Update: Google and Microsoft have fixed the issue, at least for now. Many thanks to everyone (especially Scott Hanselman at MS) who pushed for a resolution for an issue incredibly minor to these behemoths, but incredibly problematic for those of use who depend on WLW.
I’m still going to experiment with WordPress, with the help of a very kind reader who’s offered his assistance. For now, we stay Blogger. Long-term, we’ll see…
Serenity now.
You may have noticed that the last few posts have had fewer screencaps than normal (or none at all), and that the formatting for images has changed. I’ve been mired in this for days and I’m sick of it, so I’ll summarize only very briefly what’s happening:
Google has changed their API in such a way that Windows Live Writer (which is the only blogging software that allows me to manipulate images the way I have been for LiA) and most other third-party editors can no longer publish to Blogger. And while WLW is a Microsoft product, it hasn’t been updated in three years and is largely orphaned at this point.
What we’re left with is two behemoths who needs to work together to fix this problem, with each of them giving it an extremely low priority. There’ve been some contradictory statements from Google about whether it will be fixed at all, but the latest word from them is that they do intend to try and restore the connection. If and when this will actually happen, however, is anyone’s guess.
Long-term, I have a few options. I can finally punt Blogger and migrate the site to WordPress, but that’s not the slam-dunk it sounds like. For one, I have many modifications I’d lose, and there’s the question of Adsense and the like. For another, the same change that killed WLW has also killed the Blogger import function in WP, which makes migrating a blog much, much harder. Alternatively, I can try and find another solution for images – hosting them somewhere and linking directly in the posts, perhaps. There appears to be no other tool that can do what WLW does (I know, as I went through this when I bought a Mac) and most offline editors are now shut out of Blogger anyway.
For now, I’m basically using a duct tape approach and drastically reducing the number of screencaps I use, as this method is much more time-consuming. I’ll keep you posted as the situation changes, and I thank you for your patience.
ResoluteDreamer
May 29, 2015 at 10:51 pmhttp://www.winbeta.org/news/open-source-windows-live-writer-coming-soon
admin
May 30, 2015 at 4:15 amScott is our knight in shining armor, but he's tilting at windmills here. I'll believe it when I see it, but it's at least a thread of hope.
Nadavu
May 29, 2015 at 10:55 pmI hate it when things that worked perfectly well stop working because some corporation decides we should all get with the times.
But specifically, while captions definitely lively up the posts, do you really need so many of them? I wouldn't much care if you didn't have ~30 captions at the end of every review.
Zeta Zero
May 30, 2015 at 3:08 amWhy have so many screencaps anyway?
Rita
May 31, 2015 at 12:19 amProbably since Enzou takes a lot and I can understand that when it comes to good episodes. I might be one of the odd ducks out in that I do click through every single screenshot in the post and I do like what they add.
But considering this mess, yeah cutting down on the number is probably the best way to go until a more stable solution happens.
Smokex365
May 29, 2015 at 11:08 pmAs far as Adsense for WP goes, there's several plugins to use it inside WP, including an official Google plugin. The official Blogger import plugin for WP hasn't been updated in several months but there are several unofficial plugins as well.
From what I see of the site, the hardest thing to import would be the theme.
Earthling Zing
May 30, 2015 at 12:52 amThis is the only alternative I see that seems to be working.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/blogger-importer-extended/
Hopefully it does something at least ^^''
admin
May 30, 2015 at 4:16 amI'd heard that plugin tanked when the API changed. Is that not the case?
Earthling Zing
May 30, 2015 at 4:40 amThe discussion threads on the plugin seem to say it's working, although not for everyone unfortunately.
chikorita157
May 30, 2015 at 12:17 amIf you are considering WordPress, you will need to self host since WordPress.com does not allow you to place ads at all. However, adding Adsense ads to the theme is easy. Just create a child them and then make a modification on the child theme. For penimum themes like Genesis,you can simply use Genesis Simple Hooks to have it add the Adsense without having to create a child theme and create a hook.
But yes, I highly suggest migrating since Google might kill of Blogger in the future.
Zeroyuki92
May 30, 2015 at 6:06 amWell, I would like to add that I have absolutely no problem with very few screenshots. Just stick few very crucial screenshots to accompany paragraphs and that would be enough. If I want some image commenting fun, I would go to RC, not here. I come here for your writing, Enzo.
admin
May 30, 2015 at 6:25 amWell, thanks – but ideally, I would like to continue offering both. I'll figure out something for the long-term.
currycurry
June 2, 2015 at 8:06 amWoooo. Glad to see things have worked out for ya. 😀
Stöt
June 2, 2015 at 8:41 pmIs the linked screenshots in the posts supposed to be super tiny due to technical difficulties and thus temporary or what exactly?