A minor upgrade was performed on the BlogHarbor system this evening. A number of bugs were fixed, and some features were added or enhanced.
Publicity Made Easier
The list of Sites to notify in the control panel has been replaced with a single checkbox labeled Publicize new posts. If selected, sites such as Technorati, Blo.gs, my.yahoo.com, Blogrolling, PubSub, weblogs.com will be automatically notified when your weblog is updated. BlogHarbor notifies these sites using blogging industry standard Ping notifications.
If you are a blogging service provider and would like to be added to the list of sites notified when our users update their blogs, please fill out this form. Your service will be evaluated and if approved, added to the notification list.
Enhanced Search Component
An enhanced search component has been added to the list of available components. By adding this component to your weblog layout, visitors to your blog can choose to search your blog or all weblogs in the Technorati weblog index. By selecting "All blogs", the Technorati weblog index will be searched and the search result set from the Technorati index for the keyword in question will be presented. This component is available as the Enhanced Search in your component list by accessing your weblog Control Panel and following this path: Settings & Security > Look & Feel > Layout.
Links to Technorati Cosmos
Blog owners can now enable the ability to see all inbound links to their weblog, regardless of their source.
Trackbacks are incoming references to your weblog which can only be sent by other weblogs, and not other types of traditional or non-blog websites. By enabling Post Cosmos, an additional link to the Technorati Cosmos will be shown in your articles next to Trackbacks and Permanent Links. When your readers click on the Cosmos link, they will be shown a page containing all links to your article.
Enable links to the Technorati Cosmos by accessing your weblog Control Panel and following this path: Settings & Security > Publishing Defaults > Advanced.
RSS Headline Component
A new type of component has been added enabling you to add RSS Headlines to the sidebar of your weblog. RSS Headlines appear on your weblog just like a Favorites list, but are dynamically updated: when your RSS source is updated, your weblog's sidebar will show the latest links.
Configure your RSS Headlines Components by accessing the control panel at Favorites > RSS Headline Components. All you need is the URL of an RSS feed (valid RSS v0.91, v1.0, v2.0 and ATOM v0.3 feeds are all accepted): enter the URL, a title for the feed, and specify the number of items you want shown in your sidebar. A new component will be created for you; now just go to your Layout (Look & Feel > Layout) and drag in your new component.
This component is a simpler version of the RSS to Javascript tool made available in January and is more integrated into the control panel. Please feel free to use either method to add RSS headlines to your BlogHarbor weblog.
Additional Bug Fixes and Enhancements
- Various additions have been made to the Account Profile pages
- Fixed a bug where email addresses were case-sensitive in valid "From:" fields for Moblogging (mobile blogging).
- In some places in the control panel, we were not using consistent terminology (i.e. Username vs. User ID or Nickname vs. Display Name) and have corrected these issues.
- Documented syntax for areas in the Control Panel where multiple email addresses can be entered.
- Blog owner is not notified of comments if that option is turned off.
- Fixed the Photo Album manager so that editing a photo does not change a custom sort order. You are now brought back to the proper location upon changing an existing photo.
- Fixed user info so that "friends info" only displays to friends and not public.
- Clarified import instructions on import/export blog page.
- Added scrollbar to file manager list of uploaded image files.
- Restricted users to creating categories only for areas that they are allowed to post articles to.
