How to Create a Blog

Blogs enable interaction and invite others to reward a person’s creative effort with feedback. They weave new social networks, introducing people with common passions. Another reason why one should start blogging is dissemination of “micro-opinions” important to a small audience – opinions that would never make it in newspapers.

A widely dispersed audience depends on weblogs for filtered and disseminated information as it plays an important role positioned outside the mainstream of mass media.

Professional bloggers are experts in evaluating the nature of information sources; it is not reasonable to assume that all readers can do the same. Readers depend on the bloggers to provide them with their knowledge share. Weblogs point to, comment on, and spread information according to their own idiosyncratic perspective. Readers accept all information provided to them via blogs – all information – including articles from a source that is a little wacky or has a strong agenda etc, but not an unethical nature of source.

If it is felt that a well-written article can stand on its own only with ethically clear and relevant sources. Readers may cease to trust a blog where disguised or unclear source of an article is discovered. Making the sources clear or providing the readers all the facts is important because it enables the reader to avoid evaluating the facts differently. So, weblog’s ethical standards are designed in way that delineates the responsibilities of weblog professionals and provide a clear code of conduct to ensure the integrity of the news.

You can start your own blog. This unit will discuss how to create your own blog.

Starting Your Own Blog

As we have discussed earlier, blogs are posts that are short, informal and sometimes deeply personal no matter what the topic of discussion is. They can be characterized by their conversational tone. If you think the concept is new and you have not done anything like blogging before, think again.

Whether a professional journalist or a teenage high school student, they all have been doing the same thing: using blog to link to their friends and rivals and comment on what they are doing. So, everybody blogs.

If a person has a web presence but is disappointed with static homepage – if an elegant treatment of posts on a global platform is what they require, then ‘blogging’ is what they require to do. One may also consider to blog if feedback is required from people you have never heard of.

Weblogs, definitely, are the mavericks of the online world. Two of its greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media.

Identifying & Choosing The Right Tools

Bloggers are constantly discovering new ways to express their ideas through new markup. There are bloggers who are using the latest state-of-the-art “visual” web design programs, but few others consider using HTML code is not a bad idea altogether.

The XHTML family can accommodate extensions through XHTML modules and techniques to develop new XHTML-conforming modules. These modules permit the combination of existing and new feature sets when developing content and when designing new user agents.

With so many different ways to access the Internet, the XHTML family is designed keeping in mind the general user agent interoperability. Through document profiling mechanism, servers, proxies, and user agents are able to create best effort content transformation. This language is both RSS and XML conforming. The content can be readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML tools. XHTML documents can utilize applications (e.g. scripts and applets) that rely upon either the HTML Document Object Model or the XML Document Object Model.

Bloggers may also use Movable Type for the weblog. Movable Type is a powerful, customizable publishing system, which installs on web servers to enable bloggers to manage and update weblogs. This enables a blogger to hand edit the other parts and pages, including the Daily Links, in TextPad. Bloggers may use a date format string for the individual entries, and for monthlies.

Movable Type Installation is followed by Plugins. There are many to choose from. MT Plugin Directory and the Movable Type Support Forums are two resources that can be referred to. Most of the plugins make users typographically correct and enables them to properly use curly-quotes, ellipses, em-dashes, and en-dashes. A feature of pluggins combines trackbacks (comments on other articles from other blogs) and comments into one page. Another use is to create author comments and addendums in the comments engine. Few plugins may allow bloggers to add additional fields, example: using keywords field to create additional fields. Few others create a collection of links at the bottom of each individual entry page. Title attributes can be used with all the links. Movable Type includes a default RSS Feed. Bloggers may set up individual feeds for each thread and comments feed by following the naming convention of individual archives – changing it to an .xml ending. Bloggers may even add a Subscription Field.

Also, bloggers may consider using a WebDrive in place of a FTP client. This tool is used to map FTP and WebDAV servers to a network drive letter in Windows using remote files like local ones in any application. Blogger may also consider using validated HTML 4.01 Transitional code with a validated stylesheet.

Blogs demand more than graphic design and HTML proficiency. They demand extensive interaction with visitors. So, installing a Discussion Forum is a must, as it allows communities to exchange ideas and opinions. Tools that could be considered are database programming, CGI/Perl scripting, Flash animation etc.

In addition to this, bloggers may consider having an Accessory Sideblog - another blog that stores ancillary information and tools for the existing blog.

Accessory Sideblog allows:

• Easy updation

• Changes in entries/ information from within Movable Type interface

• Availability of comments and trackbacks

Bloggers may consider buying opensource weblogging softwares. These easily installable softwares offer features like: fully-integrated comments, searching, file uploading and image handling, completely customizable output through dozens of templates and variables, multiple author support, etc. For example: few blogs allow bloggers to provide a template of their page that indicates where they want your posts to appear. Clicking the “Publish” button automatically sends their new page to the website where they want their blogs to appear. Similarly, there are sites that enable bloggers to place the RSS feed of their blog onto any html page. For example: bloggers can copy the completed JavaScript and paste it on any web page they would like to distribute.

Bloggers can host their blog on their own as well with any good web-hosting company. They can choose a good web host, buy space on their server and host their blogs with them.

The details of few of the blog creating softwares are mentioned below:

FactoSystem Weblog (ASP based)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/facto/

Facto is a collaborative web publishing system. The system can be used for creating personal or group ‘Blog’ type sites. It is written entirely in Active Server Pages (ASP) and can use Microsoft Access or SQL Server as a database backend. Its development status is : 4 – Beta, 5 – Production/Stable and environment in which it runs is web environment, Win32 (MS Windows). The intended audience is defined to be end users/desktop, other audience and system administrators. The software’s natural language is English. The operating system that is required is Windows 95/98/2000 and the programming languages used are ASP and JavaScript. It is mostly used for message boards and site management.

Facto can be a customized. One can try coding to “render a blurb in HTML” to be in a separate file. It relies on the BlurbRS recordset having the correct field names with the SQL in some of the other files. Instead of querying the Comments table every time it displays a blurb.  The layout can also be changed as some people may not require the left or right columns. A function on the routines page can be created that displays the blurb as required. The searchresults page then needs to be fixed since a different name for the blurb is used to do this.

InstaBlog

http://instablog.hit.bg/

InstaBlog appeared as a result of two things: responding to the simplest possible way to maintain a weblog, and trying out the extremely cool Perl MSN IM client. InstaBlog functions in the following manner: it is run as a background process on a machine with Internet access. With its own Passport identification it is constantly logged into the MSN instant messenger service. When something worthy of note is found in the weblog, chat windows is opened with the InstaBlog and the weblog entry is typed. The software takes it, adds it to a copy of the weblog it maintains, and uploads it via FTP to a webserver. The message should appear on the website specified in config.xml. The InstaBlog bot uploads three files: the actual weblog.xml, the stylesheet to display it (weblog.xsl), and an index.html which redirects to weblog.xml. The software is written in Perl.

OpenJournal

http://www.grohol.com/downloads/oj/

OpenJournal is a completely Web-based interface. The software’s features include: automated file creation; automated index updating; editing of all files through a Web-based interface; entries with or without titles and time posted; automated archiving based on a weekly or monthly format. All done through ordinary text files and no additional perl modules are needed to run it. Basically, the software allows the users to keep an online journal, customize and configure it. All needed to do after installation is to write in it from time to time. It requires no third-party, external perl libraries or support programs. The program itself is relatively small and simple and takes about 5 minutes to install and another 5 or 10 to customize. The 2.x versions of OpenJournal make use of the auth.pl perl script to handle its authentication routines. Other features of the software include: automatic new file creation, automatic indexing, automatic weekly or monthly archiving without need of cron, no messy backend database to worry about, uses plain text and html files, web-based editing of all files created without using cookies, encrypted user accounts and robust authorization, multiuser support, preview functionality, configuration file separate from main program, templated construction (easy customization), cross-platform date function .

GeekLog – The Ultimate Weblog System

http://sourceforge.net/projects/geeklog

GeekLog is a web content management system suitable for running full-featured community sites. It supports article posting, threaded comments, event scheduling, and link management and is built around a design philosophy that emphasizes ease of use. The development status of the software is 5 – Production/Stable. It requires web environment. The software has been designed keeping in mind the intended audience to be developers, end users/desktop. The software’s natural language is English and uses OS Independent as its operating system. The programming language that has been used is PHP and functions mostly to maintain dynamic content.

Other Useful Sites:

For Commenting Systems

aspcomments

http://www.sneaker.org/index.html

Free ASP-based comment system for use on Blogger-backed and other weblogs.

BlogBack

http://www.tecknik.net/blogback/

Comment system that does not require server installation.

blogKomm

http://blogkomm.com/index.php

PHP-based system to integrate comments directly into a blog

cgiComments

http://www.knurdle.com/commenting.php

Free perl-based comment system for use on Blogger-backed and other weblogs.

dotcomments

http://www.foreword.net/

Free PHP-based comment system for use on Blogger-backed and other weblogs.

Enetation

http://www.enetation.co.uk/index.php?

Free hosted commenting system

SnorComments

http://www.snorland.com/scripts/snorcomments/

Hosted commenting system for Blogger-based blogs

YACCS

http://rateyourmusic.com/yaccs/

“Commenting made simple”

For Posting APIs and Tools

AvantBlog

http://www.dentedreality.com.au/avantblog/

Posting from Palm or Windows CE via AvantGo

BLog

http://www.iternum.net/developer/webservices/blog/index.jsp

Web services interface to (I think) Blogger.

blogBuddy

http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/

Windows front-end to Blogger.

Bloggenmoz

http://bloggenmoz.antville.org/topics/download

Blogger API support for Mozilla Composer

Blogger API

http://www.blogger.com/developers/api/

Details of the XML-RPC interface to Blogger

BloggerBot

http://www.fibiger.org/bloggerbot/

AIM client for Blogger.

bloggerCOM

http://www.fibiger.org/bloggerbot/

COM interface to the Blogger API

blogger.el

http://elisp.info/

EMACS module to post using the Blogger API

BlogniX

http://blognix.sourceforge.net/

Blogger client for Linux

BlogScript

http://www.webentourage.com/

Mac OS X.1 tool for easy posting to Blogger-powered blogs.

Designing Compatible Blogs

As the web is considered to be a fluid medium, it is important for the blog to be viewable under all circumstances – with any browser or on any computer. Also it should look and function as close to the same way as possible. That is why it is advised to design for maximum compatibility.

Inevitably, choices will need to be made between compatibility and design. For example: whether to use or not to use flash animation as splash page. For it to run in all circumstances it is advised to test it extensively with many different browsers and computers. The work should be tested on both Macs and PCs.

Achieving a successful design requires inspiration, careful planning, and hard work. Besides this, of course, a few softwares are required. Here is a list of software that can be used for the various phases of the designing project:

Graphic Design

• Photoshop 7

• Adobe Illustrator 10

• Adobe LiveMotion

• Macromedia Flash 5

• Macromedia Fireworks MX

• Macromedia Freehand 10

• Graphic Converter

Web Page Construction

• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX

• BBEdit

• Lots of Trader Joe’s coffee

Details Of Other Blogging Tools and Add Ons are mentioned below:

Bloglinker.com

http://www.bloglinker.com/

blogLinker.com is a free tool for managing web links and increasing site traffic. It can be embedded anywhere in the web page and can be easily configured to fit the existing site design. Once a user is registered, a special code is provided to his webpage. The toll allows users to add websites to the list of links. If the site is already member of blogLinker, then its details will be listed. If the website you link to is also a member of blogLinker then user’s website will automatically appear in their list of links. This increasing the number of visitors to user’s site. One can even hide sites from the list. The sites hidden will be made aware of this and vice versa. Similarly, list entries can be edited or deleted. If a reciprocated link is deleted, the link to user’s site is deleted in return. In other words, a bunch of links cannot be added. People can add their site to user’s list by clicking a link at the bottom of the list in his webpage. The link will be reciprocated, further promoting the site. The look of the list can be customized. This is very easy to do; once blogLinker code is copied & pasted into your chosen web page, the user is directed to experiment with the look and feel. At the bottom of the ‘Format Your List’ page, there is a set of 16 drop-down lists. Each list corresponds to a feature of the blogLinker, such as header font color or text size/type etc. Either a value from the drop-down list can be selected or the required value can be entered directly into the input box, just below each drop-down list, allowing for maximum configurability. Click ‘Save Changes’ when ready. To test the changes done, simply reload the web page. User scan also display different lists with different categories required.

BlogSnob

http://blogsnob.idya.net/

BlogSnob is an experimental service for members of the blogging community. It enables users to tell everyone in the webspace about his or her blog thru simple textbased ads. It requires the users to insert a simple piece of code into their page. Every time someone views the site, a small text ad of another blog shows up on the page. BlogSnob is basically an ad exchange for Personal Blogs, where the ad is in the form of a Text Ad that blends into the site design. This way, it does not spoil all the hardwork a user has done in beautifying his site, but still serves its purpose. The software also allows a person to read many other beautiful, yet less popular blogs. Plus, a section called SnobJumping talks about sites, in general. User moderation is a way by which the users themselves help to keep the BlogSnob network clean, friendly and nice to surf through. Any member of blogsnob can simply check out sites randomly. If they find a site that interests them, they can talk about the site in the “Cool sites” board in the Forums. If the user’s made a really good discovery – that is a yet not popular but wonderful site, the site and the discoverer’s site are both rewarded with publicity on Snobjumping.

Reblogger

http://jsoft.ca/reblogger/

Reblogger is a comment system for web logs that is designed to work with Blogger blogs and other systems as well. It can be used as a remote commenting system (for those without cgi capability), or can be installed on any server with CGI capability and perl. Following are specific features of the software: It allows multiple users, i.e., people can add their own reblogger accounts on to user’s server. If someone doesn’t have a CGI enabled web server, they can host their comments on user’s server. If there are extra resources the general public can be allowed to host their comments on server. The template that it uses is like a Blogger template, where special tags can be used to indicate where to put the comments, how should it be formatted and where to put the form to submit a new comment. The software provides the facility of email notification. Reblogger can be set to send an email to user whenever someone leaves a comment on web log.  One of its features includes removing unwanted comments/ offensive comment.

It can also help in IP Blocking. If someone is continually harassing the user, then he or she can block their IP address. This will restrict them to from commenting. HTML in comments: it allows usage of <b></b>, <i></i>, <u></u> and <a href=”"></a> tags in comments. Also, links are created automatically when URLS are typed in a comment. Time Zone can be selected by the user to have the time and date that is displayed adjusted accordingly. Installation of the software: Installation can be easy using Linux/Unix or Windows/DOS. The archive run the file called “install” before the installer ask some questions to get an idea about where on server reblogger will reside. The URL of the website is entered where reblogger is installed. Start with http://. In most cases CGI scripts can only be run from the CGI-bin directory. So, here the user needs to specify the path to the CGI-bin. If there is no CGI-bin, then change this to something other than the default (try /reblogger/). Otherwise you probably won’t need to change this.  This allows the user to specify where important things, for example: password, are to be stored. The software uses sendmail to send any of the emails it needs to send. Once this information is entered the installer will try to figure out what the web address of the reblogger directory is. The installer will then show the information entered. If everything is right enter “y”. The installer will now ftp reblogger to user’s website. The reblogger is ready to use. Now that reblogger is installed, a user account should be created. Once account is created the user is taken to the comment manager, where he can customize the settings. Reblogger can be used by just one person for one blog, or one person for a few blogs, or by many people for many blogs. Users can allow as many people as they want.

w.bloggar

http://wbloggar.com/

w.bloggar is an application that targets to be an interface between the user and his blog(s). It is considered to be a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors can not offer. w.bloggar a software that runs over Windows GUI and allows the user to edit his posts without being connected to the Internet, saving locally one or more texts to be posted in the future. It can be minimized to the Tray bar as an icon and every time the user wants to publish a new text, he just need a click and has the editor ready to work, finished the text, another click and the post will be published. Another great advantage of w.bloggar is that it is compatible with most of weblog systems available, allowing an advanced user to have one only interface to several accounts hosted on several different sites, under different publishing systems. To communicate with the weblog w.bloggar needs that the blog system has implemented an API, the acronym to Application Programming Interface. Currently w.bloggar is compatible with Blogger API, metaWeblog API, MovableType API and b2 API all based on XML-RPC definition. To set up w.bloggar to post to your BlogWorks XML blogs, instructions given below should be followed: download w.bloggar from http://wbloggar.com/ and install the application and open the w.bloggar application. A login window will appear allowing the user to create a New Account. BlogWorks username is to be entered here along with the password. Click OK. It will then direst towards the account connection window, where the address of the host where BlogWorks is installed into Host field. If the webserver runs on a port other than 80, the port setting should also be changed. Click OK to confirm the entered information. Its functions include: post and publish on Blogger, b2, MovableType, Nucleus, BigBlogTool, BlogWorks XML, Blogalia and Drupal blogs, edit posts and templates, save posts locally for further publishing, import text files, add links and images, format text font and alignment, multiple accounts and blogs, post preview, colorized html code, html tags menu, find/replace option, post to many blogs, ping to weblogs.com, title and category fields, spell checking, file and image upload, custom tags menu , toolbar icons skin, supports windows xp, easy account configuration

blogBuddy

http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/

blogBuddy is a small Windows 95/NT/ME/2000/XP program written in Delphi that manages Blogger.com and other weblogs which implement the Blogger API. Features include spell checking and post editing. The current features of the application includes: posting of new entries, saving of blogid, username and password in an .INI file, proxy settings, get list of available blogs, system tray icon for quick posting, coming features sourceforge keeps an updated list on coming features in the requested features tracker.

The current version is 0.5. The changes that has been incorporated in version 0.5 are given below:

Following new features were added: installer via nullsoft (superpimp|scriptable) install system, windows XP look where available, improved error messages when remote site returns error, spelling, minimal password encryption, editing of recent posts, keyboard shortcuts for posting and publishing, posting buttons put back where they were.

Following features were fixed: password prompt is always displayed, size and location is saved (again), two bugs after selecting font fixed: duplicate entries in blog combobox and crash when saving, crashing when updating blogs and then canceling options dialog fixed.

Deciding A Name For The Blog

Save the situation where the whole weblog ready except indecision on the blog name. Bloggers may consider browsing through hundreds of weblogs for ideas. The most common names range from:

The lame – “Pete’s Weblog,” “JamieJ’s Weblog,” “Darren S’s Blog” to

The inane – “Fumes n’ Flames,” “My Random Thoughts,” “SomePlaceElse”, to

The sublime but already taken – “Wordridden,” “Colossal Waste of Bandwidth”, “The Unseen World”

Naming a blog after an individual’s name, may be blogger’s name, reflects that the weblog might focus on none but himself. It is recommended that personal names should be kept out of the blog title.

Name, undoubtedly, may bring hundreds, if not thousands, of web denizens to a weblog. A weblog should have name that strikes the right note.