Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with blog and typepad

Typepad blog question

londongeezer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:08:29 -0800

I have a Typepad blog. I would like to make all my posts that are more than a certain period old - say, a week, but that might change - inaccessible except to people who have registered with me by providing their name and email address. Can I do this using Typepad? There don't seem to be any 'widgets' that provide this functionality. I'm not at all sure that Typepad is capable of being 'programmed' in this way, but I hope that I am wrong. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Is there a blog host that won't bogart my Amazon links?

RogerB — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:21:24 -0800

Book-blog hosting: Is there a free and easy blog host that allows me to use my own Amazon affiliate links? I am thinking of starting a personal book and movie blog. It should make it easy to add books (ideally with a cover image and an Amazon link) to my posts – I'm quite enamored of Vox's super-easy interface for this, but they use their own Amazon affiliate links and forbid you to substitute your own. It seems like all the big free blog hosts do this, in fact (or at least Blogger, Wordpress, and Vox), unless I'm missing something.

I would really rather not have to host my own blog, or use a paid blog host like Typepad, just to avoid giving away the three to five bucks a year my blog will probably make off Amazon referrals. Is there a free blog host or social networking site, or whatever else, out there that will do this?

TypePad Post Titles by Categories?

webhund — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:34:15 -0800

TypePad Filter: Is it possible to create an "index" page on my TypePad blog that generates a list of all blog post titles under each category or tag, with the post titles being linked to the particular post? I do not want any content other than the post titles and tag/category name on this index page. The goal is for readers to quickly find a specific post of interest without having to scan a whole page of posts under that category that also includes the opening text of each and every post (the TypePad default). For example:

Category or Tag Name
- Post #1 Title
- Post #2 Title
- Post #3 Title

Next Category or Tag Name
- Post #1 Title
- Post #2 Title
- Post #3 Title

Real World Example:

Pork Recipes(Category/Tag Name)
- Kung Pao Pork
- Schnitzel
- BBQ Shoulder
- Grandma's Baked Pork Chops

IANAC (I am not a coder), so this may be a really simple thing to do, but it's currently beyond my abilities - but I'm willing to learn! If the answer is "not in TypePad," then what are some alternatives? But I'd really like to stay with Typepad if possible. FWIW, I have a Pro level TypePad account.

Questions on design in Typepad...for which Typepad help is no help.

pearl228 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:29:31 -0800

Aesthete in need of assistance with tweaking the design of Typepad blog. Subtle drop shadows with CSS and more... A little background:

I have retooled the design of a blog I currently have on Typepad (3 columns, total width 800 pixels) using iWeb to play around with subtle shadows, fonts, and spacing for visualization purposes.

I currently have a Plus account on Typepad. With this reworking of the design, all I want to do is:

a. edit the colors of the columns
b. improve the banner image
c. add very subtle drop shadows to the columns (think MocoLoco)
d. experiment with 1.3x line spacing for the text of posts

I know how to translate a. and b. to my blog on Typepad, but c. and d. are causing some confusion.

I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade to a Pro account to be able to use CSS for the drop shadows, if that's indeed how I will have to do them. (I've heard that the simplest way to do this is by using shadow "images" and placing them with CSS, but does this work when a shadow goes over top of an edge of a column?)

As for the line spacing in posts, is this something I can do, and how?

Thanks SO much!

Best blogging program for my own URL?

lawstudent09 — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:37:49 -0800

Best blogging program for a blog with my own URL, using a MAC, with multiple officers, and the ability to track the IP addresses of visitors. I am looking at using TypePag, Blogger, or WordPress. I have a specialized URL to post to. I also need the ability to have multiple authors post at the same time. I also need to track the IP addresses of visitors, although if I need to use a third-party application or software I can. Finally, we will be using mostly Macs and want the most-Mac friendly interface possible.

How do you prevent people from hotlinking photos from your typepad blog?

PenguinBukkake — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:26:15 -0800

How do you prevent people from hotlinking photos from your typepad blog? I have original content (photos) on my typepad blog (the intermediate account, not the most expensive one: should I upgrade?): they are getting hotlinked up to the wazoo by a bunch for forums. How do I avoid that? I've tried to rename some files in the "edit post" HTML window but I just deleted the images and I had to reload them. Obviously, I am technically not that savvy, at least for blogs. Thanks.

How can move between blog software?

Sifter — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 14:44:06 -0800

(Blogfilter) I've had a BlogHarbor blog for ages and want to move all the posts to TypePad. Problem is, BlogHarbor exports an XML file that Typepad can't recognise. So I've had a BlogHarbor blog for 2 years and in that time have racked up a lot of entries, but since I've got a Typepad Pro account for running other blogs, I want to move my BH blog to Typepad. BH's export function creates an XML file, and when I try and 'import' Typepad refuses to play ball. I've had success using KBCafe's RSS to MT tool, but obvious the BH blog's RSS feed only picks up the last 20 posts or so... Anyone know of any converters that can make my XML file more TypePad/Movable Type friendly?

Where can I find a weblog designer for Typepad?

IndigoSkye — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 11:55:46 -0800

Where can I find someone who can design an advanced typepad template for my blog for a reasonable price? I've been doing the 'blog' thing since 1999 using various platforms and hosts. But I've never quite mastered the vagrancies of CSS and MovableTyple MarkUp Language and now I don't have the time to. I have a moderately successful blog, in such that I have a lot of regular readers and am considered something of an expert in my subject, but I fear its design is holding it back. In fact, I've been getting lots of reports that it doesn't work well in Safari or Mozilla. I need someone who can take the design to the next level while still being usable across many platforms. I'm willing to pay for this service, but my budget is small. So I'd like to see examples of design work before making up my mind.

Does anyone have a designer with experience working with advanced typepad templates who they would like to recommend?

Why don't Amazon and Typepad play nice together?

Servo5678 — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 09:43:25 -0800

Amazon links and Typepad blogs don't play nice together. Let me explain the issue that I'm experiencing with posting links generated by Amazon Associates on my Typepad blog. The problem is that Amazon links contain the & symbol, and when that symbol is pasted into Typepad the Rich Text Editor converts it to a & amp; which is the proper code in HTML for the & symbol. Amazon links do not like seeing & amp; in a URL instead of &, so my Amazon links are broken on my blog. Even if I remove the amp; by hand, Typepad restores it when I switch between text view modes. Even opening an existing post for editing restores the amp; text.

I thought I had a way around this by composing my posts in Rich Text mode and then switching to plain text for posting, but it turns out that posting as plain text sends unformatted HTML code into my Atom feed which is annoying my readers, to say the least.

So, after all of this, my question: how can I keep Typepad from changing the links that Amazon generates?

Tracking with Typepad: Need good logs!

Blue Buddha — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:32:26 -0800

I currently have a Typepad Pro account, but am not impressed with Typepad's "View Visitor Stats" feature. I need to upgrade the log tracking. I'm looking for decent log/tracking software that would be compatible with Typepad, and relatively inexpensive (~$100 is OK). Something where I can export logs into Excel and play around with number of visitors, most popular pages, click-through rates, etc. Something, but not necessarily, like Statcounter. Any suggestions?

Anyone anonyblogging?

skylar — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:49:37 -0800

Is there a simple to use, high-quality weblog creation service that will allow me to blog with a reasonable level of anonymity? Blogger has always been okay but as far as I know doesn't seem to cater for categories, which is something I seek. I'm attracted to TypePad though a look at their privacy policy suggests they're collecting all sorts of information and are likely to pass it on to quite a few parties. Are there more anonymous blog apps out there?

Mapping a Domain to a TypePad Blog

fionab — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 16:33:01 -0800

Domain mapping to a TypePad blog. For the past 10 days, I have desperately been trying to map a domain name to my TypePad blog. Every solution offered to me by either TypePad or my registrar seems to undo something else. I am trying to: have the domain mapped seamlessly (masked, I believe it's called), but also for the Permalinks (unique urls) to work. I am in over my head! Right now, if you type in http://www.mydomain.net *everything* works as it should. You don't see the TypePad domain name come up in the address, the permalinks work, and all is golden. HOWEVER, if you type in http://mydomain.net (notice the lack of WWW), it visibly forwards to my TypePad domain - as in, it then becomes http://www.myblog.typepad.com. This is NOT what I want to happen! One solution was to check "Masking" on the Registrar's side, but of course that removes the Permalinks, as far as I know. Someone else said that I had to do the forwarding first, then do any DNS changes. Now someone else there said that what I want to do is impossible. Is it really? Is it too much to ask so that http://www and http:// work the same? Obviously, this is the first time I've ever tried this, have little-to-no understanding of it all, and am at the mercy of their suggestions. Please hope me!

Help me with the Moveable Type learning curve

baltimore — Sat, 08 Jan 2005 17:39:52 -0800

I'm a TypePad user, moving to Movable Type. I know that MT is much more powerful, but out of the (virtual) box, it is lacking in a lot of the cool features (book lists, photo albums, blogrolls) that TypePad has built in.

What's the best place for a n00b like me to go to start bringing MT into line with what I had in TypePad? I've been slogging through the MT Plugins site, but if there's an even easier guide out there, I'll gladly admit I'm an MT loser and just paint-by-numbers!