Simpler than Web Pages and Free [easy]
I have been developing web pages (for mobile and PC devices) for at least 15 years. As my web programming skills have improved, my page design skills have not. My pages look very retro and I fondly describe them as looking like a “ketchup bottle”. I have become a minimalist when developing new web pages (white background with a few colors and graphics). My blogs on the other hand, take advantage of built and templates or designs provided by the blog site. They always seem to me to be more appealing than anything I am able to come up with.
So… I just got a new URL for my media projects (http://garychannel.info). With that new URL I had to create a web page that would list the different programming, book, blog and photo projects I have worked on. I broke out to Microsoft Expressions and designed a page. An hour later I had designed another “ketchup bottle.” I started thinking… since both Blogger.com and my WordPress site both support pages within the blog, why don’t I create different page tabs each of my media projects and use the built and designed templates in widgets (a widget is a area on your page that allows for enhanced media like sound, video, lists of links, etc.) to show my data (text, video, photos).
I went to a Blogger.com (I already have a couple of blogs set up under my Google account). I created a new blog and designed it around page tags (books/blogs, videos and photos) that would have links to the various web pages that demonstrating the projects have worked out (try it out). I put the widgets in the blog that I thought were appropriate (there is extensive help on widgets and add-ons in Blogger) and I also turn commenting on for viewer who wanted to respond to the page. Blog comments add a social aspect to your page which is also an added bonus.
So what do I have with a blog as a web page…
I have a free web site (no hosting fees or organization rules) that I can create content for and not worry about page design expertise. I have my URL pointing to the blog (so search engines and popular url references are in place) and as far as I can see the blog has all of the benefits of a normal set of web pages. I also think the blog environment is easier for nontechnical people to use. It’s more WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) and less about techno babble and techie tools necessary for a state of the art look.
For teachers…
I think for educator’s, blogs present a very viable alternative to traditional web page development. It’s free, it has lots of built in page enhancements and you control the project. You do not have to wait for someone to do it for you so you can be responsive to your students and current on your content. It is a great way to get started on the web or to make precious time available. We all would like to spend more time with our students then spending hours learning the technology.
My Books/Blogs page tab opened
Where to start
- Choose a Free Blog site (blogger.com or wordpress.com to start)
- Check out the free help and videos provided by the blog site
- Do some searches in YouTube on blogging from that site
- See what others have done
- Look at my blog
- Try it and create a blog
- Set up up blog for a mobile device
So how is this a Mobile Learning topic?
A little secret about blogs that many do not know about is that blogs are usually viewable on mobile devices… If you create a blog page, it is usually automatically available for a mobile browser (sometimes a little configuration) With WordPress, you can add a a plug-in to display on a mobile device and for Blogger.com, the page will render just fine on a smartphone or cellphone with a data plan. In all cases, be careful about the size of your image. Images that are too large can sometimes cause the browser to do a lot of scrolling to see the entire image. Here is my blog in a cellphone browser emulator. To try it on your mobile device, go to my blog page (http://garychannel.info)
In: Easy, Free and Good Mobile Stuff, Using Mobile Tech
on July 27, 2010 at 7:36 am
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