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Bloglines: Get Started Blogging

Your class blog. You will be publishing your weekly writing assignments for this class in a blog. As you probably already know, a blog is a kind of "diary" that is published online. In effect, you will have a kind of "writing diary" for the semester that you are enrolled in this class.

Bloglines blogging tool. The software that you will use to publish your class blog is called Bloglines.com. It is a free service. The blogs at Bloglines are extremely simple compared to other types of blogs, so I hope it will provide an easy way to get started in the world of blogging! To give you a sense of what a Bloglines blog looks like, you might want to take a look at a sample Bloglines blog - so, here is my Online Course Lady Blog.

Bloglines feed aggregator. Later in the semester, you will also have a chance to learn how to use Bloglines as a feed aggregator - but for right now, just focus on getting your blog started at Bloglines... and just ignore the part of Bloglines that is labeled "feeds."

Bloglines terminology. In order to get started with blogging, it's a good idea to learn some basic terminology. This will help you understand the specific instructions for starting your blog. Take a look around, and you will see that it is a very simple system. Here are the basic terms you need to know:

Blog username. When you create your blog, you can use any username that you want. This can be your real name, or it can be a made-up name (yes, you can be SuperSooner or MythFolkloreGoddess, etc.). The only requirement is that your username can contain no spaces and it can contain no punctuation. Other than that, you are free to choose any username you want. Be careful when you choose your username because you cannot change your username once you have created your blog.

Blog title. You can give your blog any kind of title that you want, with spaces, punctuation, etc. For example, if you are in the Myth-Folklore class, you can call your blog "Myth-Folklore Blog," or you can choose something more exciting, "My Most Awesome Myth-Folklore Blog." You can change your title at any time, so don't worry about it too much.

Blog address (URL). This is the address of your blog. If someone is going to read your blog, they need to know the address! For example, my Bloglines username is OnlineCourseLady, so here is my blog address:
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/OnlineCourseLady
As you can see, it is a very simple address, containing three parts: the website name (www.bloglines.com), the type of page (blog), and the username.

Blog posts. Each entry you add to the blog is called a "post," and when you "post" to your blog, it means you are adding content and publishing it. In the Bloglines system, each post is designated with a simple number: 1, 2, 3, etc. When you publish your Bloglines blog, the most recently edited posts are always at the top of the page.

Blog post address (URL). In addition to being able to give someone the address for your blog, you can also give them the address for a specific post in your blog. For example, here is a typical address that goes directly to a post (in this case, post #43 in the blog):
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/OnlineCourseLady?id=43

NEXT STEP... Please make sure you have understood this basic information before you go on! When you have finished reading this page, you are ready to get started by Creating Your Bloglines Account.