An avatar is a graphic image or picture that represents a user. Avatars (or gravatars) are often used in comments via plugins to display an icon next to the author or commentors content.
A blogroll is a list of links to various blogs or news sites. Often a blogroll is "rolled" by a service which tracks updates (using feeds) to each site in the list, and provides the list in a form which aggregates update information.
Each post in mojoBlog is filed under a category. Thoughtful categorization allows posts to be grouped with others of similar content and aids in the navigation of a site. Please note, the post category should not be confused with the Link Categories used to classify and manage Links.
An excerpt is a condensed description of your blog post and refers to the summary entered in the Excerpt field of the Write Post SubPanel (see Advanced Editing). The excerpt is used to describe your post in RSS feeds and is typically used in displaying search results. The excerpt is sometimes used in displaying the Archives and Category views of your posts. The Template Tag the_excerpt() can be used to access the contents of this field.
An excerpt should not be confused with the teaser which refers to the first few sentences or paragraphs of a post. When typing a long post you can insert the <!–more–> Quicktag after a few sentences to act as a cut-off point. When the post is displayed, the teaser, followed by a hyperlink (such as Read the rest of this entry...), are displayed. Your visitor can then click on that link to see the full version of your post. The Template Tag the_content() can be used to display the teaser.
A feed is a function of special software that allows "Feedreaders" to access a site automatically looking for new content and then posting the information about new content and updates to another site. This provides a way for users to keep up with the latest and hottest information posted on different blogging sites. Some Feeds include RSS (alternately defined as "Rich Site Summary" or "Really Simple Syndication"), Atom or RDF files. Dave Shea, author of the web design weblog Mezzoblue has written a comprehensive summary of feeds. Feeds generally are based on XML technology.
A permalink is a URL at which a resource or article will be permanently stored. Many pages driven by Content Management Systems contain excerpts of content which is frequently rotated, making linking to bits of information within them a game of chance. Permalinks allow users to bookmark full articles at a URL they know will never change, and will always present the same content.
Permalinks are optional in mojoBlog, but are highly recommended as they greatly increase the cleanliness of URL. mojoBlog uses the Apache module mod_rewrite to implement its permalink system which can be configured through your mojo Dashboard→Options section.
Within the mojoBlog interface, "ping" is sometimes used to refer to Pingbacks and Trackbacks.
In general computer terms, "ping" is a common utility used in a TCP/IP environment to determine if a given IP Address exists or is reachable. Typically, Ping is used to diagnose a network connection problem. Many times you will be asked, "Can you ping that address?". That means, does the Ping utility return a success message trying to reach the "problem" IP Address?
Pingback lets you notify the author of an article if you link to his article (article on a blog, of course). If the links you include in an article you write on a blog lead to a blog which is pingback-enabled, then the author of that blog gets a notification in the form of a pingback that you linked to his article.
A Plugin is a group of php functions that can extend the functionality present in a standard mojoBlog weblog. These functions may all be defined in one php file, or maybe spread among more than one file. Usually, a plugin is a php file that can be uploaded to the "wp-content/plugins" directory on your webserver, where you have installed mojoBlog. Once you have uploaded the plugin file, you should be able to "turn it on" or Enable it from the "Plugins" page in the administration interface of your weblog.
An individual entry of content into a blog, or the act of uploading a new piece of content to the live blog site. Posts can be edited after they are published, if necessary or desired.
A word or two describing an entry, for use in permalinks (replaces the %posttitle% field therein), especially useful if titles tend to be long or they change frequently.
The status of a post, as set in the Administration Panel, Write Post SubPanel is either: Published (viewable by everyone), Draft (incomplete post viewable by anyone with proper user level), or Private (viewable only to you).
The sidebar is commonly found as a narrow vertical column in Wordpress themes. In mojoBlog the sidebar is offered as a separate "module" which installs via your joomla→admin→installers→modules function and can be displayed in any existing module position relative to your current template.
A theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for your CMS or weblog. A theme modifies the way the weblog is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Wordpress uses "themes", Joomla/a8e uses "templates". Both offer the same functionalilty but are mutually interdependent.
"themelettes" are unique to mojoBlog and will integrate with your chosen Joomla/a8e template and allow structural positioning of mojoBlog/wordpress functions and elements *(sidebars, widgets, etc.,) as well as visual styling options to the mojoBlog component, content and associated plugins and modules.
Trackback helps you to notify another author that you wrote something related to what he had written on his blog, even if you don't have an explicit link to his article. This improves the chances of the other author sitting up and noticing that you gave him credit for something, or that you improved upon something he wrote, or something similar. With pingback and trackback, blogs are interconnected. Think of them as the equivalents of acknowledgements and references at the end of an academic paper, or a chapter in a textbook.