to come upwards across things described.



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