Becky Says...

November 5, 2000

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I Like

I like it when things work out well.

Something I like quite a lot is DiaryLand. I started these entries on June 24, after giving some thought to where I wanted to put them. I decided on DiaryLand for several reasons, one being that Jackie had such nice things to say about the setup, and I liked her site. DiaryLand's terms of service were more than agreeable, too. Andrew, who started this service, doesn't threaten to take over anyone's intellectual property---and that's a biggie, folks. And he's also promised no ads on the sites. When people who have sites here sign on to update, we do see ads. But they're unobtrusive.

With DiaryLand sites, it's possible to do as little or as much of the coding as you like. I started off with the standard dark blue template, and did the coding for the entries themselves---which I had learned how to do. But I didn't know enough at the time to feel comfortable setting up a template for myself.

As I learned more, I changed some things. I like the color, so that remained. But I changed the things that are in the left column to suit myself. I may at some point change the bottom bar, but for the present it suits me to leave it as is.

The really nice thing, to my way of thinking, is that it allows people who don't have the time or the interest in learning HTML to have online journal sites with ease. Anyone with an Internet connection can have a site here. The last I heard, there were over 70,000 of us. Some have chosen to keep their sites secret or just share the URL with friends or family, which is possible by using password protection on the site.

In addition to DiaryLand, Andrew also offers weblog-style pages to any who want to use them, at Pitas.com. The same deal holds there---you can change or redesign a template to suit yourself, and can use whatever font sizes and colors in your entries as you please. And just because there's a space provided for you to enter a URL, you certainly don't have to---if you don't want to link to something, that's fine.

I actually have two sites at Pitas.com. One hasn't been publicized because I'm not quite sure how I want to use it. After I set it up to suit myself, though, I got to thinking about how I'd like to use a Pitas page for my business site's "what's new" information. I read through the Pitas terms of service, and didn't see anything that said I couldn't use the service for a business page, but I wasn't positive, nor was I positive I could have two. So I sent e-mail to Andrew, who promptly answered that I was welcome to use the page for a business, and was welcome to have both.

The choice to use Pitas.com rather than another service for the updates was based on ease of updating. Like a Diaryland site, a Pitas.com one can be updated from any browser; it isn't necessary to use FTP. While I'm comfortable using FTP, it's nice to be able to skip that step, especially if I happen to be away from my own computer.

Andrew has recently set up two other free services, NotifyList.com and SignMyGuestbook.com, which I haven't needed yet. But I'm on someone's notify list through this service, and have signed one of the guest books. If you're in the market for any of these four services, which you're welcome to use independent of each other, I can recommend them wholeheartedly. One thing to remember, though, is that if you want to start a discussion list, you'll need to go elsewhere, as this is not set up to be interactive.

Has something gone particularly well for you? Perhaps better than you had hoped it would? Come share it!

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If you didn't have a chance yesterday, please go back to read this entry and follow the link. I rarely ask people to read a specific entry, but I am doing so this time mainly because the piece to which I linked is so moving.

Text � copyright 2000 Becky