In this post I want to give a rough guide to the blog environment. I’m using WordPress to do my blogging because it is known all around the world.
Although I am pretty good when it comes to technology I was scared to delve in at first as I didnt know the software, but I am glad I did because I now use it on 3 websites of my own.

WordPress is free and you can get your own URL for your blog. I recommend buying a domain to host it on but that is the easy part. WordPress can be accessed from anywhere as it is an online platform. Usually your website address for logging in to your blog will be:
http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/blogname/wp-login.php
From there you can do all your normal blogging and maintenance and start to build yourself a mini community.

Here is a lowdown to get you understanding WordPress:

Posting

Big topics can be split into groups and categories. WordPress lets you assign your own categories and tags.
Categories are different from tags. Categories are to do with what groups a certain number of posts together in a wider range and tags are to do with what sort of things are mentioned in the blog.
For example if I had a blog about celebrities, I would have each celebrity I wrote a post about as a category and in each post I’d have tags to give a quick brief single word ‘summary’ of what you would expect from that post.

Media uploading

You can upload media (pictures) to make your blog pretty and break up text on your blog. Media is a great way of helping your readers to understand what it is that you are blogging about.

Blog themes

You can use blog themes to ‘wallpaper’ your blog. When you are ready for a challenge you can mess around with these themes and change anything that you want. If you are even more clever you can write your own.
There is a big library of themes to choose from and explore, and you can buy themes later on when you cant see any free ones that you like.

Plugins

A Plugin is a mini program that sits inside your blog till you want to use it. You can use a Plugin to stop spam occurring when people comment. Spam is usually comments that are not related to the post or blog and must be deleted. You have complete control of this in WordPress. Remember to check back often to see if the Plugin that you have got has been updated. Sometimes there will be a complete WordPress update and that may give you new features.

Blogging with WordPress is the easiest that I have come across yet. There is so much out there to help you have the best blog on the web!

Simple Jargon
Blog(n): Where you write your valuable information
Blogging(v): A way to convey thoughts and feelings to the world
Blogger(n)/Bloggers(plural n): Someone who writes content
Post: A single article on a blog

In this first part I cover essential tips for blogging, with my simple 4 part strategy known as EAPI.
In the second part I talk about WordPress and special features to make your blogging life more stress free.
Finally, in the third part I sympathise with bloggers and share ways to keep your blog stable and how to market your blog.

My simple system should get you well on your way to starting and maintaining a great blog: Remember – Experience Audience Point Inform

Blog To Share Experience

Blog on a topic you know about, and be sensible about the information you write. Explore and experiment with your blog content as putting the barriers up will stop exploration onto similar subjects. Keeping an open mind is great for blogging. Also, if readers understand what you are talking about you will gain respect and praise and maybe people will comment on your work. Research is key!

The phrase KISS will come in handy: Keep It Simple Stupid/Silly

Consider Your Audience

Be yourself and be chatty to make people feel at ease. Writing with passion will help your readers relax. If you need to be serious then this is also nice occasionally to keep the balance. Blogging for a teen audience is different to blogging for the older generation.

If your blog is for young people you can make the blog look funky and let your creativity flow. Older people may find that a blog with a hundred different colours is confusing. Avoid colour clashes with older audiences, instead go for subtle colours.

Keep To The Point

Keep each post short and to the point. If needed you can split the topic that you write about into multiple posts so you can post the rest another day. This prevents confused readers getting overloaded with information and navigating away from your site. This is mainly why I am splitting this blogging topic into 3 posts. Highlight key areas in BOLD to illustrate really important things.

Keep Audience Informed

Deciding to blog is a great thing and once you know what sort of atmosphere you want to create you are well on your way to success. However, blogs get forgotten if you haven’t written anything for a long time. Keep people up to date with news items and you will be popular and you may even see other bloggers write or talk about your work.

Escaping Bloggers Block

Keep a notepad handy to write post ideas in for later. This way you can jot down what interests you which will help posting when you lack content.
Look on other forums/blogs (search on Google) for advice and think about the future of your blog. This will help you to decide on the direction of future posting.

Good Luck!

However I must say I love this new version.

I think that Mozilla have got the tabs in the correct place this time to allow for the new App Tabs, which are absolutely awesome must I say… I like it because you can have as many of these things as you like and you dont have to even install anything extra! What a great idea! App Tabs give you room for all your tabs so you dont have to close them to work on other sites which uses, yes you guessed it : more tabs! I think that this should have been in the 3rd version of Firefox because I am a very heavy Firefox user and working on a computer doing my daily routine of Twitter and Facebook and Email etc became IMPOSSIBLE when I also had several Youtubes and other interest sites up as well!!

All your bookmarks come in automatically which is great so you dont have to worry about importing them.

In this new version of Firefox you can group your tabs in relevance so you only see the items in that particular window at one time. For example if you had a load of Youtube videos that you wanted to watch and you had not got round to doing it you could group them and store them for later and continue working on other things without tab-clutter!
Managing them is easy: just drag the thumbnails in Panorama view to a free space in Firefox to make groups and then add more thumbnails to the groups by dragging thumbnails onto other thumbnails. Even make thumbnail space by drawing the box first! You can even name the groups so that you know what is in them.

However in this version there is no status bar and if like me you like to see how well the page is loading you can download add-ons for it. Firefox may change this in the future but until a proper 100% stable Firefox 4 comes I dont think we will see a change!

These are the some of the biggest and best changes to the browser to date with the option of it evolving into something even greater in later versions! Sadly it wont cook your dinner or sing to you yet, but I daresay Mozilla are working on that right now !

Main twitter is still GoldChoiceUK.

Ah, only kidding. I am not giving away food nor even talking about the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich, but I am talking about cyber blog-food… SPAM.

As I go through my blog comments this is what I have been reading:

a) I am definitely bookmarking this site and sharing it with my friends
b) Very outstanding site
c) The message here is genuinely important
d) I will invite my friends
e) I usually don’t post in blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work… beautiful
f) I am reading this article second time today
g) Keep up the good work
h) Look forward to read more from you in the future

Question is: Do I or do I not post them? I’d like to think that they were really thinking that my blog was amazing and had some genuinely important messages but I dont feel it is because the real people arent stepping forward…
I know spam means that it is usually bad, but at times like this when you see an excellent comment you want to post it because you like it when people like what you have said and understand your reasoning behind the article…

I’m not asking for sympathy or even a reason why this is happening. I think it is great my site is being found, but not if only by bots, droids, martians, dodos, daleks and anything else that is programmed by hackers etc. My blog is far from being a spam ground for the insects to feast on… It is however a haven for all the real people who wish to gain advice and knowledge on most easy to moderate web publishing/editing tools, and the tricks of the trade!

I have had this blog/site since July 2009 and I have had a mass of spam. Most of it being about things totally unrelated to this site. It has really annoyed me and I have enabled the necessary spam catcher, in my case Akismet, but not sure if I want to go the whole hog with a capture too. I would like something like I have seen on other blogs where there is a sum like 2+2 and you have to put 4 in the box… but would that turn posters away or would it make them feel safer because they knew the site was safe and capturing spammers?

I hope to have some ideas on this please, so feel free to comment. Bots comments of course will be EXTERMINATED!!

Hope you now have some fun in downloading and adding the videos you want for your convenience!

1. Open youtube.com in your browser and search for the video you want on your iPod (iPod Touch in my case)

2. Copy the URL of the video for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzrVVZ02ok
(YOU MUST WAIT FOR THE VIDEO TO COMPLETELY DOWNLOAD INTO YOUR CACHE BEFORE DOWNLOADING IT !! Waiting for the video to fully play is a great idea to make sure you have completely downloaded the video!)

3. Open in another tab or window the website www.keepvid.com and paste the copied link into the box on the website and click download (When prompted enter the code)

4. Chose the .mp4 filetype and right click the download link and select Save Target As (or simillar)

5. Save in your computer to a movie folder

6. Plug in your iPod and ipen iTunes and locate the video you have downloaded and import it into your library

7. Sync your iPod with the video and you should now have a video on there!

(8) GO HAVE FUN

You may be wondering why I have decided to put this post up, and how I can relate it to web design… I thought about writing a post about Aspergers and Social Networking after 2 of my friends wanted posts about how an Aspergers sufferer deals with Twitter and what not to do. This is a follow up post I wanted to add.

Anyone can use a social network and I have developed myself online by making new friends and finding old ones. Being able to keep those friends is a massive step for me. I never before thought that social networking was going to be that easy for me. Infact I took to it like a duck to water.

I use Twitter and Facebook lots, but Twitter has the upper hand as I have been able to express what I like and talk to almost anyone I wanted to (including celebs!).

Twitter is a lovely way to share web design knowledge (see I told you I could link it to web design in some way!) and the freedom to reply to things I think are worthy of a comment. I enjoy reading blog links and the like but if it wasnt for Twitter I would never had known about it all.

Facebook is for closer friends and only select people can read your status when you approve them (just like Twitter I add) but it is a totally different ball game. I dont use Facebook as much but I like the fact that it provides an extra help source when requiring knowledge about something. You can reach out to an entirely different range.

When on Twitter I post about all sorts of things that interest me. I get replies based on them and now I have a seperate Twitter for a few of the interests in my life. Like one for web design related stuff, one for gaming and one for Aspergers. I like to use Twitter on those accounts in completely different ways. My main account that I established myself on the internet was through GoldChoiceUK Twitter. I liked how Twitter worked from the start and through that I was able to talk to people with the same feelings as me with the different subjects I like.

However all this social interaction on the internet made me mute in the real world and not able to talk to my parents in the right way. Not that I swore or anything – no – but I was rude to ignore things went downhill rather fast and rapidly. and I started to stay up till all hours of the night Tweeting and just messing about on my PC. I started to get really fed up of not being able to find a job too. I still cant find one and it is become really hard. There is simply nothing out there! That is when I set up a Twitter for my Aspergers friends/followers. I wanted to give back to them my experiences and how I felt and they could relate to it all.

As I have been on Twitter for over a year I have seen myself grow in a number of ways, which is great. I have been able to make funny comments and have a bit of a joke and make friends who actually care. I care for a great deal of them all too. I have special friendships with some of them and some of those I could not have ever done without. They have all made me feel really welcome and I have enjoyed having such a lovely relationship with them all. I wouldnt have done half of the things I have done this year without the aid of Twitter as it has helped me to communicate at a level that is acceptable by all. I have learnt how to Tweet and talk to others. I wouldn’t have spoken to Beverley Knight on the radio if I wasnt on Twitter. That made my confidence really high and I feel able to make conversation to a wider audience.

It is easy to forget I have Aspergers sometimes and my Tweets just make sense the way they are. I may Tweet some random things but that is what it is for. I enjoy exploiting myself with my disability and to prove what I can do and say and to show the whole world that Aspergers is really not the worst thing known to humankind if worked on well and having Twitter’s experience has made me realise how important it is to be real and alive.

Aspergers is not the end of the world and I know I can push myself to learn whatever I want and I will learn more as I continue to use the social online networks. It has increased my self confidence and I never thought I’d ever come in contact with such a lovely bunch of friends as I have now. Twitter has made me belong to society instead of feeling too odd. Aspergers is my way of living and I have made it work for me which is great.

If you have Aspergers or know someone who has please get them to read this and then get them onto Twitter (If they are old enough).

My post on Andy’s site… Contacting The Millions
My post on Clair’s site… Twitter with Aspergers

I may be able to ask questions and get answers but I think it is how they answer and communicate which can be the problem.

If they dont know exactly what you can do for them, help them by giving a mini CV of the sort of things that you can produce.

I had this sort of a problem with Rayna Disabled Rider where I knew what needed to be done but the client didnt seem to know what she wanted which made me uneasy. I had some people there to help me with it but if they were not there I’d have probably not taken the challenge very easily.

The other thing that annoys me is when little tweaks need to be made to a site and they assume I know exactly what they want in place and I dont unless they tell me.

I also love clients because they help others see what I am capable of and may help me to develop my already learned skills or even learn new ones!

So when you next book time (very precious) with a client, then use it to gain as much knowledge as you can about the task in hand. If you can then ask the same question a million different ways!

So far we have looked at ways to get feedback and the feedback you may experience.

In this final part I would like to go through how you can approach changes and how to maintain a healthy site.

With all the feedback you have (if a large amount) it may be a good idea to put it into one document to pick over.

I submit my sites for review on Twitter as I have followers that specailise in design reading my feed there. The more places, and people, you submit the url to the more views you will get from different people thus helping your design skills.

My tip: The feedback I get I could do what I described above but in Windows Vista I like to use the Snipping Tool. With that I don’t have to worry about the ‘have I copied/pasted that’ problem because I’ll have the data in .jpg format. Then I can disregard all of the pointless comments. If they are major changes they will need to be done first. Small tweeks wont be as noticable so they can be done later on.

You may like to thank your friends for helping you as they are a good second-eye for spotting mistakes, and I know I miss them occasionally.

Finally when all the hard work is done you can relax and let visitors come to your page. However… one slight catch… to maintain a healthy site you should update it often. Maybe you could have a set day in the month where you check for broken links or you may want to add new features… all to keep people interested!

You could add:
A blog – assuming current site is only a showcase
A forum – depending on type of site
You come up with something more fantastic than I can? Tell Me!

I hope you have enjoyed my 3 part blog post topic- I hope to do one again sometime.

So now you have made your site and you have hopefully used a method of getting some feedback that I described in my last article.

Now I want to tell you about types of feedback and how you may view them.

I’ve already made a few sites and submitted them for public review. I was amazed by the views that people had of them. They did like them and a few were giving me quite a bit of useful info. For example on one site they mentioned how spacing could make it look better.

Just accepting feedback is good but if all you are getting is ‘your site is good/bad’ then maybe you need to select more carefully who exactly you show the site to and who you market it for. You may need to do major tweeking.

All the marketing can be decided before you make the site as long as you get it out there and show the world how good your new site is!

If you are being criticised then always have an open mind and be ready to make site changes. That will be covered in the third and final installment of this series.

With positive comments coming your way there is nothing to worry about and you can pat yourself on the back!
However dont get too down if you have negative comments because they may help you to become a better designer.
No responses lead to a feeling of rejection so choose tthe best feedback method for you!

In the final part: Making change