"A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically -- Like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly -- from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.
Blog posts are like instant messages to the web.
Many blogs are personal, "what's on my mind" type musings. Others are collaborative efforts based on a specific topic or area of mutual interest. Some blogs are for play. Some are for work. Some are both.
Blogs are also excellent team/department/company/family communication tools. They help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than email or discussion forums. Use a private blog on an intranet to allow team members to post related links, files, quotes, or commentary. Set up a family blog where relatives can share personal news. A blog can help keep everyone in the loop, promote cohesiveness and group culture, and provide an informal "voice" of a project or department to outsiders."
(Taken from Blogger.com)
Some Fun:
Samuel Pepys - The World's First Blogger
Lewis and Clark - Would-Be Bloggers?
Generally speaking, you want a blog if you have information you would like to publish on the web, in a day-by-day format, to a large group of people. Blogs can take many forms for many people, but I'll describe some of the most common blog types below.
One type of blog is the personal blog. Such blogs are written by one or two people, and discuss the day to day happenings in a person's life. These blogs may also contain personal opinions on current issues, details of family events, or links to entertaining or useful information. One such example is the website my wife and I run, World Wide Wood. In this sense, blogging could be seen as an alternative to sending mass-emails to a group of people, or as an alternative to the ever-popular "Christmas Letter". Blogging has several advantages in this respect: Unlike email, blogs are not delivered directly to users inboxes. Thus, users are not forced to read them. Also, since blogs are not correspondence per se, users do not have the same feeling of obligation to read and respond to a message. However, with the commenting feature present in many blogging systems, users do have the opportunity to respond, if they so desire. Finally, when writing a blog entry, you need not decide to whom you will send it - you simply rely on the fact that people know where your weblog is, and will check on it from time to time.
Another popular blog type is the entertainment blog. These blogs are maintained by people whose sole purpose is to entertain the internet community, through jokes, anecdotes, political humor, or satire. Well-known humor columnist Dave Barry has his own blog. Many touring musicians keep their own online journals. Moby is one example. He has been maintaining his site since September of 2000, with regular updates on the cities he has visited while on tour, and other personal thoughts and experiences from his life while not touring.
Political and social consciousness blogs are very common as well. Many activists use their blogs to inform and educate the public to their views, or to share their experiences with a worldwide audience, when in many cases their writing would have no way of being published. One such interesting blog is Dear Raed, a dialog between an Iraqi citizen, "Salam Pax," and a friend in Amman, Jordan, "Raed". There is a USA Today article about this blog.
One final example of a blog is the corporate blog. These are often used by corporations or other organizations to provide news and updates to their customers and investors. The company Six Apart, makers of the Movable Type blogging system, have their own company blog.
^ Back to the topTo set up a blog, you need some sort of web space to put the pages, and a system by which you can write and modify entries into your blog. At the bare-bones level, you could conceivably write each entry in HTML, or using some sort of HTML editor. However, you will eventually find it hard to keep your entries organized. To help you keep things organized, many organizations and individuals have come to the rescue with a variety of services.
^ Back to the topThese free or cheap services allow you to easily set up a blog via their websites. They provide web-based interfaces for creating, editing, and managing blog entries, and usually include a pre-made selection of "templates," which define the look and feel of your site. They also provide you with free web space on which your blog can be hosted.
Blogger
TypePad
LiveJournal
Xanga
rowdydow
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Systems like the following typically require the user to download and install software packages on their own web servers. They are more difficult to set up than other free services, but offer a great deal of power and flexibility for those who need it.
^ Back to the topIf you set up a blog using a self-hosted or third-party blogging system, there are Weblog Client Applications to make it easy to create and edit new entries. If you would rather manage and run the whole blog entirely with your Mac, without the hassle of setting up a system elsewhere, then you can try a Standalone Blog Application. The sections below include links to both types of applications, as well as our reviews of them, and our recommendations on the best from both worlds.
^ Back to the topIf you are using a third-party blogging service, or a self-hosted blogging system, these clients give you the ability to manage your blog from the comfort of the Mac OS. One advantage of using a remote weblog system is that most allow you to manage your blog via the web. So even if you're not at your Mac, you still have a way to create and edit entries, or change the way your blog looks.
ecto [homepage] [review]
Frequency [homepage] [review]
viJournal [homepage] [review]
These are applications you can download to your Macintosh computer. They require some sort of web space, such as a .Mac account, but they store and organize your blog entries on your Mac. They do not require you to use a third-party service or set up a self-hosted blogging system. In addition, since the application encompasses the complete blogging system, you have full control of your blog's content and appearance from withing the app. However, since these apps stand alone, there is no corresponding web-based interface that would let you to manage them via the web. So if you don't have your Mac with you, you are out of luck when you want to update your blog.
BlogStudio [homepage] [review]
iBlog [homepage] [review]
Tangelo [homepage] [review]
These are some other Mac OS blogging or journaling applications which I did not evaluate, but which you may also want to check out. In general, these applications have not been updated as recently as the above-mentioned applications, or else are written specifically for one service, and are not as general in purpose as the other applications.
Xjournal - This one has been updated fairly recently, and looks to be a very spiffy client - but at the moment it is designed specifically for the LiveJournal service.
NetNewsWire - NetNewsWire is primarily a RSS feed-reading application, but it also contains a multi-system blog editor.
Polywogg
BlogWorks
BlogAssist
Weblog Poster
BlogApp
Dossier
MacJournal
iJournal
I must first thank my beautiful wife Rebecca. She supports everything I do, and has provided insight into the mind of non-computer-programmers where necessary.
I would also like to thank the authors of the blogging applications I have reviewed. I been in contact with most of them, and I appreciate their advice and support, as well as those who have provided license keys for me to use free of charge while reviewing their software. (Note: this did not in any way influence my reviews!)
Finally I would like to thank the people at Blogger for really being the fuel that got the blogging fire going.
^ Back to the topAll of the contents of this site are copyright 2004 by Peter R. Wood, unless otherwise indicated. Email me if you have any questions.
