Generally, what will you see when you visit a majority of blogs? This is the question I am trying to answer here.

There won’t be a specific answer to the above question because there are thousands of themes (templates) out there for bloggers to use, and each blog’s look and features will depend on the theme used. Secondly, with most blogging software, especially the self-hosted ones, the blogger can easily customize the look of the blog. Blogging software also make allocation for tens of options for bloggers to choose for their blogs. These options mainly deal with functionality and presentation rather than look and feel. If a blog has options 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 chosen, it will definitely function differently from another blog (maybe with the same theme) that has options 2, 4, 6 and 8 chosen.

What then do we expect to see when we visit a blog?

Title and tagline: that’s it! Each and every blog has a title. The title of this blog is AZ Blogging. It is usually located at the top of the page. The blog’s title says, in very few words, what the blog is all about. The tagline goes further to describe what the blog’s mission, slogan, or simply gives more light to the title. Almost every theme (template) will display the blog’s title but not very many will display a tagline. This blog’s theme, by default, does not display the tagline of this blog.

Menu and Submenus: just like a website, a blog needs some sort of navigation too, especially if it displays some information in pages. The menu is well suited at the top, but some bloggers will prefer it somewhere else. No blogger will actually build pages and intentionally hid the navigation unless those pages are private.

Sidebars: Most blogs have and extra plane or column located either below the header, above the footer, or on the left or right side of the main column of the blog. Such a plane is called a sidebar. Many blogs contain one or more sidebars or varying widths. We shall later examine the type of extra information that be placed on sidebars.

Posts: what actually makes a blog unique is that the information on it is posted not on defined pages but on posts, whose position change as more information is added. The most recent posts are usually at the top of the front page while older posts are at the bottom, and very old posts are hidden in archives. In a blog, a post can be an article, an announcement, an aside, a tutorial, etc..

Archives: did I say most of the posts are hidden in archives? Yes I did. Most blogs display a majority of just 10 posts on the front page. Other posts are archived and the archives usually listed on the sidebars. The archives can be arranged by weeks, months or even years. One way of viewing archived posts is also by using categories or tags.

Categories: categorization is also a unique and basic feature of a blog. Posts are usually filed under defined topics called categories. This makes presentation neat and the information easily accessible. Categories are usually displayed on the sidebars. Clicking on a category displays all posts that have been files under that category. If the posts are more than what a page on the blog can handle, some are being pushed to other pages that can be access by a link saying “previous posts”, or something close to that.

Tags: almost every product on the market has a tag labeled on it. The tag gives information about the product to the buyer. So do posts. Posts normally have tags, which tell the reader what the post is all about. This post, for example, is about blogs, features, sidebars, categories, posts…etc.

Comments: If there is anything I can say I enjoy most about a blog is the ability of a user or reader to comment on a post. This makes a blog very interactive and lively. In most cases, one most display the full content of a post or click on a comment link before the comment field is exposed. Depending on the admin’s taste, comments can be anonymous or require authentication.

Recent and Popular: on the sidebars of most blogs, there is allocation for the most recent or most popular posts. Some even display a list of most commented or recently commented posts. This allows users to know what is new or hot on the blog.

Blogroll: A blogroll is a space on a blog that is dedicated to providing links to other blogs or sites. Here, the admin appends a list of his favorite blogs, or blogs that provide similar content as his.

About: Knowing a bit about the blog your are reading, or the person posting information to it is a bit important. You can use that person for reference if you decide to his/her content anywhere, or even use his/her to search for other content on the web posted by him/her. An about section, usually about the blog or its author, can be found on most blogs.

Advertising: Majorities of bloggers make use of extra space on their blog for advertisement. Advertising revenue can go a long way to pay for domain name, hosting, some bills, and most surprisingly, some bloggers earn a living entirely on blogging.

These are just a few of the most common features one can find on blogs. You will start discovering more and more each day you visit different blogs.

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