Everything Typepad

We Love Bloggers, We Love TypePad, We Want to Hear From You

Yesterday we announced our intention to acquire Six Apart and create SAY Media. And as CEO of the new company I want to reach out to TypePad bloggers directly, echo Ben and Mena's message yesterday, and clarify some of the things you may have read in the press.

First, we love bloggers, and we love bloggers regardless of whether they are interested in building businesses around the content they create. Content and your passion for the content you create is at the center of the vision of SAY. We brought these two companies together because we believe that creators like yourselves only need more support, not less. Whether that means content creation and management tools, or you need help building your audience or making money, we'll be there for you. We will continue Six Apart's mission of supporting that ecosystem with technology and services.

Second, we love TypePad. One of the most important things that attracted us to Six Apart was TypePad and the TypePad community. As Ben and Mena posted yesterday, we will continue to support TypePad and evolve it to meet the needs of the market. We firmly believe that you can't build a modern media company without having a platform, and TypePad is our platform for doing that.

Third, we want to hear from you. I understand that change is scary, especially when so many of you have such a strong connection to TypePad and the community around the product. We want to hear what you want out of TypePad, and how SAY Media can help make you successful. I can't promise that we'll be able to act on every request or idea, but we want to hear them. You can leave comments here, you can connect directly to the TypePad support team through the TypePad ticket system, you can connect with us on Get Satisfaction, or you can email me at sayceo@saymedia.com.

- Matt Sanchez
CEO, SAY Media

Six Apart and VideoEgg create SAY Media: a modern media company

Dear TypePad bloggers,

It's been almost a decade since we started Six Apart. With you, the bloggers and creators, we changed the way people expressed themselves online, empowering anyone to publish and build large and loyal audiences. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support and trust as you've shared your worlds and your passions on TypePad.

Today we announced our intention to join forces with VideoEgg to form a new, modern media company called SAY Media. This new company will continue Six Apart's mission to make creators like you more successful. It will continue to help you create powerful and engaging content, and grow and monetize your audience. And it will continue to leave you in control.

Nothing in TypePad changes today, and SAY Media will continue to provide support to TypePad subscribers, and evolve the TypePad platform. You can choose to take advantage of our strong relationships with marketers to monetize your blogs, or you can keep your blog ad-free.

This acquisition marks a new beginning, but SAY Media is also an evolution of how we've already been growing TypePad for the past few years; now we'll be able to do it on a much larger scale. We will be able to better serve you and the advertisers that may ultimately fuel your voice and finance your passion.

As we move forward, we will continue to have active roles in the new company. We hope you will join us, as you always have, in shaping our future.

With gratitude for your continued support,

Mena & Ben Trott
Co-Founders
Six Apart Ltd.

 

The new editor: Better than ever, thanks to you!

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been talking with you, asking questions about what you think will make our new editor the best that it can be, listening to your answers, and making changes based on your feedback.

We recently restored the old editor to most of our bloggers' accounts as we implemented these changes. We've been working on bringing back some of the features that you enjoyed in the old editor, and correcting some issues that were plaguing a few people. Soon, everyone will be able to enjoy a new editor with familiar features, like a more robust color picker and easy linking, but you'll also notice some major improvements to things like text spacing and live preview for video in the browsers that support it.

This afternoon, we'll be rolling out the improved editor to a large number of our bloggers, and we're confident that you'll be as happy as we are with the changes. Of course, we're still listening, and we want to know about your experiences once you start using the new editor. If you have any feedback for us, just open a help ticket at Help > New Ticket.

Join Us at BlogWorld

Join us in Las Vegas October 14^th-16^th for BlogWorld & New Media Expo, the world’s largest New Media event, and take advantage of our special Promotional Code SIXAPART20 to receive a 20% discount!

You’ll learn about content creation, distribution and monetization strategies, as well as step-by-step techniques, and the most productive, bleeding-edge tools—all from the most successful bloggers, social media pros, podcasters and Internet TV and radio broadcasters.

Not to be missed: our own Michael Sippey, Vice President of Corporate Development, will discuss The Future of Blogging Platforms on October 15^th 4:00-5:00PM.

For more information: www.BlogWorldExpo.com 

 

The New Editor: We've Been Listening.

Since the ramp up on the new editor's release we have been reading and responding to your feedback. Those of you whom have had the new editor applied to your account have taken the time to speak up and share your experiences. We have been paying close attention, working side-by-side with several of you to try and correct the behaviors experienced.

Due to the wider usage of the editor, with unique computer and browser setups, the newly reported behaviors were only recently discovered. We have decided to temporarily restore the old editor to most of our bloggers' accounts.

Most users have enjoyed the new editor, so if your account no longer has access to it, you can join the Beta team, by visiting Account > Summary, to return the editor to your account. If you have any feedback about the editor while you use it, please open a help ticket at Help > New Ticket.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and helping us to better understand what you’ve experienced. You are the voice of TypePad and it’s you who help us make TypePad the best it can be. 

Releasing the New Editor. Got Questions? We've Got Answers.

[Update: Please read the most recent post on the new editor here.]

We've been testing a new editor for TypePad for several months, based on feedback from TypePad bloggers. After several weeks of being available to TypePad Beta bloggers we are rolling out the new editor to all of our bloggers.

While there are some changes to the new editor, a majority of the tools are the same as with the previous editor. We are confident you will see an improvement with the new editor.

Based on questions we have received from TypePad bloggers, we've compiled a FAQ:

What happened to all the toolbar buttons, including font size and style?

If you are not seeing all the Rich Text toolbar options, it is likely you are using the Lite editor. Click the "use the full editor" link in the lower, right corner of the Body field to restore all the Rich Text toolbar buttons. For information on the formatting options, see this Knowledge Base article.

Why is the Insert Link button not active?

In order to activate the Insert Link button you will first need to enter the text in the Body of the post that you want to display as a link. Use your mouse to highlight the text. Once the text is highlighted, the Insert Link button will darken, indicating that it has become active. Click the Insert Link button to add the URL and Title to the text (note: "Title" does not refer to the link text; instead, "Title" is a description of the linked site).

Why are the links in my post throwing an error or going back to my blog's homepage?

You will want to make sure the

http://

is included in the URL when you insert a link into your post. Without the http:// in the URL field, the link in your published post will not render correctly.

 

Where did all the font size and style choices go?

We're looking into adding more font size and style choices to the new editor. In the meantime, you can use Custom CSS to apply the desired default font size &/or style to your posts. When you use Custom CSS to set the default size or style, you will not need to format each individual post.

At Design > Custom CSS, you can enter the code:

.entry-content { font-size: 16px; font-familiy: 'Trebuchet MS'; }

Please note that you will need to replace "16px" &/or "Trebuchet MS" with your preferred font size and font name. If you have any problems adding the CSS, or you do not have the Custom CSS option, please open a ticket at Help > New Ticket, and TypePad support will assist you.

Why am I unable to change the color of my links?

The color and other text formatting needs to be applied to the text before the link is applied. If you apply the link first, the link style will override any other formatting you add to the text after the link.

What happened to all the color options?

Right now, there are limited color options available. We're looking into adding more color options in the future. In the meantime, you can change the color code by editing the HTML. Use the color picker to apply any of the available color options to your text. Then, click to the HTML tab to view the code for the post. Locate and replace the current color code (e.g. #FFFFFF or #c00000) with your preferred color code.

What happened to the auto-save and restore content option?

We've actually made the restore content option better. If you encounter any problems (frozen browser, error, etc.) which cause you to lose a post you have been working on, you will see the "Restore Auto-Save Content" button activated when you return to the Compose page. Click the button to restore the last saved content to the text fields.