Giving the Blog thing a go.

[Mad Aussie]

I finally have my Blog sorted to a point where I'm happy to start making it known ... I think.

I've spent the morning customizing the template I chose (one day I'll probably do a lot more with it) and creating a header (that's it below) that's in line with our web design business as well including one of my own photos.

So far it's 1 page with 4 posts ... newest at the top (better for search engine (SEO) ) ... and I really don't know how often I'll post to it yet. For now just planning to post about once a week I think?

As I say on the blog, this is directed more towards learners in digital photography than people who have more experience.

I'm totally new at this so if you go have a look, feel free to give me your thoughts :thumbup:

Astro Visual Photography Blog (http://www.astrovisualphotography.com.au/)

http://www.astrovisualphotography.com.au/av-blog-header.jpg

[Bambi]

I took a quick look and I have to say I really like it! I like the way that you break down the shot and deal with it in a sytematic and easy to understand way.

My only difficulty is that I can't figure out how to register in order to leave comments.

[Mad Aussie]

I haven't even looked at that ... guess there are settings I need to set? I'll check it out right away.

[Mad Aussie]

Found a box 'Anyone Can Register' and ticked that so hopefully that's it ;)

[Bambi]

Found a box 'Anyone Can Register' and ticked that so hopefully that's it ;)


yes, that's it!!!:highfive:

[Mad Aussie]

Cool. I've also set it so everyone's first comment has to be approved ... after that you should be able to comment and it will auto approve.
This helps weed out the spam wanks ;) I've had several over the past week already!

[Bambi]

Cool. I've also set it so everyone's first comment has to be approved ... after that you should be able to comment and it will auto approve.
This helps weed out the spam wanks ;) I've had several over the past week already!

lol, I will await your approval ;)

[Mad Aussie]

Did you leave a comment Bambi? There doesn't appear to be any pending.

[Bambi]

Did you leave a comment Bambi? There doesn't appear to be any pending.

:headslap:
oh right.

sorry, I got distracted. :)

[Mad Aussie]

In that case you are NOT approved :D

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why a comment wasn't showing up :headslap:

[Bambi]

In that case you are NOT approved :D

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why a comment wasn't showing up :headslap:

okay it's there now. I'm multi-taskiing: surfing the 'net and editing photos from today :)

forgive me?:confused:

[Mad Aussie]

Yep ... found it, approved and answered :)

CHeers for that. Good to get the first comment in and see that it's all working ok.

[Marko]

Congrats I quite like it MA - very clean look! :highfive:
I doubt whether ascending or descending chronology on the posts has any effect on seo....but latest posts first are what people expect.

[Mad Aussie]

Congrats I quite like it MA - very clean look! :highfive:
I doubt whether ascending or descending chronology on the posts has any effect on seo....but latest posts first are what people expect.
We'll have to check it out but usually Google looks at the text and the content on the page so having it change at the top (with new posts) should be an advantage.

I had Chantelle have a look before she left a few days ago to go up to Cairns for a weeks holiday (Great Barrier Reef etc) and the first thing she didn't like was the new posts at the top! :headslap:

Marko ... I put a link in there to your Blog/Podcasts ... wasn't sure if you wanted a link to the forum itself or not?

[JAS_Photo]

Very cool and congratulations, M.A.

[Mad Aussie]

Thank you JAS

[casil403]

Great Stuff MA....congrats! :highfive: I bookmarked it!

[Iguanasan]

Where's the RSS feed? Some people say RSS is dead but I still find it quite handy.

[Bambi]

I am going to have to disagree with Chantelle on this one. the newest post on the top will make it much easier for followers to find your latest post. otherwise we have to scroll.

[Marko]

Thanks for the link MA, fine the way it is!

You want to keep it (new posts first) the way it is MA...again simply because that's the standard. Imagine if someone goes to the blog in a year (or 5) from now. They should not see "old news" as the first thing they see.

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks Casil.

RSS is at the bottom of the page Iggy. We use RSS on our cycling websites as news feeds. We love RSS.

Marko and Bambi ... I have no intention of changing the chronology of posts :)

[AcadieLibre]

Thought I had seen this earlier, but guess I did, was just there and well done. Not read much, did a scan and looks like it is well written. I don't read blogs so not like any type of expert here. I tried it, think I lasted two days and realized I had you people to bother, why disrupt the rest of the net, lol. Also don't ya'all (yes cleared my spell check) have a just .au, what is with the .com.au? Government not able to buy a proper top level name and have to get the bargain version?

[Mad Aussie]

Thank AL. The blog is aimed at people with way less experience than you of course :)

I'm trying to keep it simple and easy to read, structured. Every post I put in there will be in the same format. Uniformity to make it easy for people to follow.

Whether I can keep it up for a long period of time will remain to be be seen. Whether it will grow into something more complex will also remain to be seen.

We've always had .com.au ... that's just how it is. We have .org.au ... .net.au ... even the government has .gov.au :)

[AcadieLibre]

Thank AL. The blog is aimed at people with way less experience than you of course :)

I'm trying to keep it simple and easy to read, structured. Every post I put in there will be in the same format. Uniformity to make it easy for people to follow.

Whether I can keep it up for a long period of time will remain to be be seen. Whether it will grow into something more complex will also remain to be seen.

We've always had .com.au ... that's just how it is. We have .org.au ... .net.au ... even the government has .gov.au :)

It just is odd, because we have a top level .ca so I thought it would be .au the same. I was just surprised, not only is Australia a country but a continent, just thought you folks deserve a .au without the pre .whatever preceding it.

[Mad Aussie]

Yeh I hear ya ... but it's always been that way so we've never even thought about it.

Maybe it's because if you gather all the people in Aussie together in one city (about 20 million I think?) it would still only be as populated as the Greater New York area or Dallas/Fort Worth!

[AntZ]

How do you separate companies(.com) from organisations(.org) and government(.gov) and .net and probably more?

[AcadieLibre]

How do you separate companies(.com) from organisations(.org) and government(.gov) and .net and probably more?

Easy we have .net, .org, .tv, .ca, .com, etc. All of those are top level domains. We just add the dot whatever and register it. It is that .ca like .us is country specific and does not require a pre dot anything. I have seen it with other country specific names that do it the same .com.au but just was curious why. Ok those are second level domain names, guess the Aussie Gov doesn't want the countries peons to have top level ones. So you are aware it was a real curiosity, so I looked it up since the two Aussies here were unable to answer, like either you give a sh** ... lol ... but I find something looks or doesn't add up, I look it up.

.au - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.au)

[Mad Aussie]

Actually ... the way we do it keeps the distinguishment of the site being Australian. If we just did a .org for instance a viewer wouldn't know where the site was based. Our way it's always obvious.

We can just register .com's if we want though. We often do actually. Both of my cycling sites own both .com and .com.au

[Mad Aussie]

I've added a few things into the Resources page of my blog. Like the blog itself it's aimed more at the newer photographer than the experienced photographer of course.

Anyhow there's the following in there now ...

Learning Photography with Astro Visual (http://www.astrovisualphotography.com.au/resources/learning-photography/) - a newbies guide to digital photography

Selective Sharpening (http://www.astrovisualphotography.com.au/selective-sharpening) – learn how I selectively sharpen elements in my photos.

Terms for Newbies (http://www.astrovisualphotography.com.au/terms-for-newbies) – a list of commonly used terms and slang found in forums and websites to help people new to digital photography understand what people are telling them.

These might be interesting to some members/visitors :shrug:

[Bambi]

I am really enjoying this Blog MA!. I have also forwarded to the photo club I belong to in case they want to explore.

nice work!

[Marko]

Nice MA - Suggestion though..for your "pages" like the selective sharpening page, I wanted to leave a comment but there was no link that said 'comment'. I'd try to fix this asap imo. There's likely many good WP comment pluggins out there.

[F8&Bthere]

I took a quick look and I have to say I really like it! I like the way that you break down the shot and deal with it in a sytematic and easy to understand way.

Ditto that, nice work

[Mad Aussie]

Nice MA - Suggestion though..for your "pages" like the selective sharpening page, I wanted to leave a comment but there was no link that said 'comment'. I'd try to fix this asap imo. There's likely many good WP comment pluggins out there.
In the process of customizing a new template so I'll add that one to the list :)


Bambi and F8 ... thanks for those comments and that referral Bambi :)

[Bambi]

Bambi and F8 ... thanks for those comments and that referral Bambi :)

no problem. I'll send you a bill :)

[Mad Aussie]

no problem. I'll send you a bill :)
Sure thing ... and then I'll send you mine ;)

[Bambi]

Sure thing ... and then I'll send you mine ;)


that works. My bill will read: 'owes a photo lesson when Bambi travels to Australia'. :laughing:

Yours can read : 'owes bed and board when the Mad Aussie Canadian Tour occurs'. :thumbup:

[Mad Aussie]

that works. My bill will read: 'owes a photo lesson when Bambi travels to Australia'. :laughing:

Yours can read : 'owes bed and board when the Mad Aussie Canadian Tour occurs'. :thumbup:
You are under selling me ;)

[Bambi]

You are under selling me ;)

well you will have to prove me wrong then. ;)

[Mad Aussie]

No ... I just need a better pimp!

[Bambi]

No ... I just need a better pimp!

good luck with that ;)

[Mad Aussie]

The new template is up on the blog now ... we took the same one that F8 used for his and then we paid one of our programmers to customize it for us.

I still have to go through and sort out some of the formatting and maybe adjust the CSS but I think it looks good now. Still clean enough but has that little extra pizazz as well.


Nice MA - Suggestion though..for your "pages" like the selective sharpening page, I wanted to leave a comment but there was no link that said 'comment'. I'd try to fix this asap imo. There's likely many good WP comment pluggins out there.
Will have to look at this ... the blog is indeed set for comments on that page but there doesn't appear to be anywhere to comment in as you say. Will dig deeper on that one.