Road Map to the Blog

Printing

I just added a new feature. There are now icons at the bottom of each post that will allow you to print the text of any post without having to print the heading and two sidebars. This will save paper and ink — and headaches. The button also gives the ability to print to a .pdf and to email the text of just the post.

Subscribing to Posts

You can subscribe to posts through email, RSS reader, Facebook, or Twitter.

There are two options in the right hand column for an email subscription — “Subscribe Using Feedburner” and “Manage WordPress Email.” WordPress provides the software that runs the blog, and WordPress provides its own email service. Feedburner is a third-party service that I prefer. Use the one you like the best.

For those who prefer an RSS reader (such as the free Google Reader), there’s an icon at the upper right hand corner. Just click the orange link labeled “Entries RSS.” I highly recommend going this route to any regular reader of blogs or newspapers online.

If you “friend” me in Facebook, you’ll get posts from my Facebook feed. Hundreds of readers have gone that route. (And I promise not to post what I had for breakfast, how much I like tonight’s TV line up, or what my cat did this morning. I don’t even own a cat.)

You can also subscribe via Twitter at @JayGuin.

Subscribing to Comments

There are three ways to subscribe to comments — from me and from the readers.

First, if you use an RSS reader, you may add /comments/feed/ to your feeds, and all comments will appear in your reader. You can also try to click the RSS icon labeled “Comments RSS,” but I’m not sure it works in all browsers.

Second, if you add a comment, you’ll be given the option to subscribe to all future comments on just that post.

Third, even if you don’t comment, at the bottom of each post is a box labeled “Subscribe without commenting.” Just insert your email address, and you’ll get comments on that post.

Unfortunately, there is no way to subscribe to all comments on all posts by email except post by post. That requires an RSS feed.

Finally, over on the right side, the last several comments appear. You can click on one that interests you to be taken straight to that comment.

Index

The indexing on this site is a few months behind, but there is an index. Go to the left column and click on “Index.” It’ll expand into a multi-layered index by topic.

Books

The same section has an entry for “eBooks,” which are downloadable books I’ve written. All are free. There’s also a link there to PowerPoint presentations from the talks I’ve given at various lectureships.

Older posts

The most recent 10 posts appear on the home page. To see older posts, you can click on the “Next Page” link at the bottom of the page. And you can keep doing so for about 300 times to get to the very beginning of the blog — should you feel so inclined. Now, “Previous Page” will take to you to the more recent page, that is, backward. The older page is always the Next Page.

Commenting

You cannot comment by responding to an email. The blog used to have that capability when I ran IntenseDebate software, but the readers complained about the loss of other features. It’s a trade off.

You may comment at the bottom of any post. Just fill in the box and your email address. Please use your real email address so I can correspond with you if need be. I sometimes block people who give false addresses. I won’t use your email for any reason other than to privately email you. I’ll not give anyone else your email without your permission.

Gravatars

A “gravatar” is that little picture of you by your comment. You can get one several ways. Many readers have their own blogs, and the software imports their gravatars from their blogs. For most other readers, you have to go to http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup to create one. That site will let up upload a picture or drawing to represent you in WordPress and most other blogs and many discussion forums. You can change the picture as you wish. The best I can tell, this picture is independent of your picture on Facebook.

Questions

Got any?