Blog on: Building Online Communities with Web Logs

by Todd Stauffer

This volume introduces the reader to Weblog technology and aims to help him/her choose and implement a Weblog site. It presents in-depth, step-by-step instructions for using the three popular Weblog... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072227125
• ISBN13: 9780072227123
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
• Length: 350 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

I just love this book.

This book really goes a long way and covers every aspect of the matter.

a solid and worthwhile book for a beginner to blogging

This is a well-structured, practical and fairly comprehensive look at blogging. It covers everything from the basic question of whether you need a weblog, through how to set up and use some of the popular software offerings, to writing, tweaking, and publicizing your blog. There's also a small section on using blogs in business. The author comes over as someone who knows his stuff; I like the clear line drawn between using a hosted service, and running your blog on your own machine, for example.As with any book which gives such precise installation and operation details, this one is likely to date quickly when the available software changes. It also has only thin coverage of more lasting social and community aspects, so if you find a copy that's several years old, make sure the bulk of the book still makes sense before buying. It's not a secret, but the book has a strong affiliation with the pMachine blogging software, and in places this seems to crowd out alternative approaches a bit.In general, a solid and worthwhile book for a beginner to blogging. This book gives you all the tools and knowledge to get started, but once you decide that blogging is for you and want to take it further, make sure to check out a wider range of software and deeper, more theoretical, books such as Powazek's "Design for Community" and Blood's "The Weblog Handbook".

Blogging Fantastic

I bought two books when I got this one: The other was Rebecca Blood's "the Weblog Handbook." It's a two-star, at best, while this one is four and 3/4. I only withhold the 1/4 because some terminology wasn't clear. I had read the MacWorld reviews of all the systems Todd covered, and I knew I wanted to use only one of them, because it offered the features I need. The terminology, though, was contained in the chapters on the other systems, so I had to go into the index and look them up. (The term I'm thinking of is "bookmarklet," but there were others.) A separate chapter on terminology would have been helpful. Still, it's the best book out there on getting it up (your Blog, that is). Immediately following finishing the book, I emailed Rick Ellis, the Technical Consultant (and creator of pMachine), got immediate answers, and have signed up to start my blog on Rick's service. The website blogonbook.com is good, too, though it doesn't show correctly in Netscape 4.7. I read the book in two days. Entertaining, informative. (Bill ...)

A miracle: an excellent primer and reference on blogging

This is a truly remarkable book. It is both a detailed primer for weblog novice and serves well as a reference for the experienced blogger or one desiring to attain that level. Stauffer's organization of his material is unusually well structured. He begins at the very beginning: what is a blog, why you might want one and so one. Then there's a walk-through of four different blogging platforms, which is surprisingly detailed, yet easy to comprehend. This section not only cleared up a lot of mysteries for me, but also introduced me to the remarkable pMachine. He then moves on to writing, designing and tweaking your blog - with information I didn't find in the other three books I first read. Finally, he concludes with sections on publicizing yourt blog and how to use it in business environments. Overall, a remarkable tour de fource and in my estimation, the best book on blogging currently available. As noted I've read three of them and looked at all the others. This is the only one I would unreservedly endorse -- and I am not easy to please.Jerry