Melanie's dashboard

Hi George!

We've replied to your Help ticket - essentially there is an issue at your registrar, but we've made a change to your account to restore the blogs until you get that sorted out. You can read all of the details in your ticket email.

We hope this helps!

Thanks,
Melanie

Hi John!

In most circumstances we can do this, absolutely. We'd need more specific information from you in order to decide the best option, but in general, yep! We can do it. In general, we don't recommend canceling a profile completely, because having it allows you a lot of flexibility for commenting and other cool stuff, though.

Let us know if you have any specific questions about it!

Take care,
Melanie

Hi Robin!

I'm sure you're already familiar with the Navigation Bar that you can add to your blog easily by going to Design > Organize Content. It's a basic nav bar without any rollovers, but it can also be customized using some Custom CSS - no need for Advanced Templates! We have some code that you can copy and paste into Design > Custom CSS here:

http://kb.typepad.com/id/1325

We also have a handy blog post about using image to make your nav bar fancy here:

http://everything.typepad.com/blog/20...

We appreciate your feedback regarding the tutorial on adding a nav bar with rollovers from Samjen's blog! We'll be happy to look into integrating that and your ideas for a future release!

Thanks so much and take care,
Melanie

Hi Marnie!

Any custom categories that you've created should definitely be listed with the default categories next to your compose area, so let's see if we can get to the bottom of things!

If you create a custom category from within the compose area by clicking "Add a new category...", does that show the new category at all, or does it not work either way? If you click over to Settings > Categories, are your custom categories there?

We'd love to take a look at your specific account. Can you provide us with your TypePad URL?

We'll get this sorted for you!

Take care,
Melanie

Hi there,

As I mentioned previously, we're all bloggers as well, so we completely understand where you're coming from in your frustration. We absolutely value all of our bloggers. No one is more important than anyone else, be it a Fortune 500 business blog, a knitting blog, a cooking blog, or any other type of blog. Everyone is equal and we work really hard to make sure that everyone is well taken care of.

Unfortunately from time to time there will be changes which don't exactly fit in with the way that you use TypePad. As I mentioned before, the changes were actually due to a super high number of requests from many different bloggers over a long period of time to have emailed replies appear on the blog. The requests came not only from business bloggers, but from people exactly like you. We wish that we could make everyone happy (and we certainly work hard to do so), and we're definitely looking into making some changes that might make it easier for this change to fit in with the way that you use TypePad.

We'll make sure that your specific feedback reaches our engineers. Let us know if you have anything else to add. We're open to hearing your thoughts and feelings.

Thanks,
Melanie – Melanie, on September 06, 2009 19:44

Hi everyone, Melanie from the TypePad Support team here.

We are so sorry to hear of everyone's frustrations! As bloggers ourselves (and all of us are indeed bloggers), we completely understand how frustrating it can be when an unexpected change occurs.

Generally, we do our very best to make sure that we provide as much information as possible to our members well before any changes occur (as I'm sure you've seen from time to time on our Everything TypePad blog - http://everything.typepad.com), so we're really sorry that this information wasn't relayed to you guys in a timely fashion.

I wanted to explain a little bit about why the change to commenting by email happened, and hopefully shed a little light on what we were hoping to accomplish. Also, we want to provide you all with an alternative - you can still email your replies directly to your readers! We also want you to know that WE HEAR YOU. Your opinions and feedback mean so much to us, so please know that we are listening.

Over time, we have received a large number of requests to change the way that replying to comments via email works. The vast majority of these requests were specifically to have email replies post directly to the blog, and since we are always looking to make TypePad the best blogging experience for all of our members, the behavior in TypePad was changed to reflect this.

Please know that we appreciate that this change may not fit with how you have used TypePad in the past, and we have provided this feedback to our engineers who are looking into options for improving the experience. We did want you to know, however, that you can still reply via email to your readers who have chosen to share their email addresses.

If you are on the New TypePad, you can do this by going to Settings > Comments, and clicking on the commenter's name:

http://clip2net.com/page/m0/1797367

There, an email address will appear. Simply copy and paste this email address into your email reply (removing the default from the email that you are composing), and the email will be delivered to the reader instead of being posted to the blog.

If you have not yet switched to the New TypePad, go to Weblogs > Manage > List Comments, and click on the drop down arrow next to the comment title, then click Edit Comment. There, you will find the email address if it has been provided by the reader:

http://clip2net.com/page/m0/1797390

Again, copy and paste this email address into your email reply (removing the default from the email that you are composing), and the email will be delivered to the reader instead of being posted to the blog.

We hope this helps! Please let us know if we can do anything at all to help make this an easier transition for you, and keep in mind that we are looking at making some tweaks to the specifics of how this works, thanks to your feedback.

Thanks so much,
Melanie

Hi Christine!

We're so sorry to hear that you're having problems getting through! We really want to help you get everything sorted out, though, so we'll look into it right away. I don't see your URL or the email address associated with your account on your profile here. So that we can find your account, can you tell us what those are?

We'll get everything taken care of for you, don't worry!

Thanks so much,
Melanie

Hi Thom!

Can you tell us a little bit more about what's going on? What's your TypePad URL? Are you trying to apply a One Click theme, or are you working on a Custom Theme in the Theme Builder? Are you actually seeing errors?

Essentially, if you can provide us with your TypePad URL, we can take a look in the account and figure out exactly what's going wrong.

Thanks and take care,
Melanie

Hi!

Yes, absolutely. Each Advanced Template set is initially associated with the individual blog. So, if you have six different blogs, you can create six different template sets. You can also duplicate and apply different template sets to the various blogs on your account by going to your Saved Designs and using what's there, if you like.

Hope this is helpful! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Melanie

Hi Adam!

You do need to use a little CSS in the Design > Custom CSS area. It sounds like you just want to change the margins a bit. Try adding this:

.module-list-item { margin: 2px 0; }

Does that produce the result that you want? If not, just let us know - knowing a bit more specifically how you want the items positioned will help us to get the CSS sorted out for you!

I hope this helps!

Take care,
Melanie

Hi Cathy!

Yes, you can link a graphic to a page in your blog - it's actually a nifty way to make your blog more attractive, too.

You're actually on the right track. Using a Notes TypeList allows you to add HTML code like this to your blog, but let's go over the specific code that you need to make the graphic link to the specific page with these steps:

- First, make sure that the graphic is uploaded somewhere. Ideally, you'll want to upload it to your File Manager (at Control Panel if you're on the current TypePad platform, or under Library if you're using the all New TypePad), but uploading it at Photobucket or other hosts works, too. Once the graphic is uploaded, copy the URL/complete path to the image.

- Second, go to the Note field of the Notes TypeList you've created in that box, you'll want to use code like the following (keep in mind you'll need to replace the URL path and image path in my code with your own):



(Pro tip: you can get the URL to the Page you're linking by going to edit the Page and then clicking the "view page" link.)

- Third, save your changes, then add the TypeList to your blog by clicking the Publish tab and choosing where you'd like the TypeList to appear. Going to the Design > Content / Organize Content area will also allow you to drag and drop the module wherever you'd like it to appear on the sidebar.

You're done! Your graphic should now appear on your blog.

For an alternative, you can also use the new Embed HTML feature and skip the Notes TypeList entirely, if you like. Just follow the same steps above, but instead of adding the code to a Notes TypeList, go to your Content/Organize Content area (depending on which platform you're using), and choose the Embed HTML module, and add the code there. You can drag and drop that into position as well.

We hope this is helpful! Let us know if you have any questions!

Thanks,
Melanie

Hi Jen!

You can replace the default favicon with your own unique icon. You'll want to create a favicon file. That's usually a 16x16 pixel image named as favicon.ico, but you could check the Internet for other tutorials on doing this.

One way to convert images from a gif file to an ico file is to use the free program Irfanview, which can be download here:
http://irfanview.com

Then you'll want to upload it in the TypePad Control Panel > Files screen (or Library > File Manager, if you're on the new platform), into the home directory. This should replace the default TypePad favicon with your custom one, although sometimes it takes reloading your browser or re-bookmarking your site before the new favicon shows up.

You can read more about using the File Manager here:
http://kb.typepad.com/id/166

More information in general about adding a favicon is at:
http://kb.typepad.com/id/194

Are you a Basic, Plus or Pro level user? Only Pro users will see the Custom CSS option, but that isn't needed for uploading a new Favicon.

Hope this was helpful! Let us know if you have any questions!

Melanie :-)

Hi Joel,

I know that we're working with you on this in tickets, so I hope that our explanation there was helpful. Since we're working with you there, please let us know if there is anything further that we can do to help by following up in the ticket.

Thanks so much,
Melanie

Hi Steve,

We're sorry that you're having trouble with this. Unfortunately, the method provided by Sampaguita will not stop someone from accessing your blog or from having a link to your blog on their blog; it will only stop them from leaving comments.

We have more information on how Word and IP Banning work here:

http://kb.typepad.com/id/94

If your blog is public, then anyone with an internet connection can access it to view it, and they can also place a link on their blog to yours. The only way to ensure that they would not be able to view the blog would be to set up password protection, which would stop anyone without the password from viewing the blog.

We hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any further questions!

Thanks so much,
Melanie

Hi there!

We'll be happy to consider this change for you. :-)

Since we need to make the change on our end here, we would just need for you to open a Help Ticket and request the change. You'll find the Help Ticket system until the Control Panel > Help if you're on the current platform, or under the Help link if you are on the new TypePad. As soon as we receive your ticket, we'll be happy to assist you with the change.

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have questions.

Thanks!
Melanie

Hi Julie!

As you can see, the person who reported the issue originally has replied to say that it was indeed a registrar problem, which has now been solved on the registrar's end. Several people are reporting that we/they are all able to see your blog. We're happy to help, but if you're still not able to see it, we need more information. You can provide it here, or by opening a help ticket. :-)

Thanks! – Melanie, on July 29, 2009 06:08

Hi Julie,

When I check your blog, I'm not seeing any issues at all. Both www.coffeehabitat.com and nuthatch.typepad.com work fine for me. Additionally, nuthatch.typepad.com/beans is working as well. Are you still having issues with your domain?

Are you behind a firewall, by any chance? You might want to check your security levels since we're able to get to your blogs via the TypePad and the domain mapped URLs easily and without error.

We're sorry that you're experiencing some frustration, though! Please let us know what you find.

Thanks,
Melanie

Hi Amanda!

Are you looking to add the image above your blog? You can do this by adding a value for the top margin to your Custom CSS, which you will find at Weblogs > Design, if you are a Pro account holder. The code looks like this:

#container {margin-top: 50px;}

You can change the 50px value to whatever you would like. The higher the number, the more space you will have above your blog.

We hope this helps! If this is not quite what you were looking to do, please let us know!

Thanks,
Melanie

Hi Randall!

Can you tell us what happens when you try to login at http://www.typepad.com? Are you seeing errors?

Connecting to TypePad Connect shouldn't cause any login issues, so you'll want to make sure that you're using the correct case when typing your email address and password. Also, if you normally store your log in information and log in automatically, you might want to go ahead and type everything out.

You can also try password recovery (just in case!) by clicking the "Forgot Password" link on the TypePad.com login screen. Finally, try logging in with another browser (for instance, if you're using Internet Explorer, try Firefox). If this doesn't work, and you're still not able to access the dashboard, please let us know. You can also send an email to support@typepad.com with detailed information about what's happening, if you'd like to contact us that way.

I hope this helps! Let us know if you have any questions!

Thanks,
Melanie

Hi!

We really like Vimeo for sharing video (http://www.vimeo.com). Vimeo is more geared toward personal videos, and they offer advanced privacy options and sharing tools.

You would upload your video to Vimeo and then copy the embed code from there, and paste it into your entry via the Edit HTML tab so that you can share it on your blog. Would that work for you?

We hope this helps! Let us know if you have questions.

Thanks!
Melanie