Everything Typepad

Two New Features Up-Close

Updated 18 August 2016: The Recently Updated Weblog module has been retired. For the latest information on adding the Categories module, see the Knowledge Base.

Two new features that TypePad subscribers have requested and we have added in the latest version of TypePad:

1. The ability to display a list of your weblog categories in your sidebar. Use this so that users can click and view all posts associated with a particular category. 

2. The ability display TypePad's recently updated weblog list in your sidebar. If you add this module, links to the 10 most recent weblogs that have been updated in the last 5 minutes will show up in your sidebar. While this is a great way to get to know your fellow TypePad users and community, be sure that before you add this module to your weblog, you're comfortable with allowing a random list of links to appear in your sidebar.

Friday, Aug 29 Changes

• Added a new "Categories" Sidebar Module to the Weblog - Design screen to display a list of your categories with links to the archives.
• Added a new "Recently Updated List" option to the Weblog - Design screen to display the typepad.com recently updated list in your weblog sidebar.
• Added overflow: hidden; to center weblog column to fix italic and sidebar wrapping issue.
• Fixed issue where Junior Authors could publish posts via the XML-RPC API.
• Fixed issue in guest author registration where registration errors would place user on regular registration track.
• Fixed javascript error when saving a photo when the Location field is not present.
• Fixed typo in Create a Photo Album section.

Adding Google Search to your TypePad weblog

Updated 18 August 2016: For the updated code, see Google's Custom Search Engine. Also, Typepad now has a built in search module. Learn more.

Matt Haughey of PVRblog writes in a great tip about adding a Google search to your TypePad weblog. Once you add the search to your weblog, your readers will be able to search your site for specific keywords.

How to add Google Search to your TypePad site

1. Create a new Typelist, one for links, I called mine "Google search"

2. Create a new item, with no title and no URL. In the note section add the following code:

<!-- SiteSearch Google -->
<form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="text" name="q" size="5" maxlength="255" style="width:95px;" />
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="»" style="width:25px" />
<input type="hidden" name="domains" value="pvr.blogs.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="pvr.blogs.com" />
</form>
<!-- SiteSearch Google -->

3. Then, change the domains and sitesearch hidden form values to your Typepad URL.

4. Next click the "Configure" tab on your search Typelist and under advanced configuration, change the Display Notes option to "As text".

5. Save Changes, add the list to your blog, and you'll end up with your own search box that will show visitors everything google knows about your blog.

Advanced users: you can add a style tag to the Form element, and modify the margins in css to get a layout you want (e.g. style="margin-top:4px; margin-bottom:20px;") and also play with the widths of the textbox and button (the supplied size worked on my typepad layout but other layouts could require larger or smaller widths).

Thanks Matt!

Earning Money Through Amazon Associates

Updated 18 August 2016: For updated information on Amazon integration with Typepad, see the Knowledge Base.

If you've posted to a Reading and Music TypeList, you've probably already noticed that if a reader clicks on the item's cover or link, they'll be directed to an Amazon product page about that item. What you may not know is that you can earn money or Amazon credit for items purchased through your website.

To do so, you must be a part of the Amazon Associates program and have an Associates ID.

If you do not already have an Amazon Associates ID, you can learn more about and join (it's free) the program here.

Then, when you've got your ID, add it Account > Other Accounts. All new items you post will contain your special ID and you'll begin earning as users click through and buy.

Setting up the QuickPost bookmarklet

Updated 18 August 2016: Quickpost is now the Blog It Bookmarklet. Learn more.

Have you ever wanted to write a weblog post about something you've just read on an online news site, weblog or web page but didn't want to go through the TypePad interface to compose and publish your post?

If so, then you'll definitely want to set up the TypePad QuickPost bookmarklet.

Features in Development

One of the main reasons for launching this official TypePad resources weblog was for us to have a place to communicate development news to our users. We believe that open communication is essential for a community to thrive and for TypePad to succeed. From the thousands of support questions we have answered, we know that our users have a lot of valuable ideas and suggestions to contribute and we really intend on listening to their feedback. So, we intend to keep all of you informed about what we're working on and what's going on.

TypePad and aggregators

First, what is an aggregator or news reader? Basically, it's an application (desktop, web-based, plugin) that allows you to subscribe to "feeds" of weblogs and news sites. Usually, these applications are scheduled to check and see if any of the sites you have subscribed to have been updated and if they have, the new version of the site (usually a post) will appear for you to read. Aggregators are great because they bring weblog updates to you, instead of you having to actively look to see if your favorite reads have been updated.

With TypePad, your feeds (the file people can subscribe to) are generated by default. Learn more.

TypePad does not have a built-in aggregator for syndication (RSS) feeds. While we may consider adding syndication features in the future, or the ability to use a feed at a TypeList, we have found that the majority of our users prefer being able to work with the aggregator of their choice and then publish items of interest through TypePad.

There are a number of popular aggregator clients that run as desktop applications. On Windows, one of the more popular desktop clients is FeedDemon, which makes it easy to add feeds and view them in a newspaper-style view or as individual entries. A similar view that can be integrated directly into Microsoft Outlook (not Outlook Express) is available with the NewsGator plug-in. NewsGator can also be configured to allow posting directly to TypePad from within Outlook.

On the Macintosh, most users prefer NetNewsWire as their desktop aggregator, and NetNewsWire Pro adds the ability to post to TypePad directly from within the application.

In general, any desktop or web-based aggregator which reads RSS feeds is appropriate for use with TypePad, and we recommend trying a few to find out which aggregator client best complements the way you work with TypePad.

Adding a TypeList to your Weblog

If you create TypeLists often, you're probably a bit wary of going back to your weblog's design section to add the list.

Here's a tip on how to add a TypeList to your weblogs after its initial creation.

After you create the list for the first time, you'll see a link that prompts you to add the TypeList to your weblog:

Click on it, select the weblogs you wish to add your TypeList to and then save. Your TypeLists automatically appear in your weblog.

Note that if you want to change the order of your sidebar (and where the TypeList appears), you'll have to go into the Weblog's design and edit the "Order."

Friday, Aug 22 Changes

• Fixed moblogging bug where base64-encoded MIME bodies (if text/plain) would not be decoded.
• Added relative_url="1" global tag attribute to make URLs relative.
• For registration: set new users' zip code and country based on the billing address.
• Don't display "View Site" link for guest authors.
• On Weblog - Design - Content screen, display all TypeLists, even those with no items.
• Fixed bug with Farsi selected for "Language for Date Display".
• Basic users can now edit the dates of their posts to post- or pre-date them.
• If there's only one weblog or list in the QuickPost window, auto-select it when the page opens.
• Improved handling of daylight saving time boundaries to fix the "Invalid local time" error when publishing in certain timezones.
• HTML is now stripped from post titles in the "Recent Posts" list.
• Long URLs in the "Page Title" column of the Stats tab are now truncated so as not to throw off the page display.

Schedule a Post

Update 05 August 2016: For the latest information on scheduling posts, see the Knowledge Base.

TypePad allows you to schedule posts to be published to your weblog at a date and time in the future. Additionally, you can alter the “Posted on” date of any post to appear as if you had published it in the past.