Blog on.

When Blogger launched their Shiny All New 'Blogger beta' last August, they were all but dribbling over themselves in excitement at their list of Shiny All New features. I was decidedly underwhelmed, however, as the list seemed like a list of things you'd get around to when/if you had the time. They hadn't implemented any improvements that I'd been hoping for (because really it's all about me), and though they said that more features were to come, they gave no hints as to what they were. I switched eventually, but more out of 'whatever' than a desire to be on the bleeding edge.

But then, over the last couple of weeks as I've been stumbling around my sites, I've realised that Blogger have quietly and discretely ticked off three large boxes on my Blogger Wish List. Like a thief in the night (but a thief who gives you things instead of taking them away), they've snuck in, dropped some things off, rearranged the furniture and flitted off without so much as a tip o' the hat. Presumably these changes were implemented with the Beta, but the Blogheads decided they were so inconsequential they wouldn't even bother to mention them. Apparently to anyone. (As far as my cursory googling can determine.)

So, first of all, they've added an 'Older Posts' link at the bottom of a blog's main page. I always felt this would be handy so that you could just keep reading without having to delve into the Archive, which I've always found to be counter-intuitive and thoroughly confusing. But, second of all, confusing no more, as they've totally revamped it, and it works in exactly the way that I'd hoped for. Though how to actually get it on my blog was confusing, and I only happened onto it when I was creating a new blog for someone else. New blogs have it active by default, you see, but pre-Beta blogs need to update their template to get it. Not that there's anything anywhere that tells you so. And lastly, possibly most useful of all, they've added the ability to subscribe to a post's comments! No longer do you need to laboriously check-in every 30 seconds to see if your particularly witty and urbane comment has been paid its due. Simply paste the feed link at the bottom of the thread into your RSS reader, and let Muhammad and the mountain come to you.

And if you don't have an RSS Reader, do yourself a favour, punch Molly Meldrum in the head, and check out Google Reader. It's full(ish) featured, it's web-based so you can access your feeds from anywhere, and it's free! Get yourself a Gmail address and get on board today. Automatons are standing by.

So thanks, Blogger. You might have a confusing set of priorities (and I've been reliably told that your CSS and HTML design is surprisingly bad), but you're alright with me.