Welcome to Typepad 101! Whether you want to add some new
features to your blog's design, or simply make your blog more
functional, Typepad 101 has you covered. Topics covered in this series
are suitable for bloggers at any skill level. If you're at a plan which
doesn't include a necessary feature, you can upgrade to put these tricks to use on your blog.
It's often the little things in life - and blogging - that make all
the difference. We've collected a bunch of little tricks that will make
blogging with Typepad easier. Hey, it adds up!
Design not updating? Try a hard refresh. On a PC,
use Ctrl + F5 or on a Mac, use Command + Shift + R or in Safari >
Empty Cache while viewing your blog. That will dump your browser's
cached version of the blog's design and force it to update to the newest
version.
Start a new line, not a whole new paragraph. Using
the Enter key will start a new paragraph in the Compose editor. If you
just want to start a new line, use Shift + Enter.
Need additional "about" pages? That's easy! Your account has one built-in "about" page that you can edit via Account > About Me Page. If you start a new blog and the topic is slightly different, you can create a Page
as part of that blog and fill that in with any information you want to
include. Plus, the design will automatically match the rest of the blog.
You have a shiny new iPad and want to use it for blogging. One word: Blogsy!
Your friend is itching to post on your blog but you don't want to give him access to the whole account. Invite him as a guest author - he'll have his own free Typepad guest account and will only have access to his own posts.
If you want to include just an excerpt of a post on the main page, use the split extended entry feature. You can decide where you want the split to be and Typepad will automatically create a link to the rest of the post for you.
If one of your sidebars goes missing, check your latest post. It's usually a code issue that's causing a sidebar to drop down to the bottom of the page. Try using Fix My HTML
to correct it. Just click on the HTML tab in Compose, copy the code,
paste that into Fix My HTML, fix it, copy the updated code, and paste
that back into the HTML tab in Compose.
Taking a blog "offline" while you work on setting it up - use password protection. You'll set a username and password that only you have access to, allowing you to view the blog online without others seeing it.
When working on a long or complicated post, save as draft often. Typepad has an auto-save feature
but it's also a good idea to save the post occaisionally while working
on it. You never know when your connection will go down or the power
will go out - just do it!
Have content you want to stick to the top of the page? Use the Featured Post setting. It's a lot easier than trying to force that post to stay in place via the date/time.
How do I get to the fancy Aviary editor? I don't see it when I upload my image! After inserting your image in the post, just double click on it and that will bring up the fancy Aviary editor. Voila!
Floundering? Flailing? Ask for help. We're here for you.