New Blogger UI not fit for purpose

Google's new Blogger user interface is far from ready to warrant forcing it on users. It's intended to give a degree of consistency between use on a phone, tablet and PC, but its drop down menus are slow both to reveal and dismiss. The 'search label' function is time wastingly slow. Type in a word to add, it doesn't appear in the search box as you type, so you don't know if you have typed it correctly. It can take ten to twenty seconds to show up with a checklist of labels and/or option to create new one. And I don't have a slow internet connection. But there's worse to come.

Last night, I decided to complete the day's post on my phone before bed, having started the post on my Chromebook earlier. The draft showed up on my phone just fine, and I completed writing it, and then posted it without error messages. When I came to check out what I wrote on my Chromebook this morning, the post title showed up, but when I clicked on it, last night's partial draft showed up in the text editor and in preview, not the full version, written and posted last night. Evidently, the text posted from my phone had not sync'ed. I had enough phone signal for it to confirm posting, so what happened? Why did the posting not sync with the Chromebook app. This never happened with posting from the phone on the old user interface. I can only draw the conclusion that the slowness of the new version caused this.

If Google responds in its own defence by saying that the hew user interface doesn't work on seven year old Chromebook, how come every other Google app works just fine and hasn't let me down before? 

Office and other achievements

I woke up early, preoccupied with thoughts of batch invoice generation for the annual round of CBS RadioNet subscription renewals, due to go out this week. With no distractions and a clear sharp mind, I tackled the much unloved job methodically and by breakfast time I had the datasets and merge templates working, ready for action, and uploaded to the CBS office OneDrive account. A cheering achievement to start the day.

Then, I took the remains of the old desk for re-cycling. It was quite a job getting all the bulky pieces in the car. The large heavy desktop will have to go on a separate journey. I returned to Staples to acquire an extra storage unit to occupy an empty space in the corner behind the new desk, and some tidy trays for desk draws in which to keep all the small fiddly things that accumulate in drawers that you can't think what to do with. 

After a couple hours, two folding crates and a large ice cream carton of little bits all from the old desk, were assigned a new home. Bookshelves were rearranged, archive material rarely if ever consulted was stored out of sight, and accessible shelf space made for all the things I regularly use. The desk surface area is now too small to be a dumping ground, and can only be used for its proper purpose, to support the use of a computer workstation.

Now there's enough real room for a second chair and my office desk chair, and hardly any clutter on the floor. Quite an achievement. I can even open the window fully for the first time. It's crazy what you put up with when you are too busy to stop and think about your working conditions. I guess that spending much of this year away in clergy houses that aren't oversized, yet have good sized well equipped office workspaces, has made me less tolerant of the cramped environment I've put up with since retirement.

With everything looking neat and tidy, it was time to re-install Linux Mint. A flawless operation in its own right, with additional software installations (Chrome and Audacity) following achieved with ease. Once more, no recourse to the Home partition back-up was necessary, though when I'd finished I realise that backing up hadn't included the newly digitized sound files of the Sinatra dream concert. Nevertheless, these played back perfectly because the upgrade had gone immaculately according to plan. Bravo Linux Mint for being so beautifully consistent.

With domestic jobs done, I was able to spend a couple of hours in the office putting finishing touches to the invoicing process with a discussion on the inevitable anomalies with Ashley and Julie. Then home in time a cook a paella for supper, and relax. Wonderful to feel good enough and have the energy to get so much done, and so satisfying.