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Q-talk 114 - Web Logs

In case you have spent too much time sanding and haven't gotten out into the sun lately and haven't heard, web logs (abbreviated: blogs) are all the rage on the internet. Blogs are basically on-line diaries. Easy to add to, easy to edit, and easy to elicit the discussion of others.

Blogs are ideally suited to keeping a running photo record of the progress on your Quickie variant. In our Yahoo! Q-list there is a photos section, but your own web log is cooler and has a better display format.

Several of us have our own web pages; mine, Mike Dwyer, John Loram and Ron Triano come to mind. When I put my web site together, I had to spend several weeks learning HTML. With blogs it is much easier and you can be up and going in a matter of minutes.

I don't claim to know a lot about the subject, and I'm sure there are others who do, but here's an easy recipe for doing it yourself and is the one that worked for me.

First, go to www.blogger.com to sign up for your own web log account. This is where you get your web address. Mine is: www.samhoskins.blogspot.com

Take a minute and click on the "Take a Tour" button to learn more than I can describe here.

Next, there is a free program put out by Google that really simplifies the process of uploading photos. I want you to download and install this program: http://picasa.google.com . Picasa is a very good photo organizer and is so easy to use, my wife likes it. After you get Picasa loaded you might want to play around with it a little, just to get used to it.

After you have everything working, you can now post as many photos as you like to your own web log. I use Picasa to download photos out of my camera and to sort where they go. Then I click on the photo I want to upload and use Picasa to upload it and to add comments. It's all really pretty easy.

When you are all tuned up, you can just plug your camera into your computer and let Picasa grab the photos. You click on the photo you want to post, then click on the "Blog This" icon at the bottom of the screen. Picassa then does the rest. You simply insert your caption and it gets uploaded.

Now, you need to tell the world about your blog. A good way to do this is to attach it to your e-mail signature. This is what I have done.

To find content about other blogs try: http://blogsearch.google.com/

As I said, this is not the only way to post to blogs, it's just easy enough that I could figure it out. That's all there is to it! Open your blog today and let the rest of us see the progress on your Quickie!

This is a great way to document the building process for those of you who are just beginning a project. Then, when it is time to get the FAA inspector involved, you can simply give your blog address to him for his review before he shows up. May save him time and you money!



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