What is a Blog?

 What is a Blog?

A blog is sometimes referred to as an online personal journal.  It is a site designated for an individual to write about his/her daily experiences, to illicit thoughts and often allowing readers to offer their comments.  The term is a shortened form of “weblog”.  Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding content to an existing blog is referred to as "blogging".  Individual articles on a blog are referred to as “blog posts”, “posts”, or “entries”, and the person who created the blog post is often called a “blogger”.

Basic Structure of a Blog

FuseTalk Blog structure looks similar to the structure of a FuseTalk forum in terms of its components.  A blog is comprised of two key components.  The predominant component visually is the journal itself, which contains blog posts (and comments) that have been entered.  The second component, the navigation pane, residing at the left of the screen, allows the blog owner and the blog’s readers to navigate easily within the blog.  The navigation pane is broken down into several sections: My Links, Other Blogs/Forums, Calendar, Side Box entries, Archives, and Categories. 

My Links is a section that offers quick links for the blog owner and his/her blog community to navigate within his/her blog.  These links include: Home, New Post (seen only by the blog owner), Profile, Admin (seen only by the blog owner), Search, Syndication (RSS), and Logout.  The Home link navigates to the home page of the blog.  The New Post link displays the “Write New Blog Post” window (refer to “Creating a Blog Post” section).  The Profile link navigates to the member’s own profile (not the profile of the blog owner).  The admin link presents only to the blog owner his/her administration module, where he/she can enable, disable and specify certain features or information necessary to manage his/her blog. The search function is the same as the search function within a FuseTalk forum (refer to the “Searching” section for more information).  Those in the community who have access to RSS readers will be able to read the content of the blog through that medium by clicking on the Syndication (RSS) link.  Finally, the Logout link logs the member out of the blog.

The Other Blogs/Forums section lists links to any other blog or forum to which the member has access.  The member will be able to navigate to these other blogs and/or forums within the blog to which he has logged in.

The Calendar feature is available as a navigation tool.  By clicking on a date on the calendar, the member will be presented with blog posts made on that date. 

The blog owner has the ability to create “side boxes”.  Side boxes are boxes containing information that the owner would like to have highly visible to the community.  For example, the side box could list links to interesting articles, or just text with a listing of his/her favorite novels. 

The Archives section groups the blog posts in an archiving format, under month/year.  The number of posts made within each time period is indicated in parentheses.

The Categories section provides quick links to all the categories within the blog.  The number of posts made within each category is indicated in parentheses.  Readers who have access to a RSS reader and would like to read content through this medium can do so by clicking on the RSS button that corresponds to the category that is of interest.

The Journal itself is comprised of the blog posts created by the blog owner.  Blog entries are listed with the most recent entry at the top of the page.  Each blog post consists of the date of the post, the title of the blog post, the message body, and the signature of the blogger.  In addition, there is a link to post a comment (if the blog owner has allowed comments to be received), who had posted the blog entry, the date and time on which the blog entry had been posted, the name of the category under which the blog post falls, and a link to the comments section (number of comments is identified in parentheses).

Users of a Blog

There are generally two types of users of a blog: the Blog Owner and the Blog readers. 

The Blog Owner has control over his/her blog.  In the administration section for his/her blog, he/she can view and update numerous features and settings, including the users of his/her blog.  The Blog Owner can also add other blog owners.

The blog owner can allow for anonymous login.  In this scenario, any member of the forum community (depending on if the blog is a stand-alone or global blog) will see his/her blog, and a link to the blog will be displayed when they join the forum.  However, a blog owner can choose not to allow for anonymous login.  In this scenario, if it is a stand-alone blog, he/she would need to send the URL of his/her blog to the members within the community to whom he/she would like to join.

Blogger’s Profile

The Profile link within a blog will display the profile of the user – the member who has logged in to the blog.  If readers of a blog wishes to view the Blog Owner’s profile, and the Blog Owner has enabled profile visibility, they may do so by clicking on the blog owner’s name that can be found in the blog posts.

Updating Profile

Assuming that the blog member is also a member of a forum community, the profile information is taken from the profile information within the forum of which he is a member.  Users can update their profile within the forum and within a blog.  To learn more about the fields, refer to “Updating User Profile” in the Forum section.

If the blog member only has access to the blog itself, and is not a member of a forum community, then the member can only update his/her profile within the blog.

Creating a Blog Category

Only the Blog Owner can create a category within a blog.  The creation of categories allows for the blog owner to organize his/her content.  To accomplish this task, the blog owner must go through his/her administration section, by clicking on the “Admin” link in the My Links menu. 

In the Admin, the blog owner navigates to the Categories sub-section.  To create a blog category, click on the “add category” button that is located at the top of the screen.  The “Add Category” window will appear.  Enter the category name, a description of the category, and select the appropriate category status from the drop-down menu.  The options are: No Comments (i.e. read only), Hidden (i.e. the category is hidden for only the blog owners to see), Locked (i.e. category is locked to only those who have access to view the category), Locked (No Comments), and Allow Comments (i.e. members can post a comment to a blog post).  When the information has been provided, click on the “Add Category” button.

Creating a Blog Post

To create a blog post, click on the “New Post” link that is located in the My Links menu.  A “Write New Blog Post” window will appear.  Enter the message title (required field), select the category under which the message will fall, enter the body of the blog post in the Message Text box, and click on the “Post” button.

Posting a Comment

Users can post comments to blog posts if the Blog owner has allowed comments in a category.  To post a comment, click on the “Post a Comment” link that appears directly below the blog entry.  A “Reply to Blog Post” window will appear.  Enter the text of the comment in the Message text box, and click the “Post a Comment” button.