Saturday, April 4, 2009

The Blogger

A week ago I was talking to someone about blogging. I was trying to explain what blogs are useful for and why some people use them. I don't think I gave them a very good explanation, but in this post I'll try to make it up by showing the blogger in their natural habitat.

Vomitor dictus, commonly known as 'the blogger,' is often of the social circle and World Wide Web inhabiting variety. Fickle, but steadily growing in numbers, it thrives in its densely informational environment.

Though there are many kinds, the typical blogger is a scavenger. As such, it spends much of its time searching for juicy bits of things to share with others. The blogger also tends to be a bit of a party animal. That is, when one sees what others are busy enjoying, it joyfully joins in on the fun.

As previously mentioned, there are several kinds of blogger. A few of which I'll describe are:

  • The social blogger,

  • The professional blogger,

  • The friendly, busy blogger, and...

  • The lone blogger.


The social blogger, much as previously described,
usually follows the lives and news of others, and share their own with anyone listening. For an example, see John Gruber of the Daring Fireball. Even though he's also a professional, he fits the type of a social blogger reasonably well.

Somewhat similar, the professional blogger likes to know about others and enjoys letting others know what they're up to. While sometimes having fun, the professional blogger is usually working for themselves or for someone else (even for large companies). Sophos' Graham Cluley is a good example of this.

Sometimes you may find a blogger that is not quite either social or professional. They may say something every once in awhile, but they tend to seem as if they might just be calling through the fog to let friends and others just know what they are doing. Because of their almost vacant appearance, I'll call these busy bloggers. Tony Sheng, a student missions leader and mentor, seems to be inherently busy and, though he does post frequently, it seems as though he has many other more important things going on.

Last but not least, there are many out there who may say things frequently, or every once in awhile, who seem to go mostly unnoticed in the background of the web. These lone bloggers often are starting out or long-time inhabitants who are just unsure or even shy of being noticed. Sometimes they are even hard-working bloggers who simply haven't been noticed by others yet. Frankly, these can be hard to find but unfortunately easy to come across. Just go to Tumblr to see them in droves.

As you can see, there are many kinds of people who blog, and there are many more reasons why they blog. I hope this explanation helps those who wonder about blogging!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Starting a Blog

Starting a blog can be a confusing thing sometimes. A lot of people tend to not really know what blogs are and why people use them. For people looking for easy-to-use ways of blogging, here are a few I'd recommend:

  • Blogger - A really nice, simply designed website that makes blogging easy!

  • WordPress.com - The professional, expandable way of blogging that makes posting and managing blogs somewhat elegant.

  • Tumblr - Blogging the quick, simple, and modern way. A choice for the young and professional, Tumblr makes posts and blogs reminiscent of Twitter, a popular social networking website.


By the way, all three of these blogging sites are free, and relatively straight-forward in both starting and later use! While Blogger allows for advertisements and Tumblr might, WordPress.com strictly does not.

In order to blog with ads and WordPress' elegent content management system (a.k.a. CMS), their system is available as a free open-source package at WordPress.org. You'll have to set-up the package on your own website, usually hosted by someone else, but I'll talk about that in a later post.

In a few posts I hope to highlight some of the reasons people blog, show a little bit of how it works, and tell you what's going on now.

C'ya later!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The New Webber

Welcome to The New Webber!

Here, I'll be talking about how to start websites and blogs; what they are and how they work; techniques and tricks for making wonderful, modern websites; and the current state of the Web, related technology, and what people are saying about it.

I hope to post on a weekly basis, so stay tuned!