Just to refresh everyone’s mind and to others who may have missed the previous articles. We have already covered “Budget”, “Web Hosing” and “Choosing a Topic or Niche” as they like to call to it.

I am not at all sure if this is a required step or not. The way I am thinking though it could very well save you time if you already understood what some of the terms meant.

I realize that some of us are old hat at blogging and don’t understand why the heck I am going into such detail. The reason is simple.

Everyday thousands of new people come online and have no idea where to start. I hope that this will make it easier for them.

This list is meant to help the novice - or even intermediate - user.

Let’s begin with:

<strong>BLOG COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONS</strong>

<strong>Index page</strong> - It’s logical, it is the front page of the blog

 

<strong>Header</strong> -Contains the name of the blog or a banner relating to what your blog is about (or not).

 

<strong>Footer</strong> - Usually contains navigation and copyright statements <img style=”float:right;margin:0 5px 5px 0;” src=”http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z224/wenfri/m_foot.jpg” alt=”" width=”240″ height=”268″ align=”right” />

<strong>Sidebar</strong> - One or more columns along one or both sides of most blogs main page. Can be used numerous things

 

<strong>Categories</strong> - A collection of topic specific posts

 

<strong>Post, Entry</strong> - Is individual articles that make up a blog

 

<strong>Comments</strong> - Allows readers to leave their remarks

 

<strong>Captcha</strong> - Is a verification code to ensure there are real people leaving remarks or comments. Short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. Helpful to block automated spam comments.

 

<strong>Ping</strong> - Short for Packet Internet Grouper. Blog and ping helps to notify other blog tracking tools for updates, changes and trackbacks.

 

<strong>Trackback</strong> - A system by which a ping is sent to another blog to notify that their article has been mentioned by you

 

<strong>Pingback</strong> - See trackback.

<strong>Permalink</strong> - A link to a specific article

 

<strong>Tags</strong> - labelling / attaching keywords to collect similar posts

 

<strong>Tag cloud</strong> - Displaying tags lists or keywords in a blog. (I don’t use this, my preference)

 

<strong>Blogroll</strong> - Is a list of links to other blogs in your sidebar. Can be a list of related sites or ones you especially like

 

<strong>Sideblog</strong> - A smaller blog usually placed in the sidebar of a blog.

 

<strong>Template</strong> -Is the theme or design you chose when you first started.

 

<strong>BlogThis</strong> - Is a function allows a blogger to blog the entry they a reading

 

<strong>Plugins</strong> - Small files that add improved functionality and new features. Wordpress plugins can greatly improve your blog usage and interactivity

<img style=”float:left;margin:0 5px 5px 0;” src=”http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z224/wenfri/m_Dashboard.jpg” alt=”" width=”240″ height=”268″ align=”left” /><strong>Dashboard</strong> - When you login to your blogging account, it is the first screen with all controls, tools and functions.

<strong>Expandable post summaries </strong>- Gives you the ability to show a small teaser part of the post on the index page that link to the full post.

 

<strong>Jump</strong> - Is the continuation of a the story on another page to preserve space on index page.

 

<strong>FTP</strong> - short for file transfer protocol. Transferring file to and from your Web Host using FTP tools like Filezilla

<strong>Blogoshere</strong> - Now what the heck kind of word is that? The “blogosphere” is the new buzzword that has replaced “information super highway.”

 

<strong>Archives</strong> - This will take any older posts and break them into months and years. Used for reference or record keeping. Allows for others to search through previous topics

 

<strong>Rss Feed</strong> - The file containing a blog’s latest posts. It is read by an RSS aggregator/reader and shows at once when a blog has been updated. It may contain only the title of the post, the title plus the first few lines of a post, or the entire post.

 

<strong>Content</strong> - Refers to the words used to compose posts. Posts are the principal element of a blog. The posts are the writings, compositions, discussions, discourses, musings, pictures, graphics, and, yes, the rantings of the blog’s owner and guest authors

Some of the words are indeed very starnge and not the normal words one would use on a daily basis.

The language used here is mostly non technical to make the <strong>newbie blogger understand the blogging basics</strong> .

All I am trying to do is assist you in getting a good head start in the World of Blogging. See you round the “ Blogoshere ”

Look for me again as I continue my quest to “ <strong>Step-by- Step</strong> ” Tutorial on creating your first blog.