ODS.OdsBlogFAQ

What is a Weblog?

"Weblog" (also known as "Blog") is a Web based Log or Diary system.

What makes a Blog valuable?

They provide individuals and groups with a convenient solution for automated Web content generation and publication.

Why should I set up a blog?

A blog is a socially oriented tool for informally or formally sharing information, experiences, and knowledge across personal and professional networks.

How is my blog organized?

All your posts are displayed in reverse-chronological order, the latest post being displayed on top.

• Categories: You can categorize each post by picking one or more categories. Your readers can then browse your posts by category.
• Calendar and archives: Just as via categories, you can browse people's posts via the calendar or archives tab. Via the calendar, you can look at posts for each day while browsing through the archives will give you longer time frames.
• Search and Advanced Search - Plus there's the search function that you will find on most of the blogs which can of course deliver fast and accurate results to you.

What are comments?

Comments are usually short articles from other people regarding a post you have written. You can always leave comments regarding certain posts. Other readers can again comment on these comments. Also, readers leave an email or the internet address of his or her blog with the comment so people can learn a bit more about the person.

However, please beware that spamming other people's blogs by including commercial ads in your comments is NOT welcome.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication which enables you to notify other people about your new blog entries. You post your Web log entries in the XML specification RSS. News readers all over the world can view your blog entries on content aggregators.

What is RSS Auto Discovery?

RSS Auto Discovery will automatically find the syndication feed of a blog, news item, or web page if it has one.

What RSS versions are supported?

ODS Weblog currently supports RSS versions 0.91, 0.92 and 2.0.

What is a tag?

A tag works like a keyword. Like categories, they are used to describe people, groups, or posts. You can tag a post with several tags separated by commas.

Example: tags for the post your wrote about your holiday in Australia could be:

holiday, Australia, down under, sun, hot, Melbourne, Sydney, dingos.

Tags Technology Virtuoso SQL XML Web 2.0.

Having many tags helps your posts be found more easily, but fewer tags may also help more in organizing your posts.

Does one have to register with ODS Weblog to view my blog?

No. Your blog can be viewed by any internet user. They do not have to register with ODS to view your blog.

What blogging APIs are supported?

ODS Weblog provides support for several APIs based on the XML-RPC. These include the blogger API, MetaWeblog API, MovableType and xmlStorageSystem API.

How do I go about creating a blog in ODS Weblog?

Log in to ODS, go to Home->My Blogs and click Create.

Can I personalize my blog?

Yes, you can personalize your blog in several ways. One way is to just modify items shown on your Weblog Home page, example Amazon Search or AltaVista's BableFish translator. Another option is choose another template under the Settings -> Templates. Here you can change template by selecting from a list of templates or customize one of your own.

How can I post entries to my blog? What tools?

ODS Blog has a web age with a text area or a WSYWIG editor.

Are there other tools I can use to post to my blog?

Like most blog applications, ODS Weblog supports the Blogger API which allows desktop and mobile client tools to connect to the blog for posting and management. Virtuoso also supports MetaWeblog or Movable Type protocols and through moblogging you can use your mobile phone or PDA to post to your OpenLink? Virtuoso Weblog.

What is a blogroll?

A Blogroll is a collection of links to your favorite blogs which are usually placed on your blog homepage.

What is a permalink?

Permalink, short for "permanent link", is the permanent internet address of a post. This is important, as most blogs change regularly, and without a permanent link, the posts would be impossible to find later.

Permalinks are usually indicated by a hash (#) or the permalink at the end of the post.

What is Trackback?

TrackBack is a tool to allow you to notify other blog authors of your blog posts. Most bloggers use it to comment on a blog post as an entry on their site, rather than as comments on the other blog. It's similar to linking to a permalink but it adds the functionality where you actually tell the original blogger that you've linked to them. This is called "sending a ping".

Here's an example:

• First, Kingsley has a blog on Virtuoso Universal Server Linked Tables.
• Mitko, who has is interested in Virtuoso Universal Server, reads Kingsley's blog.
• Mitko has just written an article regarding Virtualization that would perfectly supplement Kingsley's last post. Mitko creates his post and believes all of Kingsley's readers will want read this article.
• So, Mitko copies the Trackback-URL of Kingsley's post into his Trackback function. Then, Mitko's blog sends a message to Kingsley's post and Kingsley's post will display the "Trackback", which will indicate there is another article to view on that subject.

How to Give My Blog Content Tags Meaning via MOAT Ontology?

MOAT (Meaning Of A Tag) provides a Semantic Web framework to publish semantically-annotated content from free-tagging. For more information about Virtuoso MOAT Server and ODS support you can read here. Here is a scenario showing how this ontology can be used in Weblog post message:

• Suppose you have defined MOAT server and have defined a rule set with name "paris" for ex.
• In the New post form enter in the Tag section tag "paris"
• Now when you go to the MOAT tab you can associate your tag with the offered concepts

How to Hyperlink Content in My Blog?

• Suppose you have entered as above MOAT server and have defined a rule set with name "paris".
• Go to ODS Settings->Content Hyperlinking
• Click the "Import from MOAT" button.
• Select an URI and phrase from the retrieved ones. Note that for one phrase only 1 URI can be imported.
• As result the prase for hyperlink will be added
• Now go to your Weblog instance
• Click the link "New post" and enter in the form:
  1. for Title: my second blog test
  2. for Message: Where is paris?
• Click the button "Post" and go to Home.
• As result the phrase "paris" will be shown as a link in the new post body, and this link will lead to the URI you have selected when importing from MOAT from above.

• You can find more detailed information with screenshots here.
• You can find notes on ODS Weblog Automatic Hyperlinking here.

How can I upstream (export) my Blog?

Upstreaming keeps your blogs synchronized amongst your various blog sites. You can find an example of ODS Weblog Upstreaming using Atom Protocol here.

Does ODS Weblog support Movable Type API?

Yes. You can find detailed information here.

Does ODS Weblog support Meta Weblog (XML-RPC) API?

Yes. You can find detailed information here.

Does ODS Weblog support Blogger API?

Yes. Detailed information you can find here.

How to stop the Automatic Links for a relevant string?

At the moment, you cannot stop Automatic Links only for a chosen string. You can turn them off for an entire post, by including the following tag anywhere in the article --

<no-auto-href />

OpenLink? recommends that the author always place the <no-auto-href /> at the very end and/or the very beginning of a post, so it is easily visible to later editors.

How do I Downstream (Import) from other blog sites?

You can Downstream content from other blogs to your own blog through Settings ->Downstream (Import). You can find a sample scenario here.

What Weblog Ubiquity Commands are supported?

A full list and examples of Weblog ubiquity commands you can find here.

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