Now here's a feature improvement that most of you, especially the seasoned campaigners, should enjoy. You now have the ability to read posts without all the flouncy graphics, massive logos and slow-loading images. While we all enjoy seeing how each of us decorate our blogs, when it comes to reading posts these things can become a big distraction.

So, for those who have traversed Blotanical for a while you will now notice the "Pick Settings" button in the far-left corner on the Picks page.

This is your license to SPEED!

The button takes you to a very simple form with two options on it. Here's an image of what the form looks like;

The first option is to "Show Posts as Originally Formatted". If left checked this will allow you to see the posts as you currently do already and is the default setting. Uncheck the field and it will only present you with the post's content but will continue to show you any images that are included within the post.

If you don't want the images to show either, thereby making the post load even quicker, you can leave the "Show Images in Altered Format" unchecked (by DEFAULT). Checking this field, in combination with unchecking the first field allows the post to be stripped down but the images to remain.

How will this affect blog owners?
Firstly, it won't result in as many pageviews for the owner. The stripped down version works directly off the feed content without delivering the page. However, because readers will be able to access these posts much quicker it should mean that more people will actually get to read your posts - even those on...dare I say it...dial-up!

Second, if your feed settings are set to Partial Feeds instead of Full Feeds (this is usually altered within your blogging platform - ie. Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad etc) readers may only get a summary of your post via this avenue. How this affects you and/ or your readers is something that only time will tell.

For those who like to comment on blogs as part of the Picks view you are still able to access the blog's post by clicking the "Read in New Tab" link directly under the Pick button.