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April 10, 2005

Blogging 101 - The List

By QBlog in Blogging 101

Every experienced blogger has, at one time or another, endured what some refer to as writer's block. It's a condition that afflicts both good and bad writers, though the symptoms are much easier to detect in good writers. And since writer's block (I call it inspiration drought) is an inevitable condition, many veteran bloggers have developed a veritable blogging "bag of tricks" which provide content in lieu of truly inspired writing.

So, today I reach into my blogging "bag of tricks" and pull out — "bullet points." Bullet points, or unordered lists, are a wonderful tool for bloggers to use any time but they are especially helpful during an inspiration drought.

How?
Many blog tools have a list button built into the WYSIWYG Application. If you write your blog in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mode then clicking the list button should set up your bullet points, just like in any word processing application.

However, if you don't have a list button or aren't working in WYSIWYG mode, here is how to set up your own list in HTML:

<UL>
<LI>List Item</LI>
<LI>Second List Item</LI>
</UL>

That's it. If you want more items, just add more lines. Be sure that you put the "< >" around your code tags and the end tags need the "/" forward slash. If you copy the example above, you'll be fine.

In the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) the "UL" stands for Unordered List and the LI stands for List Item. If you'd like your list numbered, or ordered, then change the "UL" to an "OL" for Ordered List.

Advantages Of Lists
There are many advantages to using a list in your blog post. Here are a few examples:

  • Easy to scan for interesting items

  • Can use incomplete sentences

  • Lists can help organize thoughts

  • People seem to naturally like lists - Top 40 - Top Ten - Sexiest Celebrities

  • One warning about lists. A list item should be relatively short. If you create a list but all the items in your list end up being several sentences long then what you've really done is written a few paragraphs set apart by bullet points instead of spacing or indentation. That sort of defeats the purpose of the list because it doesn't really make the list easy to scan for content.

  • Links to other sites are great in lists (Blogrolls are just lists)

  • Don't make your list too long unless that list is really, really interesting

And that's pretty much all you need to know about lists. If I had anything to add it would be suggested list topics but I'll let you do that. What are some list topics that you've found helpful or interesting in your blogging experience?

Blogging 101 publishes every Sunday and provides blogging tips, advice and tutorials for blog newbies and veterans alike.

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Comments  

Hmmm. I thought I was the only with writer's block this weekend ...

Must be catching.

Favorite list topic this week:
Characteristics of a good (real) blog

Posted by: kathleen | April 10, 2005 5:33 PM

Oh, and in case you're all getting ready to flame me for that last comment (IF indeed anyone's reading on a beautiful warm Sunday) ...

This is a good blog, blog-ically speaking.

But what are the characteristics that make it so? And how can you put that list to use in educating others about what makes good blog?

Posted by: kathleen | April 10, 2005 5:40 PM





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