Control Panel

Profile

Editing Your Author Profile

Your author profile holds information about yourself that you can choose to display on your site or not. Click the Control Panel tab to access your Control Panel area. Then click the Profile tab to enter your Author Profile setup.

Profile - Main Items

First name

Enter your first name.

Last name

Enter your last name.

Nickname

Enter your nickname (this can be anything you wish). If you enter a nickname, this will be displayed on your weblog instead of your first and last name, so if you do not wish to display your full name on your weblog, you should enter a nickname in this field. You can also Customize Your About Page so that it displays your nickname instead of your name.

Email Address

Enter your email address. The address should be entered as a single, plain email address such as you@example.com without extra characters. This email will be used for messages from the system such as password recovery, account billing issues and support request notifies. It will also display on your weblog if you choose to show your email address on your site. (If you choose to display your email address on your About Page or your weblog sidebar, your address will be automatically encoded for protection against most spam harvesters. However, if you are concerned about privacy, keep in mind that the most surefire way to protect against spam harvesters is to never display your email address at all.) If you change your email address in this field, you will need to verify the change that you made to your email address. An email message will be sent to the new address that you specified, including a link back to TypePad for you to verify your email address change. Once you've followed that link, your profile will be updated. Use the Publish button on the Design tab to republish your site and update it with the new information.

Web Address (URL)

Enter the URL of your home page.

Country

Choose your country from the drop-down menu.

Zip/Postal Code

Enter your postal code.

Language

Select your language.

Time zone

Select your time zone. The time zone selection options come from the Olson database, a detailed database of timezones and their offsets from UTC (Universal Time Coordinated, also known as GMT, Greenwich Mean Time).

The city you live in will not necessarily be listed in the selection menu, in which case you should choose the city nearest you from the list. For more information on time zones and the Olson database, see:

http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm

Your Photograph

You can upload a photo or image to display on your weblog sidebar or About Page. This should be a .jpg, .gif, or .png file. Click the browse button to browse for the image file on your computer, then click the "Update Author Profile" button to upload the photo. Photos larger than 150 pixels wide will automatically be resized to this width.

Profile - Contact Information

AIM Name

If you use AOL Instant messenger, you can enter your AOL user name to display on your site.

http://www.aim.com

ICQ Number

If you use ICQ messenger, you can enter your ICQ user name to display on your site.

http://www.icq.com

Yahoo! ID

If you use Yahoo! messenger, you can enter your Yahoo! user name to display on your site.

http://messenger.yahoo.com

MSN Messenger

If you use MSN Messenger, you can enter your MSN user name to display on your site.

http://messenger.msn.com

Profile - Miscellaneous Information

Amazon Associates ID

When posting to a Reading and Music TypeList, the items link to an Amazon product page about that item. You can earn money or Amazon credit for items purchased through your website.

To do so, you must be a part of the Amazon Associates program and have an Associates ID. If you do not already have an Amazon Associates ID, you can learn more about and join (it’s free) the program here:

http://associates.amazon.com

Then, when you’ve got your ID, paste it in your author profile. All items you post to your Reading and Music TypeLists will contain your special ID and you’ll begin earning as users click through and buy.

Local vendor

Here you can set the vendor to use for your Amazon links. Select from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, or Amazon.co.jp.

If your local version of Amazon is not listed in that menu, that means that Amazon doesn’t offer Web Services for your country.

Amazon Wishlist ID

Display a link to your Amazon Wishlist.

To find your Amazon wishlist ID, you’ll need to first go to the Amazon.com web site. The tricky part is that you must search for your wish list, not just click on the Wish List link at the top of the Amazon page. Use the Wish List Search box on Amazon’s web site to search for your wish list, and when you’ve found it, look for the list’s 13 character ID in the web page’s URL. (It appears after the /registry/ string).

For example, the wishlist ID would be 3UD5PH9EY2UCY in the following URL:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html/002-5508448-
6436809?%5Fencoding=UTF8&id=3UD5PH9EY2UCY

Profile - About Yourself

Your Interests

What are your hobbies? Interests? Favorite authors, movies, sports? List them here and separate each item with a comma.

Your One-Line Biography

Describe yourself in one sentence. Your One-Line Biography will show when another TypePad member adds you to his/her People list, and it is also used in your FOAF feed (see below).

Your Extended Biography

Enter the full biography that you’d like to appear on your About page. Note: HTML can be used in this area.

Press the “Update Author Profile” button at the bottom of the page to save your settings after making changes to your profile.

FOAF: Friend of a Friend

Your FOAF file is generated automatically, and is located at:

http://example.typepad.com/foaf.rdf

The people you have listed in your People TypeList (see TypeLists for more information) are listed as friends in your FOAF feed. Your One-Line Biography is also included.

More information on FOAF

FOAF project

http://www.foaf-project.org

FOAF Explorer

http://xml.mfd-consult.dk/foaf/explorer/

FOAF FAQ

http://www.rdfweb.org/topic/FAQ

PLINK (People Link)

http://beta.plink.org/

[top]

Changing Your TypePad Password

Your TypePad Password is the password that you use to log into TypePad. This is set when you sign up and can be changed at any time.

It is a good idea to change your password every once in a while and pick a password that nobody will be able to guess. Use a combination of letters and numbers for a better password.

Click the Control Panel tab to access your Control Panel area. Then click the Profile tab to enter your Author Profile setup. Here you can change your TypePad password in the Password Settings section.

Enter a new password: type your new password once in the first box and again in the second box to confirm. The password you enter will be automatically masked by asterisks *** so it cannot be viewed on the screen.

Then press the “Update Author Profile” button at the bottom of the page. Your new password takes effect immediately. You will now use your new password when logging into the system.

Hint Question

If you would ever forget your user name or password and later want to retrieve it by Recovering Your TypePad Password, you will be asked a question to verify your identity. If your response matches the answer, you will able to recover your login information.

The hint question asks for Mother’s Maiden Name or Birthplace but you can enter anything you would like for the answer. Select a prompt from the choices listed, then enter your answer in the adjacent text field.

Press the “Update Author Profile” button at the bottom of the page to update your settings and you’ll now be able to recover your password with this answer later if needed.

[top]

Recovering Your TypePad Password

To recover your login information, click the “Forgot password?” link in the Current Member Login area on the TypePad home page:

https://www.typepad.com/

The Password Recovery popup window opens and prompts you for your information:

1 Enter your email address

Enter the email address for your TypePad account (this is the email address you have entered in your Author Profile). Then press the button to continue to Step 2.

2 Enter the answer to your hint question

Enter the answer to your secret hint (birthplace/mother’s maiden name), and click “Email Me My Password”. Your user name and password is sent to your email address immediately.

Note: You need to know the hint answer that is entered in your Author Profile to recover your login information. This hint question and answer is set when you signed up for TypePad, or set later when Changing Your TypePad Password.

If you are unable to log into the system, please use the TypePad contact form to contact us, and select “Login Problem” from the drop-down menu:

http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/contact

[top]

Customizing Your About Page

Your About Page is a special page to display information about yourself to let visitors know more about your interests, and the site. Your About Page is located at:

http://<your TypePad domain>.typepad.com/about.html

Or, if your weblog is hosted at blogs.com:

http://<your TypePad domain>.blogs.com/about.html

Or, if you have a domain mapped weblog:

http://<your custom domain>/about.html

Display a link in your weblog sidebar that goes to your About Page by selecting the “About Page Link” for display when Setting Your Content Selections.

To set up your About Page, click the Control Panel tab to access your Control Panel area. Click your Profile tab, then click the About Page link to open the About Page configuration area.

Preview your About Page by clicking the Preview button and a preview of your page will open in a new window. Click “Save and Publish” for any changes to be applied to your About Page.

Choosing the Content for Your About Page

Check the boxes for the items you would like to display on your About Page. The items are taken from your Author Profile, which are set while Editing Your Author Profile. You can choose to display your profile and biography information.

Consider what sort of content you feel comfortable allowing the general public to view. For example, if you do not wish to be contacted by email, do not include your email address.

Be extremely cautious when including personal information such as your location (other than a general area) or other forms of contact information. If in doubt, just omit any information, as you can always add it in later.

Displaying TypeLists on Your About Page

You can also check the boxes for the TypeLists that you would like to display on your About Page.

Display TypeLists that are on your weblog sidebar, or create new TypeLists for special use on your About Page.

Setting the Style for Your About Page

Use the “Choose a style for your About Page” drop-down menu to choose a style to apply to your About Page.

Customizing an Advanced About Page

(Advanced templates are available with Pro membership.)

Pro members have the option of selecting to use the About Page default template (as explained above) or using a custom About Page template.

With a custom About Page template, the HTML and Template Tags are entered in the text field in the About Page setup to create the design. Also see: User Tags

[top]

Configuring Your Mobile Settings

(Moblogging is available in all levels of TypePad.)

What is Moblogging?

Moblogging, short for Mobile Blogging, is the ability to add posts while not sitting at a computer. TypePad’s moblogging features let you send text messages or photos from portable devices which are automatically posted to the weblog or album you have specified.

You can try out moblogging with devices like portable phones, PDAs or digital cameras. Many mobile phones and mobile phone plans have internet capabilities. If your phone can send an email message, you can use TypePad’s moblogging functionality. You can also post to TypePad via regular email using mobile posting.

Configuring Your Mobile Settings

Click the Control Panel tab to access your Control Panel area, then click the Edit my mobile settings link in the Control Panel Shortcuts to enter your mobile settings:

1 Select your default posting settings

Designate a particular weblog and photo album that your photos and weblog posts are sent to by default. By selecting the defaults, you will not have to enter the weblog or photo album’s ID when sending a message.

2 Indicate the email address you will be using

Enter the email address you will be using for mobile posting. For example, your mobile phone or PDA’s email address. You can send from the email entered here, or the email address in your Author Profile.

3 Select how you would like the system to verify your messages

Choose a method for posting:

Secret Email Address

With this method, you will send your messages to a unique address that only you know.

Confirmation Messages

With this method, you will receive an email message after sending your photo or text post. Once you reply to this confirmation message from the address that your original message was sent from, your mobile post will appear on your site.

PGP Signatures

With this method, you will send a PGP signed message. This method only works with mail clients that support PGP signatures. (Most mobile phones do NOT support PGP signatures.)

Note: If you’re not sure what verification method to use, select “Secret Email Address”.

4 Press “Save”

Press the button to save your settings and you are now ready to post from your mobile device.

Posting From Your Mobile Device

Compose the message. If you send a file attachment with the message, this will be included with your post. Images will be displayed; for all other file types, a link to the file will be added so that your readers can download the file.

If you’re using the Secret Email Address verification method, send the message to your secret address. Otherwise, send the message to remote@typepad.com You may need to reply to confirm before your mobile post will show up.

Your message will appear on your site immediately after it is sent. Make sure to refresh the page in your browser when you view your site, in case your browser cached an older version of the page.

Posting to a Weblog Other than Your Default

The Mobile Settings screen allows you to set up TypePad to post photos or text messages automatically to a specific weblog or photo album.

If you’d like to post a specific message or photo to a different weblog, you can enter the weblog name in the Subject field of your message, separated from the post title with a colon (:). (Note: currently this only works for weblogs, not for photo albums.)

For example, a message with the following Subject would create a post called “New Post” to your weblog entitled “My Second Weblog”:

My Second Weblog: New Post

[top]

Copyright © 2003-2005 Six Apart