I’ve said previously that WordPress.com is an excellent free blogging platform, and have encouraged SMUG students to start their own blogs on WordPress.com. But some people might not feel ready to start a blog of their own, so I’ve set up a blog to create a safe place for experimentation.
I call it the Training Wheels blog and it’s at http://trainingwheels.wordpress.com/.
So if you would like to write some blog posts without it being your own blog, and don’t want to feel like you have to keep a blog going, you can just sign up for a wordpress.com account, taking the “just a username, please” option. Then send me an e-mail message (see the sidebar at right for my address) to let me know what e-mail address you used to sign up for your account, and I will add you as an author for the Training Wheels blog.
Then you can write some posts and experiment with the formatting options, learn how to create links and how to insert photos and videos, and otherwise practice using WordPress.com. Write a post or two, and then you’ll have more confidence to start your own blog.
So in essence, the Training Wheels blog is like scratch paper where you can doodle, and get hands-on experience.
With a diverse set of authors and no common theme, it’s the Seinfeld blog: about everything, and about nothing.
What a great idea. I wish I’d tried it out more before diverting all the traffic from my blogger blog here…. if only wordpress.com would allow me to embed Jeff Turner’s real estate shows, I’d be a happy camper. I guess you can embed crap from YouTube but you can’t embed a program you paid for that would be of interest to your readers. Oy.
Ditto, that’s a fantastic idea Lee and thanks for the tips on facebook privacy settings.
Karen, I agree that WordPress.com’s limitations on flash player embedding can be a concern. I have found that once a given player reaches a critical mass, however, WordPress finds a way to incorporate it. The other alternative is to use the wordpress.org software and install it on server space you rent…then you have a lot more control over the kinds of players you can use.
That’s a great idea, however, I’ve already set up my blogs and have been posting to them. Please take a look…
http://cynthiacutright.wordpress.com/
http://lukeionacademy.wordpress.com/