Orientation to this blog

I realize now that not all of you may be familiar with the way that blogs work and the conventions surrounding them. So this post is going to offer you a bit of a primer to the world of blogs and how to navigate them.

First of all, let's get the terminology straight. A blog is a kind of Web page. It displays posts (also called articles) written by one or more authors, usually in reverse-chronological order, meaning that the most recent posts are displayed at the top of the blog.

Most blogs have a homepage, which contains a listing of some of the most recent posts and perhaps some other information, such as links to archives, search bars, etc. This blog's homepage is at http://news.hypercrit.net. Posts on a blog's homepage may either be displayed in full or as an excerpt that asks you to click on a link to read the rest of the post.

Typical blog homepages are structured like the image displayed here. They consist of:

1. a header, which usually has the blog title and/or navigation links (The header is usually displayed on all pages of the blog.)
2. a main content area which contains the posts or their excerpts
3. one or more sidebars which contain supplemental information and links (The sidebar is usually displayed on all pages of the blog.)
4. a footer for navigation links or copyright information (The footer is usually displayed on all pages of the blog.)

Each post on a blog also has its own page. Usually, you can reach a post's page by clicking on the title of that post, whether that title is displayed on the blog's homepage, a search results page, an archives page or elsewhere. You'll also usually find a way to comment on a post by visiting its individual page.

The Multimedia Journalism blog is structured along the lines of these conventions, with a header, main content area, sidebar and footer.

I want to take this opportunity to show you a few things about the site to help you become more familiar with it.

• First of all, the title, located in the header, is a link back to the homepage. You can click on it at any time to return to the homepage.
• The "Top 10 Blog Posts" box, located at the top of the main content section, is designed to show you which posts have been commented on most. The idea is that you can join in discussion of the posts that are popular and converse with your colleagues.
• The "Recent Comments" section at the top of the sidebar shows you who has commented recently on the blog. That way, you can get an idea of who's been commenting and what they've been commenting on. Ideally, this is so you can respond to their comments and have a discussion.

Now let's look at the anatomy of a post.

• Note that the post title is in bold. When you move your mouse over it, it turns red. That means that the text is a link. Clicking on it takes you to the individual page for that particular post.
• Below the post title is the word "comments" and a number. This shows you how many comments have been made on that post. This text is also a link to the comments section of that post's individual page. It's usually referred to as the comments link.
• Below the comments link is the text of the post. I usually display this in full on the homepage, but for long posts (like this one) you get an excerpt and a link to the rest of the text.
• Below that is a gray box containing information about the blog post. This is called the meta-information about the post. You see who wrote the post, when it was published, and any categories or tags that have been assigned to the post.

Okay, let's look at an individual post page now, including the comments section.

Note that the individual post page contains the entire text of the post, plus the title, comments link and meta-information -- similar to what was displayed on the homepage. The addition here is the comments section at the bottom of the post.

In this example, you can see that Carol Flaherty has left a comment on this particular post.

Here we can see the comment section by itself. Note that there are links at the top of this section to sort the comments in different ways.

You can leave a comment by simply typing the text you want to share in the large box and then entering your name and e-mail address in the boxes below the big box. All of the other boxes are optional.

There is a login button at the top of the page because, if you choose, you can sign up for the IntenseDebate commenting system. A lot of blogs use that system, and the IntenseDebate Web site provides a way for you to track your comments across multiple blogs. Sign up if you want to, but remember, you don't have to login to anything to comment on this blog. All you have to provide is your name and an e-mail address.

Related posts:

1. Blog reference: Mastering Multimedia
2. To excerpt or not to excerpt
3. If it’s in the blog, is it in the newspaper?
4. Myriad issues
5. How to post articles to the MSU News Service page on Facebook