Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday: Junk Blog

One of my favorite blogging tools is my "junk blog." My junk blog is a behind the scenes blog that I set up for several uses. First, it serves as a test blog to make sure things like template changes, widgets, color changes, or any other coding or posting changes are working correctly before I make the changes to my real blog.


I also like to use my junk blog to jot down post ideas. Sometimes I may have a half-formed thought that I'd like to expound on later or just a general idea for a post. I'll jot these down on my junk blog (maybe "administrative blog" sounds better) and save as drafts. That way, I don't have to worry about accidentally hitting publish before I'm ready. (Um, yeah, I've done that.)


I always put the Homeschool Showcase together on my administrative blog first. This allows me to get the skeleton post ready and, later, go back and add details such as additional commentary or photos.


I've got my administrative blog set up so that it doesn't produce a feed, it isn't listed in a directory and it can be read by invitation only. That way, no one has to see my "behind the scenes" mess, and I've got a place to jot my ideas and test changes with messing up my real blog. It works for me.


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Posted by Kris at 12:01 AM
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16 comments:

  3. This has been on my to-do list...

    Do you set up all the aesthetics just like your blog? When you want to post a draft on your real blog, is it just a cut and paste deal then? Thanks!
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  4. LOL, my junk blog became my real blog! I wanted my mom to start blogging, so I set up a blog to try to figure out what I was doing to encourage and teach her. Over 100 posts and thousands of public mistakes later, I am plugging away. I think I might set up a new "junk blog" so that I can try to use something other than a blogspot template. Thanks for the idea!
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  5. I really like this idea, especially when fiddling with layouts!
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  6. I'm with you - I do the same thing! Great minds think alike...or something like that, right?

    Jolanthe
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  7. This is a great idea. I was nervous when I was playing around with templates. And when I type a post, I'm always triple-checking whether I'm clicking Publish or Save. :)
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  9. I just discovered the test blog by reading something like this and I do like it. It's a saver
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  10. I like that idea. I'm always nervous about things like that.
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  11. @ Kitchen Stewardship -- Um, yes and no. I generally have all of my blog button widgets, for example, but not the followers widget or my blog roll. Mostly, I keep on my junk blog things that could be lost in a template change. Things that are hosted on Blogger, like followers, I don't worry about. So, most of the stuff is there, but it doesn't look like it does on my real blog. I don't worry about how it's laid out.

    Also, I don't add all the real coding to my junk blog template -- such as Mr. Linky or stat trackers.

    On my posts, I usually do lay everything out like I want it, then, go into HTML mode and copy and paste.
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  12. This is a great idea, thanks!!
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  13. I think this is something I should do!! (I am doing the TOS Crew this fall & this may just save me!!)I really am afraid to do anything that will mess up what I already have:)
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  14. What a great idea. Thanks for the post.
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