DIY Blog Design and More

For newbies to the blogosphere, reading a blog is not too taxing on one’s computer nor Internet literacy. A click here and a click there, followed by more clicks. Commenting would require more effort, but not marginally so if the blogger does not impose too much restrictions.

But to become a blogger is something else. Obviously blog hosts such as blogger.com have made the transition relatively painless, hiding most of the mechanics behind the interface. However, for those who wish to personalize their blogs, they would have to invest time to sift through the disparate sources of information that is the hallmark of the Information Highway in order to learn the “trade of the art” such as HTML and CSS scripting, and adding RSS feed.

Now help has come in the form of a book, Blogosphere: Best of Blogs, by Adrienne Crew and Peter Kuhns. Essentially a Blogging 101 or Blogging for Dummy type of DIY book, and more, it defines a blog, traces its history that has matured into the blogsphere as an exemplar of Grass Roots Communication, outlines where and how to search for blogs, and closes with the how of making a blog and more to making a presence in the increasingly crowded blogosphere.

Now on to better yet news. The authors have kindly made three chapters freely available for download at their standalone website. Named the bonus chapters, these comprise “published additional material for Chapter 9: Environmental Blogs and chapters that we had to cut from the book” in the authors’ own words. Entitled “Environmental Blog (Chapter 9)”, “Advanced Blogging Techniques (Chapter 13)” and “Blogging and the Future (Chapter 14)”, they are aimed at enhancing your knowledge of advanced blogging techniques, especially if you use Blogger.com as your blog host as the blog (re)design uses a generic Blogger.com blog.

I would be putting some of these tips into practice in an effort to inject some of my personality into my blog, if that is possible at all. So tune in often as we await to be pleasantly surprised. Yes, me too. I want to surprise myself.

Talking about self help, the bookstore and libraries are shelf-full of DIYs and For Dummy books on practically any subject that you and I can find time for. Now there is a Self Help (and more) cyber store whose offerings run the gamut from Appliance Repair, Building & Renovation articles, Home Wiring (covering dwelling / service panels / swimming pools / garages and more), plumbing projects, radio & TV interference, switch & outlet wiring, small engine repair, to yard & garden. Created by Donald Kerr and Warren Goodrich, two ordinary hands-on guys, what is most commendable is that they both have full time employment and maintain the site on their off-work hours. But as usual, read the legal disclaimer and the associated copyright rules.