Truefresco, Gale and Lou

We are a busy bunch.

Gale has been busy experimenting in her test blog. She asked about counters and referers so I added Truefresco to her test blog so she could check it out. Her version is in the sidebar with some extra scripting to keep it from mucking up her layout. Check the source code.

I added the code to the footer of this blog. I didn't use the extra script because the footer extends across the page. I am thinking of adding one to the sidebar of Our Photoblog.

Do we want both sitemeter and statcounter for the photoblog? Statcounter would probably be better for me because one account would cover everything.

Lou's home page is looking good. He has been busy getting ready to blog to his website. Lou - don't forget to post here when you are ready for visitors. I have other suggestions which I will post to your test blog.

Our Photoblog is cool! Don't forget to link to it from your blogs.

Please Read

James I hope I am not intruding at this time. I just wanted you to know that your online friends are thinking about you.

Everyone - stop in at James' blog and say hi. James lost his father this week.

Just a quick Test

I am having some troubles posting to Order Confirmed. Just testing to see if I can post here.

Interesting Blog with Tutorials

Rolandog has an interesting blog that is full of ideas and tutorials. One of the more interesting is the Scrolling Photo-Log.

I find all that movement a bit much for my tastes, but I like a blog with innovative ideas. I will have to visit the site again.

Javascript Sidebar Menu / Banner Ad

Javascript Sidebar Menu

I had a copy of Xara Webstyle from a magazine and remembered making buttons for websites. The choices were limited, but fun to use.

I found the Xara Online site and signed up for the free service. I tried some different styles. The choices are extremely limited in both style and number of links. Furthermore, each account only gets one item of each type. One benefit of the service is that Xara hosts everything.

An example has been added to the Demo Junk sidebar.

Banner Ad

I also made a basic banner ad to promote Our Photoblog. Check Demo Junk for this too.

Both items can be modified with having to change the template.

Testing Ideas

I have been testing ideas in Demo Junk.

I made a button to link to one of my blogs and added it to the sidebar. It worked out ok, but the button needs to be clearer.

I also turned the Archives into an Archive Menu. I will do the same at Firemind because my archive list is getting quite long.

I have also been experimenting at Firemind. I modified my Truefresco Referrer as explained in this tutorial. I had to change the width to 180px to keep my blogger page viewable at 800x600 without using a scrollbar. I am pleased with the results. The Referrer has been useful, but it could be an eyesore.

I will add Referrers to Our Photoblog and The Demo Blog.

Using A Flash Menu In Blogger

I was going to try using a flash menu in my test blog. The menu worked fine on my computer. Flickr, however, doesn't accept swf files. It would be interesting to see if this menu works in blogger.



I created the menu at Flashbuttons.com

Blogger Basics

I added a sidebar link to Blogger Basics to Gale's test blog and to this blog. It saves new members the hassle of finding the pages at Blogger help.

Side Blog

I have been experimenting in my test blog on how to make a "sideblog" type thing. You know, for stuff that doesn't really qualify for for a post to the main blog but is good enough to mention. Kinda like the Furl Bookmarker but with added comments you can see. After a bit of experimenting, I think I figured out how to do it. You can see an example on my test blog. I am still working out the kinks and it should work better after I get my hosting because I can host the sideblog there rather than blogger. But it is pretty nifty and if you want to know how it is done, pay attention.

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Step one- Create your "side blog"
To do this, create a new blog with a simple template.

Step two- Edit the template
You need to delete anything irrelevant to the post. That includes the sidebar, comments, footer, even the heading.

Step three- Insert the sideblog into your blog
For this you need some HTML. The cide is pretty simple. What you are doing is getting the sideblog and inserting it into your main blog. The code is as follows:(object data="(url of imported blog)" type="text/html")(/object). You can optionally insert custom height and width attributes as well. This code is then inserted in the sidebar of you blog.

Step four- Preview
Always preview after making template hacks. Ypu don;t want to publish crap. If you like the way it looks, you are done.

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Notes- I figured out how to do this with the help of this tutorial.
If you have any questions, you can ask me or look at that.
Also, you might want to drag this into your toolbar. It is the BlogThis window. This will help you update your sideblog on the fly. At least thats how I do it.

Linking To Words Within A Post

Here is your text relating to the dolphin article:

"as the ones who rescued the swimmers in New Zealand".

Here is your link:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1349802004

This is perfectly acceptable, but with the tools in Blogger it is easy to make it look nicer and easier to check out.

Method 1:
"as the ones who rescued the swimmers in New Zealand".

Read the full story.

(a href="http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1349802004")Read the full story.(/a) The () will be <> of course.

Method 2:

"as the ones who rescued the swimmers in New Zealand".

"as the ones who (a href="http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1349802004")rescued the swimmers(/a) in New Zealand".

Here you use key words to link to the story without interupting the flow of your writing. Many bloggers prefer this method and use the former when this one seems awkward for some reason.

Links are made the same way as sidebar links:

1. Write your post.
2. Paste the link you want to use. Put it at the end of the post.
3. Decide what method you wish to use when linking.
4. Copy the link.
5. Highlight the words you want to associate the link with.
6. Click on the green insert link button in the toolbar.
7. Paste in the link.
8. Click ok
9. Save the post 'as draft'.
10. Re open the post to edit.
11. Click on preview in the upper right toolbar.
12. Click on the link and see if it works.
13. Click the back button to return to your work.
14. If the link works delete the link you posted in #2.
15. Publish Post.

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Gale - you posted essentially the same material to Whale Tales2 and Our Photoblog. This is called 'cross posting'. I will cross post this tutorial to The Demo Blog.

Looking Far For New Members

I have been had a strange evening wherein I followed links to sites in the Falkland Islands. The information was interesting and so I looked for any weblogs, but couldn't find any. Therefore I left a message on a community message board inviting people to contact us if they are interested in blogging. I wonder what will happen?

Html Tools for Bloggers update

Lou has experimented with and reviewed the tools mentioned in Html Tools For Bloggers. Read the review.

Leon's Check In part 1

I am pleased with how things are working out. Christine's Supermum was the only blog from the team I read until we got going here. I find myself reading your blogs for pleasure as I much as I do to look for ways to help you. If I comment in any blog except here or one of our test blogs it is as a reader not as coordinater for this group. If I do find something that pertains to your participation here I may bring it up here. Why? Your blog is public and you are a member here. I will consult you about more personal aspects before putting you 'in the spotlight' here.

Christine - I like how you jump in to help and offer ideas.

Lou - I almost can't keep up with you. I see your 'on the(get)go' attitude in your blog and flickr and here. Your new domain and website ideas are a little beyond the scope of my basic plan for this group. However, the skills you learn in setting up that site are not. I know you and Christine and others want to learn more advanced skills. We can work on basic html right to css. Check out the info I posted in your test blog.

Gale - You keep on going and learning. Your patience and willingness to try things in your test blog make me happy. You will feel better about your blogs if you participate in their creation. I see this already.

James and David - I know you guys are busy, but please try to check in once a week just to stay involved. If you have any questions or concerns contact me directly or leave a post or comment.

This is getting longer than I planned so I will write a 'sequel'.

Html Tools For Bloggers

I was discussing html with Lou and remembered some tools that are useful for bloggers.

Home Page Builder 2.0 - make a webpage with this simple builder and learn html.

HTML for the Conceptually Challenged - a learning site.

Arachnophilia - a webpage editor.

Content And Chrome (Add Ons)

The distinction between blog content and blog chrome is an important one. Unfortunately many bloggers fail to recognize it.

I define blog content as the engine or heart of a blog. It is the actual writing and how well the blogger presents it. A plain blog that is intelligible but not grammatically correct is better than a nice looking blog full of slang or acronyms. The content must make sense to readers to make them stay around. The content must also appeal to what the reader is interested in.

Example: I read a number of blogs written by parents. I have no children myself but I have nephews and nieces and hear the stories. I have worked around teenagers and remember my teen years. Therefore a blog that mixes in some parenting stories won't alienate me.

I haven't babysat for years and don't have much to do with babies or toddlers. I came across a blog written by a new mother. Some of the material was funny and the pictures were cute. The trouble was that ninety percent of the text and pictures were about the baby. I got bored quickly.

Example: There was a very popular blog at Diaryland that someone suggested I read. I tried to read it, but the lapses into crying rants about lovers and the constant design changes were frustrating to put up with. When my computer crashed because of a website linked to by the blogger I abandoned the blog.

The content will define the whole blog. If you write about things you like you will be more honest and write better. What you write about is up to you. Your content will attract readers and it combined with your style will keep them coming back. The key is to write for yourself first and the reader second.

Blog chrome is what can be added to a blog to make it more appealing to the reader or useful to the blogger. An appealing site will attract readers and will make it easier for bloggers because they have to interact with their sites so much. Useful add ons help bloggers manage
their sites better.

Hacker stickers, Blog pets, and custom templates are examples of chrome that make a blog more appealing.

Sitemeters and Referers are examples of useful chrome because they provide important information to bloggers.

The distinction between content and chrome can be defined by the effects of their absence. Remove the chrome and you have a plain blog. Remove or mess with the content and you'll end up with nonsense or nothing at all.

Sometimes bloggers get their priorities mixed up. They play with fun toys like html and the latest sidebar addition and forget about learning to write. If they do survive it is because they realized the importance of writing. There is a saying among bloggers that goes: "you don't have to be a good writer to be a blogger, but you must like to write. Eventually you will become a good writer."

I have read blogs by people who didn't edit their work and used slang when they first started writing. Over time they learned to express themselves better and edited their work.

There are many abandoned blogs in cyberspace. Just visit any directory such as Blogarama and click on some of the listings. There are plain blogs, ugly blogs, and well designed blogs - all abandoned. Sometimes I think these directories should be called mortuaries. For some reason bloggers gave up and stopped writing.

Instead of worrying about stats and sidebar gadgets and other bits of blog chrome bloggers should work on developing their writing skills and learning to express their ideas.

Mechanics could teach bloggers about the distinction between chrome and content (ie - the engine). What part of a car is optional?

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Notes – this will have to be touched up but I think it gets my point across. We can talk about the fun things to add to our blogs but we will concentrate on the important stuff.

I am not saying design isn't important. It is a big part of feeling good about a blog. I am just trying to give someone an idea about priorities. We'll have lots to discuss about design later.

has anyone else tried this

I use a lot of links in my posts but I do find that it is either want or plenty on the odd and amusing front, and it's good to link 2 or 3 in a post,like this one. I have recently been trying out del.icio.us to hold and index the links I come across whilst I surf.

I think that it's brilliant and a couple of my friends are using it too, you might find it's worth a try.

Check this out!

A column idea I mentioned in the last post.

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memeorandum: Fresh brewed news plus stewing views

Blogs By City.com - Your Local Blog Directory

Into the Blogosphere - academic essays about blogging.

Blogtools - comments and guestbooks - we are a member (sort of) because I used my account to add our guestbook. I also use it at flickr so nonmembers of that site can comment. Christine uses it at her website.

The Blog Herald - blog related news.

BlogPatrol - The Counter for Blogs

WordIQ.com - Search for Knowledge

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Normally posts wouldn't be as big as this and I would credit sources. However, I just cleaned out the bookmarks that had accumulated over the last few weeks. You could use Blog This a lot here.

Normally I would post stuff like this to Linknut.

New blogger and other ideas.

I created a blog called New Blogger to store and present our tutorials and ideas.

Do we need a new blog?

No one has to join. An Assistant Editor would be nice.

Do you find the mix of lessons, tutorials and feedback confusing here?

I know Lou and Christine have been keeping up here. How about others? As we go on the amount of material for each new person to absorb will grow.

Except for feedback and lessons - should my other essays and suggestions go to the new blog?

A pro would be that they would be in one place and readable instead of mixed with our daily business. A con would be that we would often be linking to 'an outside source' and have another blog to check.

How do you like the name?

Alternatives I thought of include: Blog Tutor, Demoblog Notes, and Blog Lessons. So many of the 'good urls' were unavailable. (eg: blogtutor.blogspot.com and newblogger.blogspot.com). Maybe it is time for a petition to blogger about retiring old urls. Let Google index the pages some way and then rerelease the urls. I think a year of inactivity is resonable time. (ooops, I think I see an essay coming.)

Should Check ins be weekly?

ie - a membership prerequisite would be periodic check ins to say you are caught up? Or is it better to stick with the monthly contribution to this blog? The former might make us a better team while the latter allows members set their own pace.

Blog Links - needs to be updated and I will be doing that in the next two weeks. I found some good sites to add. Please browse the blog and offer suggestions.

Timeline - with the holidays approaching I want to set up a loose timeline so we can get an idea of when we can 'take a break' for them. It won't mean a complete hiatus but more of preparing when for when other members are unavailabe to help. For example: From mid - december to almost new years I will mostlikely be unavailable to help or offer support. More about this later.

Check this out - how about a minicolumn called check this out that any one could contribute to. When we find neat stuff we could draw atention to them here. (within reason). Good links would be added to our sidebar or to Blog Links. I will post an example.

Re: Lou's Check in

Good to hear that you like our progress and the team work.

"I would really like to learn CSS" - this is important to many members. I am not sure if we will get to the advanced stuff until January. We will have someone present a tutorial though.

You mentioned using websites to learn html. Have you read any of the books available? I am using Castro's book and it helps, I could use a tutorial myself. I do find the book handy for working at my computer and not having to keep jumping to the online sites.

"writing more meaningful content." - I can help a lot with this right now. This is an important part of blogging. I want to clarify what you mean by 'meaningful' first and then offer suggestions. For now I will say that finding your voice is an important part of blogging. What do you want to say. What types of blogs do you like and why? I will come back to this later, for now: do you want ideas and topics to experiment with?

"group chats' - I think you are right. It will help us to build a team and exchange ideas. Timezones will be an issue since we are spread over two continents. When it is noon in Victoria it is 3pm eastern and 8pm in London.

"New people" - I too want to help those who need help and meet new people. I want to make sure however that no one feels left out and people contribute to the group. When members ask for help we don't want to be unavailable or overworked.

If you know someone interested in what we are doing and who you think will fit in then contact me - but, talk it over with them. We will take it from there.Three considerations: advanced stuff isn't available right now, we aren't a club but a learning teaching environment, and the person must be willing to learn and help.

Re: Getting Your blog noticed. Part 1 and comments.

I added an update to Part 1. Have a look at that and also read the comments. Christine has some good insight and ideas. I will deal with Lou's comment later.

Visiting Bacon and Eh's was fun. I still have to write about the results that Kim posted.

Lou and Christine - thanks for dropping in. Your comment got added and your links can be tracked to your blogs. Your locations helped fill out the maps Kim posted later. You may have not picked up new readers, but you joined a lot of people in a mini -event. You may have found something interesting to read.

Lou's Check In

1. How are things progressing here for you?
Things are progressing very well for me. I think we as a team are doing a good job.
2. What do you need help with? (motivation/blog ideas/advertizing your blog/etc)
Right now I would really like to learn CSS, mainly for creating my own templates. Also, I'd like to try and get better at writing more meaningful content.
3. What would you like us to do/not do here?
I think we are doing a lot of things right. If we can maybe organize some group chats latter on it might be beneficial for some members.
4. If there are people wanting to join can we support more learners?
Bring 'em on!

Check ins / Our first theme/activity

I am popping in at flickr in a moment and then will return to do my check in.

Check ins -

1. How are things progressing here for you?
2. What do you need help with (motivation/blog ideas/advertizing your blog/etc)
3. What would you like us to do/not do here?
4. If there are people wanting to join can we support more learners?

Please post an entry titled (name check in) - length is up to you. Due - this week (if possible).
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Christine - the comments/suggestions were great. We will make a post out of them.

Lou- I have finished reading your blog from the beginning of Sept.to Nov. I have lots of comments and suggestions (none bad). Shall I post them here? or?

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A Blogwarming Party - is my theme suggestion for this month. It will be a picture version of the Online Potluck. Guests will be invited. Let me know what you think.

My IM/Ideas/news

I haven't got AIM yet, but my MSN is firemind@fastmail.fm. I haven't tried it yet because everyone is offline. Gale does your ichat allow you to use msn? If not I can try AIM again later.
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It is naptime again. Today I will follow up on:

Some ideas for Lou and Gale about blog promotion.

What Christine needs for her sunday evening header pic. How is Irfanview?

David and posting from flickr to his test blog. Someone can help him with this if you connect in flicr.

James and ? - what do you ned James. You have been so busy. :)
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Possible new camera by next week. I can't go into it much online, but I may be a little eager this week.
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See you this afternoon.

Getting Your blog noticed. Part 1

Kim at Bacon and Eh's always has something interesting to read and comment about. She usually update's everyday. Her last update was Wednesday and she asked everyone to say hi and to get their friends to say hi. When I left a comment the number was 124 comments.

Is this a gimmick? No. Kim's blog is an interesting mix of text and links. Kim also reads and comments in different blogs. I have mentioned our team in my blogs, but I haven't asked for a plug. I will mention this post to her, but she is not obligated to link to me. By commenting in her blog - and commenting reasonably (ie - not begging for readers) - I draw attention to my Firemind blog and may gain readers.

Brent at Coptalk writes about many things. He posts pictures, talks about police issues, family, politics and so on. He reads a large number of blogs and thus interacts with many different people. As he writes in his blog, he writes for himself, but acknowledges and respects his readers. I found his blog because he was reading many of the same ones I was. Eventually we began to read each other's blogs.

When people talk about weblogs they seem fixated on three forms of blogs:

1. the angst driven monologues that either make a reader sympathetic or sick


2. the nerdy nothing-but-geek-links blog


3. the A - list wannabes who have pretty blogs with the required format, but no substance

While these types of blogs can be successful they are so common a reader can choose any of them and get the 'fix'/info they need. It is better to have your own distinct blog that uses some good ideas rather than a carbon copy of Biz Stone or another writer. I like Biz Stone's books and ideas, but he is Biz Stone - I am not.

I think a successful blog is one that has it's own distinct voice, has a blogger who is active in the blog community, and has a blogger that responds to his or her readers.
Things to do:

Everyone - have a look at these blogs.

• Stop in at Bacon and Eh's and leave a comment with a link to your blog


• Visit each others blogs and read a bit. Check out the links.


• Think about what type of blogs you like to read.

Christine - comments and/or suggestions?

If you want to just comment on this post do it in comments. If you think you can add to this post then write one here and link back. Any useful material will be incorporated into this post and turned into lesson.

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Update:
I found out that Kim's request for comments was due in part for a competition she was involved in. She needed 100+ comments. This could be called a 'gimmick', but she could only draw the number of visitors she did because she had a large, loyal group of readers. Kim has worked hard to attract and keep her readers.

You may be interested in...

Learn To Blog (Revisited) and Firemind And Copyright. The first talks about blogging and mentions a lot of what we are doing. I will introduce you all in a future post. The second post developed out of a discussion with Gale. Visit her test blog and add your comments.

The copyright post was almost posted in Gale's Test Blog. Then I decided it would be a good post for my own blog. Any tutorials and explainations that you write here can be used in your blogs. If you are stuck for a post copy one of your tutorials or build on something we do here. You may learn something or your readers may have something useful to add.

Lou is a Winner!

Congratulations to Lou for winning several awards. How many hours make up your day Lou? Blogging, working here, Flickr, school ...

Leon's Update

James - thanks for getting 'parked up' back in Our Photoblog.

Comments - there are new comments in the photoblog.

Gale - lots of work done in Whale Tales. Have a look and comment.

Instant Messaging - I may have to play the IM game again. My Linux IM is GAIM - I think. I will download it if I have to. Can anyone talk to AOL? (I think that's what Gale said she uses).

Blog Directories - I listed Our Photoblog with 'Globe Of Blogs' to start because I wanted to check it out for Gale. The nice thing is that it was easy to set up and I didn't have to join anything.

I listed our topics/ areas of interest as: photography/weblog/photolog.

Here is what I wrote:

Photos From The Demo Blog Team - Our Photoblog is a group blog with members of different nationalities. It is part of an online experiment in learning and teaching.

Hopefully we will also be listed in the (very short) Collaberative Blogs list.

Flickr is mean - am I the only one having flickr crash on me today? Whenever I tried to view a pic - whether logged in or not - flickr would crash and take Mozilla with it. I tried Konqueror and it happened again. The organizr also does it. Mozilla/Linux is unpopular today. I tried IE in Windows and had no problems.

Yuk. I started a topic in flickr help.

Blog University - David found an interesting link that lead to this one. I will explore this site some more.

Comments?

Our Photoblog Goes Public

I turned on the comments in Our Photoblog. I will announce it in my blog. Please do the same in yours.

James - the parked up post is set as draft. Can you republish it?

Christine - your link to the bird pics at typo wasn't working this morning. It might just be a glitch.

Thanks

if yoiu see my test blog you will see that I finally did what i wanted to using kodak imaging which was already on my computer. I would have liked a choice of font but I coped. It was getting the words on top of the picture which was causing me a problem. I used Lou's comment to fit it in and I am trying to download Irfanview but am having problems because of the mirror over here.(blueyonder)

anyway a minor success

Christine's Question

Christine asked a question about backgrounds. See the comments in that post. Check out Demo Junk.

Good Effort/photoblog

Well, I hide offline for a day and the team works together. Very good.

Gale - the photoblog pic looks nice and you have been busy in yout test blog. Good work.

Lou- thanks for popping in to help Gale. I left you a note in her test blog.

Christine - I left a comment to your question about graphics. If you have questions let me know. I was/am a graphics junky.

James - I will be working on the photoblog today. If you see your "parked up" missing it is just saved as draft. I want you to get the credit for the post - not me.

David - the link was good. Stuff like that should be in your test blog and Captain Crunch. That way we have to visit your blog. The comment was good. I will show you in the post another way to do the "credit".

Everyone - I will be getting the photoblog ready for comments by tuesday night latest. I shall post about the photoblog. Will you?

Eccentric Bohemian Hermits

Eccentric Bohemian Hermits
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Leon's example -

Celine Dion is Haunting My Computer! by Witty Woman is entertaining. (Thanks Christine!)

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David - there was nothing wrong with your post. It is great for linking to blogs. If you want to link to specific posts look at my example. In her blog She uses 'permalink' to show the link for that post. In my blog and this one we only use the time stamp 11:33 am in this example. Hover your cursor over the time shown in this post and you will see 'permanent link' pop up.

Created by Witty Woman @ 11:33 AM Permalink
5 Eccentric Words Trackbacks (0)

What this means is that your link will get a person to the blog. They might have to search for the exact post if the blog has been added to. My link will go to the exact post.

Help please

my demo blog is Sunday evening ( the only time I have to deal with it)If I want to put a picture behind the title how would I do that. I don't have photoshop.

Is there any of you who cna help

Here we go again! / photoblog

I want to get the photoblog 'open' tomorrow (monday) night at the latest.

James - can you repost 'parked up' so I can delete this.(it says posted by Leon).

Gale - I will leave notes in your test blog. Do you want a non whale/seal pic in the photoblog? - see your test blog.

Christine and Lou (and others) - where shall we advertize the photoblog?
Blogarama, Blogwise, Globe Of Blogs, Blog Explosion - are some ideas - we shall go slow because of 'password fatigue'. :) I don't think the national directories such as Blogscanada will accept us - we shall see.

David - I will contact you.

Hilarious!

Gale and I are playing cat and mouse in cyberspace. Working on two blogs while using blogger as an instant messager is quite bizarre. Posts pop up and change in front of our eyes.

Everybody give Gale a big round of cyber applause. She took my notes and changed her blogs!

Demo Junk Badges and Links

Check out the badges in Demo Junk. The one in the post is tricky and requires one in the template. We can hide the one in the tamplate with template 'comments'.

Alternately we could have our badges at the bottom of Our Photoblog. Do you think this is overkill (ie - we have links to our profiles, flickr, our blogs, etc) (also we will have more members - I heard from someone today asking to join).

You have been linked in the Firemind Links page. I don't require reciprocal links. I would rather have a link from someone who reads me. I am actually reading your blogs as I pop about. I haven't read any old posts yet.

Photoblog looks good./Notes

Christine - the second pic looks great. On a pic that size text to the left looks ok. You did sneak past the guidelines though. :) We shall experiment, but the majority rules.

Everyone - Gale is going to try joining the photoblog and get a pic or two posted. Please help with sizing issues and feedback.

Lou - I emailed you re: Gale's testblog.

James - two more pics? at your leisure (by monday?)

Pictures - three pics maximum per member until we have our first 'show'. This will make it easier for me to get the comments operating properly.

Gallery - I have been asking people for picture gallery examples. These are websites with pictures that show what one can do 'beyond the photoblog'. They don't have to be members to be listed. Christine- your 'pictorial evidence' is a perfect example.
more later.

Photoblog.

The photoblog is looking good. I have been doing minor touch ups (too long as a newsletter editor), but nothing major. Christine have you thought of a title? 'Conversation' popped to mind, but the choice is yours.

Do we want to be concerned with consistency to that degree? The blog looks good already.

Guestbook Activated

I set up a guestbook. The 'wonderful colour' can be changed - it does match our template.

Photoblog and Update.

Leon, Lou and James have posted to our photoblog. Everyone else get a pic blogged.

James - repost your picture with text and I will delete my version. That's all I need for this week.

David - when you are ready to join flickr and play with pictures contact me. If you need help with anything just ask.

Gale - join the photoblog, send a pic to it. For the rest of the week work on making a link list we can organize and add to your two blogs. Also copy the code for your flickr badge to your test blog so we can get it set up. Once it looks good in the test blog we will work on your other blogs.

Lou - keep one eye on Gale's Test blog and the other on your nanowrimo work.

Christine - I used supermum in the photoblog, because you post pics and text. I wish to use your 'pictorial evidence' as an example of a gallery when I get a Links/gallery page made up. Work on your other projects.

Everyone - if David needs a hand with his blogging please help if you can.

The only thing I wish to finish this week is the photoblog. The rest can wait until Sunday.

Photoblog almost ready.

The photoblog is almost ready to go! I just need everyone to have a quick peek and leave a comment here. I will delete the post with the big picture and set the other to draft. James can use the material to post in his first post. It will be our first pic (although I may have to post into the past.)

As soon as I hear from everyone I will reset comments to 'anyone' and do any minor touch ups as needed.

So... read the intro, guidelines, and the links, tosee if you agree.

Post one picture (with a bit of text) that is meaningful to you. I will check settings and then let you post as you want to. Probably 3 pictures a week max per member is right. Minimum is up to you.

Themes: Think of group and individual themes you would like to see.

More later.

Icebreaker Info

My name is Lou...

I am here to hopefully gain some knowledge and help others learn about blogging. And meet some new bloggers.

I expect that I will learn something or other from being here and be a valuable member of the team.

I would like to learn a little more about CSS and the way blogs work in general.

I can teach other HTML and some Blogger "hacks". I can also do some tutorials on template changes.

The skills I posses are that of HTML, Blogger knowledge, a bit of CSS, and some general internet skills.

I am really happy the way this is turning, and let's keep up the good work!

Promotions and Membership levels.

Well, I fell humbled and in need of training! I rate my self as a Blogger because I can work within the Blogger templates, do some html, make links, add sidebar info and so on. I have made web pages with notepad, Mozilla Composer and other programs, but they were pretty standard.

I said at the start that we are all 'Novice Bloggers'. We can all learn more. In the other sense it was to test you, and myself, and allow us to get a feel of each others skills and weaknesses. If I run a workshop and say to someone: Lou (for example) can help you with this problem - I had better be right.

Promotions

Lou is now an Intermediate Blogger. He is good at many different blog related skills. He has changed the backgrounds of his test blog and his main blog. He has written clear tutorials.

Christine is definitely a Blogger. She has adapted to flickr quite fast and can write good tutorials and descriptions. She is close to being an Intermediate Blogger.

James is a pending Blogger. We know he manages blogs well and can work with the template. He also writes well. As soon as he completes the task I have for him he will be promoted.

Gale and David are Novice Bloggers - willing to learn, but still learning the basics.

The titles and my reaons for using them.

The titles are merely a way to show the group what you can do. By showing off your skills you become more confident and we learn what we can expect from you.

Basically I see three levels of full member: Blog Tutor, Blogger and Novice. Intermediate is a bonus level that acknowledges extra skill. Novices need help with getting their blogs up and running. Bloggers can manage their blogs quite well and may or may not be interested in other skills, such as creating their own templates and so on.

Blog Tutors - are Bloggers who can write clear and concise tutorials. They also must like to help people. The clear writing skills can be used out in the 'real' world too. Becoming a Blog Tutor is optional, but I hope some of you will.

Reply to Invites

Just a note to Lou and David invitations have been sent to invite you to test blogs. Please reply as soon as possible.

Icebreakers / Meet The Team

Icebreakers - is how we introduce ourselves. You have heard lots from me. Write up a (Your name's) Icebreaker similar to James' previous introduction. Do this as a post not comments. I will also do this and write more about how I got here and what I hope to acheive.

Icebreaker Questions

Why are you here?
What do you expect from being here?
What do you want to learn?
What can you teach?
What other skills do you have?
Do you have any other comments?

Meet The Team - is a post I plan to write at Firemind. It will promote our group and 'Our Photoblog' (although I may say the latter is in progress and announce it later). The post will give a brief bio on you, a comment about your main blog(s) (including a link!!) and a picture of your choosing.

Write the bio and post the pic with it to your test blog. Pictures should be medium or smaller (see my comments to James' post in the photoblog).

Leave comments here or email me if you need help or want to discuss something.

Adding photos

When google took over blogger and added hello to the stable I eventually worked out how to use it. I now use picasa to download the photos from my digital camera, and up till now I have used Hello to put photos on my blog. I have however been trying out flickr.

Both are very easy to use ( they must be; I use them and in spite of what my family say I am no G33K)

This is hello as used by me, and this is my use of flickr.

I would be interested in how other people have found using these tools

Contact and Guestbook (draft)

The Demo Blog is a restricted access group blog. Members are invited to join and expected to help one another. Everyone learns and everyone teaches.

To help us work together as a team we have kept the comments restricted to members only. When our guestbook is activated it will allow new bloggers to ask for help and allow experienced bloggers to offer their help.

The guestbook will also provide us with feedback. Please be constructive. Simply advertising your blog will get your entry deleted.

Membership

This is our rules page. look at the sidebar and give me feedback.

Members

This will be our Members page.

Introduction

This will be our introduction.

Opinions Needed/Coming This Week

Opinions Needed

Have a look at Link Moves by Christine. Is it clear? Can you follow it?

Have a look at Lou's Background Tutorial. Is it Clear? Can you follow it?

Learning

James - try writing a tutorial or do something in your test blog and tell us what you did.

Gale and David - continue to practice the lessons I gave you.

Lou - Reply to the invitation to Gale's Test blog. With two of us helping it will go faster.

David - check here at least once a week. If you have a question ask. One of us will help.

Christine - play with flickr and putter with your test blog. Experiment a bit.

Everyone - to catch up to this point write a short (yourname)Check In to say how you are doing.
-------------------------------------

Coming This Week

Icebreakers - where we introduce ourselves and our main blogs.
Membership ideas - and why I am planning things this way. The short answer is that I plan to offer blogging workshops locally in February. I want people to be able to look at our list of members and say so-and-so is able to help me with this problem. They should also know who to ask first.
Meet The Team - I plan to write a post introducing us and our main blogs. I will write this at Firemind and hopefully you will all link to it. This will tell people about our projects and pictures. This is where your 'Icebreakers' come in. They will help me write the post.

I am going to set up a guestbook for our sidebar. This will allow feedback and let people to apply for help and offer help.

Leon's Notes/Assignments

Great stuff Lou. I will have more to say shortly. As for the sidebar stuff: find the links and add to your test blog in a post. Having several people contribute means the sidebar gets done sooner. James - same idea. Additions /comments are welcome.

Everyone - David is a Victorian who I hope will be my assistant when I do local workshops. He is new to both Flickr and Blogger. I am starting him with blogger. Please make yourself available if he asks for help.

David - check here at least once a week. Minimum contribution is one post a month. People help people here.
Your first lesson: Find news stories or websites that interest you.
1. Link to them and write short posts (in your test blog) about them.
2. The green infinity sign above is for making links.
3. Just highlight a word and click on the 'insert link' (green button), and paste the link.
4. Save as draft.
5. Reopen the post.
6. Click preview.
7. Click on the link to make sure it works.
8. Publish post.

Look at other members blogs to get ideas.

Background Tutorial

Leon asked me to test some backgrounds using the patterns at squidfingers for a photoblog background. As I used the same template for my test blog as the photoblog, this wasn't too difficult. I am finished now and have given my test blog a new background. Here's how it was done:


Step one- Pick some backgrounds
I used squidfinger's stuff, specifically these two:
and


Step two- Modify the CSS... a bit
This part is a little tricky, you need to be slightly familiar with CSS. First, you need to look through your template and right underneath the BASED ON MINIMA [using the minima template of course ;)] is a bit of code that looks background:#ffff or something close. That needs to be deleted because with it in, it would overrule your pattern.


Step three- Add some good 'ole HTML
Here's where your knowledge of HTML comes into play. You need to add a code that makes the background of your page an image. The code for this is (body background="http://whereyourimageishosted.com/thenameofyourimage.jpg"). That will force the background to be your image, assuming you did step 2.


Step four- Take a preview
Self-explanatory, preview your template, if you like the way it looks, save and republish. If you don't like it, repeat step 3 with a new image.


Step five- Conclusion
Now you have successfully made the background of your page an image. Good job! You can see how it might look on my test blog. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to drop me a line at thewatercoolereffect [at] gmail dot com.

Welcome David

Welcome to our newest member David.

Links ideas posted to some test blogs

So far the link ideas are posted in Lou's and James' test blogs. Everyone else can comment and suggest ideas.

Reading List Ideas

Blog Tools - this pc magazine article is a bit old, but still informative.

A Successful Blog

Blog Links - browse for information that will help you. Suggest links. This is one of my blogs.

I'm Back Online /Notes /Assignments/Etc

I slept a lot this weekend and feel better.

I hope to spend time tonight uploading pictures. But, I also want to give out assignments.

Notes

Gale - accept the invitation to the photoblog.

Re: posting from flickr/no readers.

You can post text from flickr to blogger. How you blog isn't as important as getting your message out. Most of us started with blogger and learned about pictures later.

Solution (?) - When you post from flickr you are giving away the full story. Why should people come to your blog when they have read your posts and seen your pics?
One way of getting around this is to post some of your article from flickr with a link that says (Read the full story). In blogger paste the rest of the text. You will find people leaving notes there.

Assignment for Gale - Blog the same whale pic twice to your test blog. The first one will not be touched. In the second one delete most of the text at the end - make sure it is text and not (/div) html type stuff. Add a link to the real post in whale tales.

I will walk you through in your test blog. Invite another member to join your test blog (or someone volunteer). Due: next sunday.

James - I want to check something with you first before giving you an assignment. I will be emailing you.

Christine - post a picture to your test blog using 'Hello.' Tell how you did it using numbered lines. eg - 1. I ...
- post a second pic/another post using flickr. How do you compare this to Hello? Is it easier or harder? Do you prefer either.
- Make up a flickr badge and put it in the sidebar of sunday evening.
Due next Sunday. Do this well and you may get a promotion!

Lou - the test pics look great.

Your assignment:
1. Visit squidfingers (see blog links) and select a background tile for the test blog.
2. Upload the image to flickr (no hot linking!)
3. Change the background of your test blog using the tile.
4. Tell us how you did it.

Everyone - Thanks for inviting me to your test blogs. Now I know what I can and can't do as a member.

Get your invites from Demo Junk back before next weekend. I am planning the first Demo Junk Derby. Random admins, several players, odd posts. the only taboos are the member tab and deleting posts. More later.

Spot Checks - I am always reading blogs. I do stop in and read even if I don't leave comments. The main things I look for in a blog are is it easy on the eyes. Does it look ok in my browser and so on. Of course i like a good read. Alarm bells/ Hot potatoes for me are invasions of privacy, viruses, and things that make my browser crash.

Hot Potatoes
Examples: -1. a Diaryland user (a teenager) once posted a Mapquest map showing directions to his house. The reason: a party for a friend 'while the parents are away'. Two days later his diary was locked and I lost interest.

2. One woman in England used a pseudonym, but gave her real work email. She talked about her confidential work - including experiments and then bragged about an article she wrote for a university publication. In two clicks of the mouse I had her name,occupation and email of her boss if I decided to 'express interest' in the project. I thought a lot before deciding it was none of my business.

Privacy and Security and Libel - these are topics that pop up from time to time. We can post such blog related topics here.

Invite me / Linknut

Invite Me
Lou or James or Christine - I need an invitation to a test blog so I can see how things look from the viewpoint of a member/nonadministrator. I have never done that and it would help a lot to see things from a member only view.

Linknut - is my links blog. I use it to hold interesting things that tend to clog up my bookmarks. Does any one want to contribute on a 'as you feel like it' level? That way lots of interesting articles and links related to blogging can be loaded without the organizing and thought needed for this blogs links. You could also post interesting links unrelated to this project. These could be used for your own projects and blogs of course.

Notes For Members / Guestbook

Christine - re - edit your 'Link Moves' post to touch up the spelling. (Use the spellchecker). It is very clear.

Lou - your test blog is the same style as the photoblog. Can you test out the different sizes and types of flickr badges? Either link back to the test blog from a post or (preferably) make the blog public for a while.

James - can you poke around and look for groups, tags, and so on in flickr that might make nice additions to our links in the photoblog. Think of other picture sites. There are some that aren't blogs but are still great ideas and wonderful to view.

Gale - don't forget to invite someone to help.

Everyone - trade ideas on the flickr badges, and ideas for links, for both photoblog and here. I have several draft ideas for the sidebar and so on. I may just post the drafts and let you play with them and comment on them.

Guestbook - Our comments are restricted to members to keep people from interfering either intentionally or by just being helpful. This worked when we had only two members. I still think it is important to keep focused on the group. This will help when we do more detailed tutorials or help new bloggers. There is the fact that, as many of us have learned, that strangers can help and become friends. What I am trying to prevent are people who advertise thei blogs, but don't wish to contribute.

What do members think about having a guestbook instead of comments. It wouldn't be distracting and we could get feedback. The comments in the test blogs would remain restricted so that each person learns by doing.

Comments Needed For Our Photoblog / Flickr Badge

I did some work on Our Photoblog. Since this will be a photoblog rather than a mixed or story blog we shouldn't have too much text. Have a look at the examples and then comment here. (Comments are off in the photoblog for now.

Check the link on the right to see how I linked to Fire Pix.

Lou and James - your flickr badges are ok, but with flickr's ability to load several sizes do we need a big badge here?

The tests should have been done in Demo Junk, but the examples will be deleted any way.

Look through each others photostream's and Christine's No1.typo website and see which pics you like and would like to see in the photoblog. Most of the pics will be ours arranged into themes, but pics from Flickr can be used to flesh out themes. A useful tag might be ourphotoblog.

Test Blogs

I created a test blog for Gale and invited her to be a member she will be an administrator. I should have done it earlier.

Everyone else must also have a test blog to work on. They should be public so we can easily review them. Invite me as a member. Let me look around and when I ask for it make me an administrator.

Posting

Leon has asked me how I create a post. Well the simple answer is that I use Blog this, or that I go into blogger dashboard and create new post, and bash away; The hardest part is finding something to blog about

Link moves

Leon has asked me to explain how I moved my sidebar links to a web page.

I must explain that this was facilitated by a gift from my children of my own domain and web site. http://no1typo.me.uk/.

First of all there fore I created a new html page in notepad. If you have a web site you know how to do this, If you haven't you don't need to worry about it.

I then entered the template section of my blog, via blogger dashboard and settings, and cut out the links which I wanted to move (you will see from my supermum blog that some of them remain). I then clicked preview to see what would happen if I saved it and when I was happy wiht the result I saved it.

I then minimised the window and went back to the new html page where I pasted the links which I had previously made, saved the page, and transferred it to my web site. This enabled me to get the url of the page

http://no1typo.me.uk/links.html

I retuned to the sidebar section of the blog and created the link (a href="http://no1typo.me.uk/links.html")links(/a) with () being replaced with <>
again previewing the page, checking that the link worked. Finally I saved the page by clicking save, when instructed I republished the blog so that other people would be able to see the link.

Doing this has improved the look of my blog and meant that I am able to use the same links page for my website
no1typo
my Supermum Blog
and my Trust me, I'm a Civil Servant Blog

If that's not clear please let me know, and I will do whatever I can to help.

Welcome VM and an Update.

Welcome to our latest member Vauxhall Man ( do you wish to change this to JT) or your real name as per profile? VM - did you apply to join the flickr group? I haven't been there yet.

Gale - way to go. Don't forget a test blog so you can try things with out hurting your two blogs. I invited you here. You would invite me to become a member of your test blog. I would prefer that to us messing with your projects.

1. I wanted to keep members from participating in each others blogs because I want the responsibility to rest with me. I don't want to have to shut this project down (worst case scenario) because of some one else's mistake.

2. You asked me for help and I accepted for me not anyone else.

That being said I realize I am just another name in cyberspace. What is the difference if other members of the blog help you as well? None. I am actively promoting this blog and the local workshops I hope to give. That might change my responsiblities slightly. I started with you and the others in this manner to build up a group of skilled bloggers who can give good advice. This takes some of the pressure off of me and provides a group of people to interact with.

Therefore you are free to ask other members to join your testblog (you would be the administrater) this way they could help you directly. You would have to promote them to administrater to help with the template. You own your blogs because you have the account. You can ask a member to leave - BUT they cannot ask you to leave the blog. They would not be able to access any other blog you have.

Lou - you have worked with Gale and know how to write the 'tutorials'. If you have time this weekend (or earlier) show her how to invite someone to be a member of her test blog.

VM - What do you want to learn here and what can you offer. I will be outlining membership rules, but I know everyone is busy. I didn't expect this much activity so soon. :)

Key things to think about: As we discussed previously - who are you here? Your name is on your profile. Do you wish to remain VM? Do you want your real name in the other project?

Look at my Firemind site. When I wished to remain anonymous I fudged the 'posted by' section in the template. Because my real name was on my old blog (Victoria Update) I didn't want a pseudonym there. My 'blogger name' is Leon so that is how the program adds me to new posts and Blogger Comments. When I commented in other blogs as Firemind I commented anonymously. I would add a (http://firemind2.blogspot.com) to my comment. It could get tedious. if you wish to use your name then it is a matter of finding the correct line in your profile and modifying it.

Assignments for VM:
1. Create a test blog if you don't have one.

2. Invite me as a member.

3. Find the locations I mentioned and change the 'posted by' area to 'carjunky' for your test blog. Republish all.

4. Check your profile and find where it says Vauxhall Man. Change it to JT or ?. Comment on your first post to your test blog.

5. Write down - in your test blog - what you did. (It will be transfered here later.)

6. Leave a note in this blog saying it is done. I will check it out when I can.

Leon's Notes: - James - as you can see some of this post was made irrelevant by our simultaneous posts. This is something to keep in mind when writing in a group blog.

Time and date changed to 8:18 pm.

Note To James

Re: Hi Everyone (Take 2). Nice introduction and links to your blog and flickr profile.

Example Links/Members Page

I started out in Diaryland and the templates were 'interesting'. I saw a diary with an 'About Me' page and a 'Links Page'. It was easy to do and didn't slow the loading of my diary. I still do that at Firemind. Check out "Links" in my "Contents".

(Note: Someone had 'firemind' when I moved my blog to Blogger. I had to take 'firemind2'.)

Member Page Idea.

Blogger Name - the member's Blogger Profile name and a link.

Nickname (optional)- I am so used to being called Firemind and I use it in haloscan/flickr etc - this may be irrelevant because we post using our Blogger names.

Main Blog - if you have more than one.

Flickr Name - what are you called at Flickr.

Flickr Badge - 1-4 square or small - set to random pictures.

Lou has been promoted! / Group Photoblog Ideas.

Lou - other than minor editing issues this is great. Leave the post as is. You will now be listed as a 'Blogger' rather than 'Novice Blogger'. This means you can offer help without going through me. But... work within the system ie - use comments to offer suggestions and comments. Use posts for stuff like the tutorial in the previous post. Email and flickrmail should be a last resort. I will be posting my plan for comments/suggestions/alternatives soon.

Everyone - think about what you would like to see in a group photoblog. Photoblogs like the one by Bob Hyper look nice and I think Fire Pix does also. Either Lou or myself will make a post with the proper links - or I will edit this post. More info later.

Gale - This tutorial style may be too slow for what you need right now. We will deal with specific needs asap.

Everyone - Create a testblog eg - loutest or galetest or testblog etc. This is for working out ideas without endangering your mainblogs.

Me - took some pics today (hurray). I volunteer today.

Answer for Gale

What I'd like to know now:
1) how put links on the right side of my whaleblog
To put links in your side bar you need to enter the template part of your blog. Then you need to look around the template until you find some text that looks like (!-- Start Sidebar --) or something like that. Then you have a few options. One is to just place the HTML code for a link in. It looks like this- (a href="http://yourlinkhere.com") What you want your link to say goes here(/a) Then you replace the "()"s with "<>"s and your set. Or you can make a new title for the links. It could say something like Links. To do that you would put this code into your side bar area- (h2)Links(/h2). Then you use the link code above to make a links underneath. Just remember to replace the ()'s with <>'s and don;t put anything past the (!-- End Sidebar --)

2) the flickr flag on my whaleblog
I am assuming you mean flickr badge. What you need to do is go to this page and follow the directions. Then you paste the code they give you into the sidebar area of your template as stated above.

3) how to make my existence known?
This is a good tutorial on how to make your blog known. Also see this website, BlogExplosion, for another way to get noticed.

4) how to find others who are interested in marine mammals or other animals.
For this I suggest searching the Blogger interests. Or you can go to Technorati and search for content.



At this point I am so unfamiliar with HTML that I would really appreciate if someone could walk me through it step by step.
HTML is pretty simple. Once you learn the basics the rest comes pretty easily. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you everything about HTML. So I will point you to where I learned. Webmonkey. There is stuff there on just about everything web related you can shake a stick at. Specifically take a look here and here. If your browser does not block pop-ups (I use FireFox) then Leon suggests EZHTML. I have never used it, but maybe try.

That should be a good start, hope I helped you at least a little bit Gale and good luck!

---

On the subject of how I post, it depends. Most of my posts to ORDER CONFIRMED
come via BlogThis. Others, I use the Blogger post area. For my novel, I write in word and copy to Blogger. For my Flickr posts, the basics.

Lou's Response to Gale/ Notes for Lou.

What I'd like to know now:
1) how put links on the right side of my whaleblog To put links in your side bar you need to enter the template part of your blog. Then you need to look around the template until you find some text that looks like or something like that. Then you have a few options. One is to just place the HTML code for a link in. It looks like this- (a href="http://yourlinkhere.com") What you want your link to say goes here(/a) Then you replace the "()"s with "<>"s and your set. Or you can make a new title for the links. It could say something like Links. To do that you would put this code into your side bar area- (h2)Links(/h2). Then you use the link code above to make a links underneath. Just remember to replace the ()'s with <>'s and don;t put anything paste the 2) the flickr flag on my whaleblogI am assuming you mean flickr badge. What you need to do is go to this page and follow the directions. Then you paste the code they give you into the sidebar area of your template as stated above. 3) how to make my existence known?This is a good tutorial on how to make your blog known. You can also use this website tp promote.4) how to find others who are interested in marine mammals or other animals.For this I suggest searching the Blogger interests. Or you can go to Technorati and search for content.At this point I am so unfamiliar with HTML that I would really appreciate if someone could walk me through it step by step. HTML is pretty simple. Once you learn the basics the rest comes pretty easily. Unfortunatley, I cannot tell you everything about HTML. So I will point you to where I leanred. Webmonkey. There is stuff there on just about everything web related you can shake a stick at. Specifically take a look here and here. That should be a good start.I hope I helped you at least a little bit Gale and good luck!

---

Leon's Critique

Very clear and informative. You have presented good example Links. I avoid Webmonkey because of the hordes of pop up windows. They are a pain. Ezhtml - doesn't have popups and it is geared toward beginners. I listed it at Blog Links (which will be on our sidebar and always needs new information -hint, hint).

My only complaint is with the excessive bold text. If you had used plain text instead of bold, and used the spellchecker this would have been perfect. (Since you acknowledged the problem with spacing).

Republish your comment as a post and clean the text, space the lines correctly, and do a spell check. Add the closing sidebar line (as per your comment). Do that and you get a promotion!

Question For Gale (and everyone else).

How do you write posts to add text to your flickr pictures. Do you write the posts in a word processor and copy/paste them. You seem to be working from notes.

When I write at Firemind I usually use a word processor to write the text. Copy the information I need to make links and save to my computer.

I then log into Blogger, select Firemind, and then "Create A New Post". In the new post I paste my text and then edit it. blogger has tools for bold, making links, and so on.

When I work with pictures I will often write a brief note in flickr, blog to whatever blog I wish to post to, open that blog in Blogger, and paste the text. It is more work, but the results are better.

Questions: (small answers to comments, long answers with links and examples should be written and posted.

Gale - how do you write your Flickr posts?

Lou - how do you write your Blogger posts and Flickr posts? Do you write differently for each?

Christine - how do you write a post?

Future Members - how do you write for Blogger and/or Flickr?

Christine's Link Page

Christine has trimmed down her sidebar at Supermum and now lists her 'Links' on her main site.

Christine - the site loads faster and looks better. The weather pixie (?) and other minor things load slowly, but don't slow the site. Your 'London Bloggers' button migrates to the top of the page when I comment.

What a pleasant surprise to find I am back on the list (hurray!)

Christine - Write a post (here, when you can) telling us what you did. Length is optional, clarity is not.

Christine - I will be emailing you about photos. The other members will be posting pics here from Flickr.

Critique of First Lessons

Gale said...

Leon, at this point I am posting pictures and text from flickr and having a merry old time at it. But... it is pretty rote.

What I'd like to know now:
1) how put links on the right side of my whaleblog
2) the flickr flag on my whaleblog
3) how to make my existence known?
4) how to find others who are interested in marine mammals or other animals.

At this point I am so unfamiliar with HTML that I would really appreciate if someone could walk me through it step by step.

How about starting with the flickr badge? I have tried to fathom the directions in blogger but I am always left scratching my head and "saying ... where is that anyway?" Somewhere you may have covered it but I felt at a loss from the start. Thanks a lot for your efforts.
-1:22 PM

Gale - this is a good response.

It would have been better if you had made it into a post. Learning how to post to blogger will save you endless problems when you do edit your blogs.

Flickr leaves a lot of extra code in blogger posts.

I will write up a lesson about that. I will also provide a link to the appropriate blogger knowledge pages.

Lou said...

What I'd like to know now:
1) how put links on the right side of my whaleblog To put links in your side bar you need to enter the template part of your blog. Then you need to look around the template until you find some text that looks like or something like that. Then you have a few options. One is to just place the HTML code for a link in. It looks like this- (a href="http://yourlinkhere.com") What you want your link to say goes here(/a) Then you replace the "()"s with "<>"s and your set. Or you can make a new title for the links. It could say something like Links. To do that you would put this code into your side bar area- (h2)Links(/h2). Then you use the link code above to make a links underneath. Just remember to replace the ()'s with <>'s and don;t put anything paste the 2) the flickr flag on my whaleblogI am assuming you mean flickr badge. What you need to do is go to this page and follow the directions. Then you paste the code they give you into the sidebar area of your template as stated above. 3) how to make my existence known?This is a good tutorial on how to make your blog known. You can also use this website tp promote.4) how to find others who are interested in marine mammals or other animals.For this I suggest searching the Blogger interests. Or you can go to Technorati and search for content.At this point I am so unfamiliar with HTML that I would really appreciate if someone could walk me through it step by step. HTML is pretty simple. Once you learn the basics the rest comes pretty easily. Unfortunatley, I cannot tell you everything about HTML. So I will point you to where I leanred. Webmonkey. There is stuff there on just about everything web related you can shake a stick at. Specifically take a look here and here. That should be a good start.I hope I helped you at least a little bit Gale and good luck!
-5:00 PM

Lou - this is a very good response to Gale's question. It would have been better if you said: I wrote a post about this here. (and provided the link). I will copy the source into a new post and go over some points.

Sorry

Sorry about not checking here lately. I am a very busy boy right now. I am doing the NaNoWriMo, have school every day, come home for about half an hour, go to tennis, and then after tennis have swim practice. And on the days I am not playing tennis I have weight training. But I am pretty experienced with Blogger and know quite a bit of HTML and some CSS. I should be able to check up and post some help maybe three or four times a week. I know this isn't that much help, but I can help other people out.

Members Page Needed/And Other Stuff

Will a member please create a page called Members.

Reason: As each person joins I have to recreate the blog or new members.

What is needed on this page? Don't know? Who do you ask? We are all equals here.

Did someone already make a page? Comment in the comments for that post. Want to try something else? - experiment and we will choose one or none. Later on I will tell you about another idea related to experiments.

Mistakes are appreciated. :) Bye the way... be able to explain what you did. You do want to become a blogger or blogtutor don't you?
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I made an executive decision. Everyone of you is a Novice Blogger until proven otherwise. I have a reason for this and will explain later.

I am experimenting as I go along this week because I want to find out what you want.

I also want to have a bit of fun, because getting this organized has been hectic.

I will post again after someone comments and/or posts. Once we are organized I will slow down to a pace you set.

Link To Our Flickr Group.

We have a flickr group associated with this group. Would a member please create a post with a link to our Flickr group and link to it. Having a Flickr Badge would be nice too.

Oh...um, tell us how you did it too. :)

Summary of first lesson with Lou and Gale.

1 The Demo Blog Goes Group! was written by me.

Lou and Gale both accepted invitations.

2 "I'm here, not sure how to use this yet." was Gale's response.

3 I Wrote a quick post called First Lesson and asked Lou to help Gale. Notice: I did not email Lou and ask him to do this. Lou might be busy or whatever. Hopefully, he will check this blog frequently and respond to help requests.

4 When I checked this blog I saw that Lou hadn't written a comment in response to Gale's comment. I then wrote a quick note that may have been enough.

5 Since I knew Gale was new to blogger I wrote out a detailed step by step explaination ( Response Example to Gale's Question).
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When Gale gets more familiar with blogger my responses will adapt.

Since I haven't read much of Lou's blog I don't know his level of experience but I know he can navigate blogger's interface.

Comment Request:

Gale - was the point by point request helpful or was it too basic. Since you didn't post, but used comments, I assumed you weren't familiar with posting this way so I based my response on our emails.

Lou - Think of how much time you can devote to helping others. Your first priority is your own blog. If you can write clear responses like the above then consider becoming a 'Blog Tutor'.
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Both of you (and any other members) should check this blog frequently and feel free to post questions and ideas. Think about what you want to do here and leave comments to other people's posts and post your own ideas or requests for information. This is your blog as much as it is mine.

I want to see a post from Lou and one from Gale (within a week).
Say hi, etc, I need help with or can help with (choose something). Be as detailed as you want.

I have comments set to email me. So respond in comments abot this post please.

Response Example to Gale's Question

1.Click on create new post.
2. Click on 'Compose' to work with something like a word processor.
2 Write a title 'Gale's First Post'
3.Write something in the post (eg - This is my first post.). Keep it simple for now.
4.Click on publish post below the edit area.
5. it may tkae a while to process. (ooops, I should have used the spellchecker)
6. when the published window comes up look for view blog (in new window.)
7. if you don't see your post refresh your browser and the post will show up. The little pencil means you can correct the post. For now use 'edit posts'
8. Voila! you are done.

First Lesson

Welcome Lou and Gale. Jump right in and get involved.

I don't have time right now to reply to Gale.

Lou - read her comment to the last post and help her get started.

In a few hours I will be back to check. If Lou hasn't logged in I will help.

Gale - what now?

The Demo Blog Goes Group!

The first invitations to become a member have just been sent. I feel like an expecting father.(Mwahahaha).

As you can see this place isn't always serious. We are serious about helping others though.

I will post some membership rules and guidleines later.

I will also write a disclaimer and post copyright information (creative Commons).

A links page will backup/support the sidebar links.

Think about what our default template should be and what information should be on it. I tested all of the templates and some look ok but are messy at 800x600.

I will work on this more after some members join.

I will delete my profile from the sidebar when I edit the template. This will be after our first discussion.

Welcome aboard new members!