Creating a blog using vox

Vox is a relative newcomer to the “instant blogging” arena. In some ways it’s the easiest blogging service to use, and in others, it’s one of the more confusing-mainly because of all it has to offer. SixApart designed Vox for showcasing audio, photos, and videos, making it easy to incorporate them into your blog entries. Like Blogger, Vox can generate your blog in a matter of minutes.
1. Sign up for a free account at vox.com.
2. Click on “Design” to choose a layout and a theme. You can also edit the name of your blog here (see page 19). Click on “My Vox Blog” at any time to see what the result looks like.
3. In the upper-right corner, you’ll see a silhouette of a head with a question mark in it. Roll your cursor over it and a small menu will appear. Choose “Edit your profile” and enter as much personal information about yourself as you care to share with the public. You can also upload a photo of yourself.
4. If you’d like to post messages to your blog using your mobile phone, click “Mobile Settings.” You’ll be given an email address you can use to send messages from your phone. Be sure to click the “Create Post” Link and choose “Yes (create post for items sent to this email)” from the pull-down menu.
5. Click “Outside Services” if you’d like to integrate your Flick or Photobucket account with you Vox blog, or if you’d like to cross-post with a TypePad account that you already have.
6. Click “Privacy Notifications” and “Posting Defaults” to set defaults for who can visit your blog: friends, family, or the public. You can also fine-tune the privacy of each entry when you post.
7. Now that you’ve designed your blog and finished the other setup details, you can start writing entries. Click on “Compose” and enter text in the window. You can format your text by clicking on the buttons along the top of the text entry window, and add links by clicking on the chain icon. The icon of two people lets you link to other Vox users you’ve added to your list.
Note the row of buttons directly above the formatting buttons. (See above.) These let you insert “items” into your blog entries. You can add photos, books, audio, videos, and something called “collections.” Let’s look at them one by one.
Photos: When you click on the Photo button, Vox gives you the option of adding photos from your computer, your Flickr account, your Photobucket account, or iStockphoto. Click one of the tabs running along the top of the photo window to choose the source. iStockphoto is a stock photography house with thousands of photos that you can use for free on your blog. Search by keyword to find a photo to add some color to your text entry.
Audio: You can add audio from your computer or from Amazon. Actually, when you choose Amazon as your source, it doesn’t add a song link to your site. Instead, it adds an album cover graphic and a link to Amazon. If you choose “My Computer,” you can upload MP3s (or audio in a variety of other formats) when you save the blog entry. Vox posts the audio with an embedded player, so that visitors can listen by clicking a play button. File size for audio is limited to 24MB.
Video: Vox lets you add video from your computer, Amazon, youTube, and iFilm. Again, with Amazon you can’t add actual video-only links to DVDs that Amazon sells. Vox allows you to upload videos up to 50MB.
Books: You can only add books from Amazon and, again, Vox simply inserts a cover image of the book and a link to the Amazon store.
Collections: Before you can insert a “collection” of sounds, images, and videos into a blog entry, you will need to create one. To do that, click “Organize” at the top of the window, and then “Collections” from the list on the left. Click “New” and give your collection a name, such as “Hawaiiania,” or “Hot Rod Hootenanny.” A folder will appear with a small blue button below it. Now you can add items from your Vox library to the collection. To do that, click on one of the item categories, like “Photos.” Roll your mouse cursor over the item you want to add and, when the small arrow appears below it, click it and select “Add to Collection” (see above). Now people will be able to access your entire collection from your blog entry. It’s a fun way to capture the sights and sounds of a vacation or event.
8. Even after you’ve started publishing blog entries, it’s piece of cake to change the layout of your blog. Just click “Design,” select a theme, and apply it to your blog.