Today's Extended Complaint

Years ago, I was stupid enough to switch phone companies - or rather, carriers. I don't remember the exact reason for the switch. I'm sure it was to save all sorts of money. But one of the selling points (though not for me) was that this now long-since defunct carrier gave you a better, more detailed breakout of your monthly bill, compared to most other (still in business) carriers.

Well, when my first bill came, there was definitely more information - much, much more. This bill came in a 9x12 envelope, I think this was because there were so many papers, they couldn't fold them all and then stuff them in a regular sized envelope.

I quickly learned that much, much more information didn't mean better information. Much of the information was meaningless to me. And of the information that was semi-useful, well, it was so spread out, and then enlarged in scale, that it meant flipping through several pages to find what had previously been on one or two pages.

I'm reminded of this because Blogger is insisting on switching over to a new setup - one that, so far, I don't like.

Here's a picture of the old main page...

And here's a picture of the new main page...

No big deal, but why is everything so large? I had more information per page the way it was laid-out before. Maybe this will be more helpful as my eyesight inevitably gets worse. But like I said though, no big deal.

But now we move onto the stats page. This is where it begins to remind me of my old (meaning, "new") phone carrier.

Here's what the main stats page looked like before...

Nice and concise. All the "important" information (as these things go) is up front (assuming we care). See that little "More" link, just above the map and to the right of "Audience"? Click it and it brings you to this page...

Again, nice and concise. This tells me more than what I need to know - like, among other things, for this week, my biggest fan base (i.e. spammers) are centered in good ol' Turkmenistan - as opposed to some weeks, when they're from Belarus, or other weeks, when they've moved to Montenegro, etc, etc, etc. (I consider this a global following) - but if I were interested, at least it's all right there.

Anyway, now let's go to the new and improved Stats Page(s). It starts with this...

First of all, I don't need to know that the views for my latest post flat-lined up until June 17th - because I didn't even post it until June 18th. And secondly, I fully expect my post - any post - will flat-line immediately after I post it, and likely will remain that way- at least until Rachael or Ben happen by (Hi guys!). So thanks, but I  don't need the reminder of how (un)popular I am (which, I think, is my preferred status anyway) - let alone seeing my unpopularity in a handy, much-too-enlarged graph. 

But that's not all. Scroll down some more and you get this...

Scroll down a little more and you get a view of stats for "Pages" (which I don't use -therefore, no screenshot).

Now, on that last screenshot, see where it says, "More About This Blog"? Click on that link and you get this page...

I could have taken FOUR MORE screen shots of what's on this page (but I didn't). Near as I can tell, these, along with the previous screenshots, are not telling me anything that the original TWO pages were telling me in the old Blogger.

And that's just the start if it. What really sets me off is trying to embed a video.

Here's a short clip of a cute little girl seeing snow for the first time. I embedded this the old way...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yv-bTovwYFI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Do you like it? Of course you don't! It's only code!

I can't embed a video from YouTube in the same way I could before! Not only was it quick and easy before, but I could easily and consistently modify the size of the video to fit the ancient, obsolete layout of my blog. Now, with this new and improved version, I have to go up and click the "Insert Video" button, choose "YouTube" and then run a search for the video. Once I find it, assuming I find it, I can paste it in. How is this easier?

I realize that I'm complaining about something that's free. And maybe there are a lot of new features stuffed in here that I'll use and enjoy - someday. Maybe. And Maybe (probably) this is just me complaining about something just because it's new. We'll see.

Anyway, that's all I have to say... for now. If you made it this far, thank you for listening.

Oh... here's the video of the little girl in the snow. Pretty cute...