Trying out the new TypePad micro feature. It certainly seems to share a lot of influences from Twitter, WordPress P2, Pownce, etc. but the biggest influence has to be Tumblr. The sidebar on the right certainly makes things more accessible for a first time user. The auto-capture of your Gravatar is pretty cool (since it did that, I don’t know if it grabs the Facebook image if you integrate with that first). However, I think the layout is still too busy (also it should be integrated to the blog page a la P2 and Twitter. Verdict: They should have stolen more shit from Tumblr. Other deal killers: They only allow image upload (instead of image by URL or via linked accounts), and don't automatically pull content in from your other sites (nor do they automattically push content out to other sites: all push is manual). No support (or non obvious support) for oEmbed. This is a frustrating experience for a content creator, especially if you like storing content on Flickr like yours truly. I love where they’re going with this, but the product falls short right now. I wish SixApart a lot of luck (but not too much luck, I do work for Automattic. ;-) )

Comments

[Rahul Ganjoo]

Hi Terry! Thanks for trying TypePad Micro and also for your feedback.

There are two ways to create content quickly with TypePad Micro :

1) Directly from your "dashboard" area and that's what you've used to publish the post above. Its' a light weight compose editor meant for you to quickly share what's on your mind and or readily accessible media.

2) For more advanced options, you can try the full featured compose editor - on the top right module (below "Manage my blogs"), hit "Compose" and you'll be taken to the fully featured compose editor where you can embed flickr images and do rich text formatting as you please. You'll see a bunch of editing features with this Compose editor.

Needless to say, as we get more feedback like this, the features on the "dashboard - compose" will also evolve. So thanks once again and I hope with option 2 you don't feel limited as regards your options to create content.

[Tychay]

I am aware of the ways of creating content since I work on WordPress. ;-)

I’m just saying that what you call the "Quick Compose" area of the Dashboard should be moved into the blog itself: This is how it is on WordPress P2, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. The placement you have it is confusing to a beginner.

As for the messyness of my content. I created it in Flickr (I figure that was sufficiently “neutral” markdown for content creation) and pulled it in from two places. I guess the image I tried to upload was too big or I must have missed a step. It missed the "two carriage returns = P tag" markdown.