When you blog, follow these tips too

By: Qwaider

On:Tuesday, February 10, 2009 7:50:09 PM
In:Blogging Tips
Viewed: (9378) times

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I'm going to continue with my blogging tips to help anyone in need. My usual disclaimer applies. These are by no means rules or regulations. There's no way you can regulate a creative process like blogging. To make this point clearer; In photography, there's a common rule called rule of Thirds. Where the object of your picture is always one third away from one edge. Why? Because research show that people respond better to things when they're a third away from one of the Edges

Now with that said, (and since this is not a photography tips post), I have to add that perhaps 90% of the best pictures in the world, violate that rule. Know why? Because it's an Artistic process, just like blogging. Which concludes my disclaimer. So use loosely as you deem necessary.

Tip: Copy TO word, don't copy FROM word

This is VERY important, Especially for people who are comfortable composing their articles/posts in Word or some other "Rich text" editing tool. Truth is, there is a very long and technical reason for this, but suffice to say, Word adds a lot of "fluff" as in decorations for the words, letters and styles. This "fluff" is invisible when you Copy-paste it. But it doesn't go away. What does all of this mean? It means, you will end up with a LOT more than you can see. A classic case where more is actually less. This "fluff" ends showing up in your RSS feeds, it shows up for tools that scan your posts (Like Google crawlers) and might contain styles and decorations that are not related to your Blog general theme and style and would be hard to remove (or even detect)

Solution? ...

I know, I made it sounds like the end of the world. But in fact, it's a very simple to avoid this, all you have to do is to NEVER copy straight from WORD to your Post. There are many ways to do this.

1) Copy to Notepad first, then copy again and paste it in your post
2) use the "Copy from Word" tool that comes with all editors for blogs. (it looks like this:)
3) Use one of the online tools that allow to do this. Bakkouz have listed some here:9 Crucial Add-ons for Freelance Writers

This applies to all rich text editors, like Word, Outlook and even when copying from websites.

Tip: Always remember to add a title

Imagine a book without a title, would you be interested in reading it? A subject is as important as the content. It's the first thing the people read. Make sure you ALWAYS have a title to your post

Tip: All caps is like SHOUTING

Now unless you really want to make a point, reserve all caps to when you really want to shout. Which is like "NEVER" :), I know, I know, I'm guilty of it. But I happen to like to STRESS my points. So it's the exception, not the rule.

Pay special attention to the Titles, these shouldn't be all caps (You can decoratively show them in all caps on your blog, but don't write them like that)

That's it for this time... Short and sweet :)

Memories....

#1
Eman
Said
On: 2/11/2009 12:39:47 AM
SpamScore=[0.37]

Thanks again for all your tips.

I do have to admit that I have used word when making a post. The reason for that is the spell check. I have noticed that some bloggers dont care about mistypes and spell correction but I prefer to check my work before posting it. I guess I'll just have to cut and paste to notepad before pasting to my post.

#2
Noura
Said
On: 2/11/2009 6:26:05 AM
SpamScore=[-0.52]

Thank you Qwaider for the tips..
What about if am typing in arabic using Yamli editor, should I also copy/paste to Notepad or immediately to post ?
Thanks :)

#3
Qwaider
Said
On: 2/11/2009 6:28:53 AM
SpamScore=[-38.96]

You're welcome all

Noura
Yamli are fantastic, they don't add any extra decoration or fluff. They do a great job at giving you exactly what you need and nothing more.

#5
kinzi
Said
On: 2/11/2009 8:40:17 AM
SpamScore=[0.72]

Thx AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Oh boy, I wondered where all that 'fluff' came from. Now I need to figure out what a notepad is, ya lateef, I will NEVER get this computer stuff. don't explain, I'll humble myself and ask my son.

#6
KJ
Said
On: 2/11/2009 8:48:27 AM
SpamScore=[-0.12]

sam, when I wanna write Arabic (paste from yamli) on WP how to I make it such that the punctuation doesn't ruin the sentence structure, especially if I throw in an english word mid setnece!

#7
Qwaider
Said
On: 2/11/2009 8:48:32 AM
SpamScore=[-39.48]

Dear Kinzi
to start notepad. Just type "Notepad" on the run field (Press Windows Key on the keyboard and simultaneously click on R)
If you still can't find it, let me know

#8
Qwaider
Said
On: 2/11/2009 8:50:32 AM
SpamScore=[-39.5]

KJ
Just view the html, and add dir="rtl" in your < p > tag.
Hope this helps

#9
JUMANA :)
Said
On: 2/11/2009 9:52:02 PM
SpamScore=[-0.12]

Thank youuuuuuuuuuu :)

enta bs add my blog site hoon o kelon betla3o wala a7sn mn heek :D

Next..

#10
Marvin the Martian
Said
On: 2/13/2009 3:12:55 AM
SpamScore=[4.84]

Excellent advice.

#11
leila
Said
On: 2/17/2009 3:49:52 PM
SpamScore=[-0.02]

Thx 4 the tips :) still no idea wat the fluff is ((confused))

#12
Qwaider
Said
On: 2/17/2009 4:50:12 PM
SpamScore=[-39.68]

Fluff is extra markup that Word uses to maintain Styles, colors, font sizes and decoration. These decorations are sometimes huge. However, on the web they are not needed. (nor are they displayed) except in things like RSS feeds. And cause all those formatting gremlins to wake up