Anatomy of a Weblog

Helpful information describing each component of a standard blog site.

in reference to:

"It seems lately that you can't turn around without finding a blog on the Web. But what exactly is a blog? Depending upon who you talk to, a blog is a personal Web diary, a collection of short, dated discussions with commentary, or a way of publishing news and information. Well, now the Web Design/HTML site has a weblog and it is fairly similar to all the other weblogs you may have seen out on the Internet. But if you're not familiar with weblogs, you may not understand what all the pieces of the puzzle are. In the screen shot in the upper right of this article, I've detailed the primary sections of a weblog. A through D are found on every post to the blog. E, F, and G are found at the bottom of the main blog page. Parts of a Weblog A - The entry title This is the title of the blog entry. Most weblogs start their entries with the date and time it was posted. About's style is to post the entry title first. The entry title is always followed by a short paragraph or two about the entry. Sometimes their will be links within the context of the blog entry, and other times, the links will be called out afterwards. B - The date of the entry This is hyperlinked to a page with all the blog entries for that day. If you're interested in when most posts are published, you can go to this page to see the time. If you visited the Web Design/HTML site on a specific date, and want to review what was live then - you can go to that date via the calendar listed on any date entry page. C - The permalink A permalink is a permanent link to that blog entry. If you want to bookmark or link to a weblog, you need to link to a page that isn't going to change all the time. The permalink gives you something steady and constant. At the Bottom The other parts of the Weblog screen capture are at the bottom of the page. They are also common on most weblogs, but their location is not always certain. E - Syndicate this site If you have an RSS Aggregator or a tool that can read RSS, you can syndicate any site with this option. This means that you can place the weblog information on your Web site or read it with a special RSS newsreader or content aggregator. F - XML icon The XML icon is a graphical representation of the syndicate this site link. It points to the actual RDF or XML file that can be used for syndication. This is found on most sites that run syndicated weblogs. G - Read archives The big advantage to weblogs is that anything that is placed on the weblog will be archived. The archives are very interesting to read and give a good sense of how often the blog is updated and if the content is interesting to you. Other Items The About Web Design/HTML weblog doesn't include other items that are common on many blogs. Such as:calendar - while there is a calendar, it is located on the archive pages not on the front page of the weblogtime stamp - as mentioned above, the About Web Design/HTML blog is time stamped only on the archive and dated pages, not on the front page. But many weblogs are updated extremely frequently, and so need the timestamp on the front page.blogrolls - this is a list of other weblogs that the blog author reads. Some of the Web Design blogs I read are listed in my Web design blogs subject.





Web Design PathBeginning HTML and Web DesignSuggested ReadingBlog FAQHow to Use a Blog for Non-DiaristsContent Management for the MassesFrom Other GuidesWeb Clip Art: Blog Templates
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- Anatomy of a Blog: The About Web Design Weblog (view on Google Sidewiki)