That's right! TypePad! For free!
TypePad has made a lot of changes over the past year, but the one that's coming next will be the biggest of them all! SixApart is rolling out a whole new, free-of-charge level of TypePad service: TypePad Micro!
One of the coolest things that Micro users who are new to TypePad will discover is Chroma. Chroma is a theme that was released for Beta members in late October, and it will be included with TypePad Micro. Wondering why you shouldn't just stick to Blogger or the free vesion of WordPress? Well, Chroma is one good reason why:
This is the default Chroma banner screen. Chroma allows for super-simple banner switching, but it does a lot more than that. Note that the recommended size for the banner image is listed, right there in the upload panel. Note also that the image is small (300 x 225). This allows for greater flexibility in selecting an image to use -- it's easier to reduce an image than to enlarge one, and still keep the image's quality -- but to take the convenience just a little bit further, these dimensions exactly match the default dimension of images from my digital camera. This makes life much easier for bloggers who know photography better than they know image editing programs.
But wait! There's more!
When you upload a new banner image for your Chroma theme, three color schemes are automagically selected for you! This takes any and all guesswork out of working with CSS and hexadecimal codes, but, if you're so inclined, you can still tweak the CSS to your heart's desire!
If you've actually looked at this blog, and looked at the image above, then compared the two, you can see that the color scheme I'm using isn't among the options presented for my banner image. CSS, of course, blows color-scheme options wide open, but there's actually a way for the less technically-inclined to get the colors they want:
When you upload a banner image that includes the colors you want in your scheme, click the scheme that you want, then click save. Then upload the image that you actually want to use on your blog, and your previously-chosen scheme, the "existing color scheme", will be presented as an option, along with the three newly-generated schemes.
Easy-peasy, no?
And if Chroma doesn't convince you to give TypePad Micro a try, here are a few more reasons:
- Reblog. A brand new feature for TypePad. This allows other bloggers to quickly grab your content and re-post it on their blogs, with links back to your original posts.
- In addition to posting via the dashboard, you can post via e-mail, text messaging, or the Blog It bookmarklet.
- TypePad is socially-integrated, with optional automatic cross-posting to both Facebook and Twitter, and it's own in-house system that allows members to follow one another via the TypePad dashboard.
- A favoriting system that allows you to share posts with people who are following you on TypePad, or to have your posts shared by others.
- Unlike Twitter, TypePad Micro won't limit you to 140 characters, or to just text.
- Best of all, TypePad has one helluva support team who are passionate about the application, who are open to interaction with TypePad users, and who are reachable via the built-in help system, via Twitter, and via Get Satisfaction.
For more information on TypePad Micro, see Announcing TypePad Micro at Everything TypePad
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