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Topic: What the heck is a BLOG?................ |
Jerry Hayes
From: Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 28 Oct 2008 7:22 pm
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I hear the term all the time but what exactly is a Blog? Is it like a website or what? I hate to appear dumb but it just sort of came upon me and I don't know anyone who knows?........JH in Va. _________________ Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Tony Glassman
From: The Great Northwest
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Posted 28 Oct 2008 7:34 pm
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BLOG
ORIGIN a shortening of weblog
DEF'N: a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative :
EXAMPLE Most of his work colleagues were unaware of his blog until recently.
VERB ( blogged, blogging) [ intrans. ]
add new material to or regularly update a blog.
NOUN Blogger |
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Wiz Feinberg
From: Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2008 8:04 pm Re: What the heck is a BLOG?................
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Jerry Hayes wrote: |
I hear the term all the time but what exactly is a Blog? |
Jerry;
That is a very pertinent question.
The term "blog" is an abbreviation for the combination words "web log." In a nutshell, a web log, or blog, is like a diary, where the author uses specialized program tools to publish his or her thoughts, commentaries, reviews, theories, or rants, as he or she sees fit to do. There is no limit on the amount of text that can be added to a blog article, but, the software running the blog usually has two separate input fields: one for the main comments and the other for extended comments. The blog software controls the layout and text properties, which can be altered by the authors.
"A blog" is a noun. "To blog" is a verb. A person who authors articles on a blog is known as "a Blogger."
Typically, a blog's home page contains a relatively small amount of teaser text content, to generate interest for each of blog articles it is set to display. If the articles contain extended comments (the rest of the story), they are usually hidden until the reader clicks on a link to read the full story, or extended comments. This takes you to a new blog page where the entire article is displayed. Some blogs only have one article at a time, while others may display a dozen.
Usually, the more articles displayed on the blog's homepage, the shorter the text shown for each one. Once the preset number of articles is reached, any new articles posted will push the oldest articles out of the home page and into the monthly archives (FIFO).
The software used for blogs may be written in one of the two major programming languages used on the majority of websites in existence today. One language is called PHP, using files ending in .php and the other is "Perl" using CGI programming, with files ending in either .cgi or .pl.
The most common blog platforms are WordPress, using PHP and MovableType, running on Perl/CGI. The language used is up to the author, or the Blogging service that rents or supplies space to bloggers, who don't want to or cannot install blog software onto a web server.
Most blogs have the means of allowing readers to comment on the articles published on blogs, but many bloggers turn this feature off. This is because a spammers scour the Internet looking for blogs that accept comments, then try to post spam links to sleazy websites in their comments.
Blogs use what are known a "databases" to store the contents of the published articles and the templates used to create the layout and insert comments into the correct places.
If you feel that you have something important to tell the World you may want to look into using a free blog service, like Blogger.com, which is owned by Google. _________________ "Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Cal Sharp
From: the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN
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Wiz Feinberg
From: Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 29 Oct 2008 3:05 pm
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Cal Sharp wrote: |
I've been reading lately that MySpace, Twitter and Facebook (among others) are gradually becoming more popular than blogs. |
That's because you are guaranteed a large available audience on those social networking services. In contrary, blog operators must attract their own traffic, via advertising it, or SE placement for keywords, or via syndication feeds. I use all three on Wiz's Computer and Website Security Blog.
BTW: My blog is hosted on my own server and runs on the MovableType platform. I control the horizontal, I control the vertical, I control the focus and content. You are now entering the outer limits of Wing Commander. All your blog are belong to us! _________________ "Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Jerry Hayes
From: Virginia Beach, Va.
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Posted 30 Oct 2008 7:24 am
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Thanks guys, I appreciate all the good info....JH in Va. _________________ Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!! |
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Ken Lang
From: Simi Valley, Ca
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Posted 30 Oct 2008 5:10 pm
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As many of you know, I had a heart bypass and a liver transplant in the same trip to UCLA, in the space of 13 days. I wrote a blog to express what I went thru during that time, hopefully for others with the same problems to read how it was.
If you've a mind to check it out:
http://myliverstory-countrypops.blogspot.com |
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