Blogger's new messed up interface

 

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the poor grammar statement that comes to mind when looking changes in the interfaces  - the graphic user connection - we use to us popular internet sites or sometimes computer based programs.

Recently Google who own the longstanding blogging service known as Blogger have totally overhauled theirs with more of an eye toward mobile use which seems odd when you bear in mind most blogging is done on devices with a actual keyboard and a fair sized screen rather than a smartphone.

One criticism has been how it handled what can be hundreds of previous posts when it comes to being able to search and update information such as links which as anyone whose been blogging for a good while knows happens all to frequently.

In the past you could easy search from the  newest post in groups of twenty five or more  so you could look by date order but the new interface only gives you the option of loading additional groups in batches to the most current or searching by tags which is not very helpful.

Another is the line spacing which is double where sometimes you want to have text immediately below or to the side of an image which it no longer does.

Because it uses lots of different cloud based bits it is very fickle when it comes to loading up and sending back to your preview which increased by about one fifth the other day how long it took me to make a entry.

HTML isn't everyone's cup of tea but anyone who is heavily into design uses html templates and writes code that this doesn't properly support in what it calls HTML view thanks to auto indenting which should be disabled in html mode as it messes up the strings that make the code work properly.

I know sat there with your iPhone10 you wouldn't use it but desktop folk do and we're the bigger group in blogging rather than using things like Tumblr which are more mobile centric for short blogs.

I've used it sometimes to copy the whole page layout over if I needed to remake it and then tweak the new version rather than remaking the post by scratch all over again.

It even messed up my time zone settings so posts that are scheduled for specific days don't come out unless I refix all of that by hand.

It's still full of bugs but they've removed the old interface before fixing glaring issues and that's what has been frustrating many of us in the last few weeks.

A testing time

 

This week started with the end of the pills for my infection which all had to be taken in order following the new fangled email the surgery approach as it's harder thanks to Covid to get a face to face appointment first without going through everything first.

I've been out and about mainly in the sun to get some fresh air clearing up my system as I wasn't well and needed to take active steps to aid my recovery and sort a few things out for a charity collection at the start of next week ready for anything I may get at Christmas which certainly isn't being cancelled here even if like everything else in 2020 might well be different.

To say we're having a testing time  isn't just a play on words that my pennant for punnery is famed for but is an indication of a problem of not just getting tests to people where there has been unprecedented demand but also in the processing of such tests.

Most countries face similar challenges but because Covid shares some symptoms with such seasonal visitors as the Common Cold and Flu it is vital that within the health service, care homes, schools, colleges and universities are able to run them to separate out Covid which needs 10-14 days isolation from everyday colds that require less not just for clients, children and young people but also those who care for people and educators such as teachers.

While there is talk of extra facilities coming on stream in a months time we certainly do not wish to return to the point of postponing operations and shutting down whole schools because of severe staff shortages as people are in effect forced to isolate not knowing if they really have to due to not test results being available.

The Rule of Six as delivered by one

While last week I looked at this whole call to the return to the office to work this week it is less of a reversal but a restating in a less muddy more black and white* terms what despite the greater freedoms granted had not really changed in a way that has legal standing and thus can be actually enforced although whither or not the police want to is different matter.

 
Some people it seems to me can get to grips with understanding a situation, that because of its seriousness that people are to adhere to rules and apply them to their day to day lives and yet others just do not get it or worst still think it's some right wing political conspiracy to deny them their rights and that Covid ain't a thing. It is and it kills.

 
 There can be little denying that there has been a discernible rise in case of Covid notably amount 18 to 30 year olds which while not resulting in hospitalization nonetheless meant they had transmitted to others who could be more at risk examples might be multi generational households are shared student accommodation.

 
That is the logic behind the reduction to only allowing gatherings of up to six people regardless of age indoors or out maintaining social distancing from thirty although exemptions will exist for weddings, funerals, organized team sport, worship and work.

In Scotland under 12's are exempted from the "six" and there is pressure for England to do the same where seemingly most of the Cabinet wanted that  but the Health secretary Matt Hancock backed by the Chief Medical Officer got his way.

 
A fuller breakdown can be found on the BBC website and this will be enforced not just by police but official health enforcement teams in city areas.

 
My gut feeling is one of "about time too" as while the measures made sense, police were not even prepared in some instances to even open conversations about behaviour and request people altered it which doesn't need a specific legal power and we've all seen to many instances of breaking the spirit and often the letter of the rules putting public health -yours and mine - at risk.

Composed on the new Blogger Interface which I might just say is web intense slow cack-handed interface and doesn't have proper photo sizing settings. 

 
A dog's dinner is the polite version of how I'd rate it.

* This term for the benefit of snowflakes has nothing to do with race and so isn't racist even if some external race trainers say it is. It plays on the clear black type on white paper of a paper document so it stands out clearly not a racial put down. In 2020 you have to say this.

Return to our offices? No chance!

As I'm writing this faced with a big deluge of rain that meant going out after lunch just wasn't going to be happening a couple of days before publication one recurring story is around people who it has to be said were working in offices before all the Covid restrictions came in March.

Back then as you might well recall we were told to Stay Home and only to work if we can from home and a lot of people and organizations adapted to do just that from banks to people doing engineering drawings using phone and computer to work and keep in touch.

 As you can see in this picture of Canary Wharf in London taken during the rush hour, there's not many people actually in the offices coming of the transport networks to the business districts although the numbers vary from occupation to occupation.

In some respects the UK has been a bit behind the curve when it comes to working from home compared with other countries  such as Canada and the States but it appears Covid give it a mighty big jolt in little over five months.

It isn't that people aren't working although some are not such as those in hospitality and entertainment where health measures needed to control the virus effectively prevent them from working at all it's that actually business and workers have found this is working for them with potentially lower office costs and far less time commuting on overcrowded trains and buses.

You might think "What's the problem"?

This homeworking is effecting the viability of businesses within those business districts such as the sandwich bars, coffee houses and dry cleaners with their daily takings well down on normal and that has lead to some such as the C.B.I. to push for a return to working from offices.

Personally having been there and done it frankly if I could work from home just calling in to meet with my supervisor and a few colleagues and any face to face training a couple of days per month to be frank I just would because it's a waste of my time having spent two hours twenty on a good day travelling and sometimes longer otherwise.

Another set of issues is about social distance and its impact starting the shocking fact that at least a third of staff can't be socially distanced in offices even masked so some would have to be accommodated elsewhere.

Then there's public transportation where capacity is down to less than 40% of normal due to social distancing so capacity is impacted during the rush hour making it hard to get people in and having more people come in using private cars to get around that only adds to road congestion and pollution.

In Charles Dicken's day you had to work in an office as a clerk with oil light, quill and ink surrounded by people as there was no other way of sharing information and generally getting things done.

Those businesses in the business district came into being where they did to serve those needs but today it is just so unnecessary so we might as well accept it as indeed a number of big companies have and just move with the times.

That's why despite the rally cry of "go back to your offices" from the CBI and the Business Minister I rather suspect we're not. Time has moved on.