Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him. (Oswalt Chambers)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Blogs, Comments, and Spellchecker

Blogs
Since getting a new laptop and getting off dialup, I've been working on cleaning up and organizing the blogs in my Google Reader. Many blogs I read in the past hadn't been updated in over a year, so I deleted them.

It was surprising how many knitting bloggers have stopped blogging. Did they also stop knitting?

There were other blogs that no longer interest me that also got deleted. Now the list is pared down to blogs I actually want to read. Some of the bloggers I kept are people I've actually met either on their way through Kalamazoo or on my visits to Idaho. Others are good online friends that have stuck with me during this past year of not much knitting and not much blogging on my part.

Next on my blogging clean up list is to transfer the posts I want to keep from my previous blog to this one.

When I started blogging in 2003, Blogger was new and didn't have the capability to store pictures yet, so in the early years my pictures were hosted by Picturetrail. Picturetrail charges a ridiculous amount of money to store them when I could be keeping them for free with Blogger. Going back through the old posts and re-sourcing the pictures is going to be a big task. I couldn't do it with dialup.

Comments
I find the word verification Blogger is using for comments difficult to read. I'm sure there are readers not leaving me comments (I love comments) because it's such an ordeal. So I've taken the word verfication off Stitches of Violet as a test to see how it goes with the comment spam.

So far there has been one or two spam comments a day. I only know this because I get email notification of the comment. Blogger recognises them as spam and doesn't publish them.

I'm leaving word verification off for now. If you're a Blogger blogger give it a try.

Spell Check
The new version of Blogger doesn't seem to have a spell check. Does anyone know different? Surely they wouldn't leave out an important feature like spellcheck?

Between typos and my mediocre spelling abilities, I need it. Bad.

If you know how to spell check in Blogger, please leave me a comment. You won't have to do the word verification.

12 comments:

Susan Wike said...

You go, Girl!!! Love your blog and I read it every single day.

Susan Wike said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jan said...

Marguerite, I wish you well in transferring photos. I think it will be time consuming but rewarding.

I've never used spell check on Blogger. Doesn't your browser have something? I haven't used a Windows machine for about eight years but have always had a spell checker which caught poor spelling, usually typos, in any program I was using.

I agree about the word verification. I sometimes have to enter word two or three times before guessing the letters correctly. I think I still have it enabled on my blog, I haven't looked at those settings recently.

I find it hard to understand why some have both word verification and moderation enabled.

Hope you people get some cooler weather soon. Down here we have had a very cold winter for Sydney. I have lived in this area for over thirty years and can't remember so many cold mornings near freezing. Now I realise that's not cold for where you are but it is for here, near the harbour. I have friends where sub zero mornings are common in NSW. This year they have been down to -8 or-9° C.

Susan said...

Kudos to you for maintaining your blog when you were on dial-up! I don't think I would have persevered. I've enjoyed reading it for many years!

I find the word verification difficult too. I have been starting to get some trolling comments lately though so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it.

kathy b said...

M I too took off my verification. I think whatever I try to type In onothers blogs usually gets accepted
By verification .

I am dismayed by all the blog dead ends too. but new ones crop up all the time too! I understand writing can be difficult for some

I love stitche s of violet!

Anonymous said...

Hi Marguerite,

I still read your blog all the time but the word verification has been difficult for me to always leave a comment. As for me, it is difficult to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes which is why I do not always leave a comment and also why I stopped blogging.

I believe Ravelry is why so many stopped blogging.

marianne said...

You, Marguerite, are one of my greatest inspirations. So uncluttered in your thinking and your living. So clear and to the point. So strong in a very simple and to the point way. Stitches of Violet is one of the blogs that I still, after all these years, read every time I go online! I get so excited when I find a new post. I live vicariously through your love of birds, and knitting and family.

I am a knitter too, but your things far surpass the quality of mine! I leaqrned to knit socks (sort of!) through you. I fell in love with wooden foot forms, through you. I long to retire and live simply and mindfully, like you! My dream has always been to wake up on my birthday morning and wear a pair of Marguerite's birthday socks! hahaha We almost met in Kalamazoo once when I was working there...do you remember? But I couldn't get the time off.

Anyway, your blog is one that has stayed as a favorite in my sideline blog roll forever and through so much. You are a rock, and so appreciated!

....just sayin'....

Hugs and love

Yarn and Ivories said...

That work verification drives me crazy. I say to myself that there's no way I can guess those letters, and 90% of the time I do!
I hope it all works out and you get lots of comments. My blogger has spell check, and there's a button on the tool bar with abc (check). Does yours?
Keep up the good work and good luck on those closets!

Yarn and Ivories said...

Spell check doesn't work when the word should be word and not work... DUH!

Aunt Sally said...

If you are using Internet Explorer you can go to http://iespell.com/ and download a spell checker that works anytime to type in web form. You just have to remember to go to internet tools and tell it to run.

Linda in Chicagoland said...

I don't often comment, but I do enjoy your blog. Always interested in what you have to say and appreciate your photographs very much. You have a great eye. Thank you for taking the time to share with all of us!

Elizabeth D said...

Marguerite, to use spellcheck on the new Blogger, here's what you do. On the top line, where all the commands are, when you're writing your post, look toward the righthand edge of that row. You will see the letters ABC on top of a green check mark. Click there for spellcheck.