Want to Know When I Update My Blog??

If you would like to know when I update my blog without checking every day, I have some options for you!

First of all, there is a NEW email subscription box on the left-hand side of this page (thank you Vicki for helping me figure out how to add that!!). It says "Subscribe By Email to Receive Updates". If you enter your email address, every time I update my blog you will receive an email letting you know that it has been updated with a new entry. It is such an easy way to stay up-to-date about specials and provide you with new ideas, samples & techniques!
The second option (and it's a little more complicated to set up if you are unfamiliar with blog feeds so I will walk you through the process the best that I can!) is to click on the orange feed icon that is found at the top of your screen in one of the toolbox menus. A photo of what you are looking for is shown at the left. If you don't have an updated version of Internet Explorer, this option may not be available to you. If you click on this icon (in your toolbar) you will get a message that says something similar to this:

"You are viewing a feed that contains frequently updated content. When you subscribe to a feed, it is added to the Common Feed List. Updated information from the feed is automatically downloaded to your computer and can be viewed in Internet Explorer and other programs"

Basically, that just means that when you are connected to the internet, your browser will automatically check the "feeds" that you are subscribed to (basically webpages or blogs) and then will let you know if anything on that page has been updated. If it has, you will be able to find out with a glance and if nothing has been updated, it will let you know. I'll explain more about that in a moment.

Under the note that the blog icon gives you, you will see a link that says, "Subscribe to this Feed". Click on that link. An Internet Explorer box will pop up that lists the name of the blog that you are subscribing to and another box that says "Create In". It should automatically put "Feeds" in that box. Click "Subscribe".

Now you get a note that says,

"You've successfully subscribed to this feed! Updated content can be viewed in Internet Explorer and other programs that use the Common Feed List."

Now, where do you find the "Common Feed List" that it is referring to and how do you know if my blog has been updated? Look at your toolbars at the top of the screen again. Do you see a little yellow star (at least that is what it is on Internet Explorer)? Click on that. It'll probably pull up your favorites list. But, at the top of the box that you just opened by clicking on the star there is another options menu. It should say, "Favorites, Feeds & History". Click on "Feeds". This will give you a list of all of the blogs that you are subscribed to. If there has been any updates made to a blog that you have not viewed yet, the name of the blog will be in BOLD. If the blog name is not in bold, than the blog has not been updated since the last time your browser checked it.

There is an option to change how often the browser checks to see if blogs have been updated and if you would like help on how to do that, send me an email at jentac@inmanks.net and I'll help you do that. I like my browser to check often but you can also have your browser check every few hours, once a day, etc...

So, those are the options that you have if you would like to keep current on my blog entries. These services will not alert you when the gallery by stamp set has been updated though so you might want to check that periodically. Please email me if you have any questions and sorry that this post was so technical and not a lot of fun!!!