Your tips and advice site on web publishing
A website was launched last week for punters who fancy a go to creating software for vintage Acorn 8-bit hardware. The RetroSoftware.co.uk was set up to give a very helping hand to anyone who wants to take a nostalgic trip back to the days of hacking together the 6502 assembler code or wants to experience the writing for 1980s microcomputer hardware.
Yeah, yeah… practice what you preach, I know. And I also know how hard it is to check one’s own work when you’re too busy writing. But the thing is, publishing in the web is still publishing and any serious writer should be focused on the quality of his or her work. Ergo, proofreading is a must. Since proofreading is difficult if done on your own work, I suggest that you ask someone else to check for typos and grammar errors. You can have it done by professionals, since there are many proofreaders offering their services online. But then again, you can always ask a friend.
Blogging these days without an RSS Feed is like blogging before the Blogger was invented. The only way people will know whether you have new posts would be to go directly to your blog or site and watch for it everyday. Most readers don’t have such time and luxury to do that these days. Thus, the creation of the Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
In summary, RSS is a godsend for those who wish to be updated on the latest news, events on their favorite website, without logging onto the site. It’s also a great way for publishers to send out new information to a wide audience. This has changed the way people read the news i the internet these days, as it saves more time for them to scan over a lot of sites in one look.
In order for you to enjoy RSS you must have an RSS reader as well. There are a lot of readers in the internet, and all you need to do is google them. Have a grand time RSS’ing!
Cool thing about personal sites and blogs is that you can be as unapologetic and as personal as you like. You don’t have to be realistic or even reliable, unlike how you should be on professional and commercial sites. Anyway, here are a few tips or notes on hosting and domain names just in case you feel the need to establish a personal site:
You may use your own domain name if you do not mind paying for the hosting fees since it may help in maintaining that individual feel to your site. Another advantage of course is the more liberal bandwidth allotment just in case you plan to upload a huge amount of images and videos.
But it wouldn’t be a crime if you make use of free web hosts. They’re not only free but they are also a lot easy to maintain if you don’t have much (or even no) background in web design and development. This is a good idea for the beginners. After all, you may get a paid host eventually when you get the hang of it.
If you come across material that you want to share with others through your site, don’t forget to link to it. Chances are that other bloggers who will get material from your blog will also return this favor. This practice is not only common courtesy, but it is also a way of pulling in new readers. It’s really a give-and-take world out there.
By the way, blogs and sites nowadays have trackers on incoming links, meaning you’ll get updates on which sites and blogs have included your site and/or have linked to your site. You may want to check this feature out.
It takes more than signing up for a domain to actually make a website. Sure you may have a flashy layout and graphics, but remember that the main star of your site is the content. So before you do anything, plan what the site will contain first. Think of the audience and determine who your readers will be. Will they be teenagers? Will they be music lovers? Make sure that the content is relevant to these people’s interests and needs. Don’t forget to ensure that your site is very accessible to majority of your users. There is no point in making a website if no one can read it, right?
Ahh… what is considered plagiarism in Web 2.0? Difficult since most if not all blogs tend to get information from other blogs of the same niche. You really don’t have to ask permission if you are to link to the other site. After all, the Web 2.0 Culture promotes freedom in information exchange. Despite this, it is always nice and ethical to inform the writer or webmaster of a particular blog if you mean to link to it (which can always be reciprocated by a link-back) or if you are to get a lot of information, most especially original content, from his site.
Most original graphics (static and animated) and text are under the protection of U.S. and international copyright laws. In this case, research first on where or whom to get the necessary permission to reproduce the particular text or graphics. Free information exchange does not equal to plagiarism.
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