Reader's manual

I hope to collect here some tips on how to read and interact with blogs, particularly this one. I expect these things will be old news to veteran bloggers. If you know your way around blogs, skip the rest of this entry. If you're relatively new to the blogosphere, read on.

Introduction
The word blog is short for web log: a web site that is continually updated. Like a log kept on paper, it consists of entries. Entries are arranged in reverse chronological order, so that newer entries appear at the top of the page. Each entry is also added to the archives. Though an entry will eventually disappear from the main page, it remains permanently in the archives. To access the archives, just click on the word ARCHIVES in the column at right.

Speaking of the column at right, that's what we call a sidebar. A sidebar usually consists of a whole bunch of links, either to other pages on this blog or to other blogs and web sites.

This blog, like many others, is interactive: it accepts both comments and trackbacks. Anyone who reads this blog can leave a comment about an entry. Comments are a way for readers who want to respond to what they read here to write their response and post it to the blog, for everyone else to read. Trackbacks are a way for one blog to let another know that it's been linked to on the first blog. You can read more about both features below.

Archives
The archives collect old weblog entries. The entries are grouped by date and by category (subject). Click on the Archives heading to see a menu of groupings by month and by category. Click on a month to see all entries for that month; click on a category to see entries grouped under that category.

Categories
Entries in Minor Wisdom are grouped by category. Under each entry, you'll see the time of day posted, the word in, and the category to which I've assigned that entry. There are two ways to see all entries in a particular category: (1) You can click on the category description under a particular entry to see other entries in the same category. (2) You can click on Archives in the sidebar. You'll see a list of months and a list of categories. Click on any category name to see all entries in that category.

Comments
Under each entry, you will see the word Comments followed by a number in parentheses. That number is the number of comments left by other readers, commenting on that entry. To read the comments, or to post your own comment, just click on Comments under the entry.

On the right, you'll see a list of recent comments left by readers. The format is [commenter name] on [heading for entry commented on]. To read any of these comments, just click on the commenter's name. To read the entry that the commenter responded to, followed by all reader comments, click on the text following the word on.
If you want to respond to an entry, please feel free to leave your own comment. I ask only that you stay on subject, and that you refrain from personal attacks.

To learn more about how to comment, read these:

• Evan Schaeffer's instructions.
• How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments, by B.L. Ochman.
• Finding Community in Comments, by Real Live Preacher.

Explore
If you see a link on this site and you don't know what it does, go ahead and click on it and see what happens. You won't hurt anything.

I don't know a single blogger who learned how to blog by reading a book or taking a course. Most of us are not technical whizzes. Whatever we've learned, we've learned by exploring and by trial and error. Try it -- it's fun.

Links
This blog, like thousands of others, is loaded with links -- or at least it should be, if I'm doing my job right. Every bit of text anywhere on the page that looks like this -- Here's a link -- is a link to something else. That includes both text in the sidebar (the narrower column, on the right) and the main column (the one you're reading now). If you're not sure whether something is a link, just move your pointer over it. If the pointer changes from an arrow into a little hand with an extended finger (index, not middle), then you've found a link. If you don't know what it links to, click on it and find out. Explore.

Permalink
Permalink is the address -- the URL -- for a particular weblog entry.  (To learn more about URLs, read this Wikipedia article.  Eipert Information Services also has a nice pair of articles here and here.)  If you want to send someone a link to Minor Wisdom, you send http://raymondpward.typepad.com. But if you want to send some a link to a particular entry in Minor Wisdom, then click on Permalink under that entry. You'll see Minor Wisdom with that entry at top. The URL in your browser will show the URL for that particular weblog entry. To copy that URL for pasting into an email, just right-click on it, then select Copy. Open your email program, right-click in the body of the email where you want to insert the URL, and select Paste.

Responding to an entry
If anything on this weblog moves you to respond, there are two ways to do so. To respond to me only, click on Email me link to send me an email. To let others read and respond to your message, click on the Comments link under the entry that provokes your response. Fill in your name, email address, URL (if you have one), and comment. Once you've done that, click on Preview to read your comment, or Post to upload your comment to the web site. (No one, not even me, will be able to read your comment until you post it.)

Trackbacks
Sometimes I'll read something on someone else's blog that I want to share with my readers. When that happens, I'll usually write an entry with a link to the other blog. Trackbacks are a way for me to tell the other blog that I've linked to it. If the other blog accepts trackbacks, then people who read the other blog can click on "trackbacks" to read what I've written about the other blog. Similarly, if another blogger links to something on my blog, the other blogger may ping this blog. When that happens, the entry linked to on this blog receives a trackback entry.

Under each blog entry, you'll see the word TrackBack followed by a number in parentheses. That number is the number of trackbacks received by this blog from other blogs. For most entries, that number is zero, meaning that no one has pinged it. If the number is, say, 2, that means the entry has been pinged twice. To read what other blogs said about that entry, just click on the word TrackBack under that entry.

URL
URL means uniform resource locator. This is the web address for a web site or a particular page on a web site. To see the URL for whatever you're viewing in your browser right now, just look in the box in the top area of your browser. Everything from http:// on back is the URL for whatever you're looking at.

To learn more about URLs, read, this, that, and the other.

Additional resources for blog readers

• Evan Schaeffer's 11 simple steps for reading his weblog.  See also Evan's instructions on how to post a comment.
• From the Indiana Law Blog: How to read a blog.
• Law Weblogs-Blawgs: A Pathfinder, by Univ. of Akron School of Law.
• How to Get Into Blogs 101 (via Michael Hyatt's Working Smart).
• Cymphony Knowledge Center: Blogs

Thinking about starting your own blog? Then read these:

• From unbillable hours: On how to start a winning blog (washingtonpost.com).
• How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments, by B.L. Ochman.
• Start blogging in 30 minutes.
• 47 tips for blogging.
• From Working Smart:How to Start a Blog, by Michael Hyatt.
• Denise Howell's questionnaire. (If you answer most questions "yes," please take the plunge; you'll have fun, and you'll find the company congenial.)
• 7 Mistakes for Your First Week Blogging, by Kurt (Thirty Stories Up).
• Building a Better Blog, by Earthlink.
• HTML Reference Guide by WebSpawner.com.
• Ten tips for writing a blog post, by Lyndon from Flock Blog.

Comments

[Katherine]

this is gorgeous! 2 columns really looks better. I also like your color scheme; simple but elegant. Way, way cool. :-)

let me know if you need any help with HTML/CSS - I'd be happy to give a few tips.

[Evan]

Funny, I have a draft post (which was itself suggested by someone else's post) called "How to Read This Weblog"--referring to my own weblog, of course, not yours. My approach is slightly different, but I like the way you've nicely summarized the typepad-style weblog. It would save me a lot of words simply to link in my own "reader's manual" to yours!

[celia]

Thanks for the great info. Please keep it up.

[Pam S.]

This is what I hope to achieve in the blogoshpere. My blog is brand new. I'm still a little afraid of it, if you visit please be kind. I'll get the hang of it.
Thanks for yours though!

[Marihuana smoker]

I will keep your advice in mind when I make my new blog. Thanx