A quick update on email templates 👋

The "minimal" email template has officially graduated and is now the default for new Blogtrottr accounts.

It uses current responsive email techniques with improved font sizes and spacing, so it displays better on today’s phones and email apps. Overall, it’s cleaner, easier to read, and works more reliably across modern devices.

If you already have a Blogtrottr account, nothing has changed - your "classic" template will stay exactly as it is. And if you ever want to switch, you can do so from the Template setting in your Account Settings.

Behind the Scenes: Blogtrottr's Getting an Upgrade

EDIT (January 20, 2025): The beta version is now live at blogtrottr.com. A big thank you to everyone who participated in the testing and provided feedback.

Easier subscription management with one-click unsubscribe

For many years, Blogtrottr has provided two means of managing feed subscriptions - following the unsubscribe link in an email, or by creating website account.

Now there’s a third way - Blogtrottr recently started sending one-click unsubscribe enabled emails, so if your email client is compatible (and most major ones like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and macOS are), you can unsubscribe from a feed instantly, without visiting our website.

 

Behind the scenes, we integrated with Sendamatic’s automatic one-click unsubscribe handling to implement this easily. If you need similar capabilities for your project, they come highly recommended.

Price Updates: Some good news

We have good news for our Blogtrottr users. In addition to Euros we now support payments in GBP and USD. We are also offering price plans in these currencies.

Most card providers add a foreign currency transaction fee, and from month to month the exchange rate fluctuates. Paying in your local currency will give you more certainty over the price you pay each month, as well as hopefully saving you a bit of money.

The various plans on offer are available at https://blogtrottr.com/pricing/

If you are an existing paid plan user and want to switch currencies get in touch with our support (support@blogtrottr.com) as changing currencies mid-plan isn’t currently possible through the website.

When our users make us smile

Who doesn’t love a bit of positive feedback? Blogtrottr started life because of our passion to provide a service that was missing in our lives, and we wanted to share it with other people. Blogtrottr has developed over the years to do more than providing your favourite blogs and news feeds into your inbox as and when you want it, but that is still core to what we do.

We had this message land in our inbox the other day, and it made us smile as we shared it around our virtual office. We are glad it is working as well as we hope and aim for. Thank you!

“This service has worked for me for years. Through my changing devices maybe five times, switching operating systems from Windows to Android, at least three ISPs, and a couple of dozen browsers... never skipped a beat, never had a blip of a problem.

So thank you.” - Emarell

Watching the Formula Pi Races

Avid readers of our blog will know that Blogtrottr are sponsoring this year's Formula Pi races; a test of wits and skill for coders of all ages from around the world.  For those of you not yet in the know, Formula Pi races involve racing identical self driving robots on a track, however all the robots are run off a Raspberry Pi which use the code sent in by the competitors.  The aim is to ensure your code gets the robot around the track quicker than any of the other robots on the track, a task much less straightforward than it sounds.

Since the test races we have seen great improvements in the races, although we are glad to see that there is still plenty of chaos to keep us entertained.  In the heats you can see how well all 16 competitors from around the world have done, the coding experience on the track ranges from a few hours experience to many years.  It is certainly worthwhile watching the highlights available on YouTube.

Race Two is already underway with full length videos currently available on Youtube, and Blogtrottr are continuing to sponsor and watch.

Find out about taking part in 2017 at http://www.formulapi.com/

Carnage on the Race Track!

Blogtrottr are proud to be sponsoring the Formula Pi races in 2016; a test of wits and skill for coders of all ages from around the world.  Formula Pi races involve putting identical self driving robots on a track, all run on a Raspberry Pi using different code which is sent in by each competitor.  When the lights turn green the aim is to ensure your code gets the robots around the track quicker than any of the other robots on the track, a task much less straightforward than it sounds.

The first test races for the Formula Pi winter race 2016 series are now underway, and they are keeping us tuned in.  In the first test session a false start, numerous crashes, pile ups, flips and the loss of a wheel on one of the robots helped highlight a few potential issues whilst also providing entertaining watching.  There will be things to improve on for when the races take place in November.

The next testing session was on Monday 24th October, no doubt providing more entertaining watching.  

Entries to the the final races themselves close at the end of the month, and Blogtrottr will be continuing to sponsor and watch.

Find out about taking part at http://www.formulapi.com/