an opinion of Blogger Beta

Note: *this* is a Blogger Beta blog

Just going to say this provisionally, in fact I can't believe I'm actually doing it.

I quite like the new Blogger beta!

It's not like me to like anything remotely related to Google. Why? Well not because I've got anything against Google as a run of the mill business, but because I don't like restricted marketplaces. In other words, monopolistic practises and markets which are run by huuuuge corporations.

If a particular market has no small to medium size players then I immediately distrust the services provided and I object to the aggregation of knowledge about the nitty gritty details of what's being provided to me.

Google is no worse than Yahoo, AOL or Microsoft in this regard, they're all pants!

So I don't want to, but I quite like the new Blogger beta! Well maybe, perhaps, conditionally ...

this is why:

• ad supported only if you want it to be
• almost completely customisable templates
• complete control over whether your blog gets 'Googled'
• comments can be disabled for specific posts if needed
• comment Preview so you get to edit your spelling blips before leaving your comment
• optional comment moderation (I don't care for this but it's here if you want it)
• categories, tags, labels or whatever you want to call them, they're here
• an audible version of the spam captcha code for those who can't read the letters (not sure if this actually works, but at least it's going in the right direction)
• integration with Flickr for one-stop photo hosting and posting
• I can use it without having JavaScript enabled (though it's more functional if you do)
• instead of the mush dished out on some other platforms, proper HTML or XHTML pages (your choice), irrelevant to most people but important to me
• feed control: if you hate 'em you can switch 'em off
• comment feeds (I don't hate them)
• unlimited numbers of blogs
• team blogs
• private blogs (restrict the ability to comment or even view if you want)
• oh and it's free
• and it's under active development

and ... and ... guess what ... their support helpdesk actually replies to emails. Admittedly not superfast but at least there's a voice there.

The old Blogger had one serious failing which has been resolved in the new beta, specifically:
the old static pages have gone, all that manual page refreshing is a thing of the past, everything is now updated in real time.

They have a new blog Layout system where you simply drag things around on a screen, no need for any HTML fiddling at all. This should make it easy for plain ordinary humans who just want to write a blog.
Funnily enough it makes it harder for HTML twiddlers like me because there's a whole new set of template tags and they're not trivial to understand, but hell I'm not complaining. Just means I have to twiddle more.

Trying to find a downside:

• You need a Google account to use it. These are free but I don't particularly like their terms and conditions. To be honest though, they're not significantly worse than any other humungous corporation.
• They did have a problem which intermittently broke commenting between Blogger and Blogger beta blogs but this has reportedly been resolved (I can't confirm that yet).
• I've seen it break a couple of times. This is less likely to be Blogger and much more likely to be me, down here in the engine room, fiddling, trying to take it apart and make it do exactly what I want - I'm getting close.
• There is a downside if like me, you come from 20Six. That's a part of the blogsphere where the local blogging community finds you. At Blogspot, you have to go out and find your own community so it's a different kind of place. I keep a version of this blog on 20Six - makes it easier to keep touch with other 20Sixers.
• Now I really don't like, 'liking' Blogger so I'm still looking for other bad stuff.

Blogger still doesn't beat the flexibility, control and design freedom you get from hosting your own Wordpress blog but for those who don't want the hassle or who need greater anonymity it provides an interesting alternative.

There are conditional bits to what I've said here: I've only used it with Mozilla Firefox, not Internet Explorer; it is still called beta which means it's still changing but what I see looks pretty finished; can't say how reliable it is because I've only been using it for a few weeks.

By the way, I'm picky and hard to please so I reserve the right to completely change my mind if it all goes poo!