New Version of Blogger

Google's new version of Blogger, it's blogging tool, recently came out of beta.

The new version has stumped me ever since it was made available to me in the beta version, and tonight it once again bested me. The main annoyance whilst it was in beta was that I couldn't get the sign-in process to work well. At times it wouldn't accept my user name and password, and other times it wouldn't save them, like it did in the original version. Based on comments read online, other people were likewise having issues with the beta version.

For yesterday's post, it appeared the new version of Blogger was finally working correctly for me. When I logged in to write a post last night, I decided to try the new version again. The sign-in seemed to work ok, although I didn't see much difference in the appearance of the Create a Post window from what I was previously used to. Wrote the post yesterday and things seemed to go ok.

Tonight when I tried to go to the Blogger log-in window, it appeared to automatically log me in to the new version without me even hitting a Sign-In button or choosing whether I wanted the old version or the new version. But then when I was in the new version, I didn't see the familiar "New Post" icon, or a "Create a Post" link or anything else that would let me start writing a post. I messed around for a few minutes looking for the magic key to open up a new post window, but I guess I didn't play enough of King's Quest or the other early computer games for hunting treasure. Just wanting to get the post written, I signed out, then signed in to the old version of Blogger and wrote this post.

The conundrum in which software writers and others who "improve" products and services find themselves is how to make changes for the better without causing the users of their products and services more frustration than it's worth. Let's hope Google improves the new Blogger interface or I figure out where they put my cheese...

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