Dear WordPress family and friends, some tips for you and a small favour I ask
17 January 2016
You must have noticed that WP has put in a lot of changes that can get some of you frustrated asking for the old panel back to work on your posts. Some kind bloggers have explained that this is available from the dashboard (WP Admin of your wordpress window) before I was able to respond and thanks to them a lot of people have reintegrated the old editing mode they were comfortable with.
Pictures on how to integrate the old mode of posting for those who were more comfortable with the old options feature below. If you start a new blog post from anywhere else, you will end up only with the new functionality. Last but not least if you want selective sharing without having to de-link your various social media presences from your blog, you can first save the post as a draft in your old dashboard format and then reopen it in the new functionality which allows you to tick off some social media for that post only and without de-linking unlike the old posting mode.
As part of the sweeping changes, you might have noticed like me that many notifications on comments people have made on your posts are not reaching you. This can be remedied by visiting the same dashboard and choosing the option comments which then shows you all the existing comments and allows you to answer those that you have visibly missed out.
When publishing, you have the option of publishing as standard publishing or you can publish as a link which then forces the person reading you to go to your website to read the whole article rather than in the reader.
Usually this link method is used by those who are concerned with statistics and performance of their blog but probably many of you may be using the link version without knowing this difference and without even the intention of increasing their stats. I personally use the standard method to create the least hassle possible for those reading.
I have just one small favour to ask from those of you who read my posts and whom I follow back and read and that is that you publish as standard instead of as a link if you don’t mind and are not too concerned about your stats. I love reading all of you and have even resorted to a daily or weekly email digest of your reading because of my reducing time to read but when you choose the option to publish as a link, I cannot read you from my email but have to open all the websites one by one and I am really following many people, too many to open all their websites without hassle.
For those interested, note that from the reader, you can choose the option manage for the blogs you follow and subscribe either to instant, daily or weekly emails for the main post of the blog or for the related comments (picture below as well).
I understand that it might be a big sacrifice for those who are keen on statistics but have to say that I will unfortunately not be able to read you for a long time if you publish as a link and will be sad to miss out on your updates. Aside from the email version, the WP reader also allows one to read with minimum pain in switching between full post and reduced post when you publish as a standard format. When you publish as a link, this is no longer possible.
Most of you publish the standard way thankfully and I am ever so grateful to be able to read you with simple browsing and enjoy your posts. Keep blogging and keep shining with my best wishes for a wonderful 2016 on blogosphere.
Especially for my friend Shiva Malekopmath:
Adding a new post in the new posting facility (best to start from an actual page of your blog)
This is the little icon that you pres on to add your reading of your poem
You choose the option Add new and then choose the directory where you have saved your reading in your local disk then upload that
My readings are in the format m4a which is apparently the automatic format under which iphone saves all recorded memos.
I hope this works for you Shiva 🙂
Thank you Geetha for very useful pointers. I use Standard too but because some posts are long, say more than 500 words, I use the “continue reading” option. Does that affect anyone wanting to read from reader? I also like to go through ‘followed’ posts in Reader. Thanks and best wishes
Welcome Kamal. Yes, unfortunately it does because a person would not be able to read your posts directly from the reader. I have had people tell me that they unfollowed blogs that did not allow you to read everything from the reader and even I who have some people whom I really want to follow and who use that option am thinking of leaving their blogs to be read when I have time and with the reducing time chances are I simply will not read them before at least 2-3 weeks go by, which is a pity. Best wishes to you to
Thank you very much Geetha, I never realised this. Will stop using that option which I had actually thought would be a courtesy tot he readers. Great tip, thanks again. Best wishes 🙂
Welcome. With the new WP system mess-ups and people’s busy schedules, the reader has become the main place to go to.
Really appreciate your point … you are far more tolerant than me! I have unsubscribed from someone who sends the summary only and thinking to do so from another. Visiting the site each time is too much.
I actually am starting to think of doing that as I follow over 200 people and many of them only put a link.
Wow that is a lot! I am far more selective as I simply don’t have that much time. I tend to follow those with less followers, who write well, entertain or share their challenges. And totally enjoy visiting those who come to my site.
I actually found a lot who fit that description although perhaps they have quite a few followers. I actually am tempted everyday to add a few new ones because I participate in a challenge with Ronovan and each time the stories or haikus he publishes from some writers are so good I end up following their blogs. I guess I will have to trim it down soon though as I won’t have enough time left.
Geetha, darling. Not a problem at all. I am not concerned about stats and performance as I am already an athlete and prefer to pay attention to my heart’s performance during a workout. The next thing is that I am too busy to open every blog that does the visit page option as I mainly use reader and reading lists to organise the blogs I read. I have always wanted someone to be nice to me and make it easy for me to read their blogs. I am happy that at least one person has thought about it. x SB
Great, we think alike except I still have connected to many who publish as a link and want to continue reading their posts; I just do it later that is all. May your heart always perform well dear 🙂
How do I post? Is it easy to read?
It’s perfect Andrew. You post standard, thanks a lot
OKay. Thanks for your post. You are the wordpress Guru.
Thanks 🙂
Yes ma’am ;D
I love the way you tackle things Geetha! You are my WP Hero!
Ah ah ah you cracked me up. Waiting at a traffic light with my beautiful daughter
This is helpful information thank you!
Thank you I am glad you find it helpful 🙂
You’re welcome 😀
I am glad that I am in standard mode, too. Because I always loved your comments, Geetha 🙂
Actually Monica you post as a link to your blog and not as standard but perhaps you did not realise that at all before 😀 Your posts mention a small part of the introduction and then it asks to visit your blog for the rest which is the typical way when it is posted as a link and not as standard. I love your posts anyway but will just take more time to be able to read them if I don’t have a few minutes during the day to browse through your website.
My dear Geetha, I checked and is right like in your picture, Standard. And I know I never posted like a link. Can you check again my last post, White Death, please. To see if is something wrong.
Perfect. The White Death shows fully as a post in my reader, thank you so much 🙂
I am glad, Geetha 🙂
I think I know where is the problem, Geetha. If you go to your Dashboard, then to Settings and then to Reading you will find this: For each article in a feed, show: Full text or Summary. Here, I recognize, I am on Summary. But from now I will be on Full text. 🙂
Wonderful. It is just because I am changing roles and have more work aside from my kids and dad plus my own writing so have much less time during the day now. I love quickly stealing a moment going into the reader and reading a bit of the blogs without too many keystrokes while I am having a break 🙂
So, now it’s ok? This was the problem?
No, my reading is set on full text and I see everyone in full text but if you post saying you wish it to appear as a link then you will not have the full post appearing. One of the images in this article shows the publishing options.
I haven;t really had any issues but then again, I only use my laptop so I would not be privy to issues you may be experiencing via mobile or email. I read everything from the Reader if I can which makes life simpler, except, when I have been away for more than a day, then it’s tough to scroll through all the posts.
As far as I know, I publish in standard format. 🙂
Even from the laptop you have the problem when people post as a link. In any case I am leaving those posts for when I have more time – which is getting rarer by the day. Yes you publish in standard format, thank you for that my friend 🙂
Yes, that’s true, it does diminish reading time when posts are links. 🙂
Yes and my time is becoming rarer by the day although I try always to stretch it for reading and writing as both represent some of my passions, hence the write-up for my WP friends. I believe in communicating things appropriately before they become a real problem and not after they have become a consistent pain 😀
I hear you…since taking on this contract I have not been able to read or write like I want to. I agree, it’s best to discuss these issues as they arise 🙂
oh, and you are welcome:)
Ah ah ah. You sound like me, sometimes I get carried away by a thought and forget the usual civilities like you are welcome, how do you do, etc 🙂
hehe, yes, it happens more often than I care to admit 😀
Péché avoué est à moitié pardonné as they say in french 😀
🙂 yes, they do 😀
😀
The only thing I liked about the new version is that I can post a collage of pictures and not all in a line.
That is one good advantage yes. There is also the fact that you can tag while searching your document for content which you could not do in the older version as both moved together. Finally I also like that you can choose to put one specific post on twitter and other social media without having to disconnect the link like you had to do in the previous format.
I don’t know about the tagging and the social media thing, but the picture mosaic is neat.
Not sure if I’m using Standard or not. I can’t find the screens to change the format. My eyesight is so poor that it takes me forever to figure out anything on WordPress so I just go with the flow. I must keep my screen items enlarged so I probably miss things others see clearly.
You’re posting standard Deborah, thanks a lot 🙂
No worries, I’m already posting standard.
Wonderful thanks for continuing 🙂
Thank you, Geetha. I typically use standard as I don’t like the new revisions. Thank you for explaining what the new changes will do.
Welcome and thanks for using standard
Simple-that’s me 😉
Great, kudos 😉
Brilliant! Thank you, Geetha. I’m not a fan of the glitchy new way at all. Nice one!
Welcome Ryan and thanks for posting simple and standard all the time hopefully 😀
I prefer the old ways too
Thank you Geetha. The technicality of this is rather beyond me, but fortunately I publish the old way and standard, and we don’t seem to have a problem
Yes Derrick, welcome and thank you so much for publishing “old style” and standard. I appreciate it a lot 🙂
Yes. Opening all websites would be a heck. Well pointed out and shared
Thanks Nitin 🙂