At this point in time, I am probably the last hold-out to convert to blogger beta. Ironically, I do quite a bit of I.T. work at my job, but converting my blog scares the heck out of me. Call it an irrational fear, I guess.
Please help me out if you can. I have questions and a great deal of trepidation.
Will I lose my old entries?
Do I have to get a google account?
How does the beta work with Flickr?
What exactly happens and how long does it take?
I would like to convert this weekend but am feeling pretty chicken about it. Any help you could give me would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Friday, December 29, 2006
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5 comments:
I can't give you any guarantees, but I can tell you how it was for me.
Q & A below:
Q: Will I lose my old entries?
A: I don't think there is a limit on the number of entries that can get converted. I had about 200 when I did mine and I didn't lose anything.
Q: Do I have to get a google account?
A: Yes. Invites are a dime a dozen, but if you need one, email me and I'll send one over.
Q: How does the beta work with Flickr?
A: Not sure about that part. I have a flickr pro account, so I can't help there.
Q: What exactly happens and how long does it take?
A: Your blog is disabled for a very short while as all of the content of your blog gets moved and converted to the new format. The whole thing took only a few minutes for me.
The process was very painless and took no time at all. (Sounds like I'm selling a procedure eh? Can I interest anyone in a colostomy?) Hope that helps.
Great blog btw. I visit (and lurk) regularly. Good luck.
Heidi, I went on to beta Blogger, now called New Blogger, in August. A lot of folks have had problems, but I had none. The migration is taking a long time for most folks now probably due to so many people moving over and the size of their blogs. I have a lot of blogs, some big, but there were probably not nearly as many folks moving over then, so it took me only an hour. I understand it can now take up to a day or so. Now, to your questions:
Will I lose my old entries?
No.
Do I have to get a google account?
I don't think so. You can use any email to register, but you'll need to remember what email you use for the account, which is where a lot of problems come from. People forgetting where the account is. Your old Blogger account will cease to exist.
How does the beta work with Flickr?
Fine, now. They worked out that problem in Sept or thereabouts. You will need to delete your blog in flickr and set it up again, choosing beta Blogger from the choices. You won't need to provide the password anymore, as I recall. I use flickr all the time with my new Blogger blogs.
What exactly happens and how long does it take?
The files will be transferred from the old server/system to the new one. It can take a few hours to a day or so, depending on the traffic and size of your blog. You'll get an email when it's done and then you log in with the info you provided. You'll need to have gotten an invite to move to New Blogger to start the process.
I won't tell you there are no problems guaranteed. Folks have lost their blogs and Blogger had to restore them. Others have had the migration not take and have to wait for a new invite to try again. But soon, everyone will need to be on New Blogger so they can shut down the old system.
You do not need a Google account. Folks have done it with other emails and at work, we used our own work email to migrate our ftp Blogger blog.
Though I think it will be easier with a Google account.
Also, nothing will change on your blogs after the migration. The templates will be the same as you have now. You will not have the new features until you go into the template area and click on Upgrade template. That gets folks (except those using ftp) the new format templates with drag and drop editing and page elements/widgets.
Blogger will keep a copy of your last template before you upgrade in case you want to go back. You can't go back to Old Blogger, tho.
I can't "upgrade", so I can't answer your questions. I've tried a couple of times, but one of my blogs is apparently too large to update now.
But hey, don't worry about it. It doesn't look like it's so bad. You don't have to use the new features if you don't want to, and the problems are rapidly being ironed out as more and more people move over.
Heck, by the time they let me change maybe the thing will be perfect.
Thank you so much for all the help! I got brave and did the conversion today. I didn't have any real problems other then being very nervous. heh.
Thank you again for helping me so much. It is appreciated from the bottom of my heart!
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