So here it is, a work in progress.

I was one of the lucky few (or, more likely, more than a few) chosen to test out the new features of TypePad, Mena & Ben’s brilliant new Blogger-esque brainchild. Basically, you’ve got all the functionality of Movable Type (which I currently use for my content management and website publishing) plus a whole lot more intuitive, great options and design help for neophytes like me. They also host the site, which rocks the Casbah for many (though I don’t know if I need it for my site, but we’ll see.) Anyhoo, it’s been fabulous thus far and, as a result, I’m in the process of redesigning, tweaking it, and making it everything that I want it to be. Because, trust me when I say this, the functionality available is pretty stellar.

For those of you who have NO idea what I’m talking about, here’s a little tutorial on blogs.

The word “blog” is actually a shortened version of Weblog, a category in which my site apparently falls. I was initially hesitant about adopting this terminology, especially about my site, because many blogs out there deviate from mine quite significantly, the most obvious difference being that they post short, stream-of-consciousness entries that are much more frequent than mine. But over the past few months, as I have read others’ sites and saw that each one, at its nature, is extremely personal in both content and form and style, I’m happy to refer to my site as a blog. As MY blog, that is.

So I’ve got a blog. It’s got articles on it. And though I do know HTML, I use this fabu program called Movable Type (developed by Ben & Mena Trott, who, along with the Shellens who now technically work for my company – are my Überheros) to publish my site. Basically, it is a web interface – a web-based form for you technophobes – where you type in what you want to say, a title, can do a little bit of editing and voila! Your site is published for the world to see. The main difference right now between Blogger & Movable Type, the two most popular Blogging tools, is that Movable Type is held on YOUR webserver and Blogger is a common server and program. Both have their pros and cons; MT was so difficult to install when I did it last year that I had to pay someone (Ben Trott) to do it for me because, say it with me, “Aubrey Don’t Know Jack About Coding.” Sad but true, and I am getting better. However, because it is on your server, as long as your server is working and you keep current with updates and releases, you’re golden. Blogger, on the other hand, provides an interface much better suited for neophytes like me. You define a few fields, push a few buttons, and within 5 minutes, you’ve got yourselves your very own blog. It also offers two options; if you have a server and a domain name (such as http://www.aubreysabala.com) you can publish to your own site and keep your own address. However, if you don’t, you can use their system (the names are “whatevernameyouwant.blogspot.com”) which is good for the serverless few. However, as with any centralized system, it inadvertantly goes down now and again, leaving the masses without comments or some functionality they need and sending some people to the land of irkdom.

I chose MT because my favorite site at the time, Dooce, used it and I loved the look of hers as well as the functionality. However, I don’t have my Adorable Bearded Soon-to-be-Father & Husband, who is a coding genius, nor do I have the design skills of Dooce so my site has proven to be easy, functional, and – sadly – a bit bland.

I want pizzaz. I want fabulous comments. I want to be able to change the look of my site without having to learn about Cascading stylesheets (CSS) because, quite frankly, I don’t even have the time or energy to BEGIN to think about doing it.

And thus this test program. Lelia can attest to the fact that I did a full-out happy dance at the beach when I saw that I was picked to test the site, and it’s been a fabulous procrastination option as I’m already overworked here at work and only got 3 hours of sleep last night for reasons I’ll keep to myself. I’ve sufficiently played around with this fabulatastic program and while it’s not exactly where I want it to be, it’s pretty darned close. (Or, with a few more late nights, it will be.)

And so I beseech you – post a comment. Play around. And let me know what you think about the design, the look, the functionality, because – trust me when I say this – Blogs are here to stay.

(You know you loved the cheezy ending of this entry. Admit it.)