21st March 2002

Blogging is more than a buzzword - it's an easy way to upload your thoughts to the Web for the whole wide world to see. Most "blog" tools allow you to edit your entries within the browser. Problem is, if another link steals the focus from the current window, you could have wiped out what you were editing. Same holds true for every other Web-based form. For this reason, I've started to edit in a blank Outlook message. Why? It autosaves every three minutes, and nothing can wipe it out (short of me closing the window without saving it first or the machine crashing). More importantly, I have an extended clipboard at my disposal. No, I'm not talking about Office's annoying add-on. When you enable the BCC field in your message window, suddenly you have four lines available. In these, I put strings of text I need most (like the code for linking to a page with extra attributes, code for my embedded comments, et al). There's no need to install any third- party clipboard extenders; we might as well use what's already there. When you're finished, copy the body back into the Web form, close the message window, and nobody will be the wiser.