Sebastopol, CA--Blogging (from the term Web Log) has exploded. Some
people estimate that there are 500,000 blogs online and another
1,500-3,000 blogs coming online every day. One of the reasons for
blogging's irrepressible growth is that anyone can run a blog--a web
site offering commentary that can range from personal diary entries to
political analysis to technology observations. Elvis Costello, RuPaul,
the guy in the cubicle next to you--they're all making their voices
heard around the world with blogs.
The only thing potential bloggers lack is detailed advice on how to
choose, install, and run blogging software. Written by bloggers who use
the tools every day (and, in the case of Movable Type and Blosxom, who
wrote the tools), the new book, Essential Blogging (O'Reilly $29.95),
is a no-nonsense guide to the technology of blogging. The book gives
detailed installation, configuration, and operation instructions for
the leading blogging software: Blogger, Radio Userland, Movable Type,
and Blosxom. It also includes practical advice and insider tips on the
features, requirements, and limitations of these applications.
The authors of "Essential Blogging" are all leading bloggers and
creators of blogging software. J. Scott Johnson is the leading
documentor of Radio Userland, Cory Doctorow runs the high-profile
boingboing.net, Ben and Mena Trott wrote the popular Movable Type
blogging software, and Rael Dornfest is the author of Blogger.
"The world is a book written on water. It seems like everything I know
about any given subject is wrong about twice a week, requiring a
complete overhaul of my understanding of the universe," says Doctorow
on why he blogs. "My blog is an outboard brain, a way for me to keep
and share notes as I attempt to keep my nose about the crashing ocean
of technological and social change. At least half my brain is stored on
my blog."
"Our goal wasn't to be definitive and show you everything that these
tools are capable of, but instead to give the beginning blogger enough
to be dangerous. Did I say dangerous? I meant productive," says the
book's editor, Nat Torkington. "The book isn't aimed at people who
already blog, although many such readers will find useful information
such as customizing their blogging software. Picture your coworkers who
haven't discovered blogging yet--they know how to work their computer,
they've seen a couple of blogs and they want to run one themselves.
'Essential Blogging' will educate them about choices of software and
hosting, and walk them through installing and using their chosen
software."
"Essential Blogging" is an indispensable guide for anyone who has
internet access and a voice to share, or who has ever wanted to be even
a little bit dangerous.
Additional Resources:
Essential Blogging
By Cory Doctorow, Rael Dornfest, J. Scott Johnson, Shelley Powers,
Benjamin Trott, Mena G. Trott
0-596-00388-9, Order Number: 3889
260 pages, $29.95 US $46.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
