An Upgrade to TypePad's Compose Screen

When Chris Alden, our CEO, asked for feedback last January about the improvements you wanted to see, many of you sent in fantastic suggestions for how we could improve TypePad's Compose page. We listened to your suggestions, added functionality from your top requests, and we're excited to announce the new Compose tools are ready for release.

Please note that the new screen will reach groups of TypePad users in phases over the coming weeks. Some of you will see these changes today and everyone will see them by mid-June. We are working to get them to everyone as quickly as possible, and we appreciate your patience while we do so.

In the meantime, here is a quick look at what's changing and what it will mean for your blog:

Text and Photo Alignment

You asked for an easier way to align images and text. Now you can do this with a single click without diving into the HTML code.

More Image Options

Editing images once they are inserted in your compose window is now a lot easier. Click on the image thumbnail to add details, like a description or website address. Or, finesse the format with customized borders.

New Font Control

Sometimes it's the little details that make a blog truly unique. The font tools have always allowed you to change the font size and text color, but now you can choose your font style too. So if your style is more Lucida Console than Comic Sans MS, your blog can reflect that.

Open Links in a New Window

Many of you wanted an easy way to set links to open in a new window so your readers wouldn't have to navigate away from your blog. Now instead of hand-coding the link options, you can just check a box.

Control Your Breaks

Extended entries present just a short introduction (or first paragraph) to show what a post has in store, and then offer a link to read more. Instead of typing your extended entry in a separate box, now you simply add an "extended entry line" into the compose window and drag it where you would like the text to be separated.

We haven't taken away any of the Compose tools you've already been using. Favorites like Markdown are here to stay.

Read the full details about the changes and watch a screencast featuring the new Compose screen in this Overview of the New Compose Editor.

A few things to note: As always, our wonderful Beta team members have helped us with testing these improvements, and have spotted a few issues that should be fixed in the next week or two.  You can find out more about them on the Known Issues list.  And don't forget, the new Compose screen is launching in phases, so don't panic if you don't see the changes for a few more weeks. We appreciate your patience as we roll out these improvements! If you have any questions, please contact our Support team.

These new features are just the beginning of many exciting developments at TypePad. We look forward to hearing what you think in the comments.

Comments

[Cinderella]

I am finding it very difficult to change the text size and font in my posts. Before I could just select my text and then choose the larger font size. Now that doesn't work because it doesn't include the links in the post. I have to set the font before I start typing the post. Trying to edit the font in an existing post is proving virtually impossible - sometimes it changes back to the default, sometimes I can't change it at all. I am using Firefox.

[Joe B.]

Would there be any reason that this move would affect the load time of my blog, because it's now over all 40 second load time per Stopwatch and I haven't heard back from tech support in DAYS.

And I even called the office. What's the deal? I've lost almost all my subscribers.

[Robert Hacker]

New layout of the compose page is a significant improvement in useabilituy. Increased functionality is a nice selection of additional features. Now if we could just simplify the set up of Google Analytics...

[StorybookWoods]

Oh thank you, I really like being able to change the font. Clarice

[Jane Doe]

Hi Cinderella,

Thanks for your feedback regarding the editor. If you continue to have any issues with changing your text size, please go to Control Panel > Help > New Ticket and open a new support request so that someone on our team can assist you further.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for leaving a comment; we appreciate your feedback. Your ticket has been replied to, but if you have any further questions, please let us know.

Thanks,
Colleen

[Tom Allen]

Well its a step in the right direction - so I will probably use it when I need to on "away" machines - but it has a long way to go to match Live Writer or Ecto - loading graphics in particular is rather slow and clunky compared with the blog writers - (and its not my computer which is a Mac Pro with lots of memory).

It would be certainly worth persisting with these improvements - I hope you don't sit back and think well we have done what we need to - its still the weakest part of Typepad which is otherwise a brilliant bit of software.

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Like that I can control image size and wrap text around images but I am having images cropped off when large is chosen and medium is way too small. Not too crazy about the changes yet....

[Account Deleted]

These are nice additional features, but there are still fundamental issues:

Why is the Save button next to the Delete Post button which is even bigger! Why? Why? Why?

Why can't the Save button be somewhere useful like always on the screen no matter where I am writing?

Why can't I put in a link and start typing and get clear text instead of a continuation of the link?

These thing may not be sexy, they are far more important than that.

[Sylvia]

Looks great. Next: A real WYSIWYG Preview! Please!!!

[Martyn Drake]

Will this work on the Safari web browser? If not, why not? I feel that us Safari browsers have been left in the cold long enough.

[Ky Eliza]

I can not seem to upload any images, and I was able to do so yesterday. The image sizes aren't even large (only about 1000 pixels wide) and the upload screen is just sits there for ages. I'm talking over a half an hour here, to attempt to upload one small picture file, and it never did upload. I just couldn't sit around waiting for it any longer.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

These are welcome upgrades and I hope we continue to see more features rolled out. One thought: getting TP to work properly with Safari would be wonderful. I realize that every browser can't be accounted for, but new (and old) Mac/Safari users are a likely target audience for the easy-to-use TypePad service.

[SoundBitesNYC]

do i need to upgrade or something?... i don't have these new options.

[Clayton Closson]

These changes are great. Will make our lives over here at at the Quicken Loans blog (http://www.whatsthediff.com) a lot easier. We love them (and Typepad).

Thanks!

[Peter Felknor]

I've been using HTML for years, so I don't find it daunting.

I really could do without the way that playing with HTML now in my posts changes fonts and font colors without my knowledge, and the way extra code is thrown in for no apparent reason. Could you bring back the old post editor interface for those of us who prefer it? Blogging now is becoming too much of a chore--too much clean-up work.

Thanks.

[Showpeople]

A little late, but better now than never. Easy alignment of pics and pic handling is a welcome addition.

[digital-derek]

These changes are great! The ability to add alt tags, borders, etc. to images without going into the code will make for much easier posts and save a lot of time.

The links opening in a new window is also going to save a lot of "_blank" coding by me as well. Is there a way yet to make any URL people leave in the comment section open in a new window as well?

Can't wait for changes to take place, thanks TypePad!

[DJA]

These features look great, but they do not even show up in Safari. What is the reason for this, and are there any plans to make them compatible with Safari as well as Firefox?

[johntunger]

I am *so* pleased to see text justification added to the compose screen! Now I can quit bugging you guys about it ;-)

The picture controls look like an improvement too, especially alt tags. I find that a huge percentage of my search traffic comes from images. I would encourage everyone to use this feature, now that they don't have to hand code the image descriptions.

Not as sure I like the "extended entry line" concept though… there were some useful aspects to having a separate window for extended posts. In particular, I found that for clients who needed to be able to paste HTML into a post but don't actually *understand* HTML, the separate windows made it easier for them to separate their writing and the code.

[JimF]

This looks truly excellent, a great improvement if it works as described.

As another commenter mentioned, improved reporting is now the main, remaining (and gaping) hole.

I've used the free Windows Live Writer, which provides similar image handling/ editing functionality offline. But would like an offline editor that provides this for the Macintosh. MarsEdit basically only handles text (although it does that well).

Any chance of a Mac off-line TypePad editor? Or, could you work with Red Envelope/ Mars Edit to add this functionality to its software?

Thank you for the new functionality !

best // jim

[Krissy]

@SoundBitesNYC: We're rolling out the changes in a phased manner - everyone will see them over the next few weeks.

[Carol Wilkerson]

I am one of the people who was asking, er, begging for this new WYSIWYG compose screen since almost the time I began on Typepad. Thank you for listening to our suggestions and putting them into action. No one will ever be 100% satisfied with what gets done, but I think, over time, we will learn to use the new screen.

[lennybruce]

These updates rock! Love 'em and the new interface is neat, clean and easy to use. Thnks!

[wilfros]

Hi;

I have yet to see any of the changes to the post window, all I have is the same old thing. So... I am anxious to see and test out the new format. Thanks in advance for the new changes.

Should you wish a recommendation for future consideration I would submit the following:

I would love to see, on the comments page, each comment highlighted with altenating light and dark backgrounds behind the type. This would be visually appealing and make it clear where one comment ends and the next begins.

Anyway, just something to consider for the future, and I can't wait till my program starts showing these new changes, so I can play with them.

Thanks
StampersPad.com

[Account Deleted]

Any chance you might be adding a feature that allows you to upload more than one photo at a time? I often run several photos with my posts, and it would be great to be able to add them in one fell swoop instead of having to upload each one individually. Thanks.

[Krissy]

Hi Martyn - The latest version of Safari is supported. Please read our article about supported browsers (http://kb.typepad.com/id/171), including links to free browser upgrades.

[Krissy]

Hi Ky - Your problems should be fixed when you upgrade your browser (http://kb.typepad.com/id/171). I understand our Support team has been in touch with you to help!

[Krissy]

Hi The Fashion Informer - We're definitely working on adding a feature like that some time this year!

[Krissy]

Hi Darcy James Argue -- Our Support team has been in touch with you, but please check out our list of supported browsers [http://kb.typepad.com/id/171] with handy links in case you'd like to upgrade your current version.

[Sylvia]

Gaaah! These comment scrollbars are hideous. Why make people work just to read comments? Whoever thought of it should be taken out and pelted with tomatoes. Nix the scrollbars now!