TOC change: Blogger's new "add an image" thing

Via Blogger Buzz comes the announcement of a new method for image hosting/inserting/placement/design in a Blogger post.

I'll put a new topic in the book specifically for this (there were already topics for inserting photos using Flickr, PhotoBucket, and the player to be named later"other methods"). The name of the chapter will probably change from "HTML Basics" to "Using Basic HTML and Working with Images" since the chapter contains an equal amount of both sets of info, and image tags are HTML tags, so...it kinda makes sense.

technorati tag: blogger

I have the greatest acquisitions editor in the entire world!

We all know Google kicks ass, right? Right. Ok. Well, as part of that ass-kicking, they develop things all the damn time. New tools, better tools, extensions of existing tools, blah blah blah. This is a potential problem when it comes to writing a book about a particular tool like, say, Blogger, because if they decide to change the interface or upgrade functionality then the book becomes useless and I become sad.

But you can't say "Hey Google guys, got any changes in the pipeline and if so please outline them to me" because you know, trade secrets and what not. But what one can do is say "Would you please look at this TOC and tell us if we're potentially going to be screwed in some area or another?" If they agree, well, then they're just super folks.

If you're my lovely and talented acquisitions editor, Shelley, then you don't get "just any monkey" to look at said TOC, you get Biz Stone to do it.

Shelley rocks hard. So does Biz.

Chapter One: done

Why is it that the introductory information is always more difficult to write than the actual instructional information? I do the same thing with academic papers, too. I'll spend an inordinate amount of time writing the introduction and then breeze through the rest of my drivel.

So, on to Chapter Two, wherein people actually learn how to use Blogger!

Sams Teach Yourself Blogging in a Snap is...go!

That's right, the book is happening. In fact, the book is happening right now, as I'm diligently writing my chapters.

The "In a Snap" series offer[s] a unique 2-color format allowing readers to solve problems by identifying individual tasks quickly." IOW, there are a bunch of numbered tasks with lots of pictures, tips, notes, and step-by-step instructions. This book is a compendium of short lessons designed to get the user started in blogging using Blogger. The lessons cover everything from getting started in understanding the concept of blogging, to maintaining your own blog utilizing a custom template, comments, trackbacks, photos, blogrolls and more.

If you're so inclined, you can find more info about the books I've written at www.thickbook.com, which includes TOCs, errata and what not.