Weblog FAQ

General

What is a blog?

"Blog" is the short form for "Weblog" (which is something like an internet diary). When you are writing a blog, you are "blogging" and as a blog owner, you are a "blogger". Blogging is simply the most convenient means of publishing on the web, hence its popularity.

A blog then is a personal website that displays your posts in reverse-chronological order. Other readers can then comment on these posts.

Why should I set up a blog?

A blog is a cool way to share information, experiences and knowledge and it is easy to keep in touch and make new and interesting contacts in your field of interest or just make friends.

How is my blog organized?

All your posts are displayed in reverse-chronological order, the latest post being displayed on top.

• Categories: You can categorize each post by picking one or more categories. Your readers can then browse your posts by category.
• Calendar and archives: Just as well as via categories, you can browse people's posts via the calendar or archives tab. Via the calendar, you can look at posts for each day while browsing through the archives will give you longer time frames. Search and Advanced Search - Plus there's the search function that you will find on most of the blogs which can of course deliver fast and accurate results to you.

What are comments?

Comments are usually short articles from other people regarding a post you have written. You can always leave comments regarding certain posts. Other readers can again comment on these comments. Also, readers leave an email or the internet address of his or her blog with the comment so people can learn a bit more about the person.

However, please beware that spamming other people's blogs by including commercial ads in your comments is NOT welcome.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication which enables you to notify other people about your new blog entries. You post your Web log entries in the XML specification RSS. News readers all over the world can view your blog entries on content aggregators.

What is RSS Auto Discovery?

RSS Discovery will automatically find the RSS feed of a blog, news item, or web page if it has one.

What RSS versions are supported?

ODS Weblog currently supports RSS versions 0.91, 0.92 and 2.0.

What is a tag?

A tag works like a keyword. Like categories, they are used to describe people, groups, or posts. You can tag a post with several tags separated by commas.

Example: tags for the post your wrote about your holiday in Australia could be: holiday, australia, down under, sun, hot, melbourne, sydney, dingos.

Tags Technology Virtuoso SQL XML Web 2.0.

Having many tags helps to have your posts be found more easily, but fewer tags also help you with organizing your posts.

Does one have to register with ODS Weblog to view my blog?

No. Your blog can be viewed by any internet user. They do not have to register with ODS to view your blog.

What blogging APIs are supported?

ODS Weblog provides support for several APIs based on the XML-RPC. These include the blogger API, MetaWeblog? API, MovableType? and xmlStorageSystem API.

How do I go about creating a blog in ODS Weblog?

Log in to ODS, go to Home->My Blogs and click Create.

Can I personalize my blog?

Yes, you can personalize you blog in several ways. One way is to just modify items shown on your Weblog Home page, example Amazon Search or AltaVista?'s BableFish? translator. Another option is choose another template under the Settings->Templates. Here you can change template by selecting from a list of templates or customize one of your own.

How can I post entries to my blog? What tools?

ODS Blog has a web age with a text area or a WSYWIG editor.

Are there other tools I can use to post to my blog?

Like most blog applications, ODS Weblog supports the Blogger API which allows desktop and mobile client tools to connect to the blog for posting and management. OpenLinkVirtuoso? also supports MetaWeblog? or Movable Type prototocols and through moblogging you an use your mobile phone or PDA to post to your OpenLink Virtuoso WebLog?.

What is a blogroll?

A Blogroll is a collection of links to your favourite blogs which are usually placed on your blog homepage.

What is a permalink?

Permalink, short for "permanent link", is the permanent internet address of a post. This is important, as most blogs change regularly, and without a permanent link, the posts would be impossible to find later.

Permalinks are usually indicated by a hash (#) or the permalink at the end of the post.

What is Trackback?

TrackBack? is a tool to allow you to notify other blog authors of your blog posts. Most bloggers use it to comment on a blog post as an entry on their site, rather than as comments on the other blog. It's similar to linking to a permalink (permananent link) but it adds the functionality where you actually tell the original blogger that you've linked to them. This is called "sending a ping".

Here's an example:

• First, Kingsley has a blog on Virtuoso Universal Server Linked Tables.
• Mitko, who has is interested in Virtuoso Unversal Server , reads Kingsley's blog.
• Mitko has just written an article regarding Virtulization that would perfectly supplement Kingsleys's last post. Mitko creates his post and believes all of Kingsley's readers will want read this article
• So.. Mitko copies the Trackback-URL of Kingsley's post into his Trackback function. Then, Mitko's blog sends a message to Kinglsey's post and Kingsley's post will display the "Trackback", which will indicate there is another article to view on that subject.