While we like to think blogging is pretty easy, you still have to wade through blog jargon, as well as knowing a bit about web technology. If you’ve been thrown to the wolves and know nothing about blogging, here are some terms you should familiarize yourself with as you learn about this new communications tool.
We only display common terms that we always talk about here. For more, please see:
Samizdata Glossary, Giant Blogging Terms Glossary, or Blogossary.
Aggregator
noun. An aggregator is software that pulls information from various web feeds that you have selected and displays any updates made to them.
Aggregators make it possible to download the updated content (or an excerpt) for viewing on your computer, in your web browser, or even displayed on another website without needing to visit the original website.
Archives
noun. A collection of all your posts on one page. Can be categorized by month, etc.
Blog
noun. A contraction of weblog, a form of on-line writing characterised in format by a single column of text in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recent content at the top) with the ability to link to individual articles.
There is usually with a sidebar displaying links, and the content is frequently updated. Probably coined by Peter Merholz.
Blogosphere
noun. The totality of blogs; blogs as a community; blogs as a social network. Coined by William Quick.
Blogroll
1. noun. A list of links in the sidebar of a blog, often linking to other blogs. Also: blog roll.
2. A blog link management system.
Captcha
noun. Short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. Those word and letter verification images you need to type in to show you are human and not a bot. Helpful to block automated spam comments.
Category
noun. A collection of topic specific posts.
Comment
noun. A comment is a response left on the author’s blog regarding one of her blog entries.When you leave a comment, you are starting a dialog by leaving a response on a blog entry.
FTP
noun. Short for file transfer protocol. Transferring file to and from from your web host using FTP tools like CuteFTP.
Link Love
noun. Link love is posting a link to sites or blogs, usually unsolicited, that you enjoy, admire, or find useful.
News Feed
noun. Allows online users to subscribe to websites that change or add content regularly. Also can be referred to as an RSS feed.
Permalink
noun. A link to a specific article in the archives of a blog, which will remain valid after the article is no longer listed on the blog’s front page (i.e after it has archived).
Ping
1. noun. A ping is a system administrator tool that is an automated packet of information (64 bytes) sent through a network to another to establish the status of a target system.
2. verb. To ping another site is to send a small automated packet of data to actuate some expected function, such as a Trackback.
PING is an acronym for ‘Packet INternet Grouper.’
Podcasting
verb. To record (usually spoken narrative) audio files (usually in MP3 format) and make them available on-line so that they can be downloaded and listened to rather like an ‘on-demand’ radio show.
Although podcasts can be listened to on any suitable hardware (i.e. a computer or MP3 player), the term ‘podcast’ derives its name from the iPod, a very popular portable MP3 player made by Apple.
Plugins
noun. Small files that add improved functionality and new features. WordPress plugins can greatly improve your blog usage and interactivity.
Post
noun. individual articles that make up a blog. Also known as an Entry.
RSS
noun. RSS is a web content syndication format. Acronym which stands for (variously) RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.
SEO
noun. Search engine optimization or to improve your search engine rankings.
Sidebar
noun. One or more columns along one or both sides of most blogs main page, usually used for blogroll links, contact information etc.
Tag
verb. Labeling or attaching keywords to collect similar posts.
Tag cloud
noun. Visually displays tags, lists, or keywords in a blog’s sidebar.
Template
noun. The blog presentation, design, or theme.
Trackback
1. noun. A system by which a ping is sent to another trackback-aware website (usually another blog) to notify that site that a link to them has been made (usually within an article being posted). The objective is to notify the subject of an article that they have been mentioned in another article elsewhere.
2. verb. To follow a trackback ping from the target weblog to the source weblog.
Widget
noun. A piece of code often placed in a sidebar, designed to enhance blog functionality.
XML
noun. XML is a web language used for (amongst other things) syndication formats used on blogs. Acronym for eXtensible Markup Language.