My education in blogging continues with putting lists of links on my blog sites. One reason this is important is that I need to link all my sites together as I create them. Why should I isolate any of my websites from each other? Also, someone as opinionated as I am, or who wants to insert himself in the online world of their choice, should provide a list of suggested links, like a microportal in the sidebar.
I thought I would have to go through another big hassle to put my links in my blogs' sidebar, just like I did when I made my posts expandable. But, as it turns out, Blogger had already taken care of that. In the layout manager, just click "Add To Layout" on the sidebar and click "List of Links". Then name your link list and add your links, then save. Even better -- I was hoping I could do this -- you can add more than one link list, so that you can have multiple categories of links. That's all. No hassle, just a little investment in time. I don't know about other blogging platforms, but if they intend to be competitive in any way, they already have something similar.
Two more things I'll add to at least one of my blog sidebars is a slideshow and a list of things I like, books I'm reading, albums I'm listening to, things I recommend, and that kind of thing. But the next big challenge will be one of the obligatory blog elements: a blogroll.
