Sliloh's Rambles » Blog

Yo! It’s Blogging time again!

sliloh — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:05:38 +0000

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s unc….er aunt!

Registration is open at LVSOnline until January 6, 2010. We offer two blogging classes, Blogging Basics with WordPress and Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune.

Blogging Basics course description:

“WordPress is an incredibly powerful and free blogging platform that makes creating a basic blog fun and easy to create. But did you know that you can also use WordPress to power a fully functional web site? WordPress allows you to create pages, galleries, shopping carts and more, all in addition to its blog features. There are two ways of utilizing WordPress. The first is to let WordPress host your own blog for you at wordpress.com. The second way is to use WordPress’ free software on your web site. That gives you more flexibility, power and options but it does require some basic technical skills. WordPress is a great tool but blogging isn’t just about tools.

Blogs are a great way to keep up to date with friends, family, your hobbies, your interests and your business concerns. Blogs can be easier to set up and maintain then most other web sites, making them accessible to many more people. The other thing that makes blogs different is how they encourage and facilitate a dialog between you and your readers. Now you can have a voice on the web.

This course will teach you the art and science of basic blogging. You will learn:

what are blogs and how they differ from other web sites
how to define your blog topic -Hint it needs to be one of your passions!
how to use the FREE WordPress platform to install and manage your blog
how to modify WordPress so it fits your work style
how to find blogging ideas
how to start conversations on your blog
the relationship between blogs and social networking
how to modify your blog with basic themes and widgets
how to set up WordPress on your own web site
the pros and cons of having WordPress hosting your site versus hosting it yourself
how to include photos, video and sound on your blog
which plug-ins are important in a self hosted blog”

Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune course description:

“Blogging is taking the world by storm! The heart of its power lies in its immediacy of publishing information, the ease of setting up and maintaining a blog and its interaction with its users. Blogs are used for everything from private family updates to journals to product reviews to photo journals to political podiums. As well as being a satisfying outlet on a personal level, blogs can be a powerful communication tool. Businesses, from freelancers to large corporations like Boeing, are using blogs to promote their products/services, gain and maintain customer loyalty, obtain customer feedback, and communicate news to their customers. In addition to business, blogs are a very effective means of communicating about social, health, technology, political and art issues.

During this course, you will learn about the art and science of blogging. We will use the popular and FREE WordPress software to install and administer our blog. We will cover how to write engaging titles and blog posts, how to use blog directories, how to build authority in the blogging world and how to share your blog with others. We will focus on the interactive nature of blogging and how to increase participation on your blog without a lot of spam. There is so much happening in the world of blogging and blogging promotion, that it is hard to cover it all in six weeks. With this in mind, the course will vary slightly each session to allow us to devote more time to study and put into practice different blog elements. The purpose is twofold. First, blogging is all about community. This course is designed to create, nurture and support a community of LVS Bloggers. You can take this course once for the content or you can take it multiple times as a means of “continuing education” and networking. The second purpose is to provide dynamic and up to date information about blogging.

Although there is a base curriculum for this course, each session the students will help select some of the topics covered. Participation and practice will be the focus of this class. Part of the student’s learning process will include assisting other students via feedback and input.

Not all blogs will gain you fame and fortune but they all can be fun! For those blog topics that are conducive to it, we will also cover revenue streams like tip jars, affiliates, advertisements and sponsorships. Some bloggers, like Dooce, SimpleBits and Lockergnome, have turned their blogs into fulltime businesses.”

I hope you’ll join us, we have a lot of fun and you will learn lots!

Still time to register ar LVS Online

sliloh — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:16:02 +0000

The classrooms are open! First lesson posts October 31st. You could join us in blogging classes, we have a basic one to help you set up a blog and define your topic and all that good stuff. Then we have Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune which is an advanced course and can really get you on your way. I assist in those. I’m taking a Javascript basics class this session also. Last one I took Joomla, that was a lot of fun.

Registration is open at LVS Online

sliloh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:32:59 +0000

LVS Online has a fantastic selection of classes, whether you are looking to learn graphics programs, web development, photography, and many more. Check it out, registration closes October 28th. I assist in the blogging and mysql classes. Join us, it’s a lot of fun

This blog is messed up!

sliloh — Tue, 26 May 2009 07:45:07 +0000

I switched hosts and two of my blogs imported flawlessly. This one however has been showing nothing but a blank page for days. I spent hours mucking about in the database to no avail and finally figured out it has something to do with certain wordpress files that I edited. I have no idea why it would work on my old host and break on the new but now I’m back to square one on configuring it all. Gah!

LVS Online registration is open!!

sliloh — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:39:16 +0000

It’s that time again! Registration is open now. We have two blogging classes to choose from:

Blogging basics. This class will help you set up a blog and learn how to manage it. You will learn how to modify your theme and add widgets, How to find topic ideas and an introduction to social networking.

Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune which will teach about writing compelling content, gaining authority with your blog and networking with a community of other bloggers. This course will vary with input from students and that will make it doubly interesting! I hope you’ll join us, it’s really an eye opening and fun time!

Is there any value to this blog?

sliloh — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:47:13 +0000

I find myself wondering. I guess when I look back and see the recent history where I was doing pretty good that should be of some use, if only to myself. A reminder if you will that times aren’t always horrible. I think people want inspiring and uplifting and not all this depressing crap I spew. The last few days I’ve been thinking what if I just quit? Oh I could leave it up for all those people with pineal tumors to find encouragement but what other use is it really? I don’t offer any kind of advice or knowledge (other than bloody brain tumors) that anyone is really interested in. It’s just a total hodgepodge of junk.

Maybe I should have added a poll to this

Wine and Cheese

sliloh — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:45:50 +0000

I was inspired by Barb’s image of wine and bread and decided to break open my Bryce. It seems to be working just fine. I’m glad to see I haven’t completely forgotten how to use it. I’ve been wanting to do a still life for a while. In fact I want to have a still life challenge at 3DCommune, but I keep waiting for them to get their site switched over. Hopefully they won’t have lost all their members by then :p

Lvs Online January registration is open!

sliloh — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:20:41 +0000

It’s that time again! Registration is open now. We have two blogging classes to choose from:

A Comedy of Errors

sliloh — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:52:14 +0000

I was working on this theme and I really loved it but was despairing that I’d never manage it. The issue with not being able to refresh my edited blog in any browser came from super-cache! Apparently they are having some issues with it. Then there was the issue of every time I activated this theme I lost my blogroll. There was no link in the widgets at all. I finally found it and would never have even wondered what that code was all about, but I was desperate.

function unregister_problem_widgets() {
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Search’);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Links’);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Rss 1′);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Recent Comments’);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Recent Posts’);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘FlickrRSS’);
unregister_sidebar_widget(‘Calendar’);
}
add_action(‘widgets_init’,'unregister_problem_widgets’);
}

For some reason it thought the blogroll was a problem widget! I just deleted that one and it’s good to go. But while I had Bean helping me figure out where my blogroll went, I activated Theme Test Drive and so of course I couldn’t update! lol, it took me longer than it should have to figure that out because I was already having trouble refreshing (for those that don’t know, theme test drive lets you see the theme you’re test driving but it’s not actually activated. Everyone else sees the one that is). Then there was the line in css for em…which took a couple of my italicized words and just threw them randomly around the post. I have no idea why you would want them to do that :p

Then I finally got it all basically working and I had to add styling to every widget to get them to center. Heck, my Zazzle store was out in right field. I did learn a cool trick to apply different css for Firefox and IE though, good thing because I could not get those buggers to line up with one style applied to both. I added the second sidebar myself. I’m practically a genius!

There is only one issue left and I have to think it’s the theme causing that too because I tried all the fixes I read about and nothing helped. I have no visual editor while writing and editing posts. It seems to be a common problem based on all the posts I found about it but I’m not sure mine is related in any way to theirs, because I can get the visual editor back by switching themes. It doesn’t last, so I think it’s got to be the theme. I have no idea how to solve that one so I guess I’ll live with it. I’m sure in a few months I’ll be bored with this theme and want a change again.

All in all, there were a lot of strange problems beyond just wanting to customize the look. I think it’s pretty spiffy though, what do you think? Is it the coolest theme you ever set eyes on? Is it way to freaking bright? Tell me what you think!

Blogging classes at LVS Online

sliloh — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:04:11 +0000

It’s that time again! Registration is open now. Bean has split the blogging class into two, which should make it easier because there is much to absorb. The first is Blogging basics. This class will help you set up a blog and learn how to manage it. You will learn how to modify your theme and add widgets, How to find topic ideas and an introduction to social networking. For those who have that under their belt we have Blogging for Fun, Fame and Fortune which will teach about writing compelling content, gaining authority with your blog and networking with a community of other bloggers. This course will vary with input from students and that will make it doubly interesting! I hope you’ll join us, it’s really an eye opening and fun time!