I think I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Unfortunately, I’ve been “grown up” (or at least as grown up as I intend to be) for a considerable period of time, as we humans measure time.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on grammar that was as well-received as anything I’ve written in over two years of blogging. Last week, TJ wrote a post in similar vein, and to date has over 200 comments on that column. Clearly, there is an interest in the topic. I suspect much of that interest is because many blog readers are also blog authors, and most of us (I hope all of us, actually) want to present our material in a readable, grammatically correct manner.

I love words: I love what they do, to present all kinds of information, to convey emotions, to make us laugh or cry, to inform or influence us. The history and etymology of words fascinates me, as does the way language is used today, and how it evolves.¹

A few months ago, I discovered (and I still don’t remember how) Deanna Hoak’s blog. Deanna is a professional freelance copyeditor. Most, if not all, of what she works on are fantasy or science fiction books. She wrote some fascinating (to me, at least) articles on copyediting and grammar on her original Live Journal blog, then ported them to WordPress some time later. If you are curious about the art of copyediting, I strongly recommend her writings to you.

Yesterday, either from a link in Twitter or in another blog, I found the blog of a former copy editor² for The Baltimore Sun, John McIntyre. The name of his blog is “You Don’t Say,” wherein he “comments on language, editing, journalism, and other manifestations of human frailty.” I spent a good couple hours there, reveling in his take on words, language, and railing against the AP Stylebook. And from the looks of it, Mr. McIntyre’s blogroll is a gold mine of resources. I need to find the time to explore further!

As I was reading Mr. McIntyre’s prose, I had an epiphany: I enjoy editing. I want to do more. In fact, I added Merriam-Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage to my Amazon wishlist, to help me “get it right.”

I had an epiphany: I enjoy editing, and I want to do more!

Throughout my working career, I was always recognized by peers and superiors as a very good writer. I was always being asked to either ghost-write documents for others or to edit the work of others. Although I only got a “C” in freshman English Comp, I learned a lot more than that grade reflected. I was also in Air Force ROTC, and a lot of that curriculum had to do with writing clearly and concisely, a habit that has been ingrained in me.³

As many of you are aware, I’ve been asked to be a guest on the Saucy Wenches Podcast early next month, by my two very good friends Tami and Bre. I’ll talk about how to prepare your NaNoWriMo novel for initial editing, and some preliminary steps you can take in the review process.

I’ve also been asked to copyedit two novels from NaNo; I only hope I can manage the time! But if this is truly becoming a passion for me, I think I won’t have any difficulty in that regard. I suspect I’ll spend a lot less time reading blogs just to pass the time.

And yes, you can certainly find the things I’ll be writing about elsewhere on the Web, but most of you don’t read those other sources. And for those of you not so caught up in writing and words, I’ll still be writing other articles on many other

Over the next few weeks, I’ll also be posting several shorter articles on particular “grammar gotchas,” and I invite your suggestions for even more topics. Some of these will have been covered earlier, perhaps in my initial article, or in TJ’s. But they will all be in the umbrella category of “Writing,” and will share either a “copyediting” or “grammar” tag, or both. To help us all keep track, there’ll be a new page here to list what’s planned, and what’s already been covered.

Finally, several of us are taking part in a grammar wave. If you’re on Google Wave and would like to take part, let me know.

I certainly have enough material to keep me busy for awhile, but I’d love to keep this as interactive as possible, so if there’s a particular bugaboo of yours you’d like me to discuss, just let me know.

This week’s offerings: Apostrophes, free WiFi, garbage, Windows security, and Canadian blogging resources.

• Apostrophe.me Explains When You Really Need Apostrophes [Writing]
  Published on Monday, 16 Nov
  From Lifehacker
  All you NaNo writers, take heed! There will be a quiz in December. ;)
• Get free Wi-Fi in airports, courtesy of Google and Bing
  Published on Thursday, 12 Nov
  From Consumer Reports Electronics Blog
  You can bet I'll be looking to take advantage of this on layovers to and from Hawai'i next month. Our local airport offers free WiFi; why doesn't Denver International? (Don't recall if Minneapolis does or not.)
• galaxies of garbage
  Published on Wednesday, 11 Nov
  From astropixie
  I thought I was pretty "aware," but I didn't know about this. Disgusting, and frightening. For the price of a case of bottled water (or less!), you can buy a much more permanent bottle, that will last for years.
• Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft's Security Tools Are Good Enough [Opinion]
  Published on Tuesday, 10 Nov
  From Lifehacker
  Windows Users: Look, Microsoft employees are relying on MSE for their work computers. That's a good enough testament for me. MSE is securing the Win7 virtual machine on my iMac.
• For Our Canadian Friends
  Published on Monday, 09 Nov
  From Weblog Tools Collection
  Some of my best friends are bloggers. And Canadians. And Canadian bloggers. This site's for you!
• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

Without going into a lot of detail (most of which is documented in the comments to the preceding article) I’ve uninstalled Intense Debate after a 24-hour trial. The issues ID presented were more than I wanted to deal with and try to correct (and, I think, some could not be "fixed"). Don’t misunderstand: For many sites, I’m sure ID is ideal; but for my site, and more importantly, my readers, and how I want to enable their ability to interact here, Intense Debate demanded more compromises than I am willing to make.

Intense Debate required more compromises than I want to make.

Special thanks to TJ for taking the time and the interest to detail the issues that cropped up (and which were not apparent to me, as the site admin), so I could make an informed decision on whether to keep or remove ID.

Next time you visit the Aerie, the comments section will look a bit different than in the past: I’ve just installed and activated Intense Debate (ID), a blog commenting system to enhance reader engagement and interaction. In addition to the same threaded comments presentation and ability to subscribe to comments and replies, ID now includes CommentLuv! If you’ve been following me for very long at all, you know I’m a huge fan of Andy Bailey’s CommentLuv addon for WordPress, and it was the one thing holding me back from incorporating ID on the site.

EDIT: I was extremely remiss in failing to credit this article at Gingerwench.com, where ComLuv for Intense Debate was tested and refined. Seeing ID at work, together with CommentLuv, and seeing how seamlessly they worked together was a further impetus to install ID here at the Aerie. Thanks, Ginger, and again, my apologies for the oversight!

Another benefit of Intense Debate is the ability to register with ID (even if you aren’t a blogger) and follow other commenters you enjoy, regardless of where they comment. For bloggers, we can moderate (if necessary) and reply to comments directly from email: No need to log into the WordPress dashboard!

Obviously, I’m excited about the possibilities ID presents, not only for the Aerie, but for enhancing the community aspect of the blogoverse. But I’m also interested in your perceptions: Is ID too intrusive? What about the comment rating system? (I’m not a huge fan, to be honest.) Any other thoughts about Intense Debate?

Tuesday morning, I saw the following editorial cartoon in the local newspaper.

First, let me make it absolutely clear that I endorse the sentiment here one hundred percent. As a Veteran myself,¹ you better believe I recognize and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.

However, I am a little bit disturbed by the too-common misconception promulgated by this cartoon: that Veterans Day is intended to honor those who have given their lives in military service. In fact, Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) is the day on which we honor those military members who have died while in military service.

Veterans Day, on the other hand, is intended to honor all veterans, living or dead, regardless of wartime service. Originally celebrated as Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I (the Armistice was signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918), Congress changed the holiday to Veterans Day in 1954.

If you are serving today, God bless you and keep you safe. And if you’re serving in a combat zone, my earnest hope is that you return home soon, safe and permanently.

So when you put your flag out today, or see the flags flying all over town, please thank all military veterans for their service: “Land of the free, because of the Brave.”

How many of you have a feed reader full of unread blog articles? Yeah, so do I; currently, my unread count stands at 163 items, mostly in WoW blogs. And that’s after reading almost all the stuff I really want (or “need”) to read today!

Many people who are faced with this onslaught of bloggination simply ignore it, and eventually “mark all as read.” Others tell me, “Kes, I really love your blog, but I only check my reader a couple times a week.” Or they don’t subscribe at all, and often don’t get around to clicking their bookmark to the Aerie.

Well, I have some Good News! There’s a single, simple solution to all these issues, and it isn’t a new one, either. All you need to do is subscribe via email! Then, each time I update my blog, you’ll get an email with the latest article. And who ignores email? Especially if you take a moment to set up a filter so your blog subscriptions (true statement: other blogs besides mine have email subscriptions!) go someplace you are sure to read each day.

If you don’t believe me about how easy it is, ask Bre! (You can ask her here, too, or simply tweet @Bre_0.)

Now, you could click that little envelope icon on the navigation menu, but I’m going to make it even easier: CLICK HERE! See? Wasn’t that simple? Now you have no excuse for being up-to-date with what’s going on in Birdland.

Everyone should know what a black hole is, but in case you don’t, allow me to describe it in what can only be described as “layman’s terms.” A black hole exists (usually) where a star has collapsed on itself, and all the mass of the star has likewise collapsed into a very, very small volume. The “singularity” thus created maintains considerable angular momentum (“centrifugal force,” if you will); however, the gravity well created by the ultra-compressed mass of the collapsed star prevents anything from escaping that gravitational pull, including light. Hence the name, “black hole.”

Lately, my approach to blogging has mirrored a black hole:Lots and lots of thoughts and ideas about things to write about, all whirling around inside my head, but nothing is able to escape. Talk about your writer’s block! Except…I don’t believe I’m truly “blocked.” No…there is a huge external force also operating on my “blog hole.” In my case, it’s called “inertia,” and is the embodiment of Newton’s First Law: “[An] object remains in a state of rest … unless acted upon by an outside force." Newton’s Third Law also seems to be at work. In my case, that means my desire to blog (f1) is opposed equally by my innate laziness (f2).

Yes, I’m lazy: It’s much too easy to read others’ blogs than it is to work on my own. Or play around all day with blog design just to get my navigation menu to display a transparent background, and get the Twitter and RSS feed links to be on the same line as the nav menu, without resorting to some ridiculous design kludges.¹

But the stark reality is, I’m inordinately jealous of some of my friends and fellow bloggers who seem to provide so much more content, while also maintaining a paying job! For crying out loud: I’ve been retired for 18 months, and it seems each month I do less, rather than more. ²

Clearly, the current post is a self-intervention. ³ I’m also hopeful it’s cathartic, in a sense, or rehabilitative. We’ll know in a few days (or weeks) if it’s nothing more than verbal diarrhea.

In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to read TJ’s series on becoming someone who comments (on blogs). Tami wrote a couple of very insightful articles along the same lines, and they deserve your attention as well. I may or may not have had a few things to say on the topic of blog comments myself. In my case, I also discuss WordPress add-ons for bloggers, as well as provide encouragement to readers to converse with the bloggers you read. ⁴

I know many of you play WoW,  and if you still haven’t discovered the mad comic genius of I Like Bubbles, head over there for a dose of gaming reality. (Some may call it insanity, but my retort would be, is there a difference?) Tell Amber, “Birdie sent me.”

Finally, I want to give a huge shout-out to all my friends and fellow bloggers who are taking part in NaNoWriMo. Keep on typing! I promise to have a bunch of stuff to help you out with editing your novels next month. I mean, I’ll post some of it this month, so you can find it next month. Look for the “copyediting” tag.

Fewer articles this week, but meatier, I think. Enjoy!

• The Cloud: a short introduction
  Published on Monday, 09 Nov
  From Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content
  Now THIS is the kind of stuff that should be in manuals (see previous shared item).
• Surprise! More men should read the freaking manual
  Published on Monday, 09 Nov
  From Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content
  What this doesn't say is that 100 percent of those who DID read the booklet that came with their manual soon discovered what the ones who hadn't, already knew: Epic waste of time.
• Wire Your House with Ethernet Cable [Weekend Project]
  Published on Sunday, 08 Nov
  From Lifehacker
  Somehow, I think this would be more than a ONE-weekend project at my house!
• Five Best Antivirus Applications [Hive Five]
  Published on Sunday, 08 Nov
  From Lifehacker
  Personally, I use ESET NOD32 on my Windows install, but I also strongly endorse Microsoft Security Essentials. It is as good as any other free AV solution, and better than most, free or paid.
• Bizarre legal defense after EMI sues over Beatles MP3 sales
  Published on Thursday, 05 Nov
  From Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content
  If you are into law at all, and especially copyright law, this is...weird. Ballsy, but weird.
• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

If you read nothing else this week, please go here. Then come on back and read this week’s offerings.

• 12 Types of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog
  Published on Monday, 02 Nov
  From ProBlogger Blog Tips
  Stuck for something to write about? Use these ideas for inspiration. (Yes, I know I need to do this myself.)
• Announcement: World of Warcraft Raid for the Cure!
  Published on Monday, 02 Nov
  From Big Bear Butt Blogger
  THIS is important. 'Nuff said.
• Lifehacker Cookbook: Homemade Coffee Shop Addictions [Stay In, Geek Out]
  Published on Thursday, 29 Oct
  From Lifehacker
  I'm sharing this, not because I like you all, but because I want to be able to find this quickly when we get back home from Illinois. But hey...you get the benefit too!
• Trick Out Google Apps for Your Domain [Google Apps]
  Published on Thursday, 29 Oct
  From Lifehacker
  This is pretty cool, and a great way to set up a collaborative workspace. I did it with kestrelsaerie.com, which is a parked domain pointing to kestrelsaerie.us, my main domain. Very, very easy to do, and now I have a ton of flexibility in setting up collaborations I didn't have before.
• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

This week, a NaNoWriMo tip, Windows 7, fixing WordPress, and more!

• Carve a Candle-Friendly Pumpkin Hatch [Halloween]
  Published on Saturday, 24 Oct
  From Lifehacker
  As Lifehacker says, "Why on earth didn't we think of this already?"
• NaNoWriMo writers: Storyist has some hot deals for you, too
  Published on Friday, 23 Oct
  From The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
  For you NaNo folks! I'm not familiar with Storyist, but hey...5 weeks to try it out during NaNoWriMo? Why not!
• Fun With Twitter
  Published on Friday, 23 Oct
  From Tami Moore
  I laughed out loud. This one's just for fun, but hey...a guy's gotta have fun, right?
• Ninite Bulk-Installs Great Free Windows Apps [Installation]
  Published on Friday, 23 Oct
  From Lifehacker
  Windows 7 adopters: THIS IS SLICK! I can't wait to do this after I install Win7 on my MacBook Pro.
• FCC proposes network neutrality rules (and big exemptions)
  Published on Thursday, 22 Oct
  From Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content
  This is a good synopsis of the FCC's proposal on net neutrality rules. Expect to hear a LOT more about this in the next 6-12 months. Let the rhetoric commence! (Actually, if you follow the embedded links, it's been going on for a bit.)
• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

As you know, Twitter is a way to microblog in 140 characters or less. But sometimes, 140 just aren’t enough. Here are some of my thoughts from earlier today, with a bit of expansion. I should note that most of my comments are directed at the larger part of my audience: Home users, hobbyists, gamers. There are good reasons for corporate users not to follow some of my suggestions, but that’s a whole different world from the one most of us live in.

• Just upgraded to WordPress 2.8.5. Reminder: All WordPress upgrades include security updates. UPGRADE NOW!
• Does the thought of upgrading #WordPress scare the bejesus out of you? Then install WordPress Automatic Updater: http://bit.ly/4cWIZV

Not a lot to add to these two tweets. If you use software that accesses the Internet, and there is an upgrade or update, the chances are extremely high it includes one or more security fixes or enhancements. Don’t hesitate to upgrade.

I’ve mentioned WPAU a couple times before. While the built-in updater is fine for a lot of people, I find it more confusing than helpful. WPAU presents a very logical, very easy step-by-step process that has been fail-safe for me. The key is to carefully read the minimal instructions. Can’t get any easier!

• Finding it hard to see a difference between new #Mac Magic Mouse and a touchpad. And, it’s fugly. D/N seem ergonomic at all.

I admit it: I’m a mouse geek. I have a Logitech MX Revolution for non-gaming, and a Razer Naga for WoW. Both have LOTS of buttons. I have also used a trackpad, and I really like the idea of Apple’s new buttonless trackpad on its newest laptops to be a great idea. But combining a trackpad with a mouse (as it seems the Magic Mouse does)? Hmm…not so much.

• 10 months into 2009, the most overused and uninformative noun in tech this year is "netbook." Have yet to see one with netting of any kind.

What, exactly, does "netbook" mean? In Twitter, we’re restricted to 140 characters. In "Real Life" we have no such restriction. How about "small form-factor notebook computer"? And if you don’t like that verbiage (go ahead, click the link!), explain to me why my 14.5" MacBook Pro isn’t a "netbook." And I swear, if I see "green netbook" I’m going to puke.

• Media bias? The # of Win7 stories I’m seeing today is way less than SnowLeopard stories 24 hrs before its release last month. I’m just sayin

It strikes me that 24 hours before the release of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in September, there was a flood of stories about the new Mac OS. Today, Lifehacker has a few, but most other tech blogs/sites (that aren’t Windows/Microsoft-specific, of course) have very, very few. This strikes me as odd, to say the least, given that Win7 is Amazon UK’s biggest preordered item ever.

• After tomorrow, I will brook no bitching about Vista. Instead, I will say "buy a Mac, b/c you’re not smart enough to upgrade to Win7."

Seriously. Win7 fixes just about every single valid complaint I’ve ever hear or read about Windows Vista, and does so elegantly. Here is a very telling reply I received to this tweet, which just about says it all: @runycatWhat’s hilarious is that Windows 7 really feels like OSX when it first came out. In other words, I like it. 

I’ve upgraded PCs (desktop and laptop) with the Win7 release candidate, and I’ve installed it in a virtual machine under OS X. Piece of cake. Flawless. The new OS looks and feels great. It’s as big a step as the move from Windows 2.x to 3.1 or from 3.1 to WinXP. The best part? The hardware required to effectively run Win7 is almost the same as for WinXP. In other words, you don’t need the huge hardware upgrades you needed to get from XP to Vista!

So if you can’t bring yourself to like Win7, get a Mac. 

• WAY TOO MUCH crap on "Which version of Win7 is best for you?" For 99.9 percent of you, it’s Home Premium. Empahsis on HOME.
  

I can’t count the number of new or re-released articles I’ve seen, with all their confusing or "simplified" charts, on "Which version of Windows 7 is right for you?" While I contend there are still too many versions of Win7 available (gotta love Apple’s single flavor of OS X: It may be vanilla, but it’s rich vanilla!), for home users, gamers, and anyone not in a corporate environment, Windows 7 Home Premium is what you need.

Even if you’re a geek, the chances are Professional or Ultimate offer no additional features you’ll use, because you probably don’t have a server-based network, and BitLocker is overkill, not to mention the fact that you don’t need 128¹ language versions. In addition, most of us don’t have more than 16GB of RAM. Small business? Then yes, Pro or Ultimate may be a better solution. But folks, it’s called "Home Premium" for a reason!

Do you have a 64-bit CPU? Then install the 64-bit version. Just do it! I can also give you 80 or 100 more reasons to stick with Home Premium. They’re called "dollars."

So those are my thoughts today, the day after Apple announces major new lineup changes, the day WordPress announces an upgrade, and the day before Windows 7 takes over the (PC) world. What are your thoughts? Am I a clueless n00b or a tech savant? Or somewhere in between? Let me know in the comments!

The usual eclectic collection, including a question for the FTC on why bloggers face harsher rules regarding reviews than mainstream media. I welcome your comments on any of these!

• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

"NaNoWriMo"? What is that, something Mork had for breakfast? Or something he and Mindy did on their honeymoon? In fact, "NaNoWriMo" is "short" (how about if we stick to NaNo from here on out?) for National Novel Writing Month. Some of my blogging friends are planning to write a 50,000 word novel during November; others will be in support roles for those writers. (I’m in the latter category, for those of you keeping score.)

Listen to Bre and Tami discuss NaNo on the Saucy Wenches Podcast

To learn more about NaNo, you may either click the link above, or better yet, listen to Bre and Tami describe and discuss NaNo on their latest Saucy Wenches podcast. (Of course, you should listen to the Saucy Wenches anyway, because they are just that good, and I don’t say that simply because they are very good friends, or because they invited me to a guest appearance on the show in December. Ahem…moving on now…)

In their latest podcast, the Saucy Wenches talk about using this month, October, to get ready for NaNo. They include things as letting your family know of your endeavor, to elicit both support and understanding, when hot dogs and mac’n'cheese are the staples for dinner throughout November. (I dunno what happens on Thanksgiving, which falls right smack in the middle of crunch time!) The ladies also advise getting at least one person to be your NaNo conscience, to prod you each day to produce the roughly 1700 words it will take each day to hit the 50K goal.

If you’re planning on doing NaNo, and you are waiting for November 1 before you get started, you’re already way behind the 8-ball. I’m not sure 17 days will be enough time for you to get ready, but here are some things you must do to be successful.

First, do you have any idea what your novel is about? By now, you should have a rough idea of how the novel starts, a couple main scenes, what the primary conflict is, and how your book will end.

November 1 is too late to plan your novel

Second, who is going to star in your opus? Who are your main characters? Are you going to narrate in first or third person? If the latter, from whose point(s) of view? If you think you can wait until you actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, more likely), you might want to consider waiting until 2010 NaNo. Seriously.

Let me tell you a quick story: I had this great scene in my mind (from a dream, no less), and it was so lucid, so detailed, I thought I could write a novel, or at least a short story, around it. So I started writing. Characters were easy. The opening scene was easy. I even knew where I wanted to be in three or four chapters, and I had an idea of how the story might end. Unfortunately, I did no planning. I did no outlining. And that story is still stuck on the first scene, because I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to get from point A to point B (almost literally: I had to get the characters from inside to outside, and make it work). Sounds simple, but without a plan on how to implement your idea, you will NOT get past the "I have a great idea for a book!" stage.

As Bre and Tami mention in their podcast, the actual process of writing is not easy either. They make a very big point that during November, all you want to do is write. No editing, no revising, no multiple drafts: You simply do not have time (unless your name is Isaac Asimov, and it isn’t, because he’s dead).

Many of you will be using Word or other word-processing software to produce your novel. Keep in mind during NaNo, your objective is simply to produce words–lots of them–rather than process them. So here are some suggestions to minimize the distractions your software can present. Do these NOW, not in November!

Turn off spell check and grammar correction!

• Turn off Spell Check. November is not the time to be distracted by squiggly red lines all over the place. If your typing/spelling is so bad you won’t be able to decipher your work later, use Word’s auto-correct feature to add all the words you typically mistype or misspell. Fill that database up! For example, auto-correct "teh" to "the." (Actually, I think that’s built in, but you should get the idea.)

• Turn off Grammar Correction. As if those red squiggles aren’t enough, the blue/green ones drive me batty. Besides, you’re writing a novel, not a textbook. A lot of the suggestions Word makes simply don’t make sense for fiction writing. And in case I haven’t made the point yet, this is not the time to act as your own copyeditor.

Want to really go old school? There are several programs out there (and I think you can do it in Word, but I’m not certain) that will simply put text on the screen. In other words, "typewriter mode." I am aware of several for the Mac; I’m sure there are others out there for Windows machines as well. Lifehacker recently highlighted a method for distraction-free writing in Google Docs. For those of you who will be using any collaboration at all, or even if you are flying solo, this could be the way to go. This article also includes links to other ideas for reducing clutter in your word-processing application, so it’s worth a look just for those links.

Finally, one last tip. I have said, at least a couple times, that December is when you want to revise, rewrite, edit, fix, do whatever with your Great American Novel. So put something on your Christmas list to help you do this: A brand-spanking-new copy of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (MW11 or Web11, as it’s known in the publishing world). At almost every publishing house in the United States, Web11 is the definitive resource for word use. If you’re a writer, I submit it’s ten times more important than Strunk & White or the AP Stylebook or Chicago Manual of Style.

What are your plans for NaNo? What else are you doing to prepare this month, for next month? Comments are open!

Want to see an example of "eclectic"? Check out the links below!

• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

The very astute among you, or at least the subset who actually read my weekly regurgitation of cool stuff I found during the past week, will note this post is appearing on Monday, rather than last Saturday. I decided there isn’t a lot of feed reading going on over the weekend, so we’ll try this gambit for a few weeks and see if the feature is any more popular on Mondays.

Enjoy!

• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

Yes, I’m rocking an iMac (and a MacBook Pro) these days, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a Windows fan (I think there’s a pun there, but I’m too congested and stuffy-headed to figure it out; I’ll leave that as an exercise for you).

First, let’s get this out there right now: Microsoft Windows is the most robust computer operating system in the world today. That’s been the case since the introduction of Windows 3.1. As a Mac user, I can tell you that OS X is a beautiful OS, but doesn’t have nearly the capability of Windows. And no single version of Unix even comes close to OS X, out of the box.

Windows is the most robust operating system in the world today

Now that I have the fightin’ words out there, let’s get to the point of this article. No doubt you’ve seen proclamations in reviews of Windows 7 betas and release candidates over the past 10 months that "Win 7 is what Vista should have been." I’m certainly not going to argue that point. But let’s look at what Vista is, and what it isn’t: Vista is an outstanding OS, and the best current version of Windows, in every respect, if you have the hardware to run it properly. Unfortunately, that’s where Microsoft dropped the ball with Vista: The so-called "minimum" hardware requirements were, in actual practice, well below minimum.

When I installed Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, I also upgraded my computer: Core 2 Quad Intel CPU, 4GB of fast RAM, fast SATA hard drives, on a motherboard built for speed. I also had a pricey nVidia GeForce GTX 285 video card. Unsurprisingly, I had zero operating system problems. That does not mean that the OS didn’t feel sluggish: It did. Performance in WoW was good, but hardly great. On the other hand, I never had to turn down video settings, no matter what boss fight I might be in, and how many particle effects were in play.

So what did Microsoft do to finally garner real praise for a new Windows version?

1. Code optimization, much like what Apple did with OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard. I don’t know if the disk footprint of Win7 is smaller, but the code is tighter. Even running the release candidate in a virtual machine on the iMac, I can tell Win7 is peppier than Vista. I also had the RC installed on my PC before frying the motherboard, and believe me, the speed increase was more than marginal.
2. Improved Start menu: Pop it open, start typing, and immediately see relevant search results (often applications) show up almost immediately. You almost don’t need a launch bar!
3. Aero. As long as you have a video card to support it, the slick transparent video effects are more than eye candy: Peek allows you to hover over a taskbar region, and see the outline of every open window on your desktop, a huge boon to multitaskers. Shake seems like a gimmick at first, but consider: Grab a window’s titlebar with your mouse, give it a shake, and magically minimize all other desktop windows.
4. Speaking of the Taskbar, it has borrowed a bit from OS X’s Dock, and expanded on that (literally): Hover over a taskbar icon, and see all open windows for that application. Then simply click the one you want to work with.
5. Libraries. Okay, it’s not an object-oriented file system; maybe Win12 or OS XV will finally achieve that Nirvana. But Libraries allow you to structure your file system to your preferences, rather than Windows’ arbitrary setup. Sure, you still have Documents, Music, Videos, etc., but now you can create file libraries to incorporate or exclude those folders, or subdivide those main folders in any manner you like. I love Libraries!

I’ve only touched the surface of all the new goodness coming in Windows 7, but I have yet to talk to anyone who has installed the release candidate who hasn’t gushed about how much better Win7 is than any predecessor. While WinXP still has the largest installed userbase of any flavor of any OS in the world today, I fully expect Win7 to kick it to the curb in the next 12 to 18 months. That’s how good this new OS is.

Windows 7 will be available to the general public on October 20. I’ll be installing it on my wife’s computer as well as both Macs. Will you be making the switch?

The wonderful Bre at TMI wrote yesterday about how she met her husband, Luis. At the end, she invited readers to post their own accounts of how they and their significant others first met. What follows is basically how I answered over there…

This one time, at band camp…

Uhh…don’t laugh. It was September 1972. I was about to start my third year at UCLA. I’d been part of the Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Marching Band, Pride of the Southland, since my freshman year (1st clarinet). UCLA operates on the quarter system, and the fall quarter generally starts the last week of September/first week of October.

Of course, the football season starts right after Labor Day, so for three weeks in September, the band practices several times a week on the intramural fields just south of Drake Stadium, the on-campus track facility.

In 1972, the UCLA Marching Band finally became integrated. Oh, no, not that way. Remember, UCLA is Jackie Robinson’s alma mater! No…for the first time in history, the marching band would have girls!. Not only that, but there would also be a corps of flag girls working with the band!

As it happened, I was also in Air Force ROTC (march, much? Sheesh.) We had a women’s auxiliary called Angel Flight, and I had dated one of the members of that group the previous year. While we were no longer dating, we were still good friends. Turns out Karen had been accepted into the Flag Corps, along with an incoming freshman pledge of her sorority.

So one afternoon during the first week of band camp (long before "This one time…" ever came to be, incidentally), Karen introduced me to Janet, a very attractive blonde. As it happened, I ended up dating one of her fellow pledges for a few weeks. She dumped me shortly before the annual Big Game against our crosstown rival, Southern California.

We ended up losing the USC game in the final minutes, and to add insult to injury, the USC band marched through our formation as we left the field at halftime. In this day and age, there probably would be a riot.

Anyway, after the game, a bunch of us ROTC guys and the girls from Angel Flight (Janet was a member by now) had a party at the apartment of one of our members. I was nursing a beer, and not in a good humor. Someone hollered at Janet to "Hey, smile!" Her answer was, "I’m not going to smile until Stevie B [my nickname, in this group] does."

Pretty sure I fell in love with the girl right then and there. We started dating a bit, but since she didn’t want to appear to be chasing me, she invited <i>another</i> guy (a freshman, no less!) to her sorority’s "girl asks the guy" dance that year!

By the end of the school year, I had proposed to her, and in June 1974 we were married. Three sons, a granddaughter and 35 years later, here we are.

A bit shorter list this week, I think, but perhaps more quality with less quantity? You be the judge(s).

• Plugin by C. Murray Consulting

As I have mentioned, I read a lot of blogs. Right now, I have a bit over 100 subscriptions in Google Reader. But I don’t just read the RSS feed. I also have Gina Trapani’s Better GReader addon for Firefox, so by clicking an article title in GReader, I can see the article as it looks on the site. Often, if I like the way the site looks, I’ll visit "in person." And while I can often comment through GReader (especially on self-hosted blogs), I generally visit the actual blog out of habit.

It continues to amaze me how some of the design elements I now take so much for granted, are missing, hidden, or confusing on other blogs. If we assume the intent of a blogger is to share their writing with others, the apparent (although, I’m sure, accidental) pains some take to inhibit that sharing are comical, at best.

I recently updated the Twisted Nether Wiki with a new World of Warcraft blog. One of the items we request (so I don’t have to go hunting for it) is a link to the blog’s RSS feed. This particular blog was on blogspot.com, and the author stated she wasn’t using RSS yet. Of course, I know better: On every Blogger theme, down at the very bottom of the home page, is an RSS link: http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. Somewhat hidden, true, but if you know where to find it…

Item 1: RSS Feed Link

Sure, almost every blog has one, but not all (by a long shot!) are easy to find. This is quite a simple thing to add to any blog (both wordpress.com and blogspot.com support more than the "bottom of the page" default; it’s quite easy to make it more visible).

Your RSS link should be at or near the top of your blog

Your RSS link should be near the top of your blog, definitely "above the fold" (that’s newspaper-speak for the part of your page a viewer sees when it first loads). My very strong recommendation is to place it no lower than immediately below the title of your blog or navigation bar, whichever is lower; in other words, at the very top of one of your sidebars. For example, my nav bar is immediately below my site banner, and my RSS feed links (for both RSS reader and email) are immediately below that. Some themes position the RSS button at the very top of the page; others, as part of the navigation bar. In fact, that’s the default position for Thesis.

You’ll note my RSS links are stylized to fit within the overall color and design of my blog, but that is by no means essential. In fact, sometimes I wonder if they blend in too well! The ubiquitous orange RSS symbol is now a web standard, and there’s not a thing wrong with it. But I’m sure you’ve seen all manner of stylizing, as well. One of my favorites is at Pike’s Aspect of the Hare, and is pictured to the right. If you know hers is primarily a blog devoted to Hunters in World of Warcraft, and if you know also that WoW Hunters use "traps" quite a bit, the awesomeness of the visual pun really hits home.

Want something unique for your blog? A quick search across the ‘net will reveal thousands of possibilities. The most important thing is to be sure you have that link. Oh, and while we’re at it: Be sure all RSS links point to the same place! I’ve found a lot of blogs with links to FeedBurner, but the blogger never redirected the default link. That generally takes a very small tweak to one of your theme files (index.php, footer.php, or header.php), but will ensure, if you’re using FeedBurner, you see a more accurate number of subscribers.

Item 2: Contact Link

Something that is harder to find on many blogs (because it flat-out isn’t there!) is an email link to the blogger, or a link to a contact page. Why is this important? A few days ago, I was visiting a friend’s blog and noticed she had two fairly prominent RSS links, one right above the other. On a hunch (because one was clearly a FeedBurner link, and the other looked like a theme default), I moused over both. Yep, two different links. It’s really not a huge deal: FeedBurner aggregates all feeds from a site pretty effectively. But stylistically, it’s probably something most of us would want to correct. After all, not all of our readers (in fact, probably not all bloggers) might know that either link will provide an equally robust RSS feed.

There will be times when a reader will want to interact with you…give them a contact point!

It was a pretty simple task to find the blogger’s contact page, fill in the short form and give her a head’s up. But there have been other times, when a more serious coding error was evident, that I couldn’t do that, and had to resort to commenting on a blog post to alert a blogger to an issue.

There will be times–perhaps not many, but at least a few–when a reader will want to interact with you outside the comments section of your posts. Give them that outlet! It can be an email link, a graphic that shows your email address (thereby reducing the chance for spam), or, as I have done, a contact form.

Item 3: Tell Your Readers About You

An "About" page tells readers why you are qualified to write about your subject.

There are a lot of people who are very reluctant to share personal information with strangers, whether over the Internet or otherwise. I certainly appreciate that. Your "About" page doesn’t need to be an autobiography. But it should describe you to the extent that it establishes your bona fides: Why are you qualified to talk about whatever it is you’re going to discuss on your blog?

Now don’t get hung up on the "qualifications" idea: A simple desire to write is plenty of qualification for many. But if you’re going to blog about how to play a holy priest in World of Warcraft, a static statement of your experience and other relevant factors isn’t too much to ask.

Many bloggers do this with a simple text widget in a sidebar, with a couple of sentences about who they are or why they’re blogging. Others (the minority, to be sure) provide a life story, résumé, and curriculum vitae! My own "About" page describes my gaming background, as well as some details of my academic and personal careers, concluding with a bit more personal information. I’m not concerned about "Internet stalkers" but I’m also not going to put my cellphone number out there (or my street address).

Share what you’re comfortable with, but try to put something out there to help your readers get to know you better.

Item 4: Provide a Search Box

This is a default in just about every blogging theme, regardless of platform.¹ Believe me, there will come a time when a reader–or you, yourself–will want to find something in your blog.

Give your readers tools to explore more of your blog!

For WordPress, there are plenty of search addons, but I’m pretty happy with the default function built in to the platform. Most addons do more in-depth indexing, so searches may be faster and results more robust. If you find your default isn’t meeting your needs, it’s a pretty easy task to implement a better solution.

The key is, give your readers the tools they need to explore more of your blog…and that is a perfect seque into:

Item 5: Organize Your Archives

I will be the first to admit, I am pretty bad at providing internal links in my articles. In fact, let’s be honest: I suck at it. Complete and epic failure: that’s me. However, I have provided you several ways to find stuff. First, of course, is the (currently MIA) search box. I also have a sitemap listed in the navigation bar. I have a calendar, to show you on what days I published stuff. I use categories (and fortunately for all of us, a lot fewer than I used to have!) for every article and tags for most articles.

I also have a tag cloud (which isn’t as comprehensive as I’d like, but there were aesthetic considerations at play in that area). But most importantly, I have a couple of handy drop-down boxes in the first sidebar. The first organizes all my posts by month, so if you know what you’re looking for was earlier this month, you can pull up a listing of everything I wrote in September. The second lists items by category, which is okay unless you’re looking for a generic WoW article or one on blogging. Hey…I never said it was perfect!

The point is, if you want to find something here that isn’t necessarily on the front page, I’ve given you a lot of tools to do that. Do the same for your readers, and they will love you for it!

So there are my five "must-haves" for blog design. Are there any you find fault with? What did I leave out that you believe is critical to a successful blog? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

The working title of this article is "Tell Me What You Think." It will be interesting to see if I come up with a better one before I hit "Publish" on this post.

I can hear you thinking, "Kes, what the hell are you on about, birdman?" (Incidentally, you may be surprised to know I have no particular affinity for birds, or even birds of prey. I’m just sayin’.)

Okay, so here’s my thought: You’ve seen me talk about Thesis premium WordPress theme; you’ve seen the ads on my site and in my RSS feed. Guess what? I haven’t received a single affiliate remuneration from those (not that I really expected any, but again, I’m just sayin’).

When I purchased Thesis, I opted for the "single-blog" option. The alternative is the "developer option" which, for (I think) twice the cost, one can install Thesis on an unlimited number of websites, and you are also allowed to remove the Thesis link from the blog’s footer. (I’ve replaced it in my theme with an ad: that’s a legitimate change.)

So here’s my thought: What if I upgraded my license to the Dev version, and held a contest to design a personalized blog theme for one, two or even three lucky winners (using Thesis, of course). There would be a few terms and conditions, but nothing too onerous (like, I wouldn’t want your first-born (or second or third!) child). Would any of my Dear Readers be interested in such a thing? Let me know!