Hi, Why does the preview of my blog look totally different from the draft form?
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I carefully formatted my blog post in the new draft format, and after much difficulty got it to look something like what I’d like. When I looked at it in preview, the formatting was totally different and not what I want. Can you help?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi Megan,
We do our best to display your posts and pages in the Visual tab, however, once you publish, your browser will interpret the code from your site in its own way. Also, there is a lot of extra code that is added to your site when you publish. Because of this, you will find many things may not match 100%.
My suggestion is to use that Preview button. That is what I do when I want to see exactly how my posts and pages will appear online. It’s the best solution.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers!
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Thank you for your response. I don’t understand, I’m afraid. How can I format my post to look the way I would like it to look? The preview shows only what I’ve done after I’ve formatted and saved; I need some way to see what it will look like as I format. I feel like I must be missing something.
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And now, no matter what I do, the preview seems to be stuck as is and doesn’t change when I change things in the Visual. I find WordPress impossible to use….it used to be difficult and I haven’t posted in a couple of years, but now it seems impossible. I’m not finding useful instructions online, either. I don’t want to change over from WordPress, but I blog on Weebly for my work and find that much easier. I may need to make the switch, with a great deal of unhappiness.
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Hey there!
You do not need to publish anything at all to Preview. I tend to look at the Preview quite often as I’m creating a new blog post. Saving a post doesn’t mean it’s complete. You can keep editing and saving it numerous times before you finally click that Publish button.
Clicking the Preview button will open a new tab that will show your page exactly as a visitor to your site may see it. After you take a look, just go back to the tab where you’re editing your post.
And now, no matter what I do, the preview seems to be stuck as is and doesn’t change when I change things in the Visual.
If you’re trying to edit something specifically and it isn’t appearing as you expect in your Preview, let me know! I can look at the issue, and share with you how it can be corrected.
- Just send me a link the post (or give me its title)
- Tell me what you WANT to happen, versus what IS happening.
I find WordPress impossible to use….it used to be difficult and I haven’t posted in a couple of years, but now it seems impossible.
If you haven’t posted in a while, there have been major changes. For instance, there are two ways to post: the classic manner, or the new/improved manner.
Here is a link to your Post Editor in each version:
Classic—
https://notesfromthewatershed.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpNew —
https://wordpress.com/post/35602675/new/?optinSome of our users didn’t want a change, so we want to keep the classic editor available, but our newer users really enjoy the updated version. Choose whatever you like best.
The other thing that I noticed, which could be interfering with the way your site appears, as that your theme version is outdated. I suspect since the last time you wrote a post, a new version came out. If you like the older version, you don’t have to change it…but if you like the newer version, I suggest the free upgrade.
The retired theme you do have on your site is called Misty Look:
https://theme.wordpress.com/retired/mistylook/The new version is called Misty Lake and you can see how it looks here:
https://theme.wordpress.com/themes/misty-lake/A word of warning: If you do decide to upgrade, you can’t reverse your decision. Once you say goodbye to a retired theme, it’s gone for good.
I don’t want to change over from WordPress, but I blog on Weebly for my work and find that much easier.
Well, we certainly want you happy and comfortable, no matter what your decision is. We can always help if you tell us exactly what you’re trying to accomplish.
I also think, since it’s been a while since you’ve blogged, that checking out the guide to WordPress.com blogging might help. It’s a great refresher course:
I hope this helps! If you have any other concerns, drop me a note. Thanks much!
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Thank you. I’ve already gone through the guide to blogging, and it did not help.
The link to my draft is: https://notesfromthewatershed.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3&action=edit
I would like the layout to look like this one: http://www.riverotterecology.org/otter-blog
I’m unable to move the text and photos into the positions I’d like.
I don’t mind changing the new version of Misty Look if that will help.
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Hey there Megan
The site you’ve provided is not a WordPress.com site, so I can’t help you match it precisely. I also see the photos on this site have many different layouts: left justification, right justification, and a gallery-type layout.
When I take a look at the draft of your latest post, it seems as if you’ve already managed to install images with multiple layout types as well. The layout also seems to match the content in your Visual Tab in your editor.
If the issue that is arising for you is that you want to wrap the text differently around these images, you can take a look at this:
I also wanted to offer a suggestion. If you really like the way your past posts appear, but aren’t sure how to recreate them on your newer posts, you can use the Copy Post feature. In doing this, you can use an old post as a template for a new one.
You’ll find that here:
https://notesfromthewatershed.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpIn the left-hand menu, under the Post features, click Copy Post. Then, you can follow these instructions:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/writing-helper/copy-a-post/I don’t mind changing the new version of Misty Look if that will help.
I found another WordPress.com site that uses Misty Lake (the updated version of Misty Look). I thought you might like to take a look to see if it suits you as well:
Please get back to me with questions/comments! Thanks very much.
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Thanks so much for your help. It’s still not working for me. I want a lot more flexibility than Worpress seems to have. It may just be that the interface isn’t right for what I want and the time I have (little) to make it work.
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Hey Megan,
I totally understand. If you’re interested at all, self-hosting a site via WordPress.org gives you a ton more flexibility with your site.
Here’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org:
If you decide to go this route, this guide will step you through the process of moving your site to a WordPress.org instance:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/#moving-to-wordpress-org
As we only support sites hosted here at WordPress.com, all issues with the new site – including the importing of the file – must be taken to the WordPress.org support community:
If you’d like assistance moving your WordPress.com site to WordPress.org, we have a service called Guided Transfer that does all the work for you. Check it out to see if itâs right for you:
http://en.support.wordpress.com/guided-transfer/
Best of luck with whatever path you decide to take. I’m here to answer questions if you have them. Take care and happy holidays! :)
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