Friday, July 31, 2020

Is the new Blogger a New Coke?

From the Official Blogger Blog, May 20, 2020:

We’ll be moving everyone to the new interface over the coming months. Starting in late June, many Blogger creators will see the new interface become their default, though they can revert to the old interface by clicking “Revert to legacy Blogger” in the left-hand navigation. By late July, creators will no longer be able to revert to the legacy Blogger interface.
But the message I just saw when I just signed into Blogger:
In July, the new Blogger interface will become the default for all users. The legacy interface will still be optionally available.
My brief experiences with the new Blogger interface have been disappointing, in many ways, all of which I’ve let Google know about via Feedback. (Here’s just one problem.) Irony: in the new interface, the Feedback button itself, like so many other things, is difficult to find. If Google has quietly decided to let the old interface live, it’s a wise if embarrassing choice. Pass the old Coke, please.

Another discovery: If you switch to the new interface and decide to switch back, you now see this message:
You've reverted to the legacy Blogger interface. We’ll be moving all bloggers to the new interface over the coming months.
Until recently, the message added that the old Blogger would at some point become unavailable.

And I must point out the lack of care in Google’s copyediting: one dumb apostrophe, one smart apostrophe. Sheesh.

[Remember “New Coke?” I don’t drink soda, but if I did, I’d drink old Coke.]

comments: 12

Matthew Schmeer said...

It's ain't the New Coke. It's more like Crystal Pepsi.

Chris said...

The whole thing makes me think that Google wishes that Blogger would just wither away.

Michael Leddy said...

I’m not sure that Google has much of an idea of what Blogger might be for. The lack of corporate interest is embarrassingly obvious from the Blogger blog: the announcement of the new interface appeared in May 2020. The post before that one: January 2019.

Tororo said...

Well. Disappointing experience with the new Blogger interface for me, too. I wish the old style would remain available... idefinitely (I wonder if it's too much to ask?).

Michael Leddy said...

Not too much at all! I hope all Blogger users are making their thoughts known to Google. In the new interface, the Feedback form is available from the question-mark icon, upper right.

Fresca said...

Oh! Thanks for saying where the feedback form is--before I Reverted, I couldn't even figure out how to write and tell Blogger why.

Michael Leddy said...

I think the slogan for the new Blogger should be “All the tools you need ... somewhere in there. Keep clicking.”

The Arthurian said...

With the old interface, in the "Blogger: Posts" list, 13 of my posts are visible. With the new interface, in the same window, SIX of my posts are visible. Along with lots of wasted space.

There is also a notice which says "The legacy interface will be available until August 24."

Oh, well. At least it's still free... And Google does seem to be trying harder than ever to give us our money's worth.

Michael Leddy said...

I commented on that in feedback. It’s a waste of space. The creation of a box with a single letter for a post (when there’s no image in that post to use) seems especially pointless. I hope you’ve let Google know what you think.

I’m no longer seeing anything about the August 24 deadline. Is anyone else still seeing it?

Rob Anderson said...

New interface is just awful, much like the "improvements" San Francisco is making to city streets that only make it harder to drive in the city.

Can someone tell me why, when I click on "draft" or the title of the draft that I get nothing but code? How does the edit function even work?

I've been blogging for 15 years and managed to learn enough to use the old interface. The new one is more or less opaque and more difficult, since I can't even figure out how to edit my drafts.
https://district5diary.blogspot.com/

Michael Leddy said...

I think you want to switch to Compose view. See the < > in the menu bar above the post? Click on that and choose Compose. It appears that Google really wants people

I agree — the new interface is opaque, extremely so. I can’t see that these changes have made any friends for Blogger. I'm still sorting out how to get images to display properly.

Michael Leddy said...

Oops — really wants people to write in Compose view, not HTML view.