Yesterday I mentioned that while there exists a few “blog glossaries,” none really seem to take the subject seriously enough to be of use. (What’s the use of defining opaque terms with even more opaque terms?) Tonight I came across an example of the kind of glossary I think we need: Phil Gyford’s “An introduction to weblog terms for weblog readers”. Gyford is the man behind the ever-popular Pepy’s Diary, and rightly realizes that:
[…] sites like Pepys’ Diary, that cover non-technical matters, must be aware that such [weblog] words often mean nothing to new readers and should explain such concepts in terms normal people can understand. Otherwise it is impossible for a reader to tell whether to ignore an “RSS feed” or learn how to use it.
Gyford only covers four terms in his article (“weblog/blog,” “permalink,” “RSS,” and “Trackback”), but does so in a manner that’s clear and easy to understand, but doesn’t cop a tone of condescension. Reading it was like intaking a breath of fresh air.