Blue Moon's blog

Makeshift Index

I abandonded this blog because I discovered there is no good way to index the content (the pro versions have it, but they are expensive). Good thing it allows you to export your content. That's just what I did. It was then easy to import it to a WordPad blog. :-)

This is the last post to this blog (so that it will appear at the top) Note that all the categories are available in the footer. Click "Blue Moon's blog to get back to the full blog with this post on top.

Web Sites

A couple of places to get started with a Web site:

Google Sites > http://sites.google.com/site/election/

GoDaddy > http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/website-builder.aspx?ci=15576

[more (not current)]

Backup

Synopsis: The dirty little secret about free blogs and websites is that its not easy to backup the whole works. Images are the primary gap, but there are other little problems too. Images are most likely not backed up when you "export" or backup your free blog or website.

Blogs and websites where you pay for and have access to the web server do allow you to back up the whole enchilada, but it's a bit tricky.

Responses:

So what's a person to do? If you're not vitally concerned with permanence, and just want to produce a stream related to current interests and events, don't worry about it. The likely-hood that you'll loose your blog or website is small. And you're primarily interested in the stream, which you can easily reestablish.

If you want permanence, you'll need to pay for it. For example, by providing your own domain and hosting, WordPress blogging software allows you to back up your blog fully. It's not easy though. You need to back up the underlying database, back up up the WordPress structure and back up all the files located on your server that are related to your blog.

Finally, even if you manage to back up everything, there's still the question or re-constructing it just right.

Illustrations:

• http://www.codeplex.com/bloggerbackup
• http://www.tothepc.com/archives/10-ways-to-backup-restore-your-blogger-blog/
• http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-backup-blogger-blog.html
• http://www.buildabetterblog.com/2007/07/backup-your-typ.html  

Alternatives to Blogging

CyberCoyote — 10 Dec 09 -- Photo sharing

Facebook -- Social > features

YouTube -- Video sharing

Yahoo Groups -- Discussion

[Web sites]

Blog Examples

My blogs:

1. http://htccfeed.blogspot.com/ > http://htccfeed.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html
2. http://spohnclan.blogspot.com/
3. http://cybercoyote.org/weblog/
4. https://zymerphile.wordpress.com/wp-admin/

 Interesting (at least to me) blogs: All of these should have Web/RSS feeds.

1. http://the-flute-player.blogspot.com/ 
2. http://spokanarama.blogspot.com/
3. http://busycooks.about.com/
4. http://newyorkdailyphoto.blogspot.com/
5. http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/

Blog Services

Blogger
A full-fledged blogging service from Google. Easily arrange the format to suit your needs and taste. Partial backup available. [features]
www.blogger.com

TypePad
The free version provides a simple, basic blog format and free hosting. Post photos, comment on events, or share your experiences with friends. No control of format, no archive listing. Partial backup (e.g., no images are exported) via Export/Import under Settings.
www.typepad.com

Tumblr
Lightweight blogging platform, aimed at quick and easy linking and sharing.
www.tumblr.com

Windows Live Spaces
Ties in with many services and sharing options. Fairly easy to use, but confused navigation at first.
spaces.live.com

BlogHer
"The community for women who blog."
www.blogher.com

WordPress
Full-featured, powerful, flexible blog platform, e.g., you can post "pages" (fixed location) as well as regular posts. WordPress is challenging, but rewarding to use. Partial backup (e.g., no images) via Import/Export. It's relatively easy to backup your images, etc., if you host the blog yourself.
wordpress.com

What's a blog?

According to Google:

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. [more]

TypePad Links

Some useful links for TypePad:

• This blog — http://blue-moon.typepad.com/blog/
• TypePad features — http://www.typepad.com/micro/features/
• Welcome/Start — http://help.sixapart.com/tp/us/micro_new.html
• Dashboard — http://www.typepad.com/dashboard
• Composing/Editing — http://help.sixapart.com/tp/us/compose_overview.html
• Help — http://www.typepad.com/account/help

Remember that some links will behave differently, depending on whether you're Signed in or not.

Blogging Links

Links related to blogging:

• Blog Hosting (list at Yahoo! Directory): http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Blogs/Hosting/ 
• Web Feeds: http://cybercoyote.org/news/feed-intro.shtml

Tags and Categories

According to TypePad:

"Categories are tags that can help you organize your blog posts for easier reference. We’ve provided a default set of categories to get you started; you can also create your own custom categories."

That's not the conventional way to organize things. Note that TypePad provides for keywords and Technorati Tags, so there is a way to use TypePad in more conventional wat.

More generally:

Categories are more like folders, while tags are more like topics or keywords. The conventional way to index posts is to assign them to one or a few categories, and use as many tags as needed to index the content. The main idea is that you can use as many tags as makes sense for a particular post.

Another comparison is with Gmail labels. Their "system" labels — Inbox, Starred, Sent, Trash, etc. — function somewhat like folders, while user labels are nothing but tags.

Linking to Category pages (TypePad help):

Links to category pages can be added to the Post Footer or as a sidebar list. At Design > Organize Content, the Category list or Cloud module can be added to the sidebar content. The categories assigned to the post can be added to the Post Footer by clicking the icon and selecting Category.