Loading Profile...
Explain image URLs in TypePad and why they differ
I'm trying to figure out why there are differences in image URLs on a TypePad blog. Some image URLs look like this:
http://domain.com/.a/6a00d8345188ea69...
and some look like a normal image URL like so:
http://domain.com/username/images/200...
It appears the first image URL is the standard format now. Why did TypePad change their format and how can I access these new images if there is no real file name attached? I checked the file browser on TypePad but can't find those images
http://domain.com/.a/6a00d8345188ea69...
and some look like a normal image URL like so:
http://domain.com/username/images/200...
It appears the first image URL is the standard format now. Why did TypePad change their format and how can I access these new images if there is no real file name attached? I checked the file browser on TypePad but can't find those images
5
people have this question
I have this question, too!
Tell me when someone answers.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
The best answer from the company
-
Hey, Brad! That's definitely not the intention! We're still inserting photos into blog posts using standard image tags, the same way we've always done, and any way you get your posts -- via the web, via an RSS feed, through an import / export format or through the API -- they'll always include those image tags, which will point to images that you can download yourself.
The thing we have done is change the way the filename for the image is constructed, but that won't impact your ability to retrieve those images in the future.
And Brad and @IslandBookworm, we are looking at new ways to give you access to all the content you add to your blog, and we'd love to hear your ideas about how we can make that better / easier for you.
Thanks!
The company says
this answers the question
-
Inappropriate?I find the new Typepad image file management to be baffling and complicated. It also automatically adds a link to the image and a mysterious style class, which can cause problems if they're not removed. At first I wondered if the new system would prevent hotlinking but that is not the case, so I wonder what the point is.
I've been asking for direct access to image files for years with no luck. The user should have control over their files, not Typepad.
-
Inappropriate?I think the reason is to prevent members from transferring their images to another blogging platform. If the format was a standard image URL it's easy to scrape all of the images and import somewhere else like WordPress.
I hope this isn't the case, but it makes perfect sense for Six Apart to want to lock in their members by not giving them 100% full access to their content.
I hope a Six Apart employee clears this up and I'm mistaken...
I’m ultra sad
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
-
If that's what they're doing it doesn't really work. I tried uploading my blog to Squarespace and it worked beautifully. -
Inappropriate?Hey, Brad! That's definitely not the intention! We're still inserting photos into blog posts using standard image tags, the same way we've always done, and any way you get your posts -- via the web, via an RSS feed, through an import / export format or through the API -- they'll always include those image tags, which will point to images that you can download yourself.
The thing we have done is change the way the filename for the image is constructed, but that won't impact your ability to retrieve those images in the future.
And Brad and @IslandBookworm, we are looking at new ways to give you access to all the content you add to your blog, and we'd love to hear your ideas about how we can make that better / easier for you.
Thanks!
The company says
this answers the question
-
Inappropriate?Can I ask why you changed this from the standard method? The problem I see with this is there is no set way to download all of a blogs images in one pass. You have to manually save each one, rename it, and then edit the post that the image was attached to changing the URL to the image. If you stuck with standard image URLs I could download all images with a program, and then update all posts using find/replace in the database making this process a million times easier.
So where are the images stored on TypePad? Am I able to access them via the file browser?
If you really want to hear ideas I would suggest making an easy way to export all images from a blog in one bulk download.
-
Inappropriate?I would love to be able to access my images through the file manager, such as it is. The file manager is a bit klunky—no way to move files and folders—but it's better than nothing. I've been told by Typepad that they don't allow access to images to prevent broken links, but that doesn't seem to be a problem on other platforms. There must be another reason.
-
Inappropriate?Hi Brad - if you need an export of the images in one download, for now, you can contact us and we'll be happy to help you out. I'm opening up your latest reply as a feature request, and I'll follow up here too.
I'm curious as to what program and process you went through before, and how we could find a way for you to do something similar, but the quick fix is to get in touch with us.
Other than having a backup, or exporting your blog, I'm also curious as to why you'd need all of the images again? Is there a use case we're not thinking of?
Thanks! -Ginevra
I’m curious.
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
-
I am having problems inserting images into my posts, I click on the image link when i am writing a new post and it acts like its upload the picture but it just goes on and on and never inserts the picture..why does the image link within the posting area not function properly? I have tried using different pictures/photos and also tried clipart images, etc..nothing seems to work..
-
Inappropriate?The reason for this, and you probably won't like it, is to move a blog from TypePad to another platform. What I need is any image with the crazy URL like:
http://domain.com/.a/6a00d8345188ea69...
packaged up using the same name as in the URL. So the image name would be "6a00d8345188ea69e2010536c2ed59970b-600wi" That's the only way I would be able to automatically update all of those images in one swoop. How can I get this? Thanks
5 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
-
If you don't get a solution to this, a workaround might be to set up a temporary account at Squarespace, import your blog with images, and then export to XML or Movable Type. You'll lose design and sidebars, though.
-
Squarespace doesn't seem to work - it doesn't copy the images. Unless I'm missing something?
-
Hmm, that's odd. It worked like a charm for me (and I know, I hate it when people say that!). Maybe it doesn't work with the free preview (I have a paid account). Squarespace might have an answer. Their customer service is phenomenal.
-
Yeah I was trying with a free account. I might look into it a bit further then. Thanks. :)
-
I just had a look and actually it does seem like they just link to the image where it is (i.e on Typepad). Unless Squarespace says different I guess that's all they can do. Sorry for the confusion!
-
Inappropriate?I just thought of another problem with the new file names–doesn't it make the images un-googleable? (if that's a word!)
-
Inappropriate?There really is no malice behind this change; the new TypePad platform that we've been moving to comes with a new system for dealing with images, which allows new abilities such as dynamically resizing images to smaller sizes to create thumbnails and so forth; the "-600wi" on the end of the URL in the example means to scale the image to no more than 600 pixels wide, for example.
The URLs containing what is seemingly a string of gibberish is an artifact of this new system -- it's how the images are referred to internally -- and not something that was intentionally designed to cause customers any kind trouble, though clearly it did inadvertently make things more difficult for exporting and for creating search-engine-friendly image URLs.
If you upload your images through the file manager they will get a pretty URL in addition to the gibberish URL. I agree that it would be useful to have the ability to create a pretty URL when uploading an image through the entry editor too.
I’m sad that there isn't a better way right now
1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
-
that's a great way to put it, Martin. Thanks.
-
Inappropriate?The old system allowed the creation of custom-sized thumbnails so I don't see any new functionality in the new system, other than the ability to edit image settings with a GUI after the image has been inserted (and it would be nice if all those options were available while inserting instead of having to set image settings twice.).
Bloggers thrive on being able to find images online, and Typepad should do its part by making sure image file URLs are SEO. The old way was much better—give the user control over their content. That's what Typepad promises.
Controlling our content would also mean being able to delete image files without having to delete the whole post. And Typepad shouldn't automatically create a link to the image when it is inserted. It should be up to the user whether or where to link an image. (Yes I have a help ticket on this and it's been two months since I heard anything.)
I’m so glad I discovered Windows Live Writer and don't have to put up with the new platform any more
-
Inappropriate?Are you working on fixing this so a file extension is included? Starting on images uploaded June 1st, I'm seeing this consistently on all blogs that we're assisting people export.
We now how to retrieve the headers to find out the mime type
and
The file extension is an essential clue for desktop and other environments to know how to open files.
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?I'm facing the same problem. Bottom line - there seems to be no way to download your images from typepad. I want to 1) back them up and 2) port them to wordpress.
SixApart staff: Several people have asked you the question, and you have not answered.
For 4 years I've been recommending that my clients start their first blog on TypePad. If I don't get an answer to this question, I'll stop doing that.
HOW DO I DOWNLOAD MY IMAGES FROM TYPEPAD?
I’m frustrated
3 Comments Add a comment
This answers the question
-
Andy, you might also want to give Blogger a try. It's far more flexible than Typepad and Wordpress.com. Have a look here on how to move from Typepad to Blogger:
http://classical-bookworm.blogspot.co... -
I really would like to hear the answer to this question too. It's just such a mess. I've just committed to moving a blog to Typepad from MT only to find my nice neat image URLs are replaced by these yucky long ones AND my alt text is gone - instead of my descriptive text it's just alt=filename.jpg! Now I face going back through 1,100 entries and fixing the alt tags... very very frustrating!
-
while we work on the core of the "easy-download-backup" stuff, if you'll either email me (ginevra@sixapart.com) or open up a help ticket, we can help you get a download of your images. We've done this for you, Andy - it's not the ideal solution, but it's a workaround for now.
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE
