Documenting out Trip: ISP Hazards 2
As one of our calamity prone PM’s said, “life wasn’t meant
to be easy”! There was a lot of research
needed to find an appropriate solution. Who was the most appropriate blog provider for us given our gypsy circumstances.
Transferring WJ3’s 2008-2010 posts, all 145 of them to date, could not be
done. Way too big, apparently! So, with heavy heart, GS began in early 2012,
a slow cut and paste process, reducing the number of posts on Typepad, until
its size was more acceptable to export.
The big day to move came and finally, after several failed attempts,
the export to Blogger actually stuck.
Apparently there is some difference in “language” and not being a geek –
which is pretty obvious given the above – made the process one of trial and error. Not wanting to let go too easily, Typepad
actually retains your photos on its site.
This means that if you suddenly delete Typepad, your blog photos – even
the ones imported to Blogger – disappear into the ether too. One other problem with the export was that
Blogger doesn’t take to tables very well.
WJ3’s posts were doubling as our cruising log and some 75 posts contained
tables……
 |
| Stop the boat, I've just found my new house! (Oh, I wish!!) |
Sharing a Room
All the issues with importing to Typepad, then Blogger, left
a mountain of work. To make life a
little easier, we broke them into steps:
- Step 1: Number posts. Easy to use the saved Word documents as a ready reference.
- Step 2: Remove duplicate posts (and note missing ones!) from Blogger’s post list.
- Step 3: Remove tables, replacing with information presented in another, more suitable (to Blogger) format. (This took hours, and we made changes to the Word documents first before removing table detail on-line. Tables throw out Bloggers formatting.)
- Step 4: Remove and replace photos, editing on-line. I have the photos stored on an external HDD so that the computer is not overburdened.
- Step 5: Check each and every post for typos, spelling errors, tag omissions, links gone haywire and any other formatting problems from the import. Don’t forget to insert a new visitor counter (if you want one).
- Step 6: Remove Typepad, graciously acknowledging its part in keeping your posts alive until they found a new home. (There is nothing wrong with either Wordpress or Typepad – they just didn’t suit our style of blogging. Vox had been so easy to use! It had set a high standard; we thought only Blogger came close. We also like the way Google keep making improvements to its functionality too.)
 |
| Quirky Maine |
Of course, we are still tinkering at Step 3 given our
“boating” circumstances and access (mostly not) to internet. GS continues to suffer horribly every time
the service falls over in our current marina.
Lessons:
- It will take longer than you think!
- Choose your blog provider carefully but don’t be afraid to move if it doesn’t suit you.
- Decide how important it is to keep your old posts. Perhaps they might find a better home in a coffee table book using a program like Blurb.
- Always keep a backup of every post you make if you do want to save them. Then learn how to file things away so they can be found later if needed. Keep paper if you don’t want to use a computer. For anyone nautically inclined, we also keep a proper “log” on a spreadsheet (or indeed, even in a Log Book!). It all helps when you need to fill in gaps.
- Always back-up your computer.
- And finally, never waste a good crisis………
 |
| To keep a blog of our on water voyages in WJ3 was a fantastic idea & well worth any "little" problems... |
No comments:
Post a Comment