Blog World Expo Discount

If you have plans or are considering attending Blog World Expo in Las Vegas on September 20-21, 2008, Guy Kawasaki is offering a special BlogWorld Expo Special Discount for an additional 20% off the early-bird prices (expire August 22).

I will be there, along with the whole Woopra team to talk Woopra, WordPress, blogging, and more. I’ll be speaking on several subjects. Come see us at Blog World Expo!

I’ve learned that WordPress will not be there this year, but I will, so come talk to me about WordPress!

Also add to your calendar September 21 for WordCamp Portland, Oregon - September 27, 2008. I’ll be speaking on how WordPress changes lives every day.

The Hawaii Macintosh & Apple Users’ Society, Inc. (HMAUS) is hosting the annual Mactoberfest, October 18, 2008, and I’m their keynote speaker. I will also be speaking and joining the fun and festivities at Podcamp and WordCamp Hawaii - Oct 24, 2008. Come see me in Hawaii!

Plans are in the works for WordCamp Australia, workshops and speaking events in the UK, New England, Canada, and all over…I can barely keep up with myself! Come see me, wherever I am. And remember, free hugs for all WordPress and Woopra fans!

---

Site Search Tags: wordpress news, wordcamp, wordcamp portland, wordcamp hawaii, blog world expo, events, wordpress events, woopra, woopra events, conferences, speaking, speak, lorelle

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

WordCamp 2008 San Francisco - Great Fun. Pictures Don’t Lie.

WordCamp 2008 brought WordPress fans from around the world to San Francisco. I am always stunned by the lengths so many people take to travel so far for WordPress. Their passion and dedication is to be applauded as every one brings their unique perspective to a WordPress event and the WordPress Community.

And they bring their sense of humor and fun, too.

I’ll have more information soon, and until then, you can catch up with the live blogs and summaries from WordCamp Report with Patrick Havens, WordCamp 2008 by Andrew Mager, and TechCrunch.

The event began with a private dinner for WordCamp speakers and Automattic on Friday night, a chance for everyone to meet before they are distracted by the following day’s events, to compare notes, and have some fun before the hard work begins. For me, it was also a time to catch up with all of the wonderful people that make the blogosphere a great place to work.

The WordPress Genius Bar greeted arrivals early the next morning and was going strong answering questions and helping WordPress fans solve their many problems. Some requested very simple how to tips, and others more sophisticated like problem-solving their WordPress Plugins and Themes to hacking code. After each speaking event, the speaker went to the Genius Bar to answer questions and talk to fans, so it was a great social center to the event.

This year’s WordCamp 2008 had a two-track schedule, one for typical users and the other for developers. The entire event was video taped by John Pozadzides of One Man’s Blog and will be released soon, which gives attendees a chance to see what they missed at the other sessions.

Blog Challenge: Worst Relationship Mistake

We all make mistakes in everything we do. That’s part of learning. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to challenge you to blog about some of the mistakes you’ve made, and the lessons you learned and how these mistakes changed your life.

As usual, these blog challenges are very specific, encouraging you to dig into your head and spirit to find interesting ways of sharing who you are and what you do with your blog readers. Finding a way to incorporate them into your blog’s purpose is part of the challenge.

The first in this series of life mistake challenges is:

Blog about the worst mistake you made in a relationship.

Love gone wrong is the source of stories and songs throughout history. We all screw up when it comes to our interpersonal relationships - and professional ones. We’ve all done it. We’ve all done it the same, even though we feel like it is a unique and very personal and private event - it’s normal. It’s what you learn that makes you better at relationships in the future.

One of the earliest lessons I learned in relationships is that I thought the relationship was all about me. My needs. My wants. My life. The world revolved around ME. Trust me, I’m not interesting enough to have much of anything revolve around me, especially the whole world, and it took some hurting to understand that a relationship is about you and us, not me. A little me, but not a planet’s worth of me. The magic in a relationship is when the other person feels the same way. Their perspective of the relationship is that it isn’t about them, it’s about me.

There is a lot of good and bad that happens in a relationships, so reach down into your life’s baggage and share a story of the worst mistake you’ve made in a relationship - and the lessons you learned and how you improved the qualities of your relationships after the wounds healed.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

Past Blogging Challenges

• Blog Challenge: Write A Biographical Post
• Blog Challenge: Blog About Something You Know Nothing About
• Blog Challenge: Blog About a Holiday Tradition
• Blog Challenge: Your Favorite WordPress Tip
• Blogging Challenge: Favorite or Worst Writing Boo Boos

---

Site Search Tags: blog challenge, blogging challenge, blog writing, personal, relationship, relationships, relationship mistakes, writing

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Exclusive First Interview with Woopra Co-Founders

I was honored to be the first to interview Elie Khoury and Jad Younan, co-founders of Woopra, the exciting new web analytics program currently in beta. We were at the LT Pact Conference in Las Vegas.

The interview is featured in this week’s WordPress Podcast with Charles Stricklin. We talked about Woopra and the Woopra WordPress Plugin.

Woopra is currently under private beta testing and will be approving more beta testers soon, as resources become available. Elie and Jad shared some of the new features they have in mind for the Woopra WordPress Plugin including the ability to track your blog stats and analytics from within the WordPress Administration Panel, as well as with the desktop client program and through the Woopra Members Page on their site. The Plugin makes it very easy to add Woopra to your WordPress blog, too.

This was the first interview Elie and Jad had done in English after having arrived in the country from Lebanon only a few days before. They were nervous about their English, but both speak it fluently and were delightful to talk to. I’ll have more interviews coming up with them over the next few months.

---

Site Search Tags: woopra, woopra news, interivew, wordpress podcast, elie khoury, jad younan, woopra wordpress plugin

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Speaking at WordCamp San Francisco Next Weekend

I will be speaking at WordCamp San Francisco next week, covering 260 Ways to Break WordPress and asking WordPress fans for their tips and techniques for breaking WordPress, and putting it back together again. What about you? Have you broken WordPress? How?

The line up of speakers for next weekend’s one-day event is the best of the best and I’m so honored to be among them. They include:

• Jane Wells
• Andy Skelton
• Andy Peatling
• Alan Levine
• Tantek Çelik
• Noel Jackson
• Joseph Scott
• Lloyd Budd
• Mark Jaquith
• Stephen O’Grady
• Jeremy Clarke
• Aaron Brazell
• Sam Bauers
• Will Norris
• Liz Danzico
• Chris Lea
• Tom Coates
• Chuck Lewis
• Stephan Spencer
• Steve Souders

With plenty more brilliant minds sharing their WordPress, blogging, SEO, and business tips and tricks and wisdom.

There will be a WordPress Genius Bar to get personal one-on-one WordPress help and advice on Saturday, and I’ll be pitching in to help out.

On Sunday, there is a special fundraising charity event for 826 Valencia, a non-profit that helps students with their writing skills, called the WordPress Charity Scavenger Hunt. I’ve signed up with one of my dearest friends who lives in San Francisco and knows it like the back of her hand, so the rest of you scavengers watch out. I’ll be playing with a stacked deck! (Want to be on my team? )

There is still time to register for WordCamp 2008. I can’t wait for the WordPress event of the year. Hope to see you there.

You can see last year’s talk I gave at WordCamp 2007 to get you warmed up.

---

Site Search Tags: wordcamp, wordcamp 2008, wordcamp san francisco, wordcxamp2008, san francisco, wordpress scavenger hunt, wordpress fundraiser, speakers, speaking, event, wordpress news, wordpress events, wordpress community

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Blog Challenge: Where Do You Consistently Find Inspiration?

In response to a post on Pennwriters Area 6 HQ on Inspiration and Dedication: Creative Resources, I wrote:

…And yet, I find incredible inspiration in the little things, the things that inspired writers for thousands of years. A moment shared. A conversation overheard. A glance down a new street. A journey. A unroutine routine event. A friend. A family member. The littlest of things can be inspiration for writing. You never know where the next moment will come from, so you have to keep yourself open - and always carry a notebook so the moment won’t be lost.

Inspiration for a blog post can come from anywhere. Where do yours come from? Do they come out of the blue, or are they inspired by consistent “moments” and experiences?

I get a lot of blog story ideas from every blog conference and social event I attend. I meet so many wonderful people from all over the world and hear their stories, which inspire mine. For me, these are a never-ending source of blog content ideas.

I also find consistent story ideas and inspiration in the bathroom, as well as just before I fall asleep. I keep notepads in those places for when those gifts of insight happen and quickly jot them down. Memory can be so fleeting.

Your blog challenge is:

Blog about where you find your inspiration to blog.

Share the tips and techniques you use to inspire blog posts. In this blog challenge, I don’t want you to tell the back story of a specific blog post, but the techniques you use in general to keep the river flowing on your blog.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

Past Blog Challenges

• Blogging Challenge: WordPress Treasure Hunt
• Blog Challenge: Does Your Blog Make a Difference?
• Blog Challenge: What’s Your Blog’s Story?
• Blog Challenge: How Do You Judge a Blog Post as a Success?
• Blog Challenge: What is the Most Unusual Blogger You’ve Found?

---

Site Search Tags: blog challenge, blogging challenge, blog writing, writing, inspiration, motivation, how do you blog, blog inspiration, how to you write, where do you find your inspiration, finding inspiration

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Power Blogging Tips: Comment on Blogs From Within Google Feed Reader

One of the most frustrating aspects of reading blogs through feed readers is the process of commenting on blogs. The typical step-by-step process is:

1. Scan through the blog post titles.
2. Find an interesting title and click on the title to open it and read.
3. Want to respond or read more? Open the post title in a new browser tab.
4. Scroll around your tabs to get to the tab you just opened.
5. Read the blog post.
6. Comment on the blog post.
7. Close the tab (or leave it waiting for a response or add the comments feed to track comments).
8. Hunt for your feed reader tab.
9. Find it and move onto the next post title of interest.
10. Repeat.

How would you like to cut this down to only a few clicks? And how would you like to comment on blog posts directly from Google Feed Reader?

Enter the Google Reader Preview Enhanced Greasemonkey Script

The Google Reader Preview Enhanced Greasemonkey Script (GPE) works with FireFox and the GreaseMonkey extension. It adds a small link called Preview to the Google Feed Reader bar which allows you to mark posts with stars, share, and other tasks for that post.

The view of the post through the feed isn’t pretty. In this example of an interview with me on Blogging Without a Blog, ironically talking about handling our feeds, you can see that it shows the text quite plainly with my blog’s logo, and none of the pretty associated with the blog’s design, as it should.

With a click of the Preview button, it loads the blog post directly into the iframe of the post feed. It is now the post with mostl of the pretty - but more importantly, also direct access to the blog comments.

I wanted to respond to the comments on the interview, so I scrolled down and read through them all and responded directly from within Google Feed Reader. I submitted the comment and could even read through and check it out without any problems.

Since installing Google Reader Preview Enhanced Greasemonkey Script, the new sequence of reading and commenting on a blog, and bypassing the feed excerpts to read the whole blog post, is as follows:

1. Scan through the blog post titles.
2. Find an interesting title and click on the title to open it and read.
3. Want to respond or read more? Click Preview.
4. Read the blog post.
5. Comment on the blog post.
6. Move onto the next post title of interest.
7. Repeat.

There is another benefit to the Google Reader Preview. I publish the WordPress Wednesday News on the Blog Herald once a week and always fret over whether or not to use the link top a blog or post I want to recommend via the feeds or open the post and copy the “real” link from the actual post. Which is better?

Which is also more helpful to the reader? What about those using accessibility devices for the blind and visually impaired or disabled which require screen readers? Less and less websites and bloggers are using the required HTML anchor tag title attribute, so the URL would be read aloud. Which sounds better?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bloggingwithoutablog/DWWZ/~3/350183009/
or
http://bloggingwithoutablog.com/interview-with-lorelle-vanfossen-part-5-managing-350-feeds/

When in doubt, I can preview the post and grab the clean URL direct to the site.

Greasemonkey Script Helps Grab Feeds

There are a lot of amazing Greasemonkey scripts for FireFox at Userscripts.org. Another favorite of mine that I’ve used for over a year is RSS+ Atom Feed Subscribe Button Generator.

You may have noticed it in the examples above. It automatically searches for any feeds listed within the blog post you are viewing in your FireFox browser and adds small feed icons to the top left corner of the web page screen.

In this example of how the feed links appear on this blog, The icons represent my feeds for post feeds, all comments feed, blog posts via XML-RSD feed, Lorelle on WordPress post feed via Feedburner, and the RSS2 blog post feed. These are generated by default within the WordPress.com Theme and some I’ve added, like the Feedburner feed.

Find a blog post you like and click on the feed link you prefer and it will automatically load the feed into your feed reader. No more hunting for that darn orange feed icon. If it interferes with the blog’s design or access, which it does when I’m trying to access the WordPress.com bar, a click of the X and it is closed for that pageview allowing access.

While it recognizes and displays different icons for RSS and Atom feeds, I wish it displayed a different icon for Feedburner and FeedBlitz feeds, and other popular indirect feeds to help the user know the difference. As all WordPress blogs have post and comment feeds, I’d also love to see a different icon for those to improve visual recognition of which feed to choose to add to my feed reader.

I love tools, tips, add-ons, and extensions that make blogging faster and easier. Do you have any Google Feed Reader tips or Greasemonkey scripts that make your life blogging easier?

Related Articles

• WordPress Tips and Tricks for Template Files
• WordCamp Israel WordPress Tips Talk
• Two Months of Blogging and WordPress Tips
• Tips for Writing WordPress Tips
• Akismet Auntie Spam Firefox-Greasemonkey Page Viewing Script
• One Year Anniversary Review: WordPress Tips, Tricks and Techniques
• Power Blogging: Web Browser Blogging Tips
• WordPress Tips and Tricks for Style Sheets
• WordPress Comment Ninja Greasemonkey Script
• Akismet Auntie Spam Firefox Greasemonkey Script

---

Site Search Tags: blogging tips, power blogging, time savers, fast blogging, greasemonkey scripts, google feed reader, firefox, feeds, feed reader, google feed reader preview enhanced, enhanced preview, comment from feeds, comment within feed reader, feed reader comments, save time, fast blogging

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Liz Strauss is Breaking the Web and Pushing WordPress

Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers is attempting to “break the web” today at noon CST from Chicago (GMT -6). As part of her Showcase Your Blog series, she will be using the future post feature in WordPress to publish a blog post a minute showcasing more than 250 blogs.

Has anyone set up WordPress to do this before? Maybe some splogs or scrapers, but this is an exciting example of how a community project can use the WordPress future post feature, and push WordPress and the server to keep up with the server and database load. Liz is part of the b5media network, so this is a test of their setup as well.

Liz tells me that the blogs she is showcasing are excellent, some of the most exciting, beautiful, and social blogs around, so you are in for a treat as you watch her Blog Showcase churn out, minute by minute. I wonder what the traffic count is going to be on her blog’s front page. Luckily, she’s using Woopra to track her traffic, stats, and visitors live. What fun!

Go check out the minute-by-minute Blog Showcase! You can also follow the Twitter stream at b2show.

Liz Strauss is Going to Break the Web

Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers just called me and said that as of noon CST from Chicago (GMT -6), she is going to break the web as part of her Showcase Your Blog series. Stay tuned for more information on how she is going to use her WordPress blog in a way few have done before.

Liz Strauss Invites You to Show Off Your Blog

Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers is giving you a chance to promote your blog to the world in her Showcase Your Blog at Successful-Blog July 26-27, 2008.

This is a great chance to showcase your blog to thousands of bloggers and fans on the blog by the founder of the popular Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon) and author of the fast selling ebook, The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog — The Insider’s Guide to the Conversation That’s Changing How Business Works.

To particpate, check out the instructions in the announcement of the Blog Showcase and email your blog title, URL, blog tagline, a sentence of two about what makes your blog worth visiting, and some advice on blogging or a colorful bloggy quote. The deadlines is Saturday July 26, 2008.

---

Site Search Tags: liz strauss, successful blog, sob, sobcon, showcase your blog, show off your blog, blog competition, blog contest, blog brag, brag about your blog, successful blogger

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

A Blogger’s Life: Why Blog and When Do You Stop Blogging?

Dr. Johnson’s Cat asks “So: Why Blog?”, a question that plagues many bloggers, wanna be bloggers, and wish-they-weren’t bloggers. Why do we keep on blogging when the fun drains away. And what keeps bringing us back.

Googling the phrase “stop blogging” gets 171,000 hits: Ten Reasons Why I Should Stop Blogging; Should I Stop Blogging? 20 Questions to Ask Yourself; 29 reasons you need to stop blogging right now; Why Bloggers Stop Blogging; How to Know When to Stop Blogging; Stop Blogging and Get to Work; etc. The tract “What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression” (Loss of pleasure in the Internet; feelings of sadness, disappointment, anger, self loathing, hopelessness, dementia; passive aggressive moaning and a steady lengthening of the interval between posts) is now three years old.

And why shouldn’t people be depressed? According to a recent study (via Jakob Nielsen via grow-a-brain) visitors to websites on the average read only 20% of the text; 28% tops. People starting blogs only to abandon them within months, or even weeks, is such a commonplace that you’re surprised this hasn’t become a a ubiquitous trope on sitcoms. Where indeed are the reality shows where the participants, instead of holding out to the last “What have we learned?” episode, instead wander off seriatim, not so much called back to real life as completely unsprung by despair.

Which of course begs the question: why blog at all?

The first comment asks if blogs have a “good until” date stamp on them - and if they should.

The author, Chris Hodge, tells a lively and beautifully written story about his own path through the blogosphere, blogging, stopping, blogging, stopping, finding a sense of renewal, and then depression again. It’s a great tale of a typical blog experience and challenges you to think about why you blog, but most of all, why you keep blogging.

Related Articles

• Have Your Favorite Bloggers and Blogs Run Out of Steam?
• How to Know When to Stop Blogging
• Blog Struggles: The Blog Focus
• Blog Struggles: Blogger’s Depression
• Blog Struggles: Recovering From a Traffic Spike
• Blog Struggles: Surviving the When Blogging Goes Bad Blues
• Thou Shall Not Blog
• What You Don’t Know About Blogging Can Hurt You
• What Are You Not Doing With Your Blog

---

Site Search Tags: blogging tips, how to know when to stop blogging, stop blogging, why blog, what keeps you blogging, how to blog, blog writing, blog struggles

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Want to Help Google Clean Up Splogs?

In response to Matt Cutts’ request on how Google should work on web spam, a friend of mine gives him a very good summary of how Google can put an end to one the biggest blights on the web: splogs. In A big free clue for Google, he points out:

Like many bloggers I can spot a splog in less than 10 seconds. The common features:
* Every entry has “wrote an interesting post” “read the rest of the post here” “..talked today about”
* Most entries are uncategorised
* There is an absence of comments…

Now if I can join those dots why can’t Google? Why can’t the other search engines?

He’s so right. If we can quickly spot a splog when we see one, why can’t Google, the omnipotent profiling algorithm, figure this out and put a stop to these? They have plenty to work with, overrun as they are with tons of Blogpost splogs in desperate need of some serious housekeeping. Why not use these splog spotting techniques to clean up their own house first?

Until then, we can report spam blogs (splogs) when we find them. If you want to do more, why not tell the world (and Google) how to clean up splogs on your blog. Let your voice and ideas be heard. We’re a creative lot when we put our blogs to it. Why not tell Google what you recommend to clean up it’s act.

Related Articles

• Splogging or Clogging: The Worst of the Worst of Blogging
• Splogs on the Rise on Blogspot
• Blogs That Look Like Blogs But Ain’t - Splogs
• Proud to Showcase YOUR Work: Sploggers Turn Dopplebloggers
• Reporting Spam Blogs - Splogs
• One Year Anniversary Review: Splogs - The Dark Side of Blogging
• How To Spot a Splog
• AntiLeech Splog Stopper: Fighting Back Against Content Thieves
• Wrong Thinking: Accusing Blogroll Links Not Sploggers

---

Site Search Tags: splogs, spam blogs, sploggers, google, blogspot, fighting back, stop splogs, stopping splogs, report splogs, report spam blogs, how to report spam blogs, how to report splogs

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Question: What Will You Not Blog About?

In What Will You Not Blog About? on the Blog Herald, I asked readers to tell me what line they will not cross when it comes to blog content. What will you NOT blog about. The responses have been very interesting.

A few bloggers take a no-holds-barred approach, blogging on everything and anything they want. However, even they have lines they will draw. Jeremy Steele admitted that he won’t report on conspiracies, other than poking fun at them.

Paul of the Opera Blog admitted that he avoids the negative:

I will generally avoid writing negative reviews about performances or recordings. I’ve only made one exception to this rule over the years. I figure there’s no point in discussing how bad something is, especially when there’s so much good stuff out there. I’d rather save my writing effort for worthwhile projects and simply ignore the crappy ones.

Chris Garrett agreed. “I would rather be a positive than destructive influence, like a ‘do no harm’ thing.” Many agreed with his Star Trek Prime Directive philosophy, including Barbara Ling (aka Owlbert):

I will not blog about anything that is meant to bring another person down. I’m a big believer in treating others the way I’d like to be treated myself.

The concern over the impact a blog can have on a worker’s life and position was brought up by Shortshire and Rhys who both agree that anything that involves their jobs or fellow employees isn’t worth the risk.

Almost all agreed that they like keeping it clean, avoiding offensive, abusive, and offensive language content from their posts as well as their comments. Richard H said, “And no foul language. It’s just not necessary to get a point across, in my opinion. A wise man once told me, ‘a foul mouth is a sign of a feeble mind trying to express itself forcefully.’”

Big Fella, like many, believe in sticking to the main focus of their blog without stepping over any moral boundaries:

I do not do gossip, I don’t like to use gratuitous profanity in my postings, I am not a shill for anyone. Just a guy sharing my observations on what piques my interest at any given time and creating commentary reflecting my values, and exercising my activist urges.

Graeme Hunter summed it up very nicely:

I tend towards the maxim of “If it will cause me or others trouble, don’t write it”. I don’t mind a good argument over opinion on a topic, but I see that as different to actually causing trouble. I have both a personal blog in my own name, and write on a work blog, with links between, so I have to be on my best behaviour.

We all have lines in our blogging sandboxes that we won’t cross. What about you?

---

Site Search Tags: blog writing, blogging tips, crosing lines, how to blog, blog content, blog focus, what will you blog about, what will you not blog about, blog choices, editorial, editorial content, editorial guidelines

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Blog Challenge: Describe Your Software - Then and Now

Last week’s blog challenge was Describe Your Computer Setup - Then and Now. This week, I am challenging you to blog about your blog software, then and now.

I’ve used just about all types of computer technology, from the early days of data storage on gigantic floppy disks to magnetic cards to “640K is enough for anyone” to my favorite current love, my 750 gig portable drive. Along the way, I had harsh words for most software, from the earliest Cobal and Fortran to Visual Basic to DOS to Windows, and a lot of other stuff in between.

From day one, I hated the lack of functionality, clear thinking, and usability in most software programs. “Clunky” was my favorite descriptive word. With little ability to style graphics in the early days, we were stuck with nothing but words on a green, amber, or white monochrome screen, putting more work into the manipulation of data than data presentation. Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time to help change much of that in the early days as an early beta tester and part of the program development teams with Microsoft, Apple, WordPerfect (Novell), and other early software companies, but it was a battle to get the concept goal desired to work with the limitations of programming and computer abilities at the time.

Slowly, software changed as hardware technology shrank, speed up, and became more flexible and versatile, and the ability to handle graphics improved. Programs became more colorful, faster, and usability became more important than just “pretty.” Competition, and trips to the courtrooms of intellectual property and product design, helped to actually create standardization, so we could install any program on any machine in a similar fashion, and all the buttons and menus were in basically the same place, speeding up the learning curve as you moved from program to program. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) became a slogan as programs now showed you what the final version would look like before you hit print or publish. Things seemed to become faster, but not always easier.

My web life was totally changed when I switched my huge static HTML website to WordPress when WordPress had just released version 1.2. No longer was I burdened with long and frustrating search and replace sessions to change just one little bit of code across a thousand static HTML pages, then sitting through hours of FTP uploads to get the new versions on my site. My site loaded faster than ever with dynamic PHP/database driven template files and tags, and managing the content and the site itself went from being a week long job to a few minutes. No longer did it take hours to publish a single article.

In order to customize any aspect or add a feature on my old site, I’d have to write up Javascript or hand code HTML and CSS. With WordPress, I could use WordPress Plugins - a couple clicks and a new feature is added to my site! One much more powerful than I could create.

What did I use to make this static-to-import conversion? Software I used to depend upon that I haven’t touched in years. I used WordPerfect and InfoRapid freeware to search and replace across multiple text files. After Corel took over WordPerfect, it’s gone downhill for me. The last two upgrades of WordPerfect crashed randomly and without warning, and sometimes not even loading to start without errors. I do all my writing for my blog and other editorial work in NoteTab Pro and rarely do I need to search and replace across multiple files. On the rare occasions I have to write a letter or major document, I use Word, though I curse and scream every few minutes for the “improved” lack of usability and difficulties in completing the easiest of tasks. I’ve tried Open Office and it’s usability is also problematic, taking me three times as long to do what I could do in a few clicks or keystrokes in WordPerfect.

Where I used to use dozens of programs on my computer to do simple tasks, I find that I am using only a few programs and doing more focused work on them. A couple months ago I bought a new laptop and it took only a couple hours to get it up and running so I could work without stress and struggle. It would have taken days before to find the disks and upload all that software. I feel like a minimalist when it comes to my software dependency.

I could talk for ages about the powerful software I have used over the years that lost funding and support as the monopolies and slow thinking bureaucracy stifled software development within the corporate offices of the United States, which spread to the rest of the world quickly, leaving people using decent but uninspired programs - but this is your blogging challenge.

I want you to write about the software you use, whether it is software you used in your day-to-day work and life, or online software that brought the web into your life, as it was then and how it works for you today.

As usual, send a pingback or trackback to this post, or put the link to your blog challenge post in the comments, so we can all see how you’ve done with your blog challenge.

Did you know that you don’t have to write these blog challenges? You can also use audio with podcasts or make a video in response to the blog challenge and publish it on your blog. There are a lot of ways you can have fun with these weekly blog challenges. Use your imagination and see how far you can take the challenge into territories you haven’t explored before.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

Past Blogging Challenges

• Blog Challenge: Blog About Those Who Dare to Speak Out
• Blog Challenge: Who Would You Like To See Blog From History?
• Blog Challenge: What’s Your Blog’s Story?
• Blog Challenge: Blog Your Dash
• Blog Challenge: What is the Most Unusual Blogger You’ve Found?
• Blog Challenge: Write A Biographical Post
• Blog Challenge: Teach a Blogging Technique
• Blog Challenge: Write a Memoir of a Moment
• Blog Challenge: Shopping Experiences
• Blog Challenge: Write a Political Post

---

Site Search Tags: blog challenge, blogging challenge, writing, blog writing, computer software, software history, computer history, software development, how software influences your work and life

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Blog Challenge: Describe Your Computer Setup - Then and Now

This week’s blog challenge is to blog about your computer setup as it was “then” in the early days of your computer life, and how it is now, in your modern technology life.

What computer tools are you dependent upon for your blog that surround you on your desk? Do you podcast? What do you use? Video? Video streaming? What did you start with in the early days of podcasting and video, and now, what do you use for multimedia creation?

Over the years, my desk’s setup has changed, moving from huge desktop computers to smaller laptops, handheld computers, cell phones, and - well, smaller everything.

And I mean small. A friend just emailed me that she found a small SD digital card on the floor of her car. Thinking it was hers, she checked it out and found it had some of my video files. Don’t remember losing it, but how would I know? They weigh nothing and there is no room to put my name and email address on the card label, so they could be lost forever and never come back to me.

My desk was custom built for me by my husband and in the monitor base are two drawers, one for 3.5 disks and the other for CDs, perfectly sized. I still have a few CDs in there, but I haven’t seen a 3.5 disk in years. Instead, I have a ton of digital media cards in several shapes and sizes of various data storage sizes stacked like thin blue chicklets amid the colorful sticky note pads, stacks of business cards, tape, stamps, and junk I stuff in this open drawers.

Gone are the hundreds of meters of phone cord and the acoustic coupler we used to strap onto telephones and payphones to connect to the Internet, replaced by WIFI hi-gain and boosting PC cards and antennas. My huge and heavy desktop monitor that measured 32 inches (81 cm) deep is now replaced by a 1.5 inch (4 cm) thick large monitor.

Some things remain the same. My desk has stayed the same through more than fifteen years on the road in our trailer. While I don’t use a big desktop computer, the space is now taken up with a stack of portable hard drives - at least ten of them are currently hooked up with tons of USB connectors. Until a couple months ago, I was still using the small but very powerful Altec Lansing computer speakers and woofer, but it finally gave up after 16 years of hard life on the road. I replaced it with something only slightly smaller, but much more powerful.

Who lied to us about the magic of easier connections and wirelessness? I have a black snake jungle of wires under my feet and two more USB/Firewire snake infestations on either side of my desk connecting all the parts and pieces together. My mouse and keyboard are wireless, but everything still needs a cord! It’s a power brick building along the power strip.

Recently, I replaced 18 lbs (8 kg) of laptop and power brick with a little over 5 lbs (2.26 kg), lighting much of my travel load due to increased weight restrictions on US domestic air carriers. But I still carry too much computer crap with me, as I haul around portable hard drives, USB hubs, digital microphones and recorders, WIFI boosters, digital camera crap, and all their cords and connectors.

Don’t even get me started talking about the tangled black snake jungle I have to take with me every time I travel. Power bricks, USB cords, Firewire cords, custom cords, s-video cords, USB hubs, power strips…I keep trying to reduce it, in weight, number, and size, but I swear those black snakes are breeding in my travel bags!

I have two digital recorders, digital cameras, MP3 players, four printers, several USB hubs…I have more computer crap now than I did when everything was 10 times bigger.

Next week, I’ll challenge you about software, but this week, I want you to blog about the hardware that controls your life, what it looked like when you started, and how it has improved - or not - over the years.

As usual, send a pingback or trackback to this post, or put the link to your blog challenge post in the comments, so we can all see how you’ve done with your blog challenge.

Did you know that you don’t have to write these blog challenges? You can also use audio with podcasts or make a video in response to the blog challenge and publish it on your blog. There are a lot of ways you can have fun with these weekly blog challenges. Use your imagination and see how far you can take the challenge into territories you haven’t explored before.

These blogging challenges are published weekly and are an attempt to kick your blogging ass. They serve to challenge your thinking and efforts in blogging and blog writing. To participate, start challenging yourself now. Today. Go for it.

Past Blogging Challenges

• Blog About Someone or Something That Has Changed Your Life
• Blog Challenge: Personal Blogging - Tell Us a Story
• Blogging Challenge: Write WordPress Tips
• Blogging Challenge: Comment on 10 Blogs
• Blogging Challenge: Travel Blog - Adventure in Your Back Yard
• Blogging Challenge: Hobby Blogging and Blogging About Your Hobby
• Blogging Challenge: Blog The Opposite of You
• Blog Branding: Show the World You are an Expert

---

Site Search Tags: blog challenge, blogging challenge, blog writing, writing tips, blogging tips, hardware, history of hardware, computer hardware, how the computer has changed your life

Subscribe Via Feedburner Subscribe by Email Visit
Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.