Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.



Active Topics || Favorites || Member List || Search || About Us || Help || Register || Login
Tea and Conversation
 4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Subject Topic: Blog Q&A: RSS feeds, reading w/ Bloglines Post ReplyPost New Topic
Author
Message << Prev Topic | Next Topic >>
Dawn
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3191
Posted: April 05 2006 at 5:33am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Well, I'm slowly moving outside of my "blog comfort zone" ...

Can someone explain what a feed is? I see some of you have a feed link on your blog, but it's not clear to me what a feed does and why I might want to put one on my blog.

Also, is anyone using widgets? Are they like clipart, and are they free?

Thanks for any advice/information!



__________________
Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
Back to Top View Dawn's Profile Search for other posts by Dawn
 
Dawn
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3191
Posted: April 05 2006 at 6:01am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Dawn wrote:
I see some of you have a feed link on your blog


How's this for clueless? I just saw there is already a link on my blog for someone to subscribe to my feed! But what is my feed?



__________________
Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
Back to Top View Dawn's Profile Search for other posts by Dawn
 
amyable
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: March 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3798
Posted: April 05 2006 at 7:07am | IP Logged Quote amyable

From wikipedia:

"A blog feed is an XML-based file in which the blog hosting software for a blog site places a machine-readable version of the blog so that it may be "syndicated" for further distribution on the web. Formats such as RSS and Atom are used to structure the XML file. "


That sure clears it up I bet!

Seriously though, I believe it is a "program" that takes new posts on your blog and distributes them to people that subscribe to your blog feed. That way someone can go to one place and read the new posts on all their favorite blogs.

I'm sure there is more to it than that, but that is my limited understanding...

__________________
Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
Back to Top View amyable's Profile Search for other posts by amyable
 
Cay Gibson
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: July 16 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5193
Posted: April 05 2006 at 8:40am | IP Logged Quote Cay Gibson

I still haven't figured out how to do trackbacks.

Amy, I love your new site at blogspirit.
How do you like it?

I'd like to transfer to a free blog site (that would offer everything typepad offers for $50 a year). How's that for being greedy.

But I can't figure out how to get a lovely sidebar backdrop like you did. They only offer 5 themes and that doesn't suit my creative taste.

Was it a simple feat to change? to explain?

__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
Back to Top View Cay Gibson's Profile Search for other posts by Cay Gibson Visit Cay Gibson's Homepage
 
Dawn
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3191
Posted: April 05 2006 at 8:58am | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Amy, I agree with Cay, your new blog is lovely! I love popping in to see what's new ...

Is this how a feed works then? Instead of having to scroll through all the blogs you like to check daily (sometimes more than once ), you get a "feed" in some capacity of any new posts?

__________________
Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
Back to Top View Dawn's Profile Search for other posts by Dawn
 
amyable
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: March 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3798
Posted: April 05 2006 at 9:46am | IP Logged Quote amyable

Cay Gibson wrote:
Amy, I love your new site at blogspirit.
How do you like it?


I'm loving blogspirit! Especially 'cause it's free.
Thank you so much for your kind words about my blog - the only reason it is pretty is because it is so easy!

Cay Gibson wrote:

But I can't figure out how to get a lovely sidebar backdrop like you did. They only offer 5 themes and that doesn't suit my creative taste.

Was it a simple feat to change? to explain?


I was a little reluctant to go with a site that had only a few choices too, but I found out is was pretty easy to change the background to one with my own choice of image. If you join blogspirit I can walk you through what to do. You can also choose different colors to go with each theme, so there is a little more creativity than is first evident.

As far as content, like things to put in your sidebar, I think Typepad offers a bit more, with more flexibility than Blogspirit - but not much. It's enough for me to be happy with it.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words about my blog. I've been inspired by all of you! You might laugh, but it was seeing the beautiful blogs everyone puts out that first started me thinking about beauty.

__________________
Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
Back to Top View amyable's Profile Search for other posts by amyable
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 05 2006 at 10:31am | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Dawn, a feed is a no-bells-and-whistles text-only version of your blog.
Here's an example: compare my blog's RSS feed to my actual blog.

Many people prefer to read blogs via "aggregators," which collect individual blog feeds. Bloglines is one example--that's what I use. It is a free service that allows me to "subscribe" to as many blog feeds as I wish. Then, by clicking on one link, I can see at a glance which blogs have new posts since last time I checked. I can read those posts in the feed OR click through to the actual blog. It vastly simplifies the process of keeping up with the blogs I like!

Typepad offers an RSS feed of your blog automatically (though you may need to check your Control Panel settings to see if your feed is being made public). That's what that "subscribe to my blog's feed" button is about.

Hope this makes sense!

__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Meredith
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: Feb 08 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2355
Posted: April 05 2006 at 10:43am | IP Logged Quote Meredith

WEll, I'm jumping in late here, but I'm quite interested in this feed business too because my blog links that I'm checking daily is getting quite long Sooo, do you just subscribe to everyone's feed or do you actually set up a new program account like the "bloglines"? And do I then have to set up an RSS feed on my blog page as well?? Oh, I know I'll complicate all this Thanks for any help!!

__________________
Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light   


Back to Top View Meredith's Profile Search for other posts by Meredith Visit Meredith's Homepage
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 05 2006 at 11:07am | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Meredith wrote:
WEll, I'm jumping in late here, but I'm quite interested in this feed business too because my blog links that I'm checking daily is getting quite long Sooo, do you just subscribe to everyone's feed or do you actually set up a new program account like the "bloglines"? And do I then have to set up an RSS feed on my blog page as well?? Oh, I know I'll complicate all this Thanks for any help!!


Bloglines is one of several free services that lets you enter all the feeds you want to subscribe to. There is NO WAY I could keep up with the blogs I read daily without a service like this!

There are also aggregator services like Blogdom of God/Christian Blogs Aggregator that pick up the feeds for thousands of blogs relating to a certain subject. Here's an example.

As for your own feed, there's an easy way to know if it's being published. When you publish a post, does it take a minute to go through? While you're waiting, do you see a message about "now pinging" and then some URLs? If not, you haven't configured your blog to publish the feed. You can do that by clicking the "Configure" tab and then click "Publicity and Feeds." Check the boxes by blo.gs and weblogs.com, and select the "Yes, offer a feed of my post" box at the bottom.

However, Meredith (and Dawn), I can tell you you don't need to bother checking--your feeds ARE published, and I know this because I subscribe to them via Bloglines! Amy and Cay too.

__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 05 2006 at 11:58am | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Brava, Cay!

By the way, your new blog design is lovely too. All these beautiful makeovers!

__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Dawn
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: June 12 2005
Location: Massachusetts
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3191
Posted: April 05 2006 at 12:02pm | IP Logged Quote Dawn

Thank you Lissa, and everyone, for all the guidance ... I am so blessed to know you all!

__________________
Dawn, mum to 3 boys
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
Back to Top View Dawn's Profile Search for other posts by Dawn
 
Meredith
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: Feb 08 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2355
Posted: April 05 2006 at 4:26pm | IP Logged Quote Meredith

Hey, you're too far ahead of me here in mountain time OK, so I configured my site with the publicity & feeds thing, but do I also need to set up an RSS feed in my content selections or would a bloglines subscription overide that??? Don't start with the widgets!!! And I would LOVE a saint of the day too!!Thanks again

__________________
Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light   


Back to Top View Meredith's Profile Search for other posts by Meredith Visit Meredith's Homepage
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 05 2006 at 4:56pm | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Meredith wrote:
Hey, you're too far ahead of me here in mountain time OK, so I configured my site with the publicity & feeds thing, but do I also need to set up an RSS feed in my content selections or would a bloglines subscription overide that??? Don't start with the widgets!!! And I would LOVE a saint of the day too!!Thanks again


Putting a link to your feed in your sidebar is just for the convenience of readers who might want to subscribe. Same with the widgets for Bloglines, Feedburner, etc. Those are ways for *other people* to access your feed.

For example, if you go to my blog and scroll all the way down to the bottom (almost), look in the right-hand sidebar for the little logo marked "SubBloglines." (It's a little way below the blue Unschooling Blogs webring logo.) Click on the Bloglines logo and it'll take you to a Bloglines screen that gives you options for feeds to subscribe to. (At least, that's what it does for me--it might be different if you don't already have a Bloglines account.)

A little further down in my right sidebar, right above the feed for Alice's Cottage, there are logos for "Add to Google," "Add to Yahoo," etc. I just added those today--those are some of the Typepad widgets. Was a piece of cake to stick them in!



__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Rebecca
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Dec 30 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1898
Posted: April 05 2006 at 6:17pm | IP Logged Quote Rebecca

Forgive me for needing a bit more clarification on the RSS feed...

Let me see if I understand it all...Let's say that I visit Lissa's, Meredith's and Dawn's blog everyday. Instead of going right to their blogpage each day, I would click on their "subscribe to this blog's feed" on their main blogpage. Then what happens? Do you get an email if they post something new? How are you notified when a new post is written? I am trying to understand this all with my blogsite impaired mind ! I still don't understand the Bloglines...do I need to subscribe to this?

HELP!   
Back to Top View Rebecca's Profile Search for other posts by Rebecca
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 05 2006 at 6:27pm | IP Logged Quote Lissa

If you go to Bloglines it'll be easier to understand. Every day I click on my Bloglines bookmark and it takes me to a screen with a long list of blog names down the left side. These are all the blogs whose feeds my husband and I have subscribed to through Bloglines. (More on that part later.) In this list, some of the blog titles are in bold. These are the ones that have new posts since last time I checked.

Here, if you click here you can see what I'm talking about. This is Scott's and my list of feeds. (His are all mixed up with mine, so it's a pretty eclectic bunch, I warn you.)

Of course yours is one of them! If I click on the title of your blog, your latest post appears on the right side of the screen. I can read it right there, or click through to your actual blog. (If I do that, your blog opens in a new window.)

As for how to add all these feeds to my Bloglines list, there are good instructions at Bloglines. With my browser (Safari), I was able to add a 'subscribe' button in the menu bar at the top of the screen, so now all I have to do when I find a blog I want to visit regularly is click that button and it automatically takes me to a screen for adding the blog to my Bloglines list.

It's harder to explain than to do, I promise!

(P.S. Some of our friends' blogs don't have published feeds, or didn't last time I checked--which may have been a while--so if they don't show up in my list of feeds, that's why. I do check all my 4Real friends' blogs regularly!)



__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Meredith
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: Feb 08 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2355
Posted: April 05 2006 at 6:53pm | IP Logged Quote Meredith

You actually explained it great cause that's what I just did and it worked like a dream!! Thanks for your help too, hugs!

__________________
Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light   


Back to Top View Meredith's Profile Search for other posts by Meredith Visit Meredith's Homepage
 
Rebecca
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Dec 30 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1898
Posted: April 05 2006 at 9:29pm | IP Logged Quote Rebecca

Thanks so much, Lissa. I did go on Bloglines and registered. It all makes sense now, how bloglines works.... I think I am but one step away from having it up and running. I wanted to use the easy button but I do not have any of those (Safari, Internet explorer, etc.) I have a SBC Yahoo DSL browser. Am still figuring out how to add the button to my toolbar. Thanks so much for the help...I will surely have it working soon!

Back to Top View Rebecca's Profile Search for other posts by Rebecca
 
lapazfarm
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star
Avatar

Joined: July 21 2005
Location: Alaska
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6082
Posted: April 05 2006 at 9:49pm | IP Logged Quote lapazfarm

I tried it and got up and running. Very cool! I am now slowly (dial-up, so I do mean slowly) adding everyone here to my blogline subscriptions.
Hey, it sure would be nice if there were a spot here on the boards where everyone's blogs were listed and linked. That would make the process a lot easier. Perhaps just a sticky thread somewhere and we could add our own?

__________________
Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
Back to Top View lapazfarm's Profile Search for other posts by lapazfarm Visit lapazfarm's Homepage
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 06 2006 at 3:14am | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Good idea, Theresa! In the meantime, you can check the 4Real Learning Blogs list in my (lefthand) sidebar. I'm trying to keep it up to date--there may be one or two I've missed, though.

POSTSCRIPT: I went to Bloglines and it says you can export and import lists of blogs. If you go to my bloglines sub list and scroll all the way down, you'll see an "Export" option. But when I click it, nothing much happens, so I don't know how it's supposed to work.

I did gather all my 4Real subs into one folder, so if you figure out how to export, you should be able to export that one folder and import it into your feeds list.

If anybody gets that to work, let us know!

__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 
Lissa
Forum All-Star
Forum All-Star


Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 748
Posted: April 06 2006 at 4:02am | IP Logged Quote Lissa

Rebecca wrote:
Thanks so much, Lissa. I did go on Bloglines and registered. It all makes sense now, how bloglines works.... I think I am but one step away from having it up and running. I wanted to use the easy button but I do not have any of those (Safari, Internet explorer, etc.) I have a SBC Yahoo DSL browser. Am still figuring out how to add the button to my toolbar. Thanks so much for the help...I will surely have it working soon!



There are other ways to add feeds to your subs, if you can't get the button. Go to Bloglines and click on "My Feeds," and then look down the page for the "Subscribe" section--there are explanations there for other ways to sub to feeds.



__________________
Lissa
Back to Top View Lissa's Profile Search for other posts by Lissa
 

Page of 3 Next >>
  [Add this topic to My Favorites] Post ReplyPost New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

Hosting and Support provided by theNetSmith.com