DPNow blogging has arrived!

[Ian]

The DPNow forum now supports blogging.

A blog is a personal space on our server for you to share your thoughts, ideas and expertise with others.

Fellow forum members can respond to your blog updates, but it's different to the way the forum works. Your blog centres around you - you are in charge.

We use the excellent vBulletin form platform and the Blog update also comes from the vBulletin team. Wayne Luke, from vBulletin, sums up the difference between a blog and a forum neatly:

"Forums are a community oriented discussion platform that is often described as a many-to-many discussion area. Anyone can make topics and anyone can reply.

Blogs are more personal. Individual users control their blogs. They can create topics and others can reply provided they have permission from the owner. This is a one-to-many discussion platform. Blogs also allow the user to customize the experience in different ways, essentially creating their own space on the internet."

A blog is a better place to express yourself in many ways. It's easier for others to keep track of what you have to say, show and tell over time.

Here is a DPNow forum blog that I have recently started.

The forum is still the recommended place for sharing information in general, and you will continue to get more exposure on the forum. You you can also promote your blog using the forum. A forum board dedicated to the blog system has now been set up. If your blog turns out to be very good, then you could attract a lot of regular attention...

Why not try it out?

Ian

[Mike Parr]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Ian, great idea, is there a direct link to todays updated blogs. its a great way to say why we do what we do and how we do it.
Or has the red wine kicked in early tonight

[Ian]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Ian, great idea, is there a direct link to todays updated blogs. its a great way to say why we do what we do and how we do it.
Or has the red wine kicked in early tonight

Hehe, well it was a last minute idea to install it and I had to go home and cook dinner

I will add a link to the nav bar shortly!

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

There are quite a few entries in the Blog section already, it promises to be an interesting place to be and I would encourage all members to look in regularly and contribute, either by commenting or starting their own blog.

There is a potentially great series being started by kennykodak aka John on Learning Photography. John has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the photographic world and I think we could all learn something from his series. I'll also be interested to see how the blogs started by Gina and Mike Parr develop, I'm pretty sure they have lots to offer

Just so you don't miss anything, think about subscribing to the RSS feed via the link on the left of the Blog page. If you have a newsreader facility it should be easy. If I'm not mistaken Firefox has one built in, not sure about IE as I never use it

[Ian]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

There are quite a few entries in the Blog section already, it promises to be an interesting place to be and I would encourage all members to look in regularly and contribute, either by commenting or starting their own blog.

There is a potentially great series being started by kennykodak aka John on Learning Photography. John has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the photographic world and I think we could all learn something from his series. I'll also be interested to see how the blogs started by Gina and Mike Parr develop, I'm pretty sure they have lots to offer

Just so you don't miss anything, think about subscribing to the RSS feed via the link on the left of the Blog page. If you have a newsreader facility it should be easy. If I'm not mistaken Firefox has one built in, not sure about IE as I never use it

Yes, IE7 has an RSS feed tracker - it's the orange button next to the 'home' button on the toolbar.

Ian

[Stephen]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Yes, IE7 has an RSS feed tracker - it's the orange button next to the 'home' button on the toolbar.

Ian

Great stuff, so it is very easy for members to get an RSS feed. I've just done it in Firefox and put the feed link on my Bookmarks Toolbar. I simply put my mouse on the DPNow Blogs link and all the blog entry links appear as if by magic It will be possible to have a feed for every persons blog. Really cool

[Patrick]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Yes, IE7 has an RSS feed tracker - it's the orange button next to the 'home' button on the toolbar.

Ian

Ian is it not possible to have a tag or shortcut in the forum menu for the Blog? Ii am finding it less than intuitive to find other peoples Blogs I found them once but can't remember or find how to get there again.

Patrick

[Ian]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Ian is it not possible to have a tag or shortcut in the forum menu for the Blog? Ii am finding it less than intuitive to find other peoples Blogs I found them once but can't remember or find how to get there again.

Patrick

There is a link to the Blog home page on the forum nav bar, inbetween 'Galleries' and 'Unanswered'.

Once at the Blog home page you can list all the bloggers, each one linked to the respective blog, from the Blog Statistics in the vertical panel to the left. Click on 'Total Blogs'.

Alternatively, you can use RSS feeds - your web browser should have an RSS client built into it.

You can also add blogs to your browser's favourites.

Ian

[Patrick]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

There is a link to the Blog home page on the forum nav bar, inbetween 'Galleries' and 'Unanswered'.

Once at the Blog home page you can list all the bloggers, each one linked to the respective blog, from the Blog Statistics in the vertical panel to the left. Click on 'Total Blogs'.

Alternatively, you can use RSS feeds - your web browser should have an RSS client built into it.

You can also add blogs to your browser's favourites.

Ian

Thanks for that Ian I have simply put a bookmark on the relevant page.
For any newcomer to the DP now forum I can't see a way for them to be aware of the blog, but then I am an inpatient sort and if it doesn't hit me straight away I loose interest. I can't help thinking I am not alone at being inpatient.
Just another question is it possible to add more and expand on an existing blog, or do we have to start another under a new subject.

Patrick

[Ian]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Thanks for that Ian I have simply put a bookmark on the relevant page.
For any newcomer to the DP now forum I can't see a way for them to be aware of the blog, but then I am an inpatient sort and if it doesn't hit me straight away I loose interest. I can't help thinking I am not alone at being inpatient.
Just another question is it possible to add more and expand on an existing blog, or do we have to start another under a new subject.

Patrick

I will add a margin update extolling the new blogs.

You should be able to edit an existing entry if you wish. (See the pen/pencil icon to the bottom right). But if you aren't simply adding to the same topic previously published, simply use the post to your blog link to create a new entry.

Ian

[Patrick]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

I will add a margin update extolling the new blogs.

You should be able to edit an existing entry if you wish. (See the pen/pencil icon to the bottom right). But if you aren't simply adding to the same topic previously published, simply use the post to your blog link to create a new entry.

Ian

That's fine Ian

Thank You

[Ian]

Re: DPNow blogging has arrived!

Almost a week in, and we now have 11 DPNow bloggers and over 30 blog entries. Here are the latest entries:

http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog.php?do=list

Ian