Web Blogs Make It Easy To Update InformationWeb blogs have become increasingly popular recently. You have almost certainly heard of a web blog and probably even seen one, but that doesn't mean you really know what a web blog consists of or what purpose it can serve. Many blogs on the internet today are simply journal or diary type entries that contain commentary on any number of subjects composed by a single author. They are listed in reverse chronological order, making the most recent entry at the top of the list. Blogs can also allow other viewers (besides the author) to post comments about the entry. This is optional, and many bloggers choose not to allow comments. This differs from a forum because forums allow multiple authors and multiple commentators. Blogs are usually one author or a specific group that authors the blog together. Web blogs most often consist of text (the author's comments on a chosen subject), images and links to other websites or web blogs. Web blog software automatically creates RSS feeds, so blogs have become very popular for search engines. Content Management Software (CMS) helps control the workflow of a website's content, whereas, web blogs are actually a part of a website's content. Blog software does control the content of the blog entries, but that is the extent of the content management of a blog. Blogs are not, however, limited to only being online journals or diaries. Many companies have customized their blog software to work very much differently than the traditional blog. Companies can use blogs internally as a notice board, for example. This way, employees are never left out or forgotten from a mailing list, the most recent event or memo is at the top of the list, and employees can add comments that all the other employees can see. Another internal use for web blogs is a log record. A company that manufactures software could use this by posting the latest release of the software on their blog and getting feedback from all the programmers, designers and testers via the blog comments section. Some companies have even gone as far as using web blog software as a web publishing system to create an entire website. This use of blogs is a simplified version of Content Management Software. Additionally, web blog software is capable of being equipped with add-ons, or plug-ins. Although, adding a certain amount of plug-ins can make a web blog function much the same as Content Management Software, it isn't usually worth all the work involved. If you need the capabilities of Content Management Software, just start with CMS. Most CMS have built in web blog capabilities or plug-ins that can very easily be integrated into the CMS. Both web blogs and Content Management Software make it easy to update and add information. Both are also available in open source and commercial versions. The layout of CMS and blogs are also both usually created using CSS (cascading style sheets). If you are looking for current or future growth, however, Content Management Software has a lot more potential for growth than web blog software. On the other hand, Content Management Software has a greater learning curve than web blog software. Consider your future growth and evaluate the needs of your website before choosing what kind of software you need. |