Yesterday, Google rolled out the new Blogger User Interface to all users of Blogger in Draft. Since this was not publicized in the blogger in draft blog, most users were caught off guard and surprised to see a totally different layout. This new interface had been released and tested by a smaller subset of beta users since April and many of the bugs were ironed out during that period.
I, for one, have mixed feelings about the new design because some of the features presented on the original Blogger dashboard are missing or not immediately apparent. The old interface listed our blogs with choices to add a new post, list the posts, or view. While this functionality is still there, the access methods are replaced by buttons which are not intuitive. Next, the bottom of the dashboard listed tabs to view the blogger in draft blog, blogger buzz, and followed blogs. The latter two are present on the dashboard, but the blogger in draft link is gone.
The overall color scheme follows the simplified Google white theme which some like and others do not. However, because Blogger tried to display a page view chart and count along with the number of posts and last update date, the spacing of the new dashboard is not considerably longer.
If you click on the title of one of your blogs, you are brought to a new Overview page which shows your pageviews, top traffic sources and news from blogger. It summarizes your comment counts, pageviews, posts, and followers. This is a second layer of hierarchy that is nice from a blog managerial viewpoint, but not from an authors perspective who simply wishes to write and publish an article.
In exploring the site, I located the Blogger in Draft blog article. I did not prepare screen shots for you because Blogger has already done this, but I strongly encourage everyone to read that post (see URL below). After reading it, I suggest that you then read through the many of comments that users have written. You will learn that many do not like the new interface and are disappointed as well. One user provides a link to an article that will show you how to revert back to the old blogger in draft interface.
While I am not comfortable with this new interface, I am using it while writing this post. One positive is that the blog post window automatically expands and displays your entire article. So far, I haven't found the Zemanta, Amazon, or other gadget widgets.
If you are using Blogger in Draft, you have probably seen this new interface as well. Do you like it? Or, do you prefer the original interface design better?
Friday, July 8, 2011
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i don't like the new interface much at all. the light colors are hard to read. some settings are either gone or not yet available. it's awkward to navigate. the pencil icon to click and edit posts does not work. i don't know why a company of such stature would release something with so many pieces not yet working. it's infuriating.
ReplyDeleteI hate the new interface. In fact, I abandoned blogger in draft and went back to the old interface. I have to agree with Shark, the light colors are hard to read, and it is awkward to navigate. The old interface, had pretty much everything I needed or wanted right on the dashboard. I sent feedback that I was not happy with it at all, not that it will do any good
ReplyDeleteYesterday, there was no Zemanta widget available on the post on the new interface. This morning, I did see it, but half of it is covered up by the post options menu that shows up on the right side of the screen when writing or editing a post.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with the conclusions of Sharkbytes and Dickster. Granted, I am getting more used to it, but it is certainly not an improvement over the old way as far as I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, does anyone have any idea when Blogger/Blogspot/Google is going to add the option to have links open in another window? I have read where it is supposed to be coming, but many of those articles are from at least a couple of years ago. No, the HTML coding that I have seen does not work.
The only thing I don't like is the inability to edit html. Other than that I like it.
ReplyDeleteI dont like it. Where is the option to change fonts, colors and image size?
ReplyDeleteWell, apparently there is a means to edit html now, which was my major objection to the new interface, but I still have a few problems with it. For one thing, i hate the colour scheme. I agree that the light colours are hard to read. For another, I think it is harder to navigate than the old interface. On the old interface you had everything right there in front of you. On the new interface one has to click on a drop down menu. That seems much less efficient to me.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like the new interface. I agree that the color scheme is very hard to read. I also dislike the extra steps it takes to get to the most commonly used features. But the think I hate the most is the inability to choose Bloggers old Minima template which Thousands of Bloggers prefer as it is the most customizable for those of us who want a completely custom design with beautiful images.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I like this new interface but then again I learned a long time along (2 years to be exact)not to change things if it's not broken. I changed my template back then and since that time have never been able to do things quite the same with my blog. Google should start fixing things that are already a glitch and well they know. Never mind pushing the old problems under the carpet.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of the new interface. I find it clunkier and more annoying to navigate. Plus, my earnings still don't show up.
ReplyDeleteDo you know why Blogger no longer gives you an easy way to link to an Amazon page? Did they end a partnership or something?
is there a way to 'opt out' of the new blogger interface, permanently?
ReplyDeletei hate it.
@rebeca - The new interface is now permanent. I believe you can still go back to the old one (for a little while longer), but that one will retired. So, the new interface it is.
ReplyDeleteJohn ...
Is there a better company to go to other than Blogger that is free. I hate this new interface. I can't add pictures or videos. When I click on the video icon nothing happens. And of course every problem that you all have is the same as me.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the new interface is not perfect but still is better than the old version and better than other blogging platform
ReplyDeleteEl, well, its been 7 months since we got the new interface and I, like you, are sold on it. While the editing screens lack a lot of color, writing longer posts is much better. Thanks for your comment.
DeleteI hate the new interface. I just really, really hate it.
ReplyDeleteI'm like everyone else here, The new interface sucks! I did like the in-depth statistics about your blog, but when it comes down to editing, its a pain in the you-know-what!
ReplyDeleteI loved how the labels is all on the left side of the screen were you see all your posts but with the new interface its a dumb scroll menu! Some of my blogs has just closely over 1,000 labels, and to me its a pain on the new interface.
Also when I about to middle click the edit post button it opens a "javascipt" thing not like it use to, which opens up the post I want to edit in a new tab, those are my biggest problems right now I have with the new interface. Really hard to work with for me.
Forget the interface- you can't place pics where you want them or resize them, what you see whilst editing bears no relation to what it will actually look like when published, videos are screwed, there's no option to view page once edited; you have to hunt for the post and then hover over empty space to find the option etc etc etc. It's so useless, and yet they force us to use it before even making sure the bugs have been fixed. Simply cannot understand the mentality of such a company.
ReplyDelete