A quick tour of blog features.

2013.01.02 A Quick Tour of Blog Features

If you’re new to subscribing to or reading blogs, I’d like to offer three quick tips for you:

First, for readers via mobile or feed you may see some posts that say “Continue reading…” This is a link that breaks up a post which is really long so readers can scroll through posts with a little more ease. Test it out:

See? Easy.

1. Never Miss a Post When You Subscribe.

Bloggers love it when their readers subscribe, it’s like a badge of honor. To know someone not only is reading but wants to read whenever possible is grand and can help keep the writer going. We recommend you try the RSS feed (don’t know what that is? Commoncraft’s In Plain English has a great three-minute video all about why it’s a wonderful thing). If that’s simply too foreign for you right now, we have an email subscription option in our sidebar.

Real quick: notice there’s a link to subscribe to posts and a link to subscribe to comments. We encourage regular readers to subscribe to the posts for sure and it’s up to you if you want updates on when we receive comments. We only point it out to accentuate the difference and make sure you’re subscribing to what you want.

2. Know How Our Blog Layout Works.

At the time of this writing, this blog is organized in the following way:

  • Posts – Individual pieces of writing revolving around a particular topic.
  • Tags – These are prominent subjects and themes the writer has deemed important enough to “tag” in the post. You can click these tags, like subject labels in a library, and see other posts with the same tags. On the sidebar, you’ll find our “Tag Cloud.” The bigger the tag, the more times it’s been written about.
  • Top Menu Bar – Look here to learn about me and The Life Mosaic.
  • Search Bar – Look for posts by subject and use -minus or “quotes” to make your search even better (“Huh?” Again, In Plain English to the rescue).
  • Left Sidebar – Subscription options, causes near and dear to my heart, and disclaimers.
  • Right Sidebar – Categories, recent posts, archives, links / blogroll, and the tag cloud.
  • Body – This is where you’ll find the latest posts.

3. Be a Part of the Conversation When You Comment.

Thank you for your comments and interaction with me through dialogue. Comments are welcome, appreciated, and responded to. It’s where the message gets processed, questions are raised, new ideas are added, and the writer and reader really get a great opportunity to interact. While moderated, your comments are always encouraged. I’ll read your comments and do my best to respond.

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Beyond that, we hope your basic web navigation knowledge will carry you through just fine. And if you have a question there’s an excellent place to ask it (hint: it has to do with point #3).

Regards,

-nm

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