Everything Typepad

Did You Know?: Your Shorter Typepad URL

When you sign up for Typepad, you choose a subdomain for your account.  The account here, for example, uses everything.typepad.com. You may notice, though, that every blog within Typepad has a folder name at the end of it. This is done to differentiate each blog from every other blog under your account.

For instance, the full URL for this blog is everything.typepad.com/blog. However, Typepad lets you control which blog in your account is the default blog. This allows you to access your blog at both the longer blog URL and the shorter account URL. This is why you can also view the blog at everything.typepad.com.

To set your default blog, simply click the arrow next to the blog on the Dashboard.  Select the "Make this the default blog" option, and this blog will now be available via your shorter URL.

It's also worth nothing that all of the files for that particular blog are located in that blog's folder.  In the case of this blog, all files are located here: everything.typepad.com/blog

It is best to think of the short link - like http://everything.typepad.com/ - as a shortcut to the blog set as the default or home blog. The shorter link should be easier to give to your readers and include on items like business cards.

We have more information on setting your default blog in our Knowledge Base.

We hope you found this useful! Check back every other week for more "Did You Know?" tips to help make your blog even better!

Blogging Best Practices: Photo Use and Attribution

Welcome to our series of posts on Blogging Best Practices! Each Thursday for 10 weeks, we'll debut a new post designed to help you create great content, share it with the world, and become a better blogger. Check out other posts in the series here!

It's a simple rule of blogging: images add visual interest to your posts and that's a good thing. But beyond that, finding and using images can be a little complicated. What if you don't have your own image to use? What if the absolutely perfect image is owned by someone else?

Without getting too much into legalities, the basic rule is that whoever took or created an image holds the copyright to that image. Ownership can be bought or legally transferred but for the sake of this post, let's just assume that you don't legally own any of the images out there on the internet, unless it's an image you took yourself.

This is an image that I took so I own it and can do whatever I want with it.

If you don't have your own image to use, a good next step is to check out sites that provide stock images. You can either buy images to use on a site like iStockphoto or sign up for a site like stock.xchng, which hosts royalty free images that are free to use. This is a good way to add an image to your content without having to deal directly with a photographer (great people but copyright gets sticky).

Keep in mind that you still don't own the images from a stock photo site, you're basically just borrowing them in a legal way. Also note that some artists who share their work on royalty-free sites still ask for attribution.

It's worth noting that while Google image search is awesome, it's not a great tool for finding royalty free images. Swiping an image from there is the same as swiping it directly from someone else's site: they own the image and using it without permission or attribution is violating copyright.

This image is from stock.xchng. I don't own it but I can use it here.

Now let's say you find a copyrighted image that's so unbelievably perfect, you just have to use it. Beyond being illegal, using someone else's image without their permission or attribution is poor etiquette. If you do things like that enough, you'll build up a bad reputation and no one wants that!

Many photographers and artists provide easy ways to contact them to ask permission to use their work, often on a dedicated page on their site. They may require a fee to use their image or a link back to their site with the image in your post.

When in doubt, ask for permission before using an image on your blog. If you can't get proper permission, find another image to use. The most beautiful, perfect photo in the world isn't worth using if you can't do it legally.

Hide Banner Header & Description

Many of the new themes being released include the ability to upload a custom banner image. If you have a banner image which includes the blog name and description as part of the image, you may want to hide the default header which overlays the banner in the pre-made themes.

To hide the banner header and description, the Custom CSS feature available with the Unlimited and higher plans is needed. Alternatively, you can use the Theme Builder to upload a custom banner image without the banner header and description overlaying the image.

With the Clean, Metropolitan, and Mosaic Themes, the banner header and description can easily be hidden with a small line of CSS.

If you haven't already, you can select one of the themes at Design > Choose A Theme. Then, you can upload the custom banner image at Design > Banner. (more info)

With your banner in place, you can now hide the banner header and description to make your banner show through. The CSS code required is below:

    #banner-inner { 
    overflow: visible; 
    padding: 0; 
    border: 0;
    }

    #banner-header {
    position: absolute;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    width: 100%;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    }

    #banner-header a {
    display: block;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    height: 330px;
    text-indent: -1000em;
    }

    #banner-description {
    overflow: hidden;
    width: 0;
    height: 0;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    text-indent: -1000em;
    }

Notice the height: 330px; section of the CSS is highlighted. The height needs to be altered to match the exact height of your banner.

Now, go to Design > Custom CSS, enter the CSS in the text field, and click Save Changes to update your blog.

The CSS Cookbook has a plethora of other quick tips which can be applied to the pre-made themes. If you are looking to make changes not covered in the CSS tips, ask the Typepad community in the forum where other bloggers and the Typepad support team can answer your questions.

Featured Blog: The Kortum Technique

NAME: John Kortum
BLOG: The Kortum Technique
TYPEPAD MEMBER SINCE: 2009
WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT: Author John Kortum began investigating the human sensory system at a young age, developing his vision and aptitude into passion and vocation. He has written a book, and consults with and educates health care providers on The Kortum Technique, a Visual Assessment Process that decodes the metabolic bonds that relate to biology and well-being. And that's not all: over the next few weeks (August 11 and 18 at 10:30 p.m. EST), Mr. Kortum's work will be featured on “The uneXplained,” a new original series on A&E Biography that explores strange real life cases and individuals who turn to the supernatural world for help. Fascinating!

FOLLOW: Typepad | Twitter

Blogging Best Practices: Improving Your Blog's Speed

Welcome to our series of posts on Blogging Best Practices! Each Thursday for 10 weeks, we'll debut a new post designed to help you create great content, share it with the world, and become a better blogger. Check out other posts in the series here!

Ever been to a blog that takes so long to load that you leave, never to return?  If so, you know the pain that your readers can feel if your own blog load speed takes forever. Luckily, there are several things you can do to combat this.

For instance, if you're using the Three Columns layout, the entire left column will need to fully load before the center column with your posts starts loading. If you have a large number of items in your left column, it can delay the posts on your blog from displaying.

The location of items in your sidebar can determine how quickly the main content of the blog loads. Selecting the Two Column Right or Three Column Right layouts will allow your posts to load first. Arrange items that require contact with another site, like advertisements and widgets, in your right sidebar, instead of the left. The top of the left sidebar is a good place to put items you want your readers to see first.

Another thing to keep in mind is that generally, the more items you have on your blog, the longer it's going to take to load. Before adding large amounts of widgets, videos, photos, etc., you should take in consideration how much you already are displaying on your blog.

A good way to limit that is to use the Extended Post (Post Continuation) feature.  This allows you to display an intro on your main page, with the remainder of the post on the post's Permalink page. Your reader would click a link at the end of your intro on the main page to continue reading the post.

If you have a large number of pictures, large videos, or the like, this is a good way to still have the information and not have your load time suffer.

We have more information on this and more in our Knowledge Base. You can also reach out to other Typepad subscribers for tips, questions, or other advice in our Get Satisfaction forum.

Design Implementation - Making It Work On Typepad

Some of the most interesting design requests we get are for our Design Implementation Service. The customer has already come up with a design (often one that is used for a separate website) and wants to know how to implement it on a Typepad blog. These design requests often involve complex layouts or advanced features and show off how flexible the Typepad platform is.

James contacted us with one such request for the new Card Analysis Solutions blog. He provided a mock-up and all the images to be used in the design; we made it work on Typepad. The end result serves as both informational website and blog, with a clean, elegant design. James was very pleased.

If you've got a design you want to implement on Typepad, contact us today and let us know the details. And don't forget to check out Card Analysis Solutions.

P.S. You can view this and many other great blogs in our portfolio.