Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
October 15, 2006

Volume 2, Number 18 — Sunday, October 15, 2006

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Find and Repair Windows Registry Errors
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Read my review of XP Repair Pro 2006

Erase your Windows and Internet History Files
And, it works with Firefox and Opera, too!
Read my review of XP Privacy Pro

3.  Creating a WordPress Blog
by Sprague Pugh, subscriber and fellow member of the Cajun Clickers Computer Club

This is a method to create a "Blog" to exchange information with family, friends and others.

One way to create a "free" blog is to go http://www.wordpress.com.

You can set up your blog to as read only or you can set it up so that others can "post" to it and there by exchange information.

I have just started using this site and so far I am happy with results. Since I am a new user I still have much to learn and so at present I am only giving very basic instructions.

The steps you need to take are listed below:

1. Go to: http://www.wordpress.com
2. Click on get a WordPress blog now
3. Fill in the username. This will be blog name
4. Fill in your email address
5. Fill in button for gimme a blog
6. Hit "next"
7. Check user name and email address. Change if required
8. Click on I have read and agree to terms of service
9. You will get an email from WordPress which gives you your password and tells you that blog is ready to use
10. This name and password allows access to the blog.
11. You can post pictures and cut & paste within your blog.
12. If you wish to post a blog and not have others post to it you are finished. If you wish for others to [post you must go through additional steps which are listed below

If you wish others to post to your blog , only those you authorize may post to your blog, you/they must go through the following steps:

1. User completes steps indicated above. The software was set up to let user make a choice of getting a "name only" but due to a WordPress admin. bar problem, for the present time, the person who wishes to post to your blog must obtain a blog for himself or herself.
2. When user receives he notifies you
3. You then login to your blog, go to dashboard and then users and add the email the person has registered with WordPress
4. You may do some design work on your blog. WordPress offers multiple design formats.

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4.  Blogging to Share and Exchange Information

In the previous article, Sprague Pugh wrote about the steps he used to create a free WordPress blog at www.wordpress.com.

WordPress is one of the most popular blog software packages and is available free for use in your own web hosting package. Or, as Sprague did, you can create your blog for free at wordpress.com.

In his case, Sprague is using his blog to share genealogical research information with other family members. That's why he wanted to set up multiple userID's that could post to his blog. wordpress.com allows people to sign up for an account without creating a blog -- this is intended to do exactly what Sprague wants to do.

But, apparently, they've got a slight program glitch at wordpress.com such that, in order to post to a blog, you have to have your own blog wordpress.com blog first. That's not too bad of a problem, since they're free...

Normally, a blog has one or two people who post the messages; everyone else uses the Comment feature to write their response to one of the posts.

I know others who use blogs to share family photos with family members who are far away. It's certainly a lot more interesting than emailing them, since viewers can comment on the blog entries.

What about privacy? Most blog software allows you to configure your blog so that only specific people can see it. Similarly, the software can control who (if anyone) is allowed to comment on the posts.

So, it's really up to you — set up a blog to share some knowledge. Whether it is for a specific project, like Sprague's family history, or information about your favorite hobby, it's a great personal communcication tool.

For businesses, blogs are a great customer communications tool and public relations tool.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 18 — Sunday, October 15, 2006

Copyright © 2006 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.