blog-post-examples

Introduction

Discussion Participants

Editor

• David Janes, BlogMatrix, Inc.

Authors

• David Janes, BlogMatrix, Inc.

Specific Examples from the Wild

Entry Container

Entries are within a container

All entries are within an enclosing 'div'. This is common with weblog home pages (example) or archive with multiple entries.

Entries are not within a container

There are multiple entries on a single page but there is no explicit container element (example). This is also a common use case for weblogs and archives also.

Multiple groups of entries

There may be multiple groups of entries on a single page that are tenously connected (example-1 example-2).

Single entry on a page

This is common with weblogs that archive on a per entry basis (example).

Individual Entry

Individual entries are within a container

Common.

Individual entries are not within a container

Common.

Disjointed entries

That is, not all sub-elements of an individual entry are in the container (for example, the author and date may follow in a separate block)

Titles

Title enclosed in <h#> block element

• example

<div class="entry single">
 <h2 id="post-59">Web Essentials Audio</h2>
 ...
</div>

Title enclosed in a <div> block element

I've seen this but I can't find an example, hopefully implying this is somewhat rare.

Title enclosed in an inline presentation element, such as <b>

• example

<a name="112877372228959075"> </a>
<br>
 <strong>Just one problem, Minister.</strong> Last week, Bill Rammell, 
<br>

Title enclosed in a <span> (inline element)

• example

<a name="112897777851715476"> </a>
<br>
<SPAN CLASS="inc_subtitle">EMAIL OF THE DAY II: </SPAN>"After years ...

No title

• example

Content

• entry with no content present -- that is, just a link and the title pointing to a different URI which may actually have content
• entry with summary content only ([example http://www.torontosun.com/Money/home.html])
• entry with complete content
• entry with complete content, but the content is broken into multiple sections ([example http://www.samizdata.net/blog/] - look for "Read More" sections)

Datetimes

Datetimes are rarely expressed in consistent formats on weblogs. Weblogs generally express the creation date of the posting, not the modified time.

Date between weblog entries

This is a common pattern but by no means universal pattern seen on weblogs -- a header or div inserted between weblog entries indicating that the date has changed. I cannot find an example where this header is systematically linked to the entries using that data (i.e. a common enclosing div)

• example

<div class="post">
 <h3 class="storytitle" id="post-3151"><a href="http://dannyayers.com/...">...</a></h3> 
 ...
</div>

<div class="date">2005-10-07</div>	

<div class="post">
 <h3 class="storytitle" id="post-3150"><a href="http://dannyayers.com/...">...</a></h3>
 ...
</div>

Date or Datetime in weblog footer

Most weblogs follow this pattern. Dates or datetimes are in human readable format in varying fashions. Often only the time is indicated, as the date is implied. The date or datetime is sometimes also used an indication of the 'permalink' for a post.

• example

<div class="entry single">
 <h2 id="post-59">Web Essentials Audio</h2>

 <p>...</p>
 <ul class="post-info">
  <li><a href="...">Friday, September 30th, 2005 at 12:31 pm</a></li>
 </ul>
</div>

Permalinks

Note that not only do some examples fit multiple categories, sometimes weblog posts place the multiple links to the permalink within a single post (for example, in the header and footer).

Permalink is around or inside title

see immediate following example

Permalink is in header of post

see immediate following example

Permalink uses absolute URI

• example

<div class="entry">
 <h3 id="post-45">
  <a 
   href="http://www.microformats.org/blog/2005/08/21/foobar-microformats/" 
   rel="bookmark"
   title="Permanent Link to FooBar Microformats">FooBar Microformats</a>
  </h3>
   ...
</div>

Permalink is in footer of post

• example

<h3>YET ANOTHER INSTANCE OF THE WORLD FINALLY CATCHING UP TO THE BLOG</h3>
<p>Today's news: Neuticles win ... award.</p>
<p class="posted">
Posted by judi on October  7, 2005 at 05:00 PM |
<a href="http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2005/10/yet_another_ins.html">Permalink</a>
</p>

Permalink uses relative URI

see immediate following example

Permalink includes fragment

This is used when a weblog archives posts as a group (say, by month or week) rather than as individual posts. This is very common on older blogspot weblogs.

• example

<a name="112876103554732697"> </a><br>
<strong>The ceremony of Explaining the Joke</strong> 
<br>
<span class="byline">posted by Natalie at 
<a href="2005_10_02_nataliesolent_archive.html#112876103554732697">8:18 AM</a></span>
<br>

No permalink

This is common on single article archive pages, some social weblogs (example) and most big media webpages (i.e. non-blogs)

• example

 <a name="026056"></a>
 <p>ACCORDING TO THE WHITE HOUSE, ... hadn't we?</p>
 <div class="footer">posted at 11:35 PM by <b>Glenn Reynolds</b></div>

Other Stock Examples

Example of blog posts in unmodified weblog software installations.

Stock Wordpress 1.5 Installation

<div class="post">
    <h2 id="post-237">
        <a href="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/?p=237"
        rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to More election maps">More
        election maps</a>
    </h2>
    <small>November 9th, 2004 <!-- by site admin --></small>
				
    <div class="entry">
        <p>via <a href="http://www.markme.com/jd/archives/006288.cfm">John Dowdell of JD on MX:</a></p>
        <blockquote>
            <p>More election maps: Ben Metcalfe, a software engineer at
            the BBC, has his own list here… includes some not in
            that “Flash the only winner” item from The
            Inquirer, which Kevin also elaborated upon. Additionally,
            Andrew Lucking pointed to the…</p>
        </blockquote>
    </div>
		
    <p class="postmetadata">
        Posted in <a
        href="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/index.php?cat=1"
        title="View all posts in General" rel="category tag">General</a>
        <strong>|</strong> <a
        href="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/?p=237#comments">
        No Comments »</a>
    </p> 
				
    <!--
    <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
	    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	    xmlns:trackback="http://madskills.com/public/xml/rss/module/trackback/">
        <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/?p=237"
            dc:identifier="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/?p=237"
            dc:title="More election maps"
            trackback:ping="http://192.168.1.113/~migurski/wordpress/wp-trackback.php?p=237" />
    </rdf:RDF>
    -->
</div>

Stock MoveableType 3.15 Installation

<h3 id="a000002">Example Entry</h3>
<p>This is the entry body.</p>
<p class="extended"><a href="http://localhost/archives/2005/08/example_entry_1.html#more">Continue reading "Example Entry"</a></p>
<p class="posted">Posted by migurski at <a href="http://localhost/archives/2005/08/example_entry_1.html">03:49 </a> | <a href="http://localhost/archives/2005/08/example_entry_1.html#comments">Comments (0)</a></p>

Stock Blosxom Installation, with "Blosxom Flavour Sampler"

<p>
    <a name="post-identifier"><b>Post Title</b></a>
    <br />
    Post body text.
</p>
<p align="right">
    <i>[<a href="/permalink/post-identifier">post-identifier</a>] 
    <a href="/permalink/2005/08/15#post-identifier">permanent link</a></i>
</p>

See Also

• blog-post-brainstorming
• blog-post-formats
• blog-post-examples
• blog-description-format - how to describe a blog (as opposed to the individual entries, which is what we're doing here)