Digg and my Google Reader Feed added to the Blog Laboratory

I added my Google Reader Feed and RSS content from Digg.com on the far right column.

I share stories using my Google Reader account. If you are unfamiliar with Google Reader and RSS, you should check it out on your Google Account. It is the best RSS reader around. The share button adds selected stories to a page and an RSS feed that can be used on your blog or other page.

The stories from Digg.com come from the Digg Widget that I added to the sidebar. While there are ways to dress up a Digg feed, I kept it simple to blend in with the design of my blog and to keep the headlines from pressing on the sides of the column.

Ray Bradbury on the art of writing.

I found this video on YouTube of Ray Bradbury talking about the art of writing. I posted this on my other blog, but it's such a great video clip I am posting it here too.

Ray Bradbury is in his 80s and still passionate about his craft. He's an amazing writer and an inspiration.

Charles Gnilka is now on Twitter

I just started a Twitter account and added the Twitter badge to this blog. It took less than a minute to get it running. Twitter did an excellent job of creating an easy-to-add badge to Blogger.

Using the new Flock 0.9 Web Browser for blogging

I'm writing this post from the Flock 0.9 Web Browser.  Flock is based on Firefox and described as "The social web browser", meaning it interfaces easily with Blogger, Flickr, Photobucket and other (WARNING! Buzzword ahead!) Web 2.0 websites.

You can see from this screencap the extra buttons meant for specific services.  Instead of having to log into Blogger to write this post, I pushed the feather button on the tab (second from the right) to open a posting window.

All the features are there:  image placement, fonts...even tags. 

I used an earlier version of Flock and found it useful for updating several blogs on different Blogger accounts. You can type your posts while your browser stays on the same page.

The downside was Flock was a bit slow and ended up bogging down on my machine. That may not have been Flock's fault, I was using it on a Windows 2000 machine that could use some more RAM. I use Windows XP Professional now on a more powerful machine. I also like Flock's new interface, which is more organized.

Now the real test. Will I learn to love this browser, or will I find that Flock makes my life more complex? After looking through Flock's capabilities, I see features designed to make accessing RSS feeds, video, blogs, and other web services smoothly.

I'll keep you posted. (No...that was not meant to be a pun.)

Blogged with Flock

Custom search engine added - Search my RSS feeds!

I added my own custom search engine to the sidebar. Blogger's template editor lets you drop code into your blog.

I used a tutorial from Google Operating System to create a search engine that uses the RSS feeds from my Google Reader. Google Reader does not have a search function. If you want to search through your RSS feeds, you have to create one yourself.

I've narrowed the list of feeds down to sites that focus on technology, web design, blogging, SEO, and marketing.

The list of includes feeds from A List Apart, Google Operating System, Slashdot, Digg, Blogger Buzz, Zeldman.com, ProBlogger, Boing Boing, and many others.

If I am looking for a solution to a problem, I turn to this search engine first. I'm always finding new feeds to add to it.

Have a web design problem? Want to know how to market a website? Want to know about the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica? You can probably find the answer here.

The ability to create a custom search engine is a great feature that Google has given their users. If you want to try it out for yourself, check it out here.

The news feed is now open

I just added a link to my RSS news feed on the sidebar. I read dozens of sites on web design, marketing, blogging, and graphics. The best articles I find are shared through my reader's RSS feed.

Adding it to the page was easy. I added a new section to the template, then copy/pasted the feed URL into it.

I wonder how many feeds I could add to the side of one blog?

Using Blogger's labels feature

The labels feature, which you can find in the lower part of the posting section, is a great new feature on Blogger.

Blogs can grow quickly if you post every day. If you cover a wide variety of topics, giving your readers the options to focus on one subject allows them to find the posts that matter most to them.

Welcome to Charles Gnilka's Blog Laboratory

Hello there. I am Charles Gnilka, and this is my blog on Blogger.

I am setting up this blog because I want to experiment with Blogger's new interface and its new features. Since Blogger Beta became the new and improved Blogger, I wanted to try out the new features for myself.

This blog is a testing ground. I plant to experiment with blogging, SEO, and other skills I have learned.

If you have stumbled across this blog and wonder who I am, check out my official blog at charlesgnilka.com.

This is my laboratory for things I learn about web design, CSS, and blogging. Don't worry, there are plenty of safety goggles to go around. Just make sure you don't step on any live cables.

I've always wanted to be a mad scientist and have a lab with lots of bubbling test tubes and electrical gizmos that make noises. Now I have one.

Web design and blogging are so new that most of the practices and skills of the trade are learned by doing. You can read books, magazine articles, and listen to industry experts. To become an expert yourself, you have roll up your sleeves and get to work.

So put on your goggles and your lab coats. Let's play with all the new toys that the wonderful people at Google have given us to play with.

Welcome to my lab!