Blogger Beta - Pros & Cons.

Randi wrote to tell me she couldn't comment on my blog because I had switched to Beta. She asked me what I thought of it and here are my thoughts in a nutshell.

That (not being able to comment) is the only down side. I had to change to BETA to be able to comment on people's who were using it - unless they allow anonymous commenters. I can now comment on anyone's blog so that is a big plus for me.

People CAN still comment on my blog - if you haven't changed to Beta, you can just do it anonymously and sign your name in your comment.

The template layout thing is GREAT! I am html stupid and this just has little boxes that you can drag and drop anywhere you want - and then you name the box what you want and it shows up - things like Past Posts or whatever. You have a layout page where you can just click on whatever you want to show up on your posts, etc. That part is awesome.

It also has little popup boxes so you can pick your template and font sizes, colors, etc. All outlines, etc. Just point and click - so that is great. I changed and set my template up exactly how I wanted it in about 10 minutes.

When you are looking at your previous posts page, it shows all of them - 50 at at time and you can just click for older or oldest. That part is very nice.

I also like the spell checker better. It highlights your misspelled words and then has a drop down menu of suggestions for the correct word. It even recognizes the word blog which original blogger spell check did not. I always thought that was a bit strange.

Truthfully the only down side I can see is that people can't comment unless they are using BETA, however, if you allow anonymous comment then even that is not a problem.

If haven't commented on your blog in the last few days and you do not have Beta and don't allow anonymous comments, now you know why.

If you are considering making the switch, I think you would be glad you did.

Edited to Add - for those of you who tell me they can post a comment even though they don't have beta, I say nana nana boo boo. This is the message I get from Blogger when I try to do it on yours.

Unfortunately, you cannot post a comment on a non-beta blog or claim a mobile blog using your Google Account. These features are coming soon.

so consider yourself lucky.