Blogs today have become a mainstay of discussion in the internet. The word "blog" is derived from the term "web log" and is fashioned after a journaling style of writing. Blogging has evolved into more that just personal thoughts.  Academic blog entries could be focused on technical observations specific to a field of discipline or study, or a series of opinion-oriented blurbs about current events. Web users will typically "follow" a blog that they are interested in which means that they will frequently check, or be notified, when new blog entries are posted.

The blog feature adds a blog section to your site as well as blogging tools for you.

Creating Blog Entries

To add a blog from your site, browse to your site and click the "Blog" link in your primary menu. Next click on the link that says "+ Add Blog entry" and begin writing your blog.

When writing your blog, keep in mind that you can also attach files to you blog entries. For example, if you were writing some blog commentary on an article that is not published on the web, but you have the PDF file of the article, then you can attach the PDF file to the blog post. You have the ability to create "Tags" or categories for every blog entry. You can also use existing tags that you had created previously for other content.  Visitors can also find specific blog entries by browsing the categories that you have selected for it.

Viewing Blog entries

All of your blog entries can be viewed by clicking on "Blog" in the primary menu of your site. You can also view and manage blog entries by navigating to the Control Panel and clicking on the "Content" button . On the left column you will see a "Blog entries" link that will display a list of your announcements. Visitors can find specific blog entries by browsing the category that you have selected for it.

Public versus Private Blog

You may want your blog to be viewable only by a specific or trusted audience. The blog feature gives you the ability to create a private blog where access to view the blog entries is restricted to the user that you invite. For more on inviting user to your web site, see Managing Your Users.

To modify the Public/Private setting, go to the Control Panel and click on the "Features" button and a list of available features will be displayed. You can the features public/private status by selecting from the feature's "Public" or "Private" from the corresponding drop-down menu. Make sure to click "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page. For more on information see Managing Features.