Friday, June 22, 2012

Taking a hiatus

First, let's all wish the hubby a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Like fine wine, he gets better with time! I know that's cheesy, but it's true, with time comes life experience and wisdom…and wine does taste good with cheese! We're going to our very favorite authentic Szechuan restaurant. Mmm....our favorite dish is the "husband and wife".

I've been giving blogging platforms a lot of thought lately. Even though Blogger has served me well, hosting my site for free (I had to pay for my own domain), I've had issues with it.

If you've been with expandng for a while, you'd have noticed that I've complained about Blogger's commenting system, switched to Disqus for a while, and then returned to Blogger's system because Disqus slowed down my site. Oi. The worst thing about Blogger's commenting system is not allowing me to respond to your comments via email because your email showed up as "noreply-comment@blogger.com" unless you jump on one leg, hold your nose, and change your "Blogger profile" so that "Show my email address" is checked.


Check the "Show my email address" box

And it won't actually show your email, just provides a link under your profile to the email address. You can even input an email that's not your personal email. Just one where you'd like to receive responses to any comments you've made on Blogger sites. If you need more details, Amanda at Royal Daughter Designs did a great post on linking your email to your Blogger profile (and great posts every Tuesday on blogging stuff!).


Your email address isn't shown, just a link to it. 
You can even change it to be something other than your personal email.

An easy way to access your Blogger profile, if you're not a Blogger blogger, is to click on the link on your name after you've made a comment. I still can't figure out Google+.


Click on the link on your name after you've made a comment to access your Blogger profile.

Anyways, I digress. My second beef with Blogger is the fact that if you violate their terms of use, which is rare, they can just take down your site. I read that on Amberr's blogging series at Like a Bump on a Log.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen some beautiful Blogger sites! Beautiful! But these two things bug me so much that I'm willing to shell-out $10/month to host my own site. And I'm choosing WordPress (sorry TypePad advocates!).

And that's the reason for my hiatus. I know I could probably migrate this blog to WordPress with no hitch while continuing to post, but I'd rather just focus on one thing at a time. Hope you'll be back when I'm back. If the hubby decides to post while I'm gone, great! And if anyone would like to guest post (I've got some feelers out there -- don't think I've forgotten you!), feel free to email me at lisachenng(at)gmail(dot)com.

Taking a hiatus! 
I'll still be reading your blogs, 
following you on Instagram, 
and Twitter too! 
Don't forget about us 
-- we will be back!
Have a great weekend!

Show some love. Leave a comment below and I'll definitely respond!
Feel free to leave critiques on my blog or photos!
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Originally posted at expandng.com - Taking a hiatus

25 comments:

  1. i like WP too but i prefer typepad because i'm free to customize my site the way i like it.

    good luck with the migration!!

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  2. i heard so many good things about wordpress..... but so scared to switch over... i have to learn more about it.

    i do agree with the fact that i can't communicate with some people because they didn't link their e-mails. this is helpful for people who were not sure what that meant. :)

    i'll surely miss during your hiatus, however, i know we will communicate in other ways. :)

    happy birthday to your hubby! your comment is not cheezy at all--it's endearing and heartwarming. :)

    have a great weekend to the ng fam!

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  3. Happy Birthday to your husband!
    I did the same thing, started on blogger and I still have one blog on it, my simple Sedona blog, I just post photos, it is perfect for that but I switched to Wordpress and love it and I took a break when I switched. I will wait for your return, can't wait to see the new blog :)

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  4. I use WordPress and I like it. I just haven't figured out all that you can do with it yet. Such a newbie! Anyway, will seeing your posts but looking forward to the new site! Good luck!

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  5. This makes me ridiculously happy! I am not Blogger's biggest fan. While I do love all things Google, I HATE the hoops you have to jump through to get a comment on blogger blogs!

    Good luck with the move over and looking forward to seeing you back with a shiny WordPress blog! I find hosted wordpress blogs a bit limiting, in terms of customisations and what nots, but if you're not after that, then woo!

    Hope you have a great weekend!

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  6. Great post Lisa! I can't figure out Google + either.. :/

    Thanks for linking to my blog - I appreciate it!

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  7. Yay - so excited for you to make this change. Hope you wind up liking the new platform as much as I do!!

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  8. I can totally understand your blogger woes. Didn't know about that violating the terms of use thing! Hopefully I'll stay on the safe side.

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  9. Happy Happy Friday~ Happy Happy Birthday Hubs~ Is there really a dish called the "husband and wife" .. and if so, what is it? Sounds interesting~ LoL

    What?? No more posts for awhile? =( Hope the hubs does some posts~ Would love to get his point of view on the Ng's!! Well, hope to see you back soon!! Have a great weekend!

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  10. I'll miss you! :) Have a great time with your hubby on his birthday!

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  11. I am really excited for you Lisa! I know so many bloggers who migrated from blogger to wordpress and are happy with the results. To be honest with you, I was thinking about it, but if I did...I'd lose a lot of readers because GFC is not supported by non-blogger platforms. I know wordpress also has SEO packages you can easily install, rather than having to insert metatags on blogger which I have ZERO idea how to do it! Good luck, I'll look forward to reading the first post of expandng on wordpress!

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  12. I love wordpress! There are so many plug ins that are great because it is so widely used, you can do all kinds of cool stuff. I'd say don't go with godaddy though. I had many problems with my site crashing on higher traffic days. It was very frustrating to have a good post, get RTs, good buzz and traffic as a result, only to have the site go down. The constant marketing and soliciting from them is also annoying.

    I also went with a paid theme in WP (Thesis) for more customization options and also security (paid themes provide regular updates).

    I'm on WP Engine now which is a bit expensive but worth it. If you want some other recommendations, I can send you the list a consultant gave me (he moved my site for me recently to my new host).

    Good luck mama! I'll miss ya on your hiatus.

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  13. Enjoy your time off....I can totally understand your frustration. I don't particular like Blogger, but am pretty satisfy with wordpress. I was thinking about going from wordpress.com to .org, but that might be a little too advance for me. LOL

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  14. i've been a WP girl from the get go. but i am self hosted (WP.org not WP.com) and use bluehost to host. i had a blogger acct briefly just for family blog and it would get blocked all the time for "strange activity", etc. SO annoying. the only scary thing about being self hosted is that when something goes wrong...you have to figure it out yourself or hire someone to do it for you. but bluehost has a great customer service live chat and if you get the right person, they are pretty helpful...even with WP questions (even though that isn't their job). well, enjoy your hiatus...and let me know how you like WP!

    xoxo, jenn
    the stylish housewife

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  15. yea blogger isn't the best but i like it. make sure to check out my $50 gift card giveaway :)

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  16. Good luck with the platform move! I've heard that WordPress is much more customizable and it seems like many bloggers have made that jump.

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  17. First of all, thanks a lot Lisa for those wonderful tips on the best light for better photography! I'm really a novice when it comes to cameras, and your tips were really helpful. Bessie indeed is a I'm your new follower! BTW, all the best for your move from Blogger to Wordpress. Do let me know if you get a new URL( I have no idea how it works, so technologically challenged!) so that I do not lose you!:))
    Love
    Juneli from Fashionably Yours

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  19. Some words are missing from the comment, so let me retype it, and this is my second attempt, deleted the other one!(This is why I call myself technologically challenged!)
    First of all, thanks a lot Lisa for those wonderful tips on the best light for better photography! I'm really a novice when it comes to cameras, and your tips were really helpful. Bessie indeed is a sweetheart! Needless to say that you have an amazing blog and I'm your new follower! BTW, all the best for your move from Blogger to Wordpress. Do let me know if you get a new URL( I have no idea how it works, so technologically challenged!) so that I do not lose you!:))
    Love
    Juneli from Fashionably Yours

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  20. Best of luck with the transition! Looking forward to seeing the new site and glad to know you will still be around on twitter!

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  21. will miss you during this hiatus! enjoy your time off! :)

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  22. Congrats on the move to wordpress! I moved and never regretted it! :)

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  23. Welcome to WP and enjoy your hiatus. I'm getting bigger and bigger and don't have time to blog. I finished work today so I hope next week I can back into it. I miss everyone! Well that is, unless the baby decides to arrive...

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  24. I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, but I am really happy with Wordpress, and I don't have plans on changing. So, Welcome to Wordpress! Yay! I'm so happy when other bloggers I like and follow are there, it's so much easier to see and comment.
    I somehow got lucky, since I've never blogged before, I just happened to come across WP before Blogger, and just never looked/needed to look further.

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  25. i use wordpress and i love it!! well my brother in law does most the backend site stuff and design for me though. i just write posts and contact him when there are issues, but yes, it has a lot more flexibility than blogger i hear! :)

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