Internet and Technology

Instead of writing text, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly by using spoken word entries, this is called audio blogging.

Basically a blog contains the following features:

Title – This allows you to label your post.Body – This is the content of your post.Track back – Other sites can be linked back to your blog.Permanent Link – Every article that you write has a URL.Comments – This allow readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging is that it is made of only a few templates, unlike other websites that are made up of numerous individual pages. This makes it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fixed setting that includes: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc. For more details go to www.atoz-about-rss.com. This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can choose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs, while other bloggers use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught, this way students who have missed classes can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online, while others profit through advertisement.

The most popular blog type, by far, is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, and opinions find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts and comments with each other. To know more about it simply visits www.your-own-blog.com. Blogs varying in topics, themes and set-ups can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they’d get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term Web Log. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want and the best thing about blogging is that most blogging sites are free.

 

 

http://www.greatblogbox.comhttp://www.blogers-guide-to-profit.com

Knowing “how” to think is much more important than knowing “what” to think. Those among us that understand how to gather knowledge, then how to use and apply what their small inner voice suggests are truly wise. The realization that our “inner voice” is our higher self (inject your own term, i.e., God, Angel, Spiritual Guide, etc.) asking to manifest itself can be a life changing event!

 

Okay, so what is a blog anyway? A blog is basically an online journal in which you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read or you can visit www.your-own-blog.com. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Instead of writing texts, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging.

 

Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3’s on your blogs. Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are very few rules when it comes to blogging which means that bloggers have the freedom to express themselves in most any way they want. Perhaps the best thing about blogging is that most blogging sites are free. Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other blogs, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

 

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other. Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs build on their specific themes. In this way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

 

Many groups exist within blogging communities. Of course, the members of the group have a common interest and the blogs provide a place for the group members to share their interest. Chats and forums are also contained within blogging communities.

 

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs. With the rapid growth of blogging communities, entrepreneurs have found that this is a very cost-effective way to promote their products/services.

 

Some bloggers use their blogs as a means to advertise things such as ebooks, while other bloggers, and use their blogs to shed light on current issues, events, news and catastrophes. It seems the uses of this communication medium are limitless!

 

Blogs are also being used by many teachers and professors. Lessons that they have discussed and taught can be posted on a blog which allows students access to this information 24/7. This provides a way for students to keep up with assignments and projects.

 

One of the advantages of blogging is that it is made up of only a few templates. In comparison to websites that are made up of numerous individual pages this is a much simpler format. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc. This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can choose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.

 

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives or go on www.profit-pulling-toolbars.com, share poems, rant about their issues or perhaps world issues, or simply post their opinions will find that blogging offers a place to do just that.

 

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. Browsing through these directories is beneficial for first time users. They can check out a number of blogs before deciding on any. This provides an opportunity to get acquainted with what these blogging communities are like. An educated decision can then be made about which blogging community better meets the needs and appeals to the interest of the newcomer…allowing a first-timer to get exactly what he/she is after. Blogging is fun, simple, and easy. If you haven’t tried it yet, do it now! You’ll enjoy it.

 

A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3’s on your blogs.

Instead of writing texts, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging.

Basically a blog contains these features:

title- which allows you to label your post

body- this is the content of your post

trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog

permanent link- every article that you write has a URL

comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they’ve become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members’ blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net everyday, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they’d get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves how ever way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.

There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.

Just search any blogging directory and you’d get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It’s easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

Blogs have increased in popularity over recent years.  Numerous masses have set out to produce their personalized blogs to convey their sentiments and opinions.  Online companies have likewise began their blogs to inform consumers about current merchandise news and reviews.Because of this, blogs are being employed as web merchandising media.  Earlier, internet commercializing was handled by putting banners and hyperlinks upon popular sites, such as news and info sites.  Links were likewise enclosed on newsletters and newsletters sent out to the members of their mailing lists.A lot of folks are reading blogs.  People read their friend’s blogs, their preferred writers blogs, blogs about issues that they’re involved in, and blogs about product reviews.  With the growing popularity from blogging, it’s even feared that people bank on blogs to acquire the most recent news.Though obtaining news stories from blogs Is not always dependable, many people do indeed seek product reviews by blogs.  In a lot of instances, this is more reliable.  Although it’s factual that numerous media individuals are being compensated to publish advantageous reviews about a certain product, blog authors write of their real experiences with products and services by a company.Because there are a lot of people who read and initiate their personal blogs, blogs are a beneficial medium to market a product.  With the expanding blog traffic, growth in sales from blogging is on the rise.Blog traffic may be raised from joining affiliate programs and sites, which will list your blog under a predestined category or name.  You will be able to, in addition, to have your blog publicized in popular sites.  This, notwithstanding, will cost some money and isn’t suggested if you’ve just now set about blogging.Once you’ve accrued a few hits on your blog, you should attempt to retain visitors, who will refer your site to acquaintances and colleagues.This may be handled by delivering enlightening, newsworthy or comical articles and pleasing blog layout and design.  You might produce your content yourself or you could likewise acquire the services from a content author or service to furnish you with the blog articles.The layout and designing also plays a prominent function.  As most of the companies providing free blog hosting extend pre-selected templates, there is as well many that allows for customization that whenever you employ this feature correctly could increase your blog’s traffic.Here are some hints to prepare your blog to jump out from the zillions of blogs out there that feature basic designs.* Custom design the bannerYou’ll be able to individualize the banner by featuring a graphic within the proportions of the banner.  You are able to likewise edit the graphic to include the title of your blog. This can easily be done in Photoshop or Gimp (which is free).In that example, you could produce your personal graphic or you could buy professional appearing graphics online for lower than $10.* Personalizing photographsNaturally, most of the pics that you’ll be putting up will constitute your own.  Nevertheless, whenever you do not customize the photographs prior to placing them, you might omit increasing the enhancing benefits graphics could bring to the page.For example, adding unique photo borders may help the photograph leap out from the page.* Supply a faviconDon’t you believe sites with images on the address bar prior to the site web address are cool?  Numerous people do.  These favicons bestow a professional tone to the URL. These are easy to do employing photo or graphic editing packages, as mentioned above.* Check over blog guides, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins of other web sitesThere are sites that provide complimentary blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins.  You can take advantage of this so your  blog won’t appear generic like most of the blogs hosted from the service provider.* Include RSS feedsThis represents an easy manner to inform people with newsreaders about your blog headlines.  Tutorials about RSS feeds are accessible about the web.* Audio makes your blog more personalizedNot only does sound individualize the blog; it may in addition keep your visitors going back.  You could test delivering streaming radio stations, mp3 files or playlists within  your blog.*VideoMost blogging platforms provide easy to use tools to upload Youtube or Google video into the posts. Just don’t overdo it as you don’t want to assault visitors with a barrage of slow loading video.* AdvertisingIf you’ve signed up with Google AdSense, which I’m certain you’d wish to do, be sure that the advertisements are conveniently placed so these won’t hamper your readers’ ease in getting at the info on your blog.Try applying these tips and you’ll be able to unquestionably increase and keep traffic on your blog.

Web publisher and author for the past 15+ years. Visit Techno Blog for free SEO tools, eBooks, tech news and more!

Of course if you are used to Microsoft Windows you are familiar with the concept of files. This familiarity means you won’t have to start from zero to learn about Linux files. However, you will have to relearn several concepts and techniques to work with files in the Linux environment, whether using Damn Small Linux or other versions. You can do several great things with Linux files that you can’t do easily or at all under Windows. This could be just one more reason to switch from Windows to Linux.

Files have unique names. This rule is not as simple as it may seem. There is no conflict between a hard disk file named pay12june and a file named pay12june on your removable USB flash drive. In fact, be sure to backup all your important files. Don’t worry if your hard drive file is erased or becomes corrupted and illegible, simply access the one on your flash drive. You could also have two files named pay12june on your hard drive in different directories. Directories, collections of directories and files, will be discussed in the next article in this series.

Linux distinguishes between lower-case and upper-case characters in file names. Microsoft Windows does not. For example, Linux treats pay12june and Pay12june as two different files, as different as pay12june and heighho. Windows users will have to adapt to this major difference. Even though I am a Linux fan I don’t see any advantage in the Linux way of naming files. Maybe I have spent too much time in the Windows environment.

File names should be relatively short. The allowed maximum is 255 characters but working with long file names is no fun and in fact is asking for trouble. Linux file names may not contain the character / which has a special meaning. To avoid misunderstanding don’t include special characters such as $ and & in your file names. Doing so could cause confusion and lead to hard-to-find errors. For the same reason don’t call your files by special Linux names such as etc.

Linux sometimes applies file extensions; common examples include .c to indicate a C-language program and .htm or .html to indicate one type of web page. Savvy Linux users often avoid coding the file extension but rely on the file directory to indicate the file type. Don’t give a Linux file a misleading file extension.

Use an editor to create or modify a text file. The old fashioned vi editor has been replaced by more powerful, user-friendly editors. Most versions of Linux come with several editors. Damn Small Linux, a popular version that runs under Windows, includes several editors such as Beaver that come quite close to being intuitive.

Linux provides an enormous variety of commands for processing files. Many of these commands are mnemonic; for example the command cp is used to copy files. Many commands include a wide variety of options. Consider the ls command, somewhat similar to the DIR command in the Windows environment. This seemingly simple command is quite rich and offers dozens and dozens of options many of which have no equivalent in the Windows environment.

Linux commands can be thought of as verbs. Just like most English sentences include more than a verb (go, jump) complete Linux commands contain the command itself and one or more objects. To copy a file you not only need to specify cp but also What and Where. For example, the command cp pay12june backuparea means copy the pay12june file into the backuparea directory.

Linux syntax (grammar rules) is quite strict and does take time to learn. But mastering Linux and associated technologies can lead to employment. The next step is mastering Linux directories.

If you own a website, you’re probably aware of Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO).  A little time spent applying some simple SEO techniques to your website will be worth the effort in terms of increased visitor numbers. 

 

But where to start?

 

The best time to think about SEO is in the planning stages of your website so it can be written and designed with SEO in mind.  This will save you time and money, especially if you have engaged the services of a web designer or copywriter and you have to go back to them to make costly changes.

 

Your website must appeal to its intended market.  Remember that no matter what the purpose of your website is – be it to sell products or services, share information, ideas or specialist knowledge – design and write your website for your visitors.  No matter how highly the search engines rank you, it’s not Google who’s going to place an order for your products or services – if users aren’t immediately engaged by your website they’ll wander off in search of your competitors’.  So make your website attractive, relevant and interesting and make it easy for visitors to navigate and to find the information they’re looking for.

 

If, like the majority of people, you only discovered that SEO existed after your website went live, don’t worry. There are plenty of things you can do to crank up your site’s popularity.

 

Research your Keywords: It’s worth doing some keyword research to find out what search terms users are typing into the search engines.  This is a big subject area to cover in a short article, but there are some very good resources available to help you.  Google has a very good (and free) keyword research tool that will help to get you started, but if you don’t mind paying for an all-singing, all-dancing, report generating keyword research tool, look no further than Wordtracker’s website.

 

Choosing which keywords to use is a bit of a balancing act.  If you find a popular keyword or phrase that thousands of users are searching with every month, you’d immediately think, “Great – I’ll use that to optimise my site”. 

 

But hold on for a moment.  There’ll be a huge amount of competition from other websites using that same word or phrase.  Take, for example, the phrase “Website copy writing”.  Type this into Google and look at the number of results returned at the top of the page.  At the time of writing it shows a figure close to 13 million.  Are you ready to compete with that?  How many pages do you think you’d need to scroll through to find your own website? It’s not impossible to rank well of course – somebody has to get that number one spot.  But let’s be realistic.  Let’s shorten the odds a little in your favour.

 

Try this next: type the phrase “Website copywriting” (all one word this time).  Google returns just under a half million results.  Now we’re getting somewhere.  

 

To reduce the competition even further, try narrowing your key phrase to a geographical location.  Type the phrase “Website copywriting in Somerset”.  The field has narrowed to a mere 13,200 results (at the time of writing).  Of course, not quite as many people will be looking for a website copywriter specifically in Somerset, but those that are will stand a much better chance of finding your website than your competitor in Dorset! In summary, then:

 

·        Find a balance between a keyword’s popularity and the competition for using it

 

·         Look at common misspellings and alternative spellings for your keywords

 

·         Think about targeting your potential visitors using geographical parameters.

 

Keyword research is a fascinating and rather addictive hobby once you get started.  There are lots of good books on the subject and many online resources, too. 

 

Meta Tags: Meta tags are an element of your website that a visitor won’t see, part of the coding behind the scenes. The title tag tells the browser what text to display in the browser’s title bar. The description meta tag is particularly important, as it helps the search engines decide what your website is all about and appears under the title in search engine results.  The description should persuade visitors to click through to your website, so it should be well-written and relevant, but should also contain some keywords.

 

Website Content: This is the text and images that visitors see when they visit your website.  Search engines love content.  It helps them decide what your website is about.  But be careful – make sure that your content is unique (i.e. don’t just copy someone else’s – the search engines have ways of finding out!), and don’t repeat the same information on each page. Each page of your website should have a unique purpose and identity (and by the way, the meta tags should reflect this on each page, too).

 

It goes without saying that your content should be well-written, grammatically correct and free from errors.  If this is not your strongest point, engage the services of a copywriter experienced at combining website copywriting and Search Engine Optimisation. The text is the backbone and purpose of your website and it will be money well spent.

 

Make sure that you update the content on your website regularly.  There are two main reasons for this.  Firstly, fresh, interesting and relevant information gives your visitor a reason to come back to your website.  Why would they bother if nothing ever changed? Secondly, the search engines like new content on a website – it tells them that the website is current and therefore more likely to be useful and relevant to search engine users.  This is why blogs are often very successful at ranking well in search results, as they are updated regularly.

 

Optimise each page of your website for two or three keywords or phrases at most.  If you try for any more, the search engine may not fully understand what that page is about.  Sprinkle your keywords throughout the page (in headings is a good way of showing the search engines that the keyword is an important one), but don’t over-do it.  If keywords account for more than about 15% of your content, it may harm rather than help your ranking.

 

Build Links: It used to be the case that if you provided a link to someone else’s website, and they returned the favour, everyone was happy and the search engines smiled on you.  Not anymore.  The search engines are way more sophisticated these days and can detect artificial attempts to boost a website’s ranking. Reciprocal links are still fine if the site you’re linking to contains content that is relevant to yours, but it may actually harm your own website’s ranking if it doesn’t.  

 

One way links pointing to your website are far more valuable to you.  The best way to encourage other websites to link to yours is to make sure your content is well-written, informative, relevant, helpful and unique.  This will make your website a good resource for others to link to and perhaps even establish you as an authority on the subject.  Relevant links to your website not only boost your ranking with search engines, the increased amount of traffic improves your chance to generate more business.

 

There are many ways of building links to your website:

 

·        Submit your website to the many free directories (but make sure that they’re relevant). Some directories give one-way links, others ask for a reciprocal link

 

·        Exchange links with similar websites to become part of a large, pooled resource of information

 

·         A blog can be linked to your website and updated regularly

 

·         Professional forums can be useful as they often enable you to include a link in your forum post when you contribute (but not always – check their rules)

 

·         Write articles that include a link to your website and submit them to article directories

 

·         Make use of online social networking and media websites

 

·        Ask your visitors and satisfied customers to provide a testimonial and link to your website

 

Link-building takes some time and effort but keep plugging away and you’ll be surprised how soon your links grow.

 

Pay for Results: Everything we’ve talked about so far will reap results with no cost to you whatsoever (unless you’ve already taken fright and engaged the services of the first SEO company to promise you page one ranking). But it does take time and effort. 

 

If you want quicker results, have you considered paying for your website to appear higher in the search results? You might have heard of sponsored advertising campaigns, or “pay-per-click”. The most well-known is Google. 

 

Put in very simple terms, you set a budget, write a short, well-written advert that gets your message across and select the keywords that you want your advert to be found for.  The idea is that when a user types in one of your selected keywords, your advert will be scooped up and displayed among the sponsored ads.  If the user clicks through to your website, you will pay a fee to the search engine.  This is where you have probably heard of the phrase “pay per click”.

 

There are all sorts of variables involved.  For example, if you choose very competitive keywords, you may have to pay more per click to get your advert shown more often or nearer the top of the sponsored ads than someone else.  If your budget is not set very high, your advert won’t appear every time your keywords are used.  You can bid on each keyword or phrase, setting a maximum that you are willing to pay per click.

 

It all sounds very complicated but take a little while to look at Google’s Starter Edition which helps you to create and manage your adverts.  Once you’ve got the hang of it you can graduate to their Standard Edition, which puts you more in control and offers many features for you to play with.  Be warned though – this is addictive!  Once you start seeing which of your ads are working and which are not you can’t help but tinker with them constantly!

 

The main benefit of PPC adverts are that you will get instant results.  An appealing advert will start generating extra traffic to your website almost instantly, unlike SEO.  You can pause your ad campaign at any time, change it, promote time-limited special offers etc. and analyse the data generated by your campaign to see what is working and why.

 

What Search Engines Hate: You should have lots of ideas to help your SEO along by now, but here are a few things to avoid, things that don’t help the search engines at all:

 

·         Websites that use frames:  Search engines have trouble navigating them and may not be able to index a frame-based website.

 

·         Cut and pasted text from MS Word: Don’t cut text directly from Microsoft Word and paste it into a web page.  It will contain all sorts of formatting clutter and search engines hate having to navigate clutter.

 

·         Flash animated landing pages:  Some websites use Flash animated landing pages that require the user to click through to the home page of the website.  Not only can search engines not index Flash intros, many users are irritated by being yet another click away from the page that might contain the information they’re looking for.

 

·         Buried pages: A web page that is more than three clicks away from the home page may not be found by the search engine.  Just as importantly, it may not be found by your visitor, either!

 

There are lots of other things to avoid, but we’d be getting into rather technical realms that are beyond the scope of the true lay person.  If your web designer isn’t aware of them, he should be, and you should be looking for one that is! 

 

You’ll have reached the conclusion by now that search engine optimisation is a very big subject.  But it’s not rocket science.  A little knowledge will take you a long way and if you’re prepared to put in the time to research the best way forward for your website, you will reap results.  It’s an ongoing process, though, requiring continuous tweaking and experimenting over a period of time.  It’s also a learning curve, but I have found it to be an enjoyable one – a fascinating insight into search trends, and very, very addictive!   

Linux people like to claim that directories are really just another type of file. This statement can be misleading. We saw in a previous article that you create a file using a file editor. We will see later in this article how to create a directory.

So just what is a Linux directory? A directory is a collection that may include one or more directories, one or more files, or in fact be empty. You may think of a directory as a computerized file folder or loose-leaf notebook that contains dividers (themselves directories) and pages (files.) Just like a notebook page may not contain a divider, a Linux file may not contain a directory.

Up to now our comments about Linux directories hold for Windows directories as well. Now let’s take a look at some differences between these two systems. First come the naming conventions. Linux always distinguishes between lower-case and upper-case characters in directory names. Microsoft Windows does not. For example, Linux treats pay12june and Pay12june are as two different directories, as different as the directories pay12june and heighho. These directory names were used as file names in the previous article. While Linux does have some reserved directory and file names, in general one cannot tell by the name whether it is a file name or a directory name. So be careful. Linux helps you out here ‘ the ls command that lists the contents of a given directory usually displays files and directories in different colors.

Directories are hierarchical. They resemble a tree or a family tree. But unlike a tree (or Microsoft Windows) Linux has only one root. The root, designated as / lies at the top, rather than at the bottom, of the hierarchy. Right underneath the root directory you will find several subdirectories. For example, the /home directory is a child of / the root directory. The number and names of the first-level subdirectories vary from one version of Linux to another. For example, some Linux distributions include a /root directory while others do not. The /root directory (or subdirectory, both terms are used) is a child of /, the actual root directory.

The /home directory is an important directory. It is divided into subdirectories, one for each user. We like to work with Damn Small Linux, a free version of Linux that runs on the Windows desktop and requires only 50 Megabytes of disk space. Damn Small Linux automatically creates a user called dsl whose home directory is /home/dsl ; a working area essentially reserved for this user. All Linux versions subdivide the /home directory into user subdirectories according to this simple naming convention.

Linux provides several commands to process directories. For example, the mkdir command creates a directory. The rmdir command removes a directory, but in the simplest case only when it is empty. The cd command changes the working directory, the directory in which you are positioned. The pwd (print working directory) command displays (not prints) the working directory. Beginners should run this command often to reduce errors. For example, if you, the dsl user, think that you are positioned in the /home/dsl directory but in fact are positioned in the / directory you won’t be able save your files with a simple command. Why? Because you lack the requisite permission, the subject of our next article.