Last night, a bit before midnight, I got a call from my friend, Phil Petty, seeking some help with his email program. (It isn't too unusual for him to call late at night since he tends to operate on that end of the day.) While we were talking he mentioned that he had visited my blog and posed a rather interesting and legitimate question. He asked why I wanted to have a blog anyway. Why does anyone create a blog?

I'm sure there are as many different answers to Phil's question as there are people who blog. All of us probably share some reasons. We have the audacity to want to express an opinion. We are egotistical enough to be vocal. We have interests that we enjoy sharing with others. We like being able to put something on the Internet where others can find it. We all also probably share the fun of experimenting and learning to how to manipulate this new communications tool. We also probably want to do it because we can. It's like owning a megaphone. You just want to use it.

Besides sharing all those reasons for creating a blog with others, I have reasons that may be mine alone. I have already confessed to finding it fun to explore how to use software. As Phil's call for help last night illustrated, I often get requests from people to help them resolve some software or hardware issue with their computer. I enjoy answering those questions. I also believe that if I post such experiences on the Internet, I may be reaching a wider audience than if I answer them one at a time for an individual.

My sons, Mike and Jeff, can also visit this site and keep in touch with their Dad. It provides a way for us to communicate, not directly perhaps, but more regularly than if we only waited for the occasion of our weekly phone call. Wherever they are, if they want to know what their Dad is thinking and doing and if they have access to the Internet, they can find out. If they want to comment, they can -- just by clicking on the email link. And that's not just true for my immediate family. Other less closely related members of the family can do the same, as can friends everywhere.

I enjoy sharing the things I discover online with other people. If I send people an email saying, "Wow, I just found this or that here or there," some of them may wonder why I am telling them. A blog provides a place where I can share such things. Those who are interested can explore them, and those who are not may ignore them. And those who just don't care can choose not to visit the site at all. In many ways, posting here is much better than sending such discoveries by email, because it's available to everyone I know (plus those "old friends I've never met") without imposing my opinion or discovery on them.

An example of that last reason for creating a blog is my learning yesterday of a tool called HTML Kit. I saw an associate using it yesterday and asked what it was. He explained and praised it highly. This free program rivals much more expensive programs such as Microsoft's FrontPage for creating web pages. Though it isn't a WYSIWYG editor, as is FrontPage, it is a powerful program with a lot of features, some of which are missing from the commercial programs like FrontPage. And you can't beat the cost!
- posted by Perry @ 6:22 AM