Web Updates the Blogger Way
Written: Dec 10 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free Instant Web Site Updating Tool
Cons: None
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| lap0530's Full Review: Blogger |
Blogging is the latest craze to hit the Internet. Blogs are everywhere. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!
What Blogs Are
Blog is short for weblog, a sort of instant message to the Internet. Blog owners can post their latest and greatest contributions to the web without worrying about the mechanics of HTML, web servers, or FTP. The posts are attractively arranged in reverse chronological order and appear as a separate web page by default. Blogs can also be incorporated into other pages. Users knowledgeable of HTML can add links and other HTML elements to their Blogs. The advanced user can also add CGI, ASP, or Cold Fusion interactivity to the Blog. Users can also employ JavaScript to include one or more Blogs in a web page and to produce Blogs that can be syndicated for use by others.
How Blogs Work
Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) provides users a free way to automate and speed up the process of posting updates to a web site. Getting started with Blogger is quite simple. One must have a web host and FTP access. If you don’t already have a web host, there are many companies that provide free web space (some without, but mostly with, banners or pop-ups). Of these free providers, some do not provide FTP access, instead relying on a browser-based upload utility. For the purposes of trying Blogger, I opened a free account with Prohosting (www.prohosting.com). They provide ample free space (50 MB) and FTP access, but also insert a banner at the top and bottom of your web pages. Users can also choose to have Blogger host their Blogs free (with a banner included) at blog*spot (http://www.blogspot.com).
If one chooses the default, the Blog will produce a page named blogger.html. If you name the page index.html, it will be the site’s main or home page. With either SSI (Server-Side Includes) or ASP (Active Server Pages), Blogs can also be inserted into other HTML documents as “include files.” The user has the option of choosing how many days a Blog post will stay, and of archiving previous entries if he or she so chooses.
What You Can Do With a Blog
Blogs make it possible to publish instant updates to web pages. Rather than open and edit a web page online or make changes offline and then post the new page to a server, the user edits the Blog online at the Blogger site. You log in to your account and have immediate access to all your Blogs, no matter where they are stored on the Internet. Any previous entries can be edited or deleted, and a new entry can be posted. Each new post is dated and appears at the top of the Blog. The originator of the Blog becomes the administrator, and can grant permission for others to post to the Blog as well.
In addition to Blog editing and updating from the Blogger site, Blogger offers tools that can be integrated into the browser interface. “Blog This!” is a JavaScript function that resides in the browser’s Links toolbar. With this “bookmarklet” the user can select text from a given web page and have the selected text and the link to that page appear in a pop-up window. These can then be edited and immediately posted to the Blog without having to visit the Blogger home page.
Reading a Blog is simpler than checking e-mail for an update, since the thread of related messages is right before one’s eyes. Individuals and groups are using Blogs for a variety of purposes:
• Personal diaries or journals
• Team project collaboration
• News updates on web sites
• Annotated links to updated sites or information
• Message boards
Because of their simplicity, Blogs are touted as web design tools for novices, but advanced users can put Blogs to good use too. By creating a template file and adding HTML elements to the Blog, users can control the appearance and formatting of their Blog files as well as their functionality.
My Experience With Blogger
As I indicated, I opened a free Prohosting account with FTP access. I created a web page with information on free ISPs called the ISP Alert page. Since there is so much volatility in the free ISP market, a Blog seemed a perfect way to post frequent updates. I signed up for Blogger and answered a minimal number of questions. I then provided my web host’s FTP account and password information and was ready to create and publish my first Blog.
I chose to include a link to the Blog file on the main page, but could just as easily have used JavaScript or SSI to insert the Blog directly into the main page. Blogger gives specific directions for using JavaScript, SSI, or ASP to include Blogs in other pages. Readers interested in examining the appearance and functionality of a Blog can visit mine at http://balder.prohosting.com/ispalert/blogger.html.
The creation and updating of the Blog proved remarkably easy, as did the addition of the Blog This! bookmarklet to the Links toolbar.
Note to Epinions members: Blogger would be a perfect way to post links to one’s Epinions reviews on an external web site as a way of bringing more nonmember traffic to your reviews. Each time you submit a new review, you could update your Blog with the link. These links could of course go to your Content Partner site. The Blogger template file is an HTML file, so its head section could be edited to include appropriate keywords and a description. This would help both with search engine submissions and with web crawling robots as they index the site’s content. In fact, the very first thing I am going to do after I submit this review is use my new Blog This! bookmarklet to post the URL to my Blog!
Thanks for Reading!
The Computer Teacher
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
lap0530
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Location: Anderson, SC
Reviews written: 122
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About Me:
Psychology and management professor and business consultant
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