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The New Blogger GUI Is Still Not Ready For Prime Time

This month, we're increasing aware of the approaching day when The New Blogger GUI (aka the "New Interface") will become The Blogger GUI. As suggested last year,
In about two weeks from today, all Blogger accounts that haven’t yet made the switch will be upgraded to the new user interface. You will be able to opt-out at any time by clicking the “Switch back” link; however, all accounts will eventually be permanently upgraded.
The aggressive upgrade was experienced by many last month - not enjoyably. Personally, I went through several days when I had to, repeatedly, revert to The Classic GUI.

The permanent upgrade is yet to be scheduled - possibly, because of continued opposition - and several very noticeable omissions.

Blogger Support listened, this week - and learned - and was probably not pleased by what they heard.

There are simply too many reasons why The New Interface is not ready to become The Interface. As a continuation of my previous post, here is a small sample of reasons, from the earlier [Problem Rollup] - I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ..., which is now closed.

Collapsed BlogList
There does not seem to be any way to selectively designate blogs to be displayed, nor is the Classic GUI link to "Show all" or "View all blogs" visible - though there is now a link to show "Deleted blogs". The latter is an essential function, for people trying to un delete a previously deleted blog, or to locate a blog locked (righteously, or spuriously) as a suspected spam host.

Older Browsers
We continue to see reports that older browsers and computers are having various problems with the New Interface, leaving some blog owners unable to use Blogger, at all.

The "Your blog post published successfully!" Display
We are seeing more people report that the "Your blog post published successfully!" display - with links to View the post just created, Edit the post just created, and Create a new post - a very popular feature in Classic GUI Post Editor, will present a problem if not provided in The New GUI. I, personally, see this omission as the primary reason why I continue to use The Classic GUI.

The "Show Link fields" Setting
Blog owners who use podcasting, as part of their blogs, use the Link field in post editor. This option, omitted from the New GUI, is missed.

Editing Template Code, Using "Edit HTML"
Blog owners attempting to remove snippets of HTML code, using the Template Editor, frequently see any of several different bX codes. This is a problem when removing duplicate "Blog Posts" gadgets, or when resetting the Posts Template.

If you wish to encourage Blogger Support to resolve these, and other, omissions, please make your feelings known by posting in the new [Problem Rollup] V2: I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ... . Please, keep your comments brief, on topic, and polite. Bear in mind, reality.
  • The New GUI is coming, whether we like it or not.
  • Blogger cannot please everybody.
  • It is simply to our advantage to report the problems, objectively - so Blogger knows which problems are most severe.

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Comments

Nomad said…
While the new interface is certainly better than the old editor which was like trying to repair a car engine through a key hole, I find one of the most frustrating things about the blogger editor is that it isn't really WYSIWYG. It often takes me hours to get all of the double spacing out of the text. Looks fine in the editor but the preview is different.

Although I would prefer to use the Blogger interface, Windows Live Writer is definitely better and allows you to resize the pictures easier too. Also it has some interesting add-ons. (unfortunately there are just as many that don't work.)
Nadja said…
There are so many downsides with the new interface, too much to sum them up.
And when you try to tell them anyway, it says: "information could not be send'.
Something like that. So, I just keep holding on to the old interface as long as I can as a way of protesting. I tried the new interface at least 3 times. And each time I regretted it a lot.
Anonymous said…
I've found a lot of places that talk about how "Google has to change over to the new Blogger interface because they can't support both".

Fine. But I'm still looking for some reason, any reason, why the change needed made at all. I haven't found anything actually new anywhere in the "new" interface.

I accept that Google can't (actually, won't) support both the old and new interfaces. But doing nothing at all is even easier, and has the additional advantage of keeping a reliable, well-designed, debugged interface.

Is the ego of their developers really more important than keeping users happy?
Penny said…
Well, I'm glad Blogger's finally listening, though I'm worried about the final outcome. I've already reserved (created) new WordPress blogs just in case I have to make a permanent move, otherwise, as back-ups.

Thanks for the continued updates!
Nitecruzr said…
Thanks, Penny. I'm going to keep explaining reality, here - to those who will listen.

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