What is a Blog (aka Web Log/Weblog)? Exercise#4

What is a Blog?

There are several definitions of what a blog. or weblog (web log) is and/or what it should be. It is a chronologically organized site updated by an individual (or a group of individuals) using these main items in each entry or post:

a) Main Body - where personal commentaries, ideas, and/or stories are typically written in the first person.

b) Date/Time Stamp - show the day and or/ time the entry.

c)Title - to give a general idea of what the entry is all about. However, this is not always used by all bloggers (people who keep blogs).

There are items incorporated in various blogs depending on what each blogger may want in their own blogs. Items include calendar, archives, comments, links.

What is the difference between blogs and websites?

Before pointing out the differences, let's begin by mentioning the three things that blogs and websites have in common: 1) Both are ways to publish information and other data online, 2) Both can be started and kept by any individual who is inclined to do so, and 3) Both have URLs that anyone with an Internet connection can access. However, the similarities end there.

The main difference between the two is that blogs tend to be a lot more dynamic than websites. Blogs are updated on a regular basis with posts or entries that usually contain date/time stamps. Websites, on the other hand, are designed to be static. So, there is no need to update regularly and/or to add the date/time of update. Also websites are updated with pages rather than posts or entries.

Even with WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) tools, some form of formatting knowledge is still required for designing and updating websites. If you already have a blog set up, you just need to write an entry and or post an image, click on a button that says something like publish this entry, and your blog will already be updated, Knowledge of HTML and FTP is optional. (computer programmer language).

Another point of difference is in communities. While websites may maintain community-based tools like message boards and guestbooks, blogs encourage community building much more than websites, what with tools like comments functions, trackbacks, tag boards and other features.