{"id":727,"date":"2006-01-20T13:20:28","date_gmt":"2006-01-20T13:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/20\/essential_downl\/"},"modified":"2013-05-07T18:41:51","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T23:41:51","slug":"essential_downl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><ul>\n<li><strong>Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSS<\/strong><br>Are you reading blogs by typing in each site\u2019s URL and perusing the site to look for updates?\u00a0 If so, you should hang your head in shame over the time you\u2019re wasting.\u00a0 You should using <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/News_aggregator\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">news aggregator<\/a> to show you all new headlines\/postings in a single place.\u00a0 That way you have a single page that you can scan to see if your favorite websites (assuming they\u2019ve set up <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/RSS_(protocol)\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a> feeds) have new content for you to come read.\u00a0 It\u2019s a huge time saver.\n<p>I use <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloglines.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bloglines,<\/a> which is web-based and free.\u00a0 I\u2019ve set my Bloglines dashboard as my home page in Firefox, so whenever I open up my browser I can see if there\u2019s new stuff at my favorite blogs, news sites, or general websites (helpful hint:\u00a0 if your spouse blogs, it\u2019s a good idea to put his\/her\u2019s at the very top so you never miss the latest).\u00a0 And many popular news websites like BBC, NYT, etc., have RSS feeds, too.\u00a0 I can scan headlines, or read the whole article.\u00a0 And I can easily open up the originating webpage if I want to see it in its original form.<\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019m at it, if any of you have the ear of webmasters for major Islamic websites (e.g., IslamOnline) please urge them to set up RSS feeds for their sites.\u00a0 More and more people simply don\u2019t have time to surf the web just check for updates\u2013smart webmasters make it easy for readers to keep up by using RSS.\u00a0 Admittedly, most people don\u2019t rely on RSS yet, but you\u2019re definitely missing out on hits from a valuable demographic who no longer have the patience for the old way of doing things.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Mozilla Firefox.<\/span><br>If you\u2019re still using Internet Explorer, you really ought to be hanging your head in shame.\u00a0 It\u2019s antiquated, slow and sometimes even downright dangerous (there are all sorts of security holes that expose you to virus and spyware threats without even clicking a button).\u00a0 For the love of God, get with the program and install the Mozilla <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mozilla.com\/firefox\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Firefox<\/a>, which is free, and waaaay cooler.\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Firefox add-ons.<\/span><br>There all sorts of really useful, entertaining and time-saving free <a href=\"https:\/\/addons.mozilla.org\/?application=firefox\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Firefox add-ons<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s really worth the effort to explore them, as they often allow you to do really neat things (e.g., translating a word from Spanish to English) with a single mouseclick. <br>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0  <\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Test your blog in IE, but without using IE<\/span><br>Since IE is the most finicky and tempermental major browser out there, it\u2019s important to test your site in IE periodically to make sure it looks right to everybody (this is particularly true of Blogger in my experience).\u00a0\n<p>I recommend <a href=\"https:\/\/addons.mozilla.org\/extensions\/moreinfo.php?id=1419&amp;application=firefox\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">IE Tab<\/a>, which allows you to open up webpages in Firefox but see how they\u2019d look if you were using Internet Explorer.\u00a0 This is a great way to test your site without putting yourself as the mercy of IE\u2019s flawed security.\u00a0 You can choose to open links in a special tab that renders according to IE rules, or you can rightclick and change your current tab\/window into an IE version.\u00a0 It\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Consolidate your Instant Messenger apps into a single app<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.download.com\/Trillian\/3000-2150-10047473.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br>Trillian<\/a> is a free IM client that allows you to use one program for all the major IM networks (i.e., AOL IM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger).\u00a0 That way you can have one address book, too.\u00a0 And if your office uses, say, MSN Messenger for internal communication but your friends use Yahoo Messenger it\u2019s harder for your boss to know you\u2019re being naughty.\n<p>All you hip young bloggers who are toggling back and forth between IM clients need to take a tip from an old timer.\u00a0 Put down the iPod for a minute and install Trillian so you can stop juggling IM programs.\u00a0 <br>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">Use <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Performancing <\/span>to blog seamlessly while surfing<\/span><br>If you use one of the major blogging platforms (i.e., Blogger, TypePad, LiveJournal,\u2026), install the <a href=\"http:\/\/performancing.com\/firefox\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Performancing Firefox add-on<\/a>, which allows you to conveniently blog while surfing.\u00a0 It\u2019s really convenient. <span style=\"font-style: italic\"><br>[A tip of the horned helm to Faraz at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seekersdigest.org\/download-of-the-day-performancing-firefox-extension-lifehacker.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Seekers Digest <\/a><span style=\"font-style: italic\">for bringing this great app to my attention.]\n<p><\/p><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This list obviously isn\u2019t exhaustive, so please make suggestions if you have any.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site\u2019s URL and perusing the site to look for updates?\u00a0 If so, you should hang your head in shame over the time you\u2019re wasting.\u00a0 You should using news aggregator to show you all new headlines\/postings in a single place.\u00a0 That way you have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":357,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webtech"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site&#039;s URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site&#039;s URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Akram&#039;s Razor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-01-20T13:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-07T23:41:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Svend White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Svend White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/\",\"name\":\"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-01-20T13:20:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-07T23:41:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040\"},\"description\":\"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site's URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/\",\"name\":\"Akram&#039;s Razor\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040\",\"name\":\"Svend White\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Svend White\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/author\/svendwhite\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor","description":"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site's URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor","og_description":"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site's URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/","og_site_name":"Akram&#039;s Razor","article_published_time":"2006-01-20T13:20:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-07T23:41:51+00:00","author":"Svend White","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Svend White","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/","name":"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers - Akram&#039;s Razor","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-01-20T13:20:28+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-07T23:41:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040"},"description":"Aggregate your news\/bogs with RSSAre you reading blogs by typing in each site's URL and perusing the site to look for updates?&nbsp; If so, you should","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/2006\/01\/essential_downl\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Essential downloads for kewl bloggers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/","name":"Akram&#039;s Razor","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/f9db140b6c8f68946a6ff4474bad8040","name":"Svend White","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/102bd380e329795710632f1246548993?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Svend White"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/author\/svendwhite\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/357"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/akramsrazor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}