Blogbasics ver.1

This for those of you who know little to nothing about blogs, and more especially for those who wish to participate and contribute. I am also on a learning curve and you will get updates to Blogbasics ver.1 at very irregular intervals.

Blog stands for web-log which is a way of putting information out in the public domain of the Internet. Each blog has an URL which is the address appearing in the window at the top of each web page. The URL of my blog, Solar Plexus, is http://froggyfarm.blogspot.com/. Thus to get to my blog just copy the URL and paste into the window of your browser, then hit "enter" or click on "go". Once you have got to it you can save it in "favourites" or "bookmarks" and visit it whenever you wish.

Each update to a blog is called a "post". I have 3 postings to date; this will be the 4th. Each new posting comes at the very top of the page and has its own heading. Thus as you scroll down you go back in time.

Rather than accumulate a huge number of postings on a single endless page, they get archived: see 5th window on the right of the main column. My posts get archived as they are posted but I retain up to 7 posts on the main column. You can thus always see previous or current posts by going to the archive window and clicking onto the relevant heading.

At the top of each post is the posting date and at the bottom is the time (set to GMT + 2 hours for South Africa).

Also at the bottom of each post you will find the following:

1. A sticky note with the word "comments" alongside with the number of comments noted. You can comment by clicking on this and filling in the window which will appear for the purpose. By clicking on the words "publish your comment" below the window, it will be sent to me for moderation. If accepted it will appear under the posting. Comments can be as or more important than the main post - so please go ahead. My policy regarding "comments" is noted on my blog page. In addition my e-mail address is also provided below the window and can be used if you wish to comment to me privately.

2. An envelope with an arrow. If you click on this a new page will appear which will allow you to send the URL of the post to a friend along with a message from yourself. Unfortunately, it can ONLY be 1 friend at a time and it does not actually include the post but only the specific URL which your friend can use to view the post. I will tell you what else you can do in the next Blogbasics posting.

3. Labels. This is a set of keywords supplied by the author of the post (in this case myself) each of which is underlined. By clicking on any of the keywords you will be taken to a list of all my posts with that keyword.

All this is terribly basic. But it is a start and as I am able to add new facilities I'll keep you up to date.

Mike