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The Craft of Writing

Tag Archives: Blogging


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CSS and php

I was so proud of my new blog. It is a WordPress.org site. It was gorgeous. At least it was gorgeous until I needed to do something with the header.php file. That evidently overrode much of what I’d done in CSS. Now it looks sort of like alphabet soup – and yes, I’m being generous.

At least I know where I went wrong. I also know how to fix it. And I now know how to generate a screen that tells people I’m working on my site and gives them a link to click to get to the old site. All in all, I’d say I’m doing very well.

I’m certain that any of this I can do, anyone else can do. I encourage you to give it a try if you’re just not happy with the way your blog looks or you want a widget that contains script. That was the motivator for me. I wanted to help the kids at One Simple Wish badly enough to go through this rigamarole at this precise moment. These foster kids are well worth the time invested in the switch.

So what is your reason for wanting more control over your blog or Web site? We want to know.


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Tackling HTML and CSS

I’ve noticed I can add CSS to my blog to make it do what I want. That has not made sense to me until now!

Yes. Going with the theory that knowledge is power, I am tackling HTML and CSS – in the most basic sense. Continue reading →


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Hits to Followers?

Sigh.

I have two blogs that contain science content. One is directly related to my book about scale model testing and fluid dynamics: Fluids in Motion. The other has general science information on a variety of topics: Synthesis.

Hits on Fluids in MotionSince my book, Modeling Ships and Space Craft: The Science and Art of Mastering the Oceans and Sky, was released by Springer in October, I have had hits on my blogs from all over the world! It’s very exciting. It’s also marvelous to know someone is actually reading my blog.

The thing is, while I’m getting a lot of hits, I’m not getting a lot of followers.

My question to you is twofold:

1. Does it matter that they are not following the blog?

2. How do I convert hits to follows?


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Redirecting Your WordPress Blog

I admit it. Sometimes, after I’ve started something, a better idea comes along. The choice is to wait until I’ve thought of the ideal name or thing – oh, wait. That’s what I thought I did – or get going with what I’ve got. The penalty of starting and changing your mind can be excessive…

The last time I needed to switch my blog to a new url it was a nightmare. I honestly don’t want to think about it, let alone describe it in detail. THIS time I decided I needed a different name for my fluid dynamics blog – I had Fluid Dynamics in Action as the name because it was about fluid dynamic principles in action. It seemed to anyone interested in fluid dynamics that I was simply not aware that fluid dynamics is the study of fluids in motion.

Anyway. I wanted to change the url for my blog from FluidDynamicsInAction to FluidsInMotion.

All I needed to do was redirect the traffic from the first url to the second. It costs $13 per year and took about three minutes to do. Imagine my delight to discover all my content and formatting is now at the new url!

Yes! So you can go to http://fluiddynamicsinaction.wordpress.com and you’ll wind up at http://fluidsinmotion.wordpress.com. If you go to http://fluidsinmotion.wordpress.com you’ll wind up there, too.

Oh. Happy, happy, happy day!

If you need to make a change between WordPress urls or even a complete change in domains, this will walk you through it.


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Crazy

My book came out in October and it’s been a scramble ever since. I’ve never promoted a book. Even though I’ve read what others have done to promote their books, I still wasn’t sure where to begin. I started doing anything that would attract my attention and – voila – I’m getting a mention here and there. My press release goes out tomorrow. My website is ready. My general science blog, Synthesis, is ready. My fluid dynamics blog, Fluid Dynamics in Action, is all set. I’ve tried to create a meaningful Facebook presence – sorry to everyone who has been pestered with unintended emails today!!!!!

Now all I can do is see what happens next!


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Blogging at BioBuzz!

I’m delighted to announce that I’m a member of the BioBuzz blog team. BioBuzz covers all things BioTech and is working to build a strong BioTech community in Maryland. They offer networking events, news, mentors, and info on career opportunities.

I’m currently covering biofuels – and couldn’t be happier about it.

Check out my first post!

Gina


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WordPress or Blogger?