BLOG ARCHITECTURE: The Structure of Your Blog
This post should have appeared just after the one entitled, "What Exactly Is a Blog?" This article is an introduction to blog design and structure that the experienced blogger is already familiar with. If you are that experienced user, and are already familiar with blog design and structure, then please bear with me for the sake of the tutorial...
A blog is essentially a website that is updated regularly. While you are free to set your blog up however you choose, a certain format has become more or less standard, and is used by most bloggers. Individual tastes in design vary, as do perceptions of what readers will find practical or aesthetic. Most blogs, however, have these elements of design in common...
Types of Pages in a Blog
Parts of a Blog Page
Parts of a Post
A blog is essentially a website that is updated regularly. While you are free to set your blog up however you choose, a certain format has become more or less standard, and is used by most bloggers. Individual tastes in design vary, as do perceptions of what readers will find practical or aesthetic. Most blogs, however, have these elements of design in common...
Types of Pages in a Blog
- Main or Current page -- This is usually the "homepage" of a blog. It will contain either the most current posts (those that have not yet been archived) in the body or links to their individual pages in the sidebar. It will also contain links to the archive pages, usually in the sidebar.
- Archive page -- The archive pages group together all of the individual posts published during a certain time period. You'll find these in the body of the page. This grouping will usually occur daily, weekly, or monthly. When a given time period is finished, a page for all of the posts that occured during that time will be created as an archive page for that date (or dates).
- Post or Item page -- This will be the page for each individual post.
Parts of a Blog Page
- The header of a blog page will usually include the blog's title & logo.
- The body of the blog page will contain the post or posts (one on the item page, sometimes multiple posts on the main page -- all that have been posted during the current time period, and multiple posts on the archive pages -- if more than one post was made during the archive time frame). On the individual item page, the post will usually be followed by a section for comments. Tags, categories, and bookmarklets that link to popular bookmarking services may also be included after the post.
- The sidebar will contain an archive menu, linkroll (links to other blogs), "about" info or description, "recent" or "popular" post menu, newsfeed subscription information, and any other navigation aides or info that the publisher wants to include.
- The footer usually includes a sitemap or category list, but is also available for any other info.
Parts of a Post
- Title -- which will usually link to the individual item post page
- Date -- the date on which the post was published in the blog
- Article -- the main text of the article, which may include photos or images
posted by J Bradley at
5:12 PM
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