Conversion to Theobloggers

After several weeks of working on the conversion, we finally pulled the switch and changed to the Theobloggers hosting service. As many have already seen, it was not without its glitches. Theobloggers is hard at work fixing the problems as we find them.

There are a number of advantages to this conversion. For example —

* The Pages list is now “collapsible,” meaning that rather than having 100 topics listed in the left column, you can click on + and – signs and search through the Index in a more orderly fashion, without the overwhelming detail.

* The software now automatically converts all verse references to a link. If I give a citation to a verse, you can hover the mouse over the link and the scripture pops up. Very cool — especially since it requires no coding by me.

* I can now add sharing features at the bottom of each post. Readers can share a post on Facebook, Twitter, and several other social sites with the click of a button.

* I can finally post Vimeo videos. Until now, it’s been YouTube or nothing.

* Most features are now more highly customizable — which is good in that I can get them exactly right (more or less), but bad in that I have to actually get them exactly right. Customizability is a mixed blessing for a perfectionist.

* There are about 500 billion plug ins you can add to WordPress to add cool features. I’ve persuaded the good people at Theobloggers to add quite a few to the available options. I’m sure more will be in the offing once we get the glitches worked out.

* Additional editing features for my posts — like search and replace and the ability to add tables (you can’t imagine how much this will help!)

* How can I go wrong following the examples of Patrick Mead and Randy Harris?

There are a few disadvantages I’ve noted so far —

* Although Gravatars still appear on comments at the bottom of each post, there are no Gravatars in the right sidebar. I miss seeing them.

* Comment subscriptions were lost in the conversion — and seem to be irretrievable. You can resubscribe to comments in a post at the bottom of each post.

* There are bugs in the Facebook and email subscription services, but those should get worked out shortly. WordPress blogging software is incredibly sophisticated and therefore incredibly complex. And I have a very demanding website. And I’m a very demanding blogger. I’m sure I’ve tested the patience of the good people at Theobloggers.

If you run across a problem or an area that could stand improvement (other than my writing — there’s only so much software can do), please post a comment here.

For those readers upset by this afternoon’s email flood, you can unsubscribe by clicking the button in the upper righthand corner of the blog. I’m trying to get an unsubscribe link added to the emails. But please don’t unsubscribe. The flood is over.