A Short Text

Just testing how this works for me
 

Blogs about blogging end up being boring

I really enjoy blogging. Even though it might be hard to see that from my level of blogging at the moment. I read quite a few blogs each day through Bloglines and I think that I can safely say that blogs that just talk about blogging end up being repetitive. After all there is only so much you can say about writing posts and ads.

I realise that my blog is not the best example of how to make a successful blog but I love it anyway.  It follows no rules, it is rambling and shifts in its focus but its fun and like the fact that I can post here whenever I want.

Thanks

I spend a lot of my time working at a computer. Most of the time I really enjoy it. I was just thinking about the many tools that I use that enable me to get my work done and I thought I should acknowledge some of them.

• Moodle- open source educational content management software. It is very hard to beat when it comes to finding something that is able to provide so many resources and remain open source.  I am putting together more and more online courses and Moodle is a great too.
• Wordpress – where would we be without it. I am using it as a CMS for one of my other sites (FortressEquip)  and find that for a smaller site it is hard to beat. Joomla is also an excellent product but for many purposes Wordpress is a more than sufficient CMS.
• Gimp – Great for editing photos. A little complicated at first but once you get the hang of it it is fine. I am only very basic in what I want to do to images anyway so Gimp is fine.
• OpenOffice – Is fine for most office applications. It talks to Microsoft applications so you are still able to communicate to others.
• Wordpress plugins – there are so many of them that I won’t try to mention them all now. But they make using Wordpress that much easier. There are also many theme developers out there as well who enable smaller organisations to be able to produce a far more professional quality site because of their giving.
• Firefox – A great browser. Why would anyone want to use Explorer. And I feel much safer with my information using Firefox.

All of these contribute to what I do online and they do it for free. Because they have a belief that life is about contributing to others. The more that I use the web the more that I see the extent of this commitment and the benefits they bring to other people.

I was sitting here thinking and just wanted to say a quick thank you.

Capture your screen freeware

• Do you sometimes want to show someone what is happening with your computer because words are not enough?
• OR do you want to add something to your blog presentation

and do you want to get it for free……….

Then this is a great program for you.

The old way of using PrScr and then pasting into an editor is too slow. To meet this need there is a great range of screen capture software out there. You can do it online or you can download a number of programs.

This one is working for me. It is the Gadwin PrintScreen. I like it because of the hotkey function that allows you to select an area of the screen by pressing a hotkey and then capturing that area. You can then adjust the picture to the size that you want using a simple interface and there you have it. A very simple solution to a common need that I have in my computer use.

• It works.
• Its simple to use
• And it costs nothing.

Great value all round in my opinion.

How to use Wordpress as a CMS

I have been using Wordpress for quite a while for blogging. But more recently at another site I wanted a simple Content Management System this site. There are lots of options out there such as Joomla, Drupal and so on. But Wordpress was more than enough to meet my needs to provide a simple publishing platform. Here is the simplest way that I have found and the procedure that I used:

Step One: Download the static front page plugin from here (http://www.semiologic.com/software/publishing/static-front/). And then upload it into your plugins directory.

Step Two: Create two pages. (Not posts). Called Home and Blog.

Step Three: Activate your plugin in your wordpress dashboard.

And its all done.

What happens now is that the “Home” page is the permanent front page and you will have another link to your blog that will display you blog posts as normal in reverse chronological order.

A couple of things that I went on to do:

Create a new home template. I did this because the one used from my blog posts still contained a date marker. I didn’t want this on my front page. I deleted the scripts that fetched the features that I didn’t want and then uploaded that into the theme directory.

I copied the blog template and then pasted it into notebook, (any text editor will do) and once I had changed it i saved it as home.php.

This is also a place that you can add the features that you want to your front page as well.

Do yourself a favour – Get the age of conversation

The Age of Conversation

If ideas are the currency of our times then this is, undoubtedly, the Age of Conversation, for without the art of dialog, the cut and thrust of debate and discussion, then the economy of ideas would implode under its own heavy weight. Instead, the reverse is true. Far from seeing an implosion, we are living in a time of proliferation — ideas build upon ideas, discussion grows from seeds of thought and single headlines give rise to a thousand medusa-like simulations echoing words whispered somewhere on the other side of the planet. All this — in an instant. In what began as a half dare, the editors, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan challenged bloggers around the world to contribute one page — 400 words — on the topic of “conversation”. The resulting book, The Age of Conversation, brings together over 100 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators in a ground-breaking and unusual publication.

All proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to Variety, the Children’s Charity. The proceeds will be earmarked to help children in the authors’ home countries.

The Age of Conversation

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The difference between a blog and a web site – reflections on blogging

After a couple of years of blogging (most of it at another site), I believe that blogging is one of the best things to happen on the web. Remember when we all had a home page, it was everyone’s chance to have their 5 minutes of glory on the newest medium around. The trouble was that these pages were hard to update requiring some technical skills to be able to update regularly.

Now we have lots of blog content management systems that can meet the need of every user. For those who are a slightly tech savvy there is wordpress or a range of other platforms that allow a great total control over the look of their site with an easy to manage dashboard allowing the blogger to post. Then there are the paid hosted systems, typepad stands out in this group and is used by many popular blogs. For example TechCrunch uses typepad. Then there is a plethora of free hosted systems that usually have limited flexibility and are paid for by advertising.

Some of my thoughts on blogging after using a number of these and sharing my thoughts about fatherhood and personal development to the world are:
1. Blogging is about my personal interaction with whatever content matter I choose to write about. That’s what makes is special and unique. I know there are lots of spam blogs out there but they are blogs in name only. There are also a number of professional blogs that exist solely to make money that are really a cross dressing website.
2. Blogging is about the people who are reading your site. With adequate spam protection your blog joins a worldwide conversation of people interacting personally with your content.
3. Blogging is soul enhancing. I find that what I am writing about is also about sharing a part of my spirit with others. I think that writing is essentially about this and that we need to remember that the energy that is dispersed should enhance anyone who comes into contact with it.
4. Blogging is about people. Write for people, talk like a person and respond as a person is the best advice that I can give for building a successful blog.
5. My blog is my gift to others. I know that I may not be the most eloquent of writers but I want to share something of myself with others. The subjects that I write about I care about. I want to see people improve and to have the resources that will enable their self development.

What’s the difference?

Well they look pretty similar but dig in a blog and you will find something special, a person.

Service – Same company different price tag

I recently with a friend made a large purchase of technical equipment at a prominent Australian retailer. We had two staff members collecting the stuff and they could not have been more helpful. They even waited for us at the counter and helped us to carry all the gear to the car. They were chatting and and friendly and we couldn’t really have asked for any better service.

Same company different day. I purchased a single less expensive item. The sales assistant was obviously not that interested in the service that I received. I was given the product and pointed to the direction of the front counter and there was not time for any idle chat.

I am not complaining about either transaction. I am just wondering what a commission based sales structure does to customer service? Does it really motivate or does it in the end devalue?

This is not a blog about customer service but I am always interested in the attitudes that drive us. I could talk all day about some of the ways that people are treated by companies. I am left wondering about this company? It is very successful but has it missed something important?

Or is it just a reflection on society. That is the way we are treated because of the size of our purchase a reflection on the values that are important to each one of us. Or are we going to break out of this?

I would like to think that we can be different.

I think of the responses that I have received from Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame. Early in my blogging career I wrote a couple of emails to him. I always received a response and it was always polite. I realise that my requests were not really valid but never was I treated in a way that devalued myself.
Darren’s blog is one of the most popular on the blogosphere and yet he took the time to respond to me at ChrisGribble.com. It gives me hope that there are people who are able to live differently to others. I don’t know him personally yet I appreciated the way that he has differentiated himself in this way.

Thanks Adam Walker

By the way I should thank the appropriate people for the template. Thanks Adam even though I don’t know you for this design. The credit is at the bottom of the page and his site is here.

This template works really well I haven’t found any glitches yet. I still have a bit of tidying up to do but life has been busy in recent days.

Five tips on how to write a great blog

1. Inspire – People like to be inspired and touched on an emotional level. Those who are able to overcome difficulties and encourage others to do the same are the bloggers that we will return to again and again.
2. Use Humor – It continues to be one of the main traits that will attract women and it works for bloggers too. Sometimes it’s links that go for the funny bone that are also popular. Keep seeing the funny side of life and the whole world will laugh with you.
3. Use lists. People tend to scan on the web. Lists enable people to decide if they want to read more. Its even better if you number your list it establishes priorities
4. Tell a story. My kids love me reading them a story. We never really grow out of this. However they need to be relatively brief when compared to traditional writing. Remember that a lot of people are scanning first so formatting is important.
5. Write a how to.

Sometimes I break all these rules simply because I can or I feel like it. Don’t worry if you aren’t always funny or always have an inspiring story to tell. Your story is important and your blog will be the unfolding of that story. Most important is to keep blogging. We need to hear your story.

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