Starting a Blog - Day 2

Day 2

Today I'll cover adding an RSS feed and putting breaks on posts so you can scroll through them easily.

First off, page breaks. These shorten your posts on the main feed. I started by going pack to the first post I made, selecting where I want the page break to be, and clicking on the ripped paper icon.

There's also one in this post, right down here!

Now when I go back to my home page and scroll down to that post, instead of displaying the whole monstrosity outright, it has a read more link that leads you to the post itself.

Before continuing, I do the same to yesterday's post, too. Every day when I make my post, I'll do this before posting. Now I've made my blog a little more readable at first glance (haven't managed to get my writing under control yet, but I'll get there).

Next up is adding an RSS feed. Many people just use RSS feeds to keep control of the blogs and sites the follow, rather than manually checking them all each day. Not having an RSS feed can alienate some people. Now, there is a tiny link at the bottom of the page you can click, but I thought I'd add a simpler and easier to find way of getting on my feed.

I ended up going back to the layout page and adding another gadget, the subscription links gadget. Now I have a subscription section on the upper right of my blog. While I'm in the gadgets section, I also take a moment to add a short description to my “About Me.”

And that's basically what I'm getting done today. I haven't designed a logo or background or set up a unique header yet, unfortunately, but I'm working on it.

Objectives worked on today: I posted, so that's still on track. I also cleaned up the blog a bit, putting in page breaks for readability. I originally had a longer, more rambly post, but in light of the boring-ness of it, I cut it down to what you see now. I've started to get a better handle on the interface for this site, and I'm settling into something of a general format for my posts: intro, text separated by screenshots, and a quick summary of what I've done so far and what I plan on the next day.

Speaking of the next day, tomorrow I will probably post rather late. I have a Dungeons and Dragons session with some friends, it lasts all day, and I'm the DM. I'd like to have a background or logo done by then, but we'll see. I need to make some kind of progress though, or I'll start getting behind!