{"id":40,"date":"2004-01-26T14:43:25","date_gmt":"2004-01-26T18:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/stepno\/2004\/01\/26\/writing-tips-for-new-bloggers\/"},"modified":"2004-01-26T14:43:25","modified_gmt":"2004-01-26T18:43:25","slug":"writing-tips-for-new-bloggers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/2004\/01\/26\/writing-tips-for-new-bloggers\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing tips for new bloggers"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are a few tips for newcomers to blogging, particularly those being
\nintroduced to Berkman’s Manila system at our MIT<\/a> blog orientation sessions this month.<\/p>\n

Writing style:<\/span> It’s your voice, and your choice. For some bloggers<\/a>, every item is a long essay. Many others<\/a>
\nfavor a “bits and pieces” or “news briefs” style — maybe several posts
\na day, almost all short items of a paragraph or two. Some think that’s what blogging is all about. <\/p>\n

Long & short of it: <\/span>Here’s a compromise.
\nPost a
\nfirst paragraph or summary to the weblog, with the word “more” or a subhead at the
\nend. Link that and the main headline to the full story. In
\nManila or Radio, the long version can be saved  using the
\n“Stories”
\nbutton on the editing menu. My About Weblogs<\/a>
\npage is a “story” I update now and then, rather than a daily blog<\/a> item. So is my essay about RSS Aggregators<\/a>, which are another way that people read blog contents and news. You also could link to a
\nseparate webpage on any other server where you have permission. See my New Year<\/a> item, then click on the flag to go to a photo page.<\/p>\n

Linkage.<\/span> Reading a paragraph with a lot of links like that last one may take some getting
\nused to. The color link words look enough like bold-emphasized
\nwords to  jump out at readers<\/span> and interfere with reading comprehension,
\nas well as inviting people to click, fly to a new page, and lose the
\ntrain of thought. I probably should moderate my own inclination to such
\nhypertextuality<\/span>. (If you know of any great research on this subject, pro or con, please leave a comment below!)<\/p>\n

Writing in the browser.<\/span> Always “select all text” and copy your new content to the
\nclipboard before you hit “post.” If something goes wrong, you can just
\nstart a new item, paste back the content, and try again. Also,  remember to both “Post” and “Publish” your blog items. <\/p>\n

Copying text to a blog<\/span>
\nfrom a word processor or browser: Watch for “curly quotes” and special
\ncharacters. They may not translate properly when controlled by the
\nblog’s template or style sheet. Check your finished pages in more than
\none browser to see if there are unwanted changes in fonts, headings,
\nlists, paragraphs, etc.
\n(Be careful if you cut and paste more than small chunks of text.
\nJavascript code hidden behind a Web page could come along for the ride.
\nAn accidentally-copied script we saw in class last week made text
\nappear in the margins of the Weblog page. It even obscured the location
\nof the Edit and View HTML buttons, making it hard to go back and delete
\nthe bad code. Jessica<\/a> saved the day, though, by finding the invisible  buttons with a wave of her mouse.)<\/p>\n

Want tips on blogging with pictures?<\/a>
\nor more general background?<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Writing tips for new bloggers …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are a few tips for newcomers to blogging, particularly those being introduced to Berkman’s Manila system at our MIT blog orientation sessions this month. Writing style: It’s your voice, and your choice. For some bloggers, every item is a long essay. Many others favor a “bits and pieces” or “news briefs” style — maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1090,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stepnostories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/stepno\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}