About Blogs and the COLA Blog

A blog (short for web log) is a series of entries published (posted) online. Typically they are a mix of text and photos, and many have videos and other features. Some people write blogs about what happens in their daily life, about world events or about their community. Blogs are relatively easy to write and can be accessed by anyone on the Internet. 

The COLA blog was created to provide updates and interesting information about the off-leash areas in Seattle.

If you are thinking of writing a blog entry, expect it to take between 30 and 60 minutes to write an entry, including proofing. If you are planning to include photographs, plan for another 20 to 30 minutes the first entry or two. After that, it should become somewhat quicker.

Two popular sites that offer free blogs are WordPress and Blogger. You can learn more about blogs at the Wikipedia entry on blogs.

Organization of the COLA Blog

The COLA blog is indexed by off-leash area and blogger, so you can view all of the blog entries, or just those for a particular OLA or by a particular blogger.

Getting Started

In order to blog, you must have a login ID and password. If you are interested in blogging for COLA but do not have a login ID, contact COLA.

1. Sign in at the home page
2. Click "blogs" in the menu at left.
3. Click "Create new blog entry" in the middle section of the page.

1. You will notice there is a title entry field, an OLA drop-down selection box, and a body field. First type in the title of your entry, then select the OLA you are writing about. If you are writing about COLA in general, select "COLA."
2. In the body portion, you will notice there is a toolbar, followed by a blank entry field. The toolbar provides formatting options and other tools. For now, type your entry in the blank field.
3. Further below are three buttons: save, preview and delete. Click the preview button and review your entry to make sure everything is correct. If anything is wrong, you can edit your entry below the preview.
4. Very important! Click the save button (also below the editing window). Once your blog entry has been approved, it will be available on the COLA blog!

Congratulations! You are now a blogger and have contributed to the blogosphere (the collective universe of blogs). 

To make blog entries more useful and entertaining, you can format text (such as with boldfacing), add links to other websites, and insert photos. Keep reading to find out about these other blog tools!