Bob Stepno's Red Liner

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 several posts
a day, almost all short items of a paragraph or two. Some think that’s what blogging is all about.

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

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

Writing in the browser. Always “select all text” and copy your new content to the
clipboard before you hit “post.” If something goes wrong, you can just
start a new item, paste back the content, and try again. Also,  remember to both “Post” and “Publish” your blog items.

Copying text to a blog
from a word processor or browser: Watch for “curly quotes” and special
characters. They may not translate properly when controlled by the
blog’s template or style sheet. Check your finished pages in more than
one browser to see if there are unwanted changes in fonts, headings,
lists, paragraphs, etc.
(Be careful if you cut and paste more than small chunks of text.
Javascript code hidden behind a Web page could come along for the ride.
An accidentally-copied script we saw in class last week made text
appear in the margins of the Weblog page. It even obscured the location
of the Edit and View HTML buttons, making it hard to go back and delete
the bad code. Jessica saved the day, though, by finding the invisible  buttons with a wave of her mouse.)

Writing tips for new bloggers …

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