The technical aspects of blogging

[#1]

So, I was thinking it might be good to have a thread for the less exciting aspects of blogging, namely, the tech stuff. Here, we could post tips, articles and questions about making our blogs functional and attractive through coding, widgets and whatever! I am sure many people in our team some have wonderful tips and tricks!

[Former_Member]

I understand the rational for word verification, but I HATE it. I wear tri-focals and just trying to see it is a struggle.

In terms of changing the look of your site fairycardmaker, look for sites that have easy access to the comment section and clear to navigate. I used to have a dot.com Wordpress blog and then moved to the dot.org platform. The latter is a self hosting platform BUT if you plan to have a really large blog and need a lot of templates and widgets that's where you want to be. The WP dot.com will also give you lots of templates and some widgets. It's all about the kind of template you choose and that's the look and utility you will see as a result.

Man that was long and probably irrelevant.

[Former_Member]

I'm on blogger. Problem for me is, I don't know any HTML. That's what scared me off Wordpress at the start - there was too much to customize that I didn't know what to do with it. Blogger was install and go and I knew I could learn to customize later.

I have found a few free resources, but as soon as they say "do this in HTML mode", I'm lost. I know what that mode is and I've seen it but it's all gobblety gook to me.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the great tips! I want to turn off word verification too...off to see how/where to do it!!

[OxArtJewelry]

I put my profile up today but didn't realize the whole thing would show. Where should I look for HTML allowing just a sentence then a "view my complete profile" link? Thanks for any help or suggestions!!!

[OxArtJewelry]

I found an answer in blogger forums - just had to disable the "about me". Not exactly what I wanted, but much better. Sorry for this but I had searched in the forums previously; must have used the right search term this time.

[Former_Member]

fairycardmaker- I'd be happy to help you with html if you'd like. Just send me a message.

oxoriginal- There is a way to make the "about me" shorter. I'm looking for a tutorial for you.

[Former_Member]

You might find this article helpful: http://reflectingthedesigner.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-easily-edit-your-about-me.html

Also: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/08/hot-tips-on-blogger-profiles.html

[OxArtJewelry]

Thank you intermission!! Both links have great information!

[Former_Member]

Thanks, theintermission! I may take you up on that, when I get to revamping my blog. It's on my 2011 project list.

[jgrumbling]

@AmyKristine - Thank you so much for the link to the HTML code generator for treasuries. You have made my life so much easier! I was looking for an answer as to why I suddenly couldn't get a screen shot of a full treasury page, but this is a much better way to get the information into my blog for my Treasury Tuesdays. http://jgrumbling.blogspot.com

[Former_Member]

Just a quick note. Looking back, this should have been obvious, but oh well, I figure there must be someone else on this team who may not know this! I have always used Firefox for my browser, and my blog looked great! (yay!) However, I just found out that it does not look so great on IE! I am not sure what it is, but my guy and I am working on it. So, it may be a good idea to look at your blog on different browsers to make sure it is formatting correctly! Have a great rest of your weekend!

[Former_Member]

Great information share. Thanks everyone.
Something I did recently was to remove all those google sense "monetize" ads. I never made any money (they never sent that first check for $10) and the blog looks much cleaner and doesn't take so long to load.

[OnePerfectDay]

This is all great!
There's so much to learn.
Thanks guys.

[Former_Member]

AmyKristineVintage says
So, it may be a good idea to look at your blog on different browsers to make sure it is formatting correctly!
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Wow, good point!

[OxArtJewelry]

Do you experienced bloggers think it's a benefit to sign up with Technorati and other listing sites? I signed with Stumbleupon. Do I need to become involved with the site to see any results? Guess I'm like everyone else- short on time.

[Former_Member]

fairycardmaker says

AmyKristineVintage says
So, it may be a good idea to look at your blog on different browsers to make sure it is formatting correctly!
-----------------------------
Wow, good point!

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I use Safari on my Ipad and my blog looks different there, as opposed to IE.

[Former_Member]

crememagnolia says

I used to publish a very large website and one of the tricks I learned was to NAME you photograph. Instead of publishing a pic that is named by your camera, like 123.whatever, name the photo because the Bots also pick that up!

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Great little tidbit, I didn't know this! Thx!

[Former_Member]

I've got an article on technicalities too

http://magdamagdadesignstudio.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-add-link-list-on-blogger.html

Just wrote that, i'd love to get your feedback!

[Former_Member]

I'm trying to keep up with you all, but you're a whirlwind of activity! I didn't even realize so many discussions had already been posted. I'm behind, but I'll catch up!

I've been naming my photos for about a year. It works!

[heavenhelpus]

Thanks for the naming the pictures point! It makes life easier anyhow and now I have more incentive.

[Former_Member]

@OxOriginalArtJewelry:
Do you experienced bloggers think it's a benefit to sign up with Technorati and other listing sites? I signed with Stumbleupon. Do I need to become involved with the site to see any results? Guess I'm like everyone else- short on time.

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You can get some links and traffic from signing up and verifying your blog with Technorati, but not that much unless you're near the top of the list. Also, keep in mind, the tech/gadget blogs do much better than arts/craft type blogs because most of their viewers are from the tech/gadget crowd. I haven't checked technorati in a while, but after seeing it today, it went way downhill. Ugh

Stumbleupon does require you (or other readers) "stumbleupon" your blog posts to get any exposure. Most of the time, it doesn't really do much, but once in a while, you can get gobs of traffic. Keep in mind when using stumbleupon.. they frame your content so you will not get any link credit from the search engines.

All in all, I think its something nice to have, but I wouldn't put too much energy promoting at these places. You are better off joining relevant groups/forums (like this one) or commenting to relevant blogs/sites to build traffic and links.

[Former_Member]

I've noticed that every time I make changes to the template in Blogger (typefaces, add new widgets, chan ge the width of the columns), my image that serves as my header disappears! I am using a fairly standard template that I customized a little -- didn't mess with the html much -- and I cannot figure out why it keeps erasing my cute banner :) Makes me reluctant to work on the formatting since I keep having to re-upload the image file.

Thoughts?

[Former_Member]

I wish I could help you but the only thing that sticks out is when you said.."I didn't mess with the html - much." Someone who knows more than me will come around with an answer.