Building a blog from scratch is a lot easier than you might think
Why would you want to start a blog? Here are a few reasons: 1.) You want to share photos and anecdotes with family members who live far away.2,) You’re an artist and you want to show off your work. 3.) You have a hobby and you want to connect with people who share the same interest. 4.) You want to keep a record of all the cool Web sites you visit so that you and you friends can go back and visit them. 5.) You work in a company that needs to stay on top to research and development news in your industry.6.) You know a lot about a particular other people, and went to engage in debate and conversation with them. 7.) You’re a budding comedian and want to try your jokes out on the public.
Blogs are so popular because they make it easy for anyone to publish on the Web. Before blogging software was developed in the late 1990s, posting fresh material to your Web site was a complex and tedious task. That’s why so many sites read: “Under Construction.” Usually, the sites weren’t really under construction; the person maintaining the site was just tired of the rigmarole required to keep it current, and gave up. (For a funny gallery of “Under Construction” Logos, visit cs.utah.edu/gk.)
The history of blogging can be traced back to 1996, when a site called Xanga.com launched a service that allowed people to maintain online diaries. But blogging didn’t really take off until 1999, when a company called Pyra Labs introduced a service that would change the landscape of the Web. It was called Blogger, and it allowed anyone with an Internet connection to create Web pages that were very easy to update with fresh content. Blogger organized the content in to reverse chronological order (so the most recent content would always be at the top of the page, where it should be), and automatically generated a browsable archive and a searchable database. It was nothing short of a revolution on top of a revolution (the Web) on top of a revolution (the Internet).
Today, there are lots of different ways to make and maintain a blog, but Blogger (now owned by Google) and Vox (owned by SixApart, makers of the venerable Movable Type blogging software) are both excellent places to begin. With either service you can create a blog and start publishing to the Web in under ten minutes flat.
Should you use Vox or Blogger? That depends. Vox is slightly easier to use than Blogger, and with it you can create a very nice looking blog in minutes. It integrates well with Flickr, YouTube, and other media sites .Making it easy to add photos, Videos, and more to your blog. On the other hand, Blogger offers greater customization. You can run your own ads on a Blogger blog, add a visitor counter, and even dig into the guts of the HTML and edit them to your heart’s content. Because I like to twiddle with my blog, and I already know HTML, I prefer Blogger. But for a newcomer who wants to make an attractive blog without having to worry about any technical issues, Vox is the way to go.
Creating a blog using Blogger
1. Go to blogger.com and create a free account. Just enter a user name, a
password, a display name (the name that will appear on your blog posts.,
it can be your real name or a pen name), and your email address. That’s all
you need to create your account. Click “Continue.”
2. Give your blog a name. Provide a blog title, “Mark’s New Blog.” and a address, like marksblog. Blospot.com Blogger will let yu know if the address you want is still available.
3. Choose a template. You don’t need to be a professional designer to make a pretty blog .Blogger offers a bunch of predesigned layouts you can use.
That’s it. you now have a blog and a Website address that you can print on a
business card or email to your friends.
Now that you have your own blog on Blogger, you can start publishing your entries. If you aren’t logged in to your Blogger account, go to blogger
com and sign in.
1. Create a new entry. Click the image of the green cross, labeled “New Post”, and you’ll see a window like the one shown on page17.
2. Give your entry a title. When you title a blog entry, don’t be clever at the expense of clarity. Think like a Newspapers editor and summarize your entry in a single descriptive sentence. people skim blogs the same way they skim Newspapers-they’re on the lookout for something that caches their interest. Also, an RSS newsreader (see page 27 to learn about RSS) may not display anything but your headline, so that may determine whether or not a reader clicks through to the entire entry.
3. Wirte your entry. If your’re writing about another Web page, always summarize whatever is no that page. For instance, if your’re wirting a blog entry about a video of a skateboarding dog, describe the video in your blog entry. The worst thing you can do is write something like: “Check out this amazing video- you’ll be blown away!” you shouldn’t force people to click a link to learn what it is. A much better approach is to say: “Here’s a video clip of a bulldog riding a skateboard. It knows how to steer, push with one leg, and how to jump on any off the board at curbs.” Your readers will really appreciate the effort and come to rely on you as a curator of cool stuff.
4. Add images, links, and formatting to your entry. The icons on the top of the Blogger draft window allow you to add bells and whistles to the text of your entry. You can highlight any portion of the text and make it italicized, boldface, or colored. you can turn any text into a link by highlighting that text and clicking on the icon of the globe with a chain link. If you want to add a picture, click the icon of the photograph. Note that there are two ways to add photos to your blog entry. One is by selecting an image that’s already on your computer. You do this by clicking “Browse” and navigating to the image you want. The other way is by entering the URL of an image already on the Web. The problem with the letter method is that Blogger will simply point to the URL of the image in your blog entry. Why is that a problem? Because the owner of the URL might become angry that you are “hotlinking” to an image on his or her site, which uses some of his or her monthly data transfer allowance. Also, sometimes images become unavailable on other Web site, which will leave an unsightly broken link in your blog post. That’s why I recommend you use the first method-selecting an image on your computer. When you do this, the image is stored on Blogger’s own image server, and it’s perfectly OK to use Blogger’s bandwidth!
5. Preview your entry. Click “Preview” to see what your entry looks like before you publish it. Now would be a good time to proofread your entry for any spelling or grammatical errors.
6. Publish your entry. Click “Publish Post.” Congratulations! You’re now a bona fide blogger.
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