SignUp form messed up

Somehow the form for the sign ups didn't convert over to the new system properly. That was a bit of a nasty surrprise...

I'm atill not sure why it was such a mess... but I suppose I should count myself lucky considering the AFTR server has over thirty four thousand (34,000) files that did convert flawlessly.

The form is back up and running perfectly now...

Meta Tags progress

Well, I've made progress on getting the meta tags into the blog header without wrecking it. It seems Blogger does support the description, but not the author and keywords meta tags. I suppose thats better then nothing...

The Description meta tag can be found under:

Settings -> Search Preferences

Now look at the top of the main part for Meta Tags -> Description

While this doesn't provide a full SEO suite, it does at least provide the most important elements needed for a proper search engine listing...

Got the blog going

Well, I have this thing up and running fairly well... Adding the AFTR widget was easier then I expected. I used the Add "HTML/Javascript" gadget with the code from the Widgets page for the 800 wide version. Its seems to fit well with the layout I've chosen.

Migrating from my custom software to Blogger wasn't as difficult as I expected, save one area - the meta tags. I have yet to get the meta tags for Title, Description, Author, and Keywords working without editing the template by hand and completely screwing it up. This one has been absolutely frustrating to no end. I've been building web sites for over ten years and given my level of frustration, I can only imagine what a true novice blogger feels. It really does open the door wide for WordPress, TypePad or some other platform.

I've read several ways to add the meta tags by hand, but I really don't want to go that way as it can be a real pain and seriouly limits the use of templates. Going the manual way means adding the meta tags back in every time changes are made to the layout. Thats just not a good way to go, especially for beginners. One would have thought that Google would have used the proper metrics since they are a search engine. In all honesty, it seems Google is self defeating its own system.

In the interim, I've programmed the AFTR spider to pull the meta data from a blog's RSS. While its not the best way to go, its significantly better then trying to figure out Blogger's crazy mechanics. I personally am not interested in becoming an expert in "Blogger Babble" and its probably safe to assume neither are most of Blogger's users....

A new beginning

I know that is a strange title for my dedicated readers, but one that really is accurate for this situation.  The best way to explain this is that "Along for a Ride!" (AFTR) is now on a brand new super high powered server.  Its hard to believe that AFTR has actually grown that much.

How it has grown and changed over the last four years is amazing. What started out as an experiment in in developing a different type of traffic system has grown into a full traffic system and a complete web directory with a new and innovative approach to getting traffic to blogs.

With the new and more powerful server being a "new" beginning for AFTR, I decided the AFTR blog needed a new beginning as well.  As many of you know, I wrote my own blogging software.  While it has working incredibly well. there is one major disadvantage - it leaves me unable to help people with "simple" questions on Blogger, Wordpress, and other common blogging platforms.

Blogger seems to be one of the more popular free blogging platforms that easy to learn and use, so I start here.  I figure the best way to help AFTR members and prospective new members is to experience all the issues as a "new" blogger myself by learning as I go.

So, here I am...  Learning how to use Blogger from scratch.  So far, its been interesting and easy enough...  with the very simple changes I've made. We'll see how well I do when I try to add the AFTR widget and my other widgets and advertising to this blog.

Without any further adieu, welcome to the new AFTR blog.... GOD help me with this crazy thing....