2116 Msg to Granny, re alerts

Saturday, November 15, 2008

[Later - 6:30 pm -- wouldn't you know it? Bloglines is down again. I'm getting no updates today, and trying to do some operations gets a "loading" loop. They're really starting to bug me.]

This is a reply to PDX Granny, regarding how to get blog post alerts. There are several ways to get alerts and feeds. Some people prefer Google, I like Bloglines.

If you'd like to try it, go to www.bloglines.com, and set up a free account. Unfortunately, it recognizes me when I go there, so I can't go through the steps to describe them for you, but it's not difficult. Once you have an account, you'll get a split screen. The left side is where you'll see your list of subscriptions, and on the right side you get the text.

On the left, at the top, you'll see "Add". Click on it. Then on the right you'll be able to type in the URL of a blog (or news feed or just about anything) you want to follow. Click "Subscribe".

You'll then be given a list of feeds for that URL. I always just pick the one that already has the most subscribers. Down a little further, choose the "full feed" option. Some blogs feed only the first few lines, some feed the full post. The full post is most convenient if they provide it.

Once you have subscribed, you'll see new posts in the list on the left. If you click on that, Bloglines will give you the text, on the right. If the blog owner has chosen to provide full feeds, you can read the entire post right there. (Sometimes embedded videos don't show, though. That's why I always include the URL of the video.)

If you click on the post title on the right, you'll go directly to the post, including comments. If you click on the blog title, you'll go to the blog. At the bottom of the post you'll see a little "Keep new" square. If you click on that, it'll hang around until you uncheck it. That way, you can keep things you might want to look at again.

If the text of the post is too wide for the right side of the screen, press "m", and you'll get full screen. Press "m" again to go back.

Have fun. Warning - this makes it so easy to follow a blog, that you can end up with 50 or 60 or more in your list.
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