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STARTING A BLOG TODAY |
Nothing is locked in until you click that Save button. Now that you’ve added some modules to your page, you should try reposi tioning them. You can put your blog module in the middle of the page or in a sidebar. You can drag your archives module to the top or bottom of its column. You can, in fact, arrange your modules any way that suits your fancy.You simply must try it.
You must click the Save button to lock in the new positions of your moved modules. Also, you must use the Internet Explorer browser to drag modules. Module placement is tied to your layout choice.
If you’re unsatisfied with how your modules look no matter how much you drag them around, try starting fresh with a new layout. Making other space settings Click Settings (next to Customize) to see several groups of settings that affect your space and your blog: Space Settings is the page where you set your space’s title and description.Blog Settings is where you decide how many entries appear on the first page (every entry also gets its own page) and whether comments are allowed on entry pages. Permissions is where you make the blog public or private. E-mail publishing is where you determine settings that enable you to post a blog entry from any e-mail account. Many more sophisticated blog services allow this type of remote posting; bravo to MSN for putting it in. Storage keeps track of how much of your allotted memory your pictures are taking up. More on pictures later in this chapter. Each MSN space gets 30 megabytes of storage.
Statistics reveals measurements to your space and shows which pages have been visited.
Blogging in MSN Spaces Writing blog entries in MSN Spaces is straightforward and painless.
1.In your blog module, click Add entry.
2.In the Title box, enter an entry title.
3.Compose your entry, adding any formatting you want.
The formatting controls resemble those in many e-mail services, some instant message programs, and Word and other writing programs. Click the Paragraph, Font Style, and Font Size menus to see those choices. Run your mouse cursor over the icons to see their functions. The Insert Search Link feature creates a link to MSN Search, using the highlighted word (or words) as the search query.
Either choose from the drop-down menu of preset categories or use the Add a category link to create one. Categories help sort your blog entries and become useful when you have many posts. It’s a good idea to start using categories early if you are going to use them eventually.
Note that TrackBacks are allowed in MSN Spaces. See my detailed description of TrackBacks in here. The short explanation is this: TrackBacks let you refer to somebody else’s blog entry and leave a link to your post on the other person’s blog. To use the feature here, click the small button next to TrackBacks (Optional) and then enter the TrackBack URL from the other person’s blog.
As you compose your entry, use the Preview Blog Entry tab to see what your formatting choices look like. On the other hand, if you don’t use the formatting icons, there’s not much point is previewing the post.