http://wikinewsie.org/editors_blog/?p=58

I think this post is pushing the upper limit of how long any blog post should be, and I suspect we really should work out some guidelines for keeping the blog as professional as possible.

From a technical viewpoint, there are one or two specific items I always do.

First is links – always specify a target. Example: <a href=http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page target=”Wikinews”>Wikinews</a>. The ‘target=”Wikinews”’ qualifier makes most well-behaved browsers open the link in a new window or tab. If you have multiple links to the same third-party site, always use the same target. So, if you have a link to the Wikinews main page and to a couple of articles then keep using ‘target=”Wikinews”’. This results in one new window or tab, which is reused when the second or subsequent links are clicked on.

Second, and important to keep page load times reasonable, is to scale images to the size you intend to use in your post. Following that, take a note of the image dimensions and explicitly specify them in the code for your blog post; this ensures the post is rendered correctly while the image is loading.

Any other technical points some of the more seasoned bloggers would like to add?

Following technical, are my considered opinions on content.

· Spellcheck. Everyone should really have some sort of built-in checker on their browser. This may be achieved by installing a dictionary in Firefox. I have British English installed and it even works with ChatZilla (hint, hint).

· Jargon should be kept to a minimum. Never use a term like NPOV without explaining it (Eg. “Neutral Point of View (NPOV)”). If your post starts to run to the length of the above consider repeating the full term to keep it clear what you are talking about.

· Run your complete post through a grammar checking tool, this will help with the following points:

o Excessive use of first person pronouns

o Passive voice

o Readability, and if you do not understand the scoring mechanisms look them up. A high reading ease index is good, but a high grade level is bad.

A point to clearly remember is that the blog is not a platform to deride or denigrate third party sites. Each post should be a considered invitation for a discussion, or an insight into the processes that drive Wikinews reporting.

Any further comments on the content?

Brian McNeil