We all know it’s a time of change and it seems that blogs are not immune. WordPress have discontinued their old classic editor as a way of writing the blog and so I’m having to adapt to a new way. That may not sound like a big deal … but believe me it is.
I had a similar experience at the beginning of the Covid Lockdown back in March in my work as a freelance book editor. For years I’d been editing on-screen: books were sent via email, I edited them in Word using Track Changes, and then sent the finished work back by email. But … proofs had still come the old-fashioned way in the post; as often thick and heavy parcels of paper pages, which I corrected, Dickensian style, with my blue and red pens. I once had a grumpy postman complain about delivering such a heavy parcel; I had some sympathy as I had to carry said parcel to the post office when I’d finished.
With Covid and everyone working from home, hard copies of the proofs were no longer possible; no one was in the office to print them out and get them in the post. So they too started coming via email … in Adobe Reader form. Proofreading in Adobe was a whole new ball game. A new ‘language’ had to be learnt to mark up the corrections; add queries. The first time I did it the in-house editor I was working with was as confused as I was but we stumbled on. When I’d finished, I emailed them back. They arrived minus all my corrections! Panic! Hours and hours of work lost? Eventually I worked out the problem and sent them again. Now I find working in this way so much better than the old way; now I’ve mastered how to do it. I’m very much hoping my WordPress experience will be as positive … but I’m still working on it; still to be convinced.
Meanwhile, a new way of working made me think it had to be time for a new look too, so that’s why regular readers will notice something very different going on. I’m still working on getting my head around using my new WordPress Theme; this is made more difficult by their ‘block’ system hiding nearly everything and you have to literally click into a vacuum space to find stuff. It makes Adobe seems like kids’ stuff. But much as I knew I had to get my head around Adobe if I wanted to carry on working, I’ll have to get my head around WordPress’s changes if I want to carry on blogging. So on we go …
I hope you like my new look. Content has had to change a bit while our options for travel and eating out are restricted, but essentially Travel Gourmet blog will stay much as it’s always been. But a new look needed a new main photo to head it. In this respect the new theme is better. The old one had such a narrow space for the header photo I needed to take panoramic-style photos but the new one can take a wider and deeper photo. So … at last … and I had been thinking about changing the photo for sometime … there is a new photo. I always try to think of something that conveys both travel and food. This ‘new’ photo is one I took last year in Turin; a glorious sunny March day and warm enough to sit outside at lunchtime … and where a drink is always accompanied by the most wonderful ‘nibbles’. How I long to be back there and hopefully it won’t be too long …
Thank you to all my loyal followers – some of many years – because without the feedback and seeing many people (currently about 300) read it each day, then I’d have no incentive to carry on. But I love writing it and I hope you love reading it!
Loving the new look Kay and well done for embracing the change 😘
Thank you! xx
Your lovely shot of an alfresco aperitvo gives me hope for future travels.
Thank you. I chose it because it looks sunny and hopeful 😀
There are some things about the new look that are indeed better (though I’m still dragging my feet). There are some things I miss. For instance 1) I can’t see text color changes unless I open Preview. An unnecessary step! Worse of all is the section for putting autoposts out to the future. I have to go look “manually” to see if I already had a recipe scheduling for posting that date. Annoying to the EXTREME.
I agree. There’s a lot that’s annoying and suggests just geek being clever rather than practical use. Fingers crossed no further major change for a long time!
Change is difficult for most of us, so when I saw the announcement that they had change our word press I made the effort to go in to it with a positive attitude. However, it still was difficult for me, I prefer the old way, it just seemed easier for me. So, it is good to hear that I am not alone on managing this new style, Lyn
I like the way my new theme is looking but the writing is still a bit of a nightmare and I don’t like the block system at all. Hopefully we’ll get used to it. I do enjoy reading your blog!
I really like the choice of Turin for the new homepage 😇
One of my very favourite places 😀
I use WordPress. If I’m not mistaken, I use it in the old-fashioned format, not with the jet pack block option. I tried it once and it scared me! If I’m right, can you get back to the other original set up? Love the new look, however.
Thanks Mimi. I’m glad you like it! I was using the old old (non block) editor which I accessed via Admin and that’s been discontinued so I’m now using Classic Block Editor rather than the jet pack, which I also find far too much trouble and truly awful to use. Hopefully they won’t change things again too quickly!
I definitely love reading your posts and your take on travel and ‘life’, your philosophy. There is something very soothing about your persona; even when you are indignant or angry you don’t fly off the handle thus driving the point home much more efficaciously. And then there is your love for people of all ages, and for scenery and for sheer enjoyment of the simple and not-so-simple pleasures of life. Well done for tackling wordpress changes with such aplomb … me? I am still miffed. One ought to be given the choice (since we pay for the service). Anyway, brava you!!!
Thank you so much, Jo, for such kind comments. I love reading your blog too. I’m still a bit miffed with the WordPress change as it’s a bit of a pain compared to the old but I’m hoping to get used to it in time. X
The trials and tribulations of 2020, this is a year that none of us will ever forget for so many reasons. I love your new theme, which one are you using? On October 1st, my blog was automatically switched over to the new block editor…very surprising even though they had been warning us about the change. Writing isn’t so bad but putting photo galleries in a post is very trying to say the least. A big work in progress for me as well so we can all sympathize with you Kay. I would say you are handling it all very well from what I see from this end. 😊
Thank you, Karen. I’m using Rosalie and I think the same as yours which I liked the look of so it inspired me to make the change. I did complain to WordPress that this wasn’t a good time to give people extra stress with such a big change. We all have enough stress from the pandemic. I have to say they’re very helpful and friendly though and suggested I download the Classic Block Editor (I’d been using a very old, non block editor) and that’s certainly easier than their newest. I guess we’ll get used to it all … but in my worst moments I think, blogging is supposed to be fun!!