![TypePad For Dummies [Book]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%200%200'%3E%3C/svg%3E "TypePad For Dummies [Book]")
We're a little excited here at Smart Dog U. This blog – the one you're reading right now – is featured in a new book about blogs and blogging!
And not in a bad way! (We don't believe in the whole "any publicity is good publicity, even bad stuff." We prefer good publicity thankyouverymuch.)
The book, TypePad For Dummies
, is a great resource if you'd like to start your own blog on TypePad. (TypePad hosts this blog.)
We're in the Ten Bloggers Using TypePad Well chapter. I'm as happy as a Labrador with a tennis ball!
In case you're wondering:
- I pay TypePad to host my blog (they're very reasonable)
- I don't get paid to mention them and
- I didn't get paid to be included in the book.
I write this blog so I can help dogs and their people. I'm spreading the word about dog-friendly training and this blog helps me do that. While I'm happy to be included in a book about blogging, my passion is with dogs and dog behavior.
So if you've been thinking about blogging – maybe about your own dog – my advice is: DO IT! It's a whole lot of fun and you'll make great friends along the way.
Happy blogging!
YAY!!! Go SDU, I’m SO proud of you 🙂
Interesting. Thanks for this post as I didn’t really know that much about typepad.
I didn’t realize typepad was a paid service. I just now (briefly) checked out their website and it looks like it would be a good option for people who just want to have a blog, but want their own domain name and more flexibility than they would get from a blogger (or similar type) blog.
A few questions:
How much control do you have over layout and templates? Is the underlying platform php based?
Do they have hosting for webpages as well, or do you use another service for your website?
How much support/development is there for plug-ins and customization? That’s one thing that sold me on wordpress–the enormous amount of flexibility, plus the huge community of people actively writing and developing and sharing.
Mary
Oh, and forgot to add the most important part–
congrats on getting featured in the book!
What great publicity for you and for positive dog training!
Mary
Congratulations on the feature!! That’s fantastic!
Nice! Congrats!
Thanks for the mention, Laurie–we’re thrilled to have you in the book!
Thank you for mentioning our book, Laurie. We’re so glad we could include you!
I hope it’s OK if I chime in here with some answers for Mary Hunt.
Q1: How much control do you have over layout and templates?
You have plenty of control. You can choose one of the dozens of templates offered by TypePad and tweak them a bit to add your own graphics or you can use Advanced Templates and really get into the code and completely modify a template to your specifications.
Q2: Is the underlying platform php based?
No. WordPress is PHP-based, but TypePad is not.
Q3: Do they have hosting for webpages as well, or do you use another service for your website?
TypePad is only a blogging platform. However, you can make static pages and they will be part of your blog. For instance, you can create an About page that doesn’t show up as an article in your blog’s main page, but resides as it’s own static page that you can link to.
Q4: How much support/development is there for plug-ins and customization? That’s one thing that sold me on wordpress–the enormous amount of flexibility, plus the huge community of people actively writing and developing and sharing.
TypePad has many, many widgets you can use on your blog. Most of the time you can click a few buttons and the widget automagically appears in your sidebar. (You can rearrange the order of your sidebar elements as you like in the Design > Content section of your dashboard.)
Shannon and I have also found the TypePad help desk to be very fast and helpful when we’ve had issues (even before we wrote the book!).
Again, thank, Laurie, for the mention. 🙂
Shannon + Melanie,
Thanks for all the technical details! Your explanations are much simpler and thorough than mine would have been! 🙂
I’m learning even more from your book! Look for improvements here at the Smart Dog Blog as a result!