Sketch Blog of the Day

Banner Up!

All this talk about HTML is making me so confused in a good sort of way. Like I need a banner to add some person--ality to my blog. But I've been thinking design for a while and I still haven't found a banner that's stuck. Recently, I made this one, but I don't know... I think something's missing.
Like a body?

Blogging Genius-- Chapter Five

As promised, today I'm reviewing chapter five of the book Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content by Biz Stone (no I did not make that one up--but maybe he did). This chapter, entitled "Blog Design 101," lists the nuts and bolts on how to produce a memorable space in the blogosphere. It also explains the purpose of common sections found on most blogs like... headers, dates, body, links, modules, and footers. Plus a quick overview of the basic elements of design for any good blog. He believes that a blog should reflect the author's personality. I suspect most of the memorable ones do. Best Advice--- go over the top but not over--board, and once you get the elements down then you can "think like an information architect." I think I like that sound of that one!

Blogging Genius-- Part One

Today I'm posting my first review of Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content by author Biz Stone. And so far this book has been blogalicious baby. First up, I'm examining section one called "Basic Blogging" which includes chapters one through five. Which are indeed for the basic among us. So I'll make this short and sweet unless I feel the need to elaborate.

Chapter one named " The Blog Phenomenon" examines the blog explosion and gives a brief history of web pages and blogs... Also why blogs are taking over cyberspace... plus the who, what, when, where, and why--blog.

Chapter two is a "Quick Start to Creating Your First Blog" and explains how to make your very own web log.

Chapter three is an "Overview of the Major Blog Providers." If you already have a blog, you've probably been there and done that, but for anyone new to blogging this one is a good starting point.

Chapter four entitled "A Blogger's Guide to Simple HTML" and being the simpleton that I am and quite HTML illiterate, this chapter really caught my attention. You see I'm used to using WYSIWYG programs like FrontPage and of course TypePad. But I had no idea how to do some of the things that I saw on other blogs. For instance, I like love striking out words. Yes Wow I really love that one. And every now and then I'd see it on another blog and wonder "How'd they do that?" I told myself I'd find it in TypePad, but I never did. But I did find it in chapter four. Wow Yes!

Chapter four was very useful to me because I've always wanted to have a basic knowledge of HTML and this helped me out-- a lot. It's easy to make a pretty page in a program like FrontPage, but once I entered the Blogosphere I felt like I couldn't breathe. Now I can resize text, add different colored words to a post, and even make a list.
Like This One

• So if you see


• any lists


• in the future


• on this blog


• you know exactly where I got them from.

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I can also add rules to a super long post to break it down into smaller sections. So that it is easier to read amidst line after line of my sometimes overblown.. way overblown.. way way overblown posts.

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I'm saving Chapter Five called "Blog Design 101" for tomorrow... So I don't have to break it down any further.

***** For all you blogging geniuses out there, this might seem like much ado about nothing... But if you're a "just started blogging--wanna be HTML geek" like me then Chapters 1-4 are indeed golden.

Blogging

Back during the holidays, I bought a copy of a book called Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content. Unfortuantely, I never got a chance to digest it. So today I'm taking a couple of bites out of this book and I'll let you know if it was worth the $29.99 I paid for the meal. If you're interested in reading it too, it's selling over at Amazon for $20.99.

If only... I'd known, cause $20.99 equals five trips to Starbucks!