The New and Improved Dashboard

We've recently made some changes to the Dashboard that our Beta Team users are now seeing.  We'll be releasing these options to everyone soon, but here's a preview of what we've added.

 

New Quick Posting Options
We've brought together the best of the quick posting types that were previously available for general and beta users.

You now have the following options:

• Quick post: This will quickly let you share a thought straight from the TypePad dashboard
• Photo post: You can easily share any image with your readers and add commentary. This gives you the ability to share an image either by uploading it or by supplying its URL if it is hosted elsewhere.  We've also increased the number of supported sites for auto-discovery, so you can enter the URL of the page where the image is located and have the image returned.
• Video post: It's easy to share a video with your readers with this function. We've also enhanced support for more video sites and given you a preview capability so you can see what video you are sharing before you publish your post.
• Share: With this you can enter any URL on the Internet, choose the part of the web page you'd like to share in your post, and add commentary.

If these options aren't for you, as always, you can jump to composing a new post using the Compose link or by using the "Write a full post" link included next to the quick posting options. 

Improved "Recent Activity" stream
In addition to fixing some issues, we've made content from the people you follow more prominent in the activity stream. It's now easier to scan through the content and get a sense of what a post is all about before clicking through.

If you'd like to see these features before we release them, make sure to join our Beta Team! You'll be the first to get to try out new TypePad features and give us your feedback on them to make them even better!

Introducing Clean, A New Theme From TypePad

Today, we're introducing Clean, a brand new theme with a minimalist design that's great for displaying large photos and making the most of your content. It's full of really great features that we can't wait for you to try out. Here are just a few of the awesome things you'll notice when you apply the Clean theme to your blog:

• Displays large images beautifully.
• Enhanced mobile viewing for folks on the go.
• Want to add a custom banner? There's a tool for that.
• Features an extra clean, beautifully minimal design with lots of white space.
• Using a single column layout? Your blog footer is customizable and ready for content.

The most exciting thing about Clean isn't what we've done with it, it's what you can do with it.

Are you a design and coding enthusiast? Make the Clean theme your own by using our brand new, hands on Style Guide to completely customize the look and feel of your blog. Into color? Change things up with different shades from Eggplant to Orange:

Ready to rock the Clean theme? Head to your Dashboard. Click to Blogs > Design > Choose a theme. Click on Clean, and you're there!

Clean is our gift to you this holiday season; it's a deceptively simple, powerful theme that will help your blog make a big impact. We could not be more excited to premiere it, and we hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

We'd love to know what you think, so tell us all about it in the comments!

Feedback Needed: What kind of themes do YOU want to see?

With the success of the Scene series, we will be developing and releasing more themes as we head into the new year. Right now our focus will remain on the style of the themes themselves. As we get the ball rolling, however, we will be looking into the developing, and implementation, of new layout options as well.

To help us better understand, map out, and design these future themes, we'd love to hear from you about what it is you'd like most to see. Let's keep the feedback focused on:

• styles   
  (e.g. typography-based, whimsical and romantic, modern, etc)
• layout types
  (e.g. magazine, grid, gallery, etc)
• layout features
  (e.g. wide columns for large photographs, slideshows, automated post excerpts, etc)

We only ask that you keep the feedback constructive; being mean or rude really makes us sad, folks. So, please, feel free to share any particular style and/or layout that you're really drawn to and are passionate about. If you can't think of specific items, or don't know how to put it into words, yet you know of sites that really wow you, share those as well--we can probably pinpoint what it is that you like and take it from there.

Introducing Scene: Rock City, a New Theme from TypePad

Today we're introducing Rock City, the final theme in the Scene series.

Scene Theme - Rock City

Rock City is a nod to the iconic Kiss song "Detroit Rock City," from their 1976 album Destroyer. Like the song itself, this dark theme rocks out on the edge of glam and grit. We can't get enough of it!

Sadly, this ends the Scene series, but we have plans to release more themes as we head into the new year. We hope you'll enjoy the upcoming themes as much as you enjoyed Scene.

Before we close this post, we wanted to send a quick thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment, provide feedback, tweet, and click the Like button. It’s been a real pleasure to design and release these themes for you, and we’ve taken away a lot of great tips to help improve the process. Thank you!

Introducing Scene: Jet Set, a New Theme from TypePad

Today we're introducing Jet Set, a great new theme in the Scene series.

 

 

The release of Jet Set continues the modern and clean lines unveiled with Urban Borough and Echo Park. This time there's a fantastic vintage twist. And why not throw in the magic of aviation? We're super stoked about the way this series is coming together, and we hope you are too!

There's just one more Scene them to be unveiled, and (we think) we're saving the best for last.

Introducing Scene: Echo Park, a New Theme from TypePad

Today we're introducing Echo Park, a great new theme in the Scene series.

Echo Park's release continues the modern and clean lines unveiled with Urban Borough, but includes a feminine, city chic vibe that we're really digging.

Bundled in with this release are adjustments for issues some of you mentioned in the comments of the previous release's post. Now you should notice the following:

• navigation bar items no longer have a border in the non-hover state, so if you change the background color of the navigation bar, that will no longer be noticeable
• when the search module code is added to the navigation bar (note: must be between <li> and </li> tags) it sits better within the margins of the navigation bar itself
• "continue reading" link, as well as extended entry post text, match the size of the rest of the text
• images within a blockquote that are floated to the left or right no longer break the blockquote style
• improved alignment for the blog footer when using the Opera browser

If you notice anything else, please let us know and we'll investigate those issues further, but most everything previously brought up should now be corrected.

We hope you'll let us know what you think about the Scene themes so far. Keep your eyes open for the last two still to come!

Introducing Scene: Urban Borough, a New Theme from TypePad

We are introducing a new theme today called Urban Borough.

Urban Borough is the first release from a brand new theme set, which will consist of four themes altogether, grouped under the name Scene. The remaining three themes will be released over the next several weeks.

Common between all of the Scene themes will be:

• wide columns (perfect for larger images and sidebar advertisements/widgets)
• clean lines (classic styling for long-term use of the theme)
• lots of balanced white space (ideal for helping to keep your blog from looking cluttered)
• complementary color schemes to match the (gorgeous!) theme banners;
• blog footer styles focused for content-rich setup; and
• optimized styling for mobile views (mobile views will see a slimmed-down version of your blog, showing only the navigation, banner, blog title, and blog posts; all other content will not display)

We're very excited to be bringing you Urban Borough, as well as the rest of the themes in the coming weeks. We hope you take the time to preview and apply each theme as they're released. Feel free to lean on the thematic strengths or make adjustments via Custom CSS or the Content screen.

Want to learn more about the Scene theme and adjustments you can make? We've prepared and published an article to walk you through all of the great features and tweaks available for Scene.

Our Favorite Widgets

Many of you have noticed the Widget Gallery is no longer available. Most widgets, however, can be found by performing an online search for the type of widget you want to have (e.g. RSS, Music, Amazon, Etsy, etc).

There are a great number of widgets available these days, and we want to share some of our favorites, and most asked after, widgets with you:

ShareThis

Although the ShareThis widget is placed in your sidebar, the magic script places an icon in the footer of each post allowing visitors of your blog to share &/or email the post.

PostRank

The PostRank widget highlights the top posts on your blog in the sidebar.

PayPal Storefront

Configure the display of items in your store into a handy widget placed in your blog's sidebar. The widget includes a link to purchase the items directly on PayPal. This widget is recommended for blog's with wider sidebars (300px wide or greater). See the PayPal Labs FAQ here for further information.

Twitter

The official Twitter widget can be customized to match your blog's design.

Facebook

If you have a Facebook Fan or Business Page, you can add a Like badge to your blog's sidebar.

LinkedIn

You can add a badge to your blog's sidebar which links to your LinkedIn profile.

Etsy

You can include a badge for your Etsy shop in your blog's sidebar. We have details on adding this widget in the Integrating Etsy shop into your TypePad blog article.

Widgets can be installed on your blog by copying the code for the widget into the 'Embed Your Own HTML' module at Design > Content for most themes.* Some widgets do offer a quick install to TypePad option which bypasses the need to copy and paste code.

*Note: For blogs using the Chroma Theme, you will use the Custom Sidebar option to add the code for the widget to the sidebar. With an Advanced Template design, the code for the widgets can be added directly to your templates. Mixed Media Layouts require copying the widget code into a Notes TypeList. Additional information on installing widgets is available here.

We've added the above widgets to the recommended widgets article in the Knowledge Base, and we'll add more widgets in the future. If you have any widgets you use and would like to recommend, please add your own recommendations in the comments.

What I <3 on TypePad Lately: FALL!

FALL IS HERE and New York City is right on the verge of a burst of natural beauty.  I used to be a summer's-my-favorite-season kind of gal, but since I ditched my air conditioner and youthful wardrobe of year's past, I'm a very solid AUTUMN-OR-BUST lady.

There are three things that I love about the fall: THE LEAVES, THE BAKED GOODIES, and THE FOOTBALL.  And when I look at what people are blogging about lately, Good Gourd, I'm not alone.

 

1. THE LEAVES.  

Our bloggers have some fall-leaf fever.  Kim has some very nice shots of her dog, Ellie (left) in the leaves.  Artist Molly Hashimoto paints the beauty of fall in Washington -- and even spots an otter!  

Jill is on a roll with her fall snaps, and so is the Country Sampler Quilt Shop!  Hawthorne Street has the Brooklyn fall happenings and even highlights a special Brooklyn Botanic Garden event -- ideal for leaf-lovers like me.  But, you know, leaves aren't enough: it doesn't feel like autumn unless you've got some pumpkins.

But it's been so nice out lately, wouldn't you be jealous of Team Red Wheel's view from their seat on two wheels (below)?  I am.

 

2. THE BAKED GOODIES.  

WARNING: Do not read this section if you haven't had lunch.  I've already made that mistake today.  For everyone else, grab some notecards and a pencil to nab these tasty recipes.

Current Mom has a tasty recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares!  April from Looking Around knows that "when a girl needs a cookie...she makes a batch!"  Rosy and Tart have perfected the art of the *EXTREME COOKIE CLOSEUP* (image right) and their Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk recipe doesn't look too shabby, either!

Uhm, Baked French Toast Casserole?! Sophia, we truly appreciate your sentiments!  And, last but not least, Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Syrup Cream Cheese Frosting (pic below).  Anything with Maple Syrup = BIG WIN for me.

 

3. THE FOOTBALL.

Okay, I'll admit that I'm a huge Baltimore Ravens fan (despite their loss yesterday that both Al Nye the Lawyer Guy and Clearing Out The Clutter noticed), but I usually don't watch the games.  They just make me so ANGRY when they lose!  So it's a good thing there are other ways to love football...without actually watching it.

SILLY BANDZ. If you don't know what they are by now, please do due diligence with some googling.  And did you know that Under Armor makes them now?  Animal Bracelets Blog has proof.

Sometimes I just can't shake some images from my mind.  And sometimes I blame the ever-clever Sports Hernia.  

If you're a Fantasy Geek, you best not be missing the weekly Fantasy roundups from Geekweek, especially since Week 6 seemed to be a wild one.  (If you were wondering, or if you're from Six Apart and want to talk trash, no, I am not playing Fantasy Football this year.  My pride is still sore from the terrible losses that Hurlee's Swirlee's faced in our Baseball league.)

And can I just say that A Glam Slam is my new favorite TypePad blog?!?  They're covering some satiable fashion tidbits from every sport around, and thanks to them, I've found my new favorite Ravens hat.

 

I know, I know, there are a ton of autumnal blog posts I'm missing, so please share your own in the comments!  Happy Fall, everyone!

Connect to the Community with the TypePad Toolbar

For the past few weeks we've been testing a new, blogside toolbar with our [Beta] members. On Thursday we'll be releasing this great feature to all TypePad bloggers. The blogside toolbar is a great reader tool that will help readers engage with your blog by giving them easy access to [follow, favorite and reblog] content. Those actions will then be shared in a newsfeed to their followers. Entire networks will discover content they might not have found otherwise and that means more eyes on your content as a result. As a blog owner, you can also enable the toolbar for all readers, including those not in the TypePad network. This will allow you to convert new readers into active community members for your blog.

Besides the great community benefits, the blogside toolbar is a great tool for TypePad bloggers when surfing the network because you'll be able to find and follow new TypePad blogs immediately. And when viewing your own blog, the toolbar will provide important management links at the click of a button.

We hope you enjoy using the toolbar as much as we do. For further details on settings and functionality, check out the Beta blog.