Back last month, I started using BlogJet to post here at Mug Shots. It was easier to use in many ways than the editor I was using here at Blogger. I was especially taken by the ability to have a much larger editing window. So I used it for the full 30-day trial.
And then, I let it lapse.
As an editor, it was better than Blogger's editor, but not 40 bucks better. I also didn't use very much of its considerable 'other' capabilities, since I just sling words onto these pages and don't do much more than that. Since I average about 25 page views a day here, that seems about all the effort that this is worth. It's simply a release for me ... and some documentation up in the air for my system setup.
So, I returned this past week to using the built-in Blogger editor. I decided I should take a walk through the current settings to see what's been new recently. And I discovered the editor here I HAD been using had been superseded by one that was much newer (and nicer). PLUS, it turns out my use of the old editor was about to become impossible to continue with. The "Soon to be deprecated" message made it clear I was no longer going to get the choice. It was the newer one rather than the older one. No choice offered. Real Soon Now.
So, I switched. As you know, I find forced switching traumatic in most cases. I point out that I still have rotary dial telephone service here. Change is NOT my forte. But this is one change I can live with. Especially since the new editor EXPANDS the editing window once you get a certain number of characters entered. And since I am, afterall, The Pleonastic Prince, there are precious few entries here that do NOT require the extra space.
Don't particularly like the two-click approach to scheduling a posting rather than publishing it immediately. And having a new tab in Firefox created for previewing is a pain. But generally I like the new interface so far. And whoever decided to change the itty bitty tiny little chains icon to the word LINK for inputting links, is to be given a raise and a window office on the corner.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
SOFTWARE: Money, Money, Money, MMM Good
A second straight entry in the Software I Autoload series will cost you money to get the full benefit of it. MMM+ is as good as the name indicates, and again, it's a one-trick pony. But it does that one trick, really, really well.
What is MMM+? It's an editing tool for your various right-click menus on your Windows desktop. Now, I'll bet you never thought you might need a menu editor. Wellll, that's because you are probably running a minimal set of programs that have added very little stuff to various right-click menus and don't get overwhelmed every time you right-click. All the power to you. And you can move on to the next post here or go elsewhere. You've been dismissed.
Now, for the rest of the class still feeling overwhelmed and/or frustrated, MMM+ allows you to move things around. For example, in explorer (of whatever type), I personally have at least TWO different ways to scan for virii, unlock files, unzip archives, copy files, move files and rename them ... NOT counting the shortcut keystrokes that I use for some of these functions. This is partially due to adding various utilities over the years. But I do have a right-click menu that used to run 40 entries long! Now, it's about ten. No more than one of anything, and it's the one I usually prefer to do, in each category.
The rest? I've shoved them all into a sub-menu I call RARELY. I can get TO them if necessary, but it's not very often I look there anymore.
And it's NOT just the explorer menu. I've pruned my desktop menu on an empty space to RARELY, New, Refresh and Properties. The taskbar right click menu shows RARELY, Toolbars, Show Desktop, Task Manager and Properties. Heck, I should even move the Show Desktop over to RARELY since I have a button for it on my Quick Launch bar.
But, you get the idea. Clearing out the weeds to see the flowers is time-saving, aggravation reducing and it seems to be a good investment for less than 19 bucks Canadian. I did choose the one-year option on purchase rather than the twice-as-expensive lifetime option. The program doesn't seem to get updated all that often and I expect v2.02 will be as viable next year as this, especially if I am still using XP then. And that's really quite possible.
There IS a FREE version that will give you some edit ability strictly on the desktop menu. It certainly gives you a flavour of the full product. But it's REALLY the explorer right-click menu you want access to. The one fly in the ointment? MMM+ won't let me get at and rearrange/edit my Firefox right-click menus, which I badly need reduced. But that seems to be the only fly in the ointment I've found so far.
What is MMM+? It's an editing tool for your various right-click menus on your Windows desktop. Now, I'll bet you never thought you might need a menu editor. Wellll, that's because you are probably running a minimal set of programs that have added very little stuff to various right-click menus and don't get overwhelmed every time you right-click. All the power to you. And you can move on to the next post here or go elsewhere. You've been dismissed.
Now, for the rest of the class still feeling overwhelmed and/or frustrated, MMM+ allows you to move things around. For example, in explorer (of whatever type), I personally have at least TWO different ways to scan for virii, unlock files, unzip archives, copy files, move files and rename them ... NOT counting the shortcut keystrokes that I use for some of these functions. This is partially due to adding various utilities over the years. But I do have a right-click menu that used to run 40 entries long! Now, it's about ten. No more than one of anything, and it's the one I usually prefer to do, in each category.
The rest? I've shoved them all into a sub-menu I call RARELY. I can get TO them if necessary, but it's not very often I look there anymore.
And it's NOT just the explorer menu. I've pruned my desktop menu on an empty space to RARELY, New, Refresh and Properties. The taskbar right click menu shows RARELY, Toolbars, Show Desktop, Task Manager and Properties. Heck, I should even move the Show Desktop over to RARELY since I have a button for it on my Quick Launch bar.
But, you get the idea. Clearing out the weeds to see the flowers is time-saving, aggravation reducing and it seems to be a good investment for less than 19 bucks Canadian. I did choose the one-year option on purchase rather than the twice-as-expensive lifetime option. The program doesn't seem to get updated all that often and I expect v2.02 will be as viable next year as this, especially if I am still using XP then. And that's really quite possible.
There IS a FREE version that will give you some edit ability strictly on the desktop menu. It certainly gives you a flavour of the full product. But it's REALLY the explorer right-click menu you want access to. The one fly in the ointment? MMM+ won't let me get at and rearrange/edit my Firefox right-click menus, which I badly need reduced. But that seems to be the only fly in the ointment I've found so far.
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