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Features I wish were on Active Rain...

There are a few features I wish Active Rain would adopt... I love them on my WordPress blogs, and would like to see them implemented here as well.

Scheduled Posting. This is one of my favorite features on WordPress, and it is on many other platforms as well. When I took a vacation a couple of weeks ago, my WordPress blogs soldiered on, posts coming out as scheduled. It would even be cooler (on WP) if I could schedule a change to the post, but that is a whole different thing.
Zemanta, Apture, PhotoDropper. These are all different, but do similar things. I have all three on a couple of my blogs and use them for different purposes. Each of these includes a component to grab images from Flickr or other sites. On PhotoDropper, you can specify that you only want images that can be used commercially. On Zemanta, you can see the license on most of the images. Apture supports its own gallery as well as video galleries. Zemanta will let you pull in related content from your own blog and other blogs.
Semi-Automated Related Content. It would be really cool to have a list of posts with related content on the bottom of each post. We have the tag feature, but I think it would be WAY more effective at making sites sticky if there were titles of posts listed under given posts.

Active Rain is a fantastic blogging platform. I love the platform, as well as my fellow bloggers. The Active Rain staff that I have met and/or interacted with have all been great. But like any product... it could be a little better.

That's my nickel. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I'd love to hear from you...

Posted by Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy on 02/09/2010 05:02 PM

Comments (85)

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85 Comments on Features I wish were on Active Rain...

FEB

2010

Great idea Lane! Our wish list of sorts.

A little akin to yours, I'd like a list of our past blogs with their URLS so we could link to them within posts without having to have many windows opened.
A list of featured posts by a member - without having to go through all their posts!
Want to be able to uploading a video like on FB where we just enter the link.

I'll be back - I'm sure I'll think of more

What a great idea! Consider this flagged!

Lane, I would also like to see a better WYSIWYG editor that would include fonts, font sizes, and colors. I've tried scribefire but can't get it to work.

Lane - I like all of these ideas, too. Good stuff, man!

Well you are featured, so they must be considering these idea. I love my Wordpress blog and it's features.

I would love a better WYSIWYG editor, as well as the ability to schedule posts. I'd also like to be able to save drafts so I can come back and work on them later. Oh, and better servers so there are no more eaten posts. Like Lee and Pamela said, I'm sure there's more that I'll think of later!

Stacie (@augustagaliving)

Augusta GA Real Estate

Lane my website is a wordpress site -- there are so many widgets that make wordpress so functional -- I agree

Great ideas, you have my thumbs up. Hope AR HQ is reading.

Lane,

Good choices. Add a bookmark organizer for me too.

Rich

Lane...

I think that more content-enriching features would be great! Anything that makes AR better get a thumbs-up from me!

Active Rain is a great place, but there is always room for improvement. Good luck to the developers--I think they have a new assignment!

Those all sound like remarkably wonderful ideas...but more simply

how about "share this", in the event we want to share a particular post of our own on our other blogs, facebook, etc.

I am certainly not a highly skilled social media guru, but "share this" seems like it would be helpful?

Stacie, You can save in draft mode and come back to work on it... I do that all of the time. Also great for saving a "draft" with just an idea for a blog so I don't lose the idea.

The font size, color, etc would be great in the wysiwyg editor... but you know what, I am soooo happy with the google juice here, the staff and the connectivity with other real estate related bloggers that I don't mind it not having features that other platforms do... I feel like it has what is REALLY important and I'm happy... not leaving.

Lane, Do you post some of the same posts on both platforms? I've tried keeping 2 blogs going with totally different posts, and I REALLY do not have time (not a cop out...l it just takes me a while to write a post)

Nice thoughts and maybe AR will implement some of your requests.

Hi Lane - I'd like to see the tag list or a tag cloud back in the sidebars. Right now we can only see our own. So if I wanted to find all posts you wrote about WordPress, I would first have to find one in your archives, then hope you tagged it with WordPress, etc. Or maybe we could have Categories; it's possible on our outside blogs and would be a nice enhancement in the Rain.

I always liked the auto post option.

I always wanted to add the "Post to Twitter" (option) check box for each post.

I'm not sure I'm with you on the "semi-automated related content" since you could "auto" compete with local similar content blog posts, and that would really kill the marketing goals!! Especially if one person is always successfully using keywords effectively.

Thanks for your post. I am a newbie to ActiveRain but definitely would like the WYSIWYG to offer fonts and more goodies. Agree with most.

Hi Lane ~ Some great ideas here. I particularly like the one on scheduling posts. I also agree with the comments about the editor. I use Scribefire, so it's not so much of an issue for me, but I hate the fact that the html and WYSIWYG editors are not connected.

Denise

This is a great idea and I agree with you about the option with wordpress regarding changing dates of a post. I would like an active rain app for my phone tho!

Lane,

I love the scheduled posts idea. Obviously some days vary on time available and it would be nice to organize and plan a week.

All the best, Michelle

Scheduling posts would be cool. MOst people are on AR first thing in the morning and then in the evening, and I would possibly stop posting my early afternoon blogs that don't get much attention.

Yes to the scheduling - that just makes so much sense for our industry.

Semi-Automated Related Content. This would be really good.

Scheduled posts....LOVE this idea....I can do this with my tweets using hootsuite....to be able to do this with my blog posts would be beyond AWESOME!

Ditto on #2 above! I can't get scribefire to work either with WYSIWYG!

I think you are thinking the big picture - I haven't heard of the photo programs so I will add them to my list of things to explore and definitely, I love the scheduled posting stuff.

Scheduling posts and making it simpler to change fonts, colors, wrap text around photos, etc. would sure help me.

As well as a "Post to Twitter" how about a "Post to your FB Fan Page"?

Scheduling posts seems like its not too much of a hassle to do manually. More features to customize blogs would be greatly appreciated, it all comes down to how much money people are willing to spend to get them.

Lane, the auto post option is a great idea - and expanded fonts and colors for WYSIWYG. Plus, I would really like an easier way to find even my own posts other than having to click back through Statistics.

Geez, i wish I knew what an auto post is, and why it would be helpful!!!

What did the cowboy say?

I wish that I didn't have to edit my own words to make them legible every time I comment or blog.

Cool name by the way, only great Lanes think alike!

Lane - I especially like the idea of scheduling posts - I use this all the time on Wordpress. It has been suggested here a couple of times but no progress that I am aware of. Of course your can write draft articles, BUT you still have to go back in and make them go live.

Jeff

Generally speaking, it's always a ggod idea to keep learning new way to do things. TPTB would be foolish not to pay attention. Thanks, Lane.

Howdy and Evenen Lane

You sure do have fine ideas there, right now I'd like for AR to get the bugs that they have, worked out before they add anything new to the community. Another thing they really need to do, is delete all the fake profiles that are in the community. But they don't want to do that, because it would take away from what they are showing for their membership. I know of over 6000 profiles that are in the community, that are not real.

Baker Home Energy Audit and Commercial Properties Inspections

I'd also like to see a better editor. Word Press and Blogger are a little easier to manage.

Hi Lane -- I totally agree. While some of what you said I am not familiar with, I do wish this platform would mature more quickly in terms of core features. I don't see any kind of excitement or communication from AR on major improvements -- this is something most vendors do to create anticipation, etc.

Scheduled blog post.... Hmmmm. This could be a great tool. Like you say, if you are away, your post continue to march on.

Would LOVE to be able to schedule blog posts! And the WYSIWYG needs an upgrade! A Share this button is a good suggestion too! :)

Let's see if they're listening!

Lane,

Scheduled posting would be grand, no question. AR has been pretty good about bringing on new features, so that might be just around the corner.

Lane - I don't see any staff comments but you are featured so I am sure they are looking at these ideas at least ... I like the idea that you could continue to post while on vacation with out having to dig out the the toys every day

Lane, some really good ideas and others have posted some good ones as well. I like the ability to schedule posts as I am still working on being more consistent on mine and that would be a big help.

Great ideas Lane, I too use Zemanta and like the related post idea. Also like the scheduled posting for when traveling or on vacation, for that, I have been putting the posts in draft mode till the day they need to launch, automated would be nice though. I'll put in a good word for your requests. Have a great week! :-)

Those are good ideas Lane. I have a Wordpress site and like it, but I'm sure I'm not using it to it's full potential.

FEB

2010

Aw....I'm just figuring out what's already here! I do like the notion of auto-posting, though. BTW, I want to publicly thank AR top brass (that would be Brad, #41) for spending time with me on the phone today...to help me iron out a few issues I was having. AR is fantastic.

From the desk of David Dee,

Lane, great suggestions! Scheduled blog posts would be a nice feature.

I love ActiveRain. Hopefully you thoughts and advice would benefit this site. There is always a need for improvement with any platform.

Lane you make a great case!!! I hope the powers that be at AR are reading and thinking and perhaps agreeing???

Great post with great ideas. Been working just about the same since the site started. During this time blogging has exploded over the net and the features you mention I hope could be incorporated. i would also love to post from Live Blog writer

What is the GarageHomes site about? My Dad builds garages in Southern Maryland so it just caught my eye. Those three products just made my to do list. How many blogs do you have and what is the separate function of each one?

Lane, what is the Garage website onthe right? My Dad builds garages in Southern Maryland so it caught my eye. I want to check the three products you mentioned above. How many blogs do you have and what is the separate funtion of each one?

I would like to see a better more user friendly wysiwyg editor. The ability to change font, size, color, etc would be great also.

Maybe they are listening and you will get your wish. . excellent suggestions!

Great list Lane! My one off the wall request...I'd like a little window to pop up when you hover over a group name in the selection list, giving the basic "rules" of the group. I'd like to step out of my comfort zone and post to different groups but don't have time to commit the specific rules for each to memory or go back and check them every time so my post doesn't get kicked to the curb! In a perfect world...I'm just sayin'...

Lane, these are all great ideas. Another one I had the other day was to have a feature that's there on Facebook -- when someone comments on your post, there could be a little pop-up in the bottom right hand corner that says "so and so commented on your post." What do you think?

Those of us who are hooked on Active Rain , all agree.

I think it would be nice to have the ability to email a post to someone from your blog. Great marketing opportunity missed.

Scheduled posting would be cool Lane. I'm sure AR will adopt that into the future, as many other platforms already have.

Scheduling posts and Apture are great ideas. I, too, have not been able to get Scrubfire to work!

Lane you make a great case as a person new to blogging, I like your suggestions here but also will start using the tools you recommended.

Scheduling posts is my favorite from your wish list. Like Lori, I haven't been able to get scribefire to work and would love to be able to have some of those features built into the AR editor. Love some of the other suggestions in the comments. Hope the AR gods are listening.

Sounds like some wonderful ideas. Wonder if we'd have "drive times" with scheduled posts causing traffic jams with everyone wanting their posts to hit at the same time...?

Lane - I thought the same thing myself. Why not allow Zemanta?!

Lane, great ideas. I'll definately check them out.

I have used Google's Blogspot for my main blogging posts for years. I can't fathom why the Active Rain folks can't allow us to toggle back and forth between WYSIWYG and HTML mode and link the two. I do that all the time in Blogspot. It also has the delayed post feature and I'm sure it has other things that I just don't use.

Trying to get stuff to look right on ActiveRain is such a pain that I've started doing it first on Blogspot and then just copy the HTML code over to here. The need to learn obscure HTML coding so that you can get stuff to look the way you want it is archaic. I've been doing my own web sites since the late 1990's. I had to learn how to hand-code stuff way back then, but I have modern Web design tools now that allow me to work much more productively at a higher level than HTML coding.

It's what you have to say, not how hard yo have to work to get it to look right that is important. If it gives you a personal sense of accomplishment to hand-code HTML, more power to you;but it is a big waste of time and effort on something that really adds no significant content to what it is you're trying to post.

I would be thrilled to be able to schedule posts. It would be a great tool so that we could take long weekends and vacations! I have never used a photodropper tool, but it sounds like something that I ought to look into after commenting here.

Hi,

Andraz from Zemanta here.

Since there is user demand, we'd be thrilled to work with activerain to make Zemanta available on the platform. If interested, let us know at info@zemanta.com

bye

Andraz Tori, CTO at Zemanta

I will be starting with Wordpress in March. I am excited about it and may bug you for some advise.

Lane, great ideas, especially the one on scheduled posting. As Brad mentioned, saving them in draft mode is the next best thing, but perhaps AR will add some improvements over the next few months.

I agree with the post that said that Activerain needs to fix the issues that we all are experiencing now before we add to the list.

When you wish upon a star....hee hee....

Lane,

Good suggestions.

Hi Lane, The ability to schedule posts would be so cool.

I am with the majority of posters, I see, in that scheduling would be a neat tool. AR Gods?

Great ideas. A better managed home page would be great too.

Thanks for the good post today. Sounds good to me.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Very good requests, but I too would like a better editing selection so I can change text size, color, etc. Its such a simple request I wonder what is limiting AR from offering it?

Lane, I too love Wordpress and wish a lot of things were more "up to date" on AR blog. But your suggestions are good, positive ones so thanks for shining a light on this issue. All improvements are greatly appreciated.

Wow. Thank you all for the comments...

I have been reading, and Brad is reading. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other staff are reading...

FEB

2010

The thing that I would love to change most on Active Rain would be the fact that you lose any changes you've made to your post when you switch from WYSIWYG to html or vice versa. You have to save the post in edit and then go back into it to switch from one to the other instead of having it save automatically. That can take some time.

Thanks to this post, I check out Zemanta, Apture, PhotoDropper. I quickly deactivated Zemanta and Apture, but kept PhotoDropper.

Scheduled posting would be HUGE! There are times of day your post will immediately disappear because of the volume of posts.

I'd love to be able to schedule posts as well. Also, a more robust WYSIWYG editor would be greatly appreciated.

FEB

2010

Scheduling posts would be quite handy. No need to worry about missing frequency!

We love Active Rain & promote it all the time BUT like others , we have suggestions...

The WYSIWYG thing is on top of the list. Even cheap or free programs let you change fonts, colors, & sizes - so why does AR require you to use an editor to do these basic things? The Scribewriter software is ok but you need to use Firefox. No big deal, but if you use IE on a regular basis & often go into AR to post as we do, it is a pain in the neck to have to remember to switch.

Active Rain is a great service but there are definitely some changes that would be pretty nice!

Lately, the number of proxy errors & bad gateway errors is out of control. What's up with that?

Post scheduling would be awesome.

How about some information on the log in page: system outages, rate changes, new policies, reminders. If you put that stuff on the right side of the screen, the log in would still be obscured.It is easy to miss important news in the posts!

It still mystifies us why you comment disappears if you type the code wrong before you submit. I have been told before, use Firefox - but why you can't fix this so you can just try again on the code?

FEB

2010

One more thing. If you are trying to find a past blog on a subject, it is hard to find it. It should would be nice to be able to go to a list by day of all blog posts. I am talking about a list - no pictures, no first sentences, just authors and titles. The search feature AR has often does not bring up things I know are there!

FEB

2010

Thanks again for the comments - I'm sure that AR staff has been paying attention. They are VERY responsive to their members (that's us). While it seems like a simple thing to do, it isn't. Everything they do has to be backwards compatible with all of the content already here... There are tough choices...

Lane: I'm sure it is fun to talk about NEW features... but it sure would be nice if the AR folks could just pay a tad more attention to the BASICs of Active Rain. The damn 502 Errors... the kicking out of comments, the waiting forever for things to work. The Errors that talk about some "server upstream." So if we need a bigger boat "upstream"... then DO it.

I am thinking something about... if it ain't broke, don't fix it... and along with that... if it IS broke... or all gummed up... please, pretty please... puhleeze... fix it... dear Rain People.

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Lane Bailey - REALTOR & Car Guy

Suwanee, GA

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