Demystifying Blogging world Language

Here’s a post to help some of the new users who have started their blogging career. The expert bloggers would find it rudimentary but should be a good read for our new users and should help in generating more interest. Also I will request our Expert users to share their expertise through comments and enlighten new users.

BLOG

Short for Weblog. A website that contains

written material, links or photos being

posted all the time, usually by one individual,

on a personal basis.

BLOGGER

Person who runs a blog.

BLOGROLL

List of external links appearing on a blog,

often links to other blogs and usually in a

column on the homepage. Often amounts

to a �sub-community� of bloggers who are

friends.

POST

An item posted on a blog. Can be a message

or news, or just a photo or a link. Usually

a short item, including external links, that

visitors can comment on.

TRACKBACK

A way that websites can communicate

automatically by alerting each other that an

item posted on a blog refers to a previous

item.

COMMENT SPAM

Like e-mail spam. Robot �spambots� flood

a blog with advertising in the form of bogus

comments. A serious problem that requires

bloggers and blog platforms to have tools

to exclude some users or ban some

addresses in comments

PERMALINK

Contraction of �permanent link.� Web

address of each item posted on a blog. A

handy way of permanently bookmarking a

post, even after it has been archived by the

blog it originated from..

RSS (REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION)

A way of handling the latest items posted

on a website, especially suited for blogs

because it alerts users whenever their

favourite blogs are updated. It can also

�syndicate� content by allowing other

websites (simply and automatically) to

reproduce all or part of a site�s content.

Spreading fast, especially on media websites.

DASHBOARD

Most blogs have a �dashboard,� where you

can see at a glance everything happening

on the blog, including the latest posts,

comments and trackbacks. You can access

all the blog�s features from here and change

how it looks, increase bandwidth, edit

old posts and manage your users and their

permissions, such as their right to post

comments.

RSS FEED

The file containing a blog�s latest posts. It is

read by an RSS aggregator/reader and

shows at once when a blog has been updated.

Some of the many sites that explain the intricacies of blogging :

Civiblog Central Resources Blog:

http://central.civiblog.org/blog/BloggingResources

How to blog:

http://blogging.typepad.com/how_to_blog

The blogosphere:

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere

The Weblog Workshop:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu:8080/globalvoices/wiki/index.php/WeblogWorkshop

Blogging 101:

http://www.unc.edu/%7Ezuiker/blogging101/index.html

Posted in Bloggers Guide | No Comments

Unleashing the potential of categories and tags

Dear users

You can use tags on your blog to make it easier for others to find interesting and relevant content on your blog.

You can create many interesting tags:

According to content type: Video posts, Photo posts, Poems, Stories, Articles - This would help your blog readers in finding the posts that have for example good pictures

According to subject: Travel, Politics, Movies, Life etc. - So of a reader is interested in reading about a particular topic he can easily find the relevant posts on your blog

According to personal recommendation: Best stuff I have written, Posts with maximum comments, Most controversial posts etc.

So tag your posts innovatively. For displaying the tag cloud just go to the Widgets section and add the tag cloud. You can even position the cloud according to your preference.

You can also make use of categories, while tags are more loosely structured, categories can be defined even in nested manner - so if you like to write about Life - then you can create various sub-categories like Marriage, Job, Romance, Health etc - and put your posts in the relevant category.

A category like Jobs can even have sub-categories like Promotion, Work-Life Balance, Training etc.

Your categories and tags in older system would soon start reflecting but given the freedom to define your own categories, it would be a good idea to put in sometime re-categorize your posts. This can add lot of value to readers of your blog.

We are very much busy in the process of fixing issues on the platform, please do bear with us for some more time.

Posted in Features | 12 Comments

First day of new Blogs!

Even as you experience the new blogging platform - we thought why not update you with the activities at our end !

Today we fixed the bugs coming in the Most Recent display, Sharing of posts,

some wrong links and RSS feeds redirection (so that the earlier feed URLs continue to work)

We also migrated blogs, blogs posts and comments created in last 4-5 hours of our transition to the new platform yesterday.

We are aware that many of you are still facing issues regarding migration of their data but please be patient we will fix all the issues - so don’t panic thinking that your data is lost.

Many of the bloggers have asked for feature to write blogs in Hindi languages - we used to have this feature in the earlier platform - we would be soon launching a much better feature in the new platform very soon

Please keep pouring in with your feedback - as we wrote before you can suggest us new themes that you would want to see on this platform - you can choose from any of the several themes wordpress themes available. Check out the following links for the same:

http://www.wpthemes360.com/

http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

http://www.wpthemespot.com/

Posted in New Blogs | 36 Comments

Welcome to an all new blogging experience!

Yes, the moment has arrived! The all new ibibo Blogs are here - radically changed with tons of features. So enjoy!!!

We do apologies in advance for any issues. But please don’t panic, if you face any just mail us at blogsfeedback@ibibo.com and we will get them fixed ASAP.

As an alternative you can download the ibibo Messenger and chat live with either jjndekker, ouchmytoe or sumeet_gupta.

The new ibibo Blogs system is there to empower you the blogger so that you can manage and control your blog in a far better manner.

So what is all the excitement about? With the new platform you can now

• create your own categories
• add pages to your blog
• password protect your posts
• add/remove widgets from your blog
• save your blog posts
• decide upon the format of URL of your blog posts
• manage your posts, comments, links through various administration panels
• create community blogs, so get your friends to blog with you
• check out the latest comments on your blogs from your blog dashboard and much more!

The new platform also empowers you to change the look and feel of your blog by selecting a new theme.

At present we are launching with seven different themes - with plans to give you lots more soon! In this regard we will need your help to help us select the themes to be added.

Therefore in a nutshell you now have a world class blogging platform to your disposal that can help you become a professional blogger and develop your own following!

To make all of this possible we had to move all blogs (posts, comments, images…) from the existing to the new platform. No easy task and even after lots of planning and work at our end it might happen that some of you will face some trouble in accessing your blog or might not see all your posts and comments. Again please don’t panic, be patient and let us know of any issue by mailing us at blogsfeedback@ibibo.com and we will get them fixed ASAP.

Remember we are always there to help and assist you with any issues!

You are also welcome to leave as feedback in comments on this blog, as we are always eager to get feedback from our users.

Enjoy the new blogging experience, we hope you like it as much as we do!

The ibibo Blogging Team

Posted in New Blogs | 42 Comments

Important ibibo Blogs under Transition

From around 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM today you wouldn’t be able to create new blogs, blog posts or write new comments.

This is because we are under transition to a new blogging system and therefore we would have to stop all the content generation activities . So while you would be able to read blog posts, you wouldn’t be able to write any.

The moment has finally arrived. And soon we would be on a new blogging platform with tons of features.

So please bear with us because from today night you would have a world class blogging platform to your disposal that can help you become a professional blogger and develop your own following!

Posted in Announcements, New Blogs, Other Categories | 4 Comments

An age of degradation?

8 pm you reach home tired from day’s work and you switch on the television - hoping to find some good entertainment to uplift your mood.

But that’s too good a wish to be true because on the small screen all one finds is a trail of horror - murder, rape, dacoity!

Despair, guilt ,fear - suddenly there are plethora of odd emotions in your heart.

“But why?” rings as an overwhelming question in your mind.

It is not easy to comprehend that what could have driven a fellow human being to such extremes of depravity.

Our we as a society degrading? Or was this hideousness always there and media boom has just highlighted it?

Something tells me that the growing work pressure has deprived our generation of respect for human values.

But this is not a question for which there are any easy answers.

What do you think about this?

Is this something that bothers you as a fellow citizen of this society.

Is there a viewpoint that you would like to share with rest of us.

Posted in Astrology, viewpoint | 11 Comments

Want to get Featured?

We get many queries from bloggers who want to get featured on ibibo Blogs.

If you think that you have written something good, and you want to it to be fetaured, please respond to this post by entering your post URL in the comments section.

Please make sure that your blog post is a per following guidelines:

1) The UI of the post isn’t broken - text shouldn’t run on right panel

2) The post isn’t a plain copy paste of some other article

3) Post doesn’t defame anyone or use offensive language

Also only the posts that have been written with-in last 3 days would be considered for being featured on a particular day

Posted in Other Categories | 6 Comments

Photo blogging just got lot more simpler

Hey Friends

Guess what creating photo blogs just got lot more easier!

Our photos team have launched Blog it feature which makes blogging a picture lot more simpler and easier.

To blog about a photo, click on the "blog-it" button. This will open a new post (in edit mode) on your ibibo blogs. You can then add your comments or whatever you want to write about the photo and share it with the world.

The Blog It link would only appear if you are in a signed-in state. You can blog about any photo.

So just select your favourite photos and express what you feel about them with the world.

What do you think about this feature? Do share with us!

Posted in Other Categories | 5 Comments

ibibo blogs in a new look

Hey Guys!

We have moved ibibo blogs within your Myibibo page.
 

This is a major redesign of the entire application and we really hope that

you find the new look sleeker and better

We have also added a Blog News feature that would keep you updated on the

activities of blogging community

Some of the users might find that the text of the post is running over the right panel this would happen if the words in any line of the post are seperated by   tag without even a single normal space between them.

So a line like:   “Some people are always happy” would be wrapped properly.

But a line like:

“Some&nsbsp;people are always happy”

would be treated as one single word and might run over the right panel.

Do let us know how you are finding this new look of ibibo blogs.

We sincerely hope that it would make your experience simpler and better

Posted in Other Categories | 35 Comments

New to blogging?

So what is a blog anyway? 

Blog is a form of self-expression.

It could be a description of something, a simple observation or a story.

Sometimes it could be a question that is lingering in your mind and sometimes an opinion on a movie that you have recently watched. You can write in your blog about a memory or a dream. You can share experiences about your workplace or a about your relationships.

Your blog post could be just snaps that you took on your trip to a hill station or it could be the video that you took of your 10 months old baby.

It could be a poll to find out which is the most popular reality show or it could be a narration of all the celebrations that happened in your neighborhood when india won the cricket match.

By sharing your thoughts you can help others discover you in a better manner.

They too get an opportunity to benefit from your thoughts and they can give you your appreciation and feedback.

Following are some examples of blog posts.

You can write a poem in your blog post.

But you don’t have to be a writer to start a blog. You can just post a snap that you took!

Your blog post could be a video that you took of a drama that happened in your neighborhood.

And hey you don’t need to know video editing either. Your blog post could be a poll as well.

Posted in Other Categories | 2 Comments