Spent much of the last two days with my very skilled and patient wife digging into CSS and trying to make some more themes for my school Web logs. We pretty much ended yesterday with a concept, at least, and a pretty good understanding of how CSS work and the flexibility they give. I was inspired on Wednesday when I surfed into ZenGarden and saw some really beautiful designs that would fit Web logs well. The other area where I pretty much got caught up to speed was the creation of Manila templates in a HTML editor like GoLive. Figuring out where the macros go and what ones have to be in there was a bit hairy at first, but I’m getting there. I know what we came up with isn’t especially scintillating, but I wanted to work with the school colors and be able to swap in a bunch of different graphics in the nav column. Now I just have to get really clear on what sticks when I make a theme of this and what coding I lose. I think that most of the additional code in the main template gets lost, but that the CSS and all of the other settings get saved. If anyone knows of a resource that shows what themes save, please let me know.
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I got an e-mail today from a teacher in Virginia asking if I knew any examples of lesson plans that included Web logs. I started thinking if I had any specific plans written down about how I introduced and implemented Web logs in my classes and I quickly came to the realization that this site is about as close to a Web log lesson plan as I can get. This teacher is new to Web logging and wants to introduce them as part of an English project. I know there are some out there, but are there any other formal Web logging inclusive lesson plans to share?
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(Via JD)I think this is a pretty good question too:

Tony Perkins, creator and editor-in-chief of AlwaysOn and the event’s host, questioned whether newly emboldened readers will continue to be engaged by Web sites that don’t allow them to comment on stories, editorials or columns. What the blogging and social networking era has done for these readers, he said, was reveal “the power of participating in media… the average citizen out there has something to say.” As a result, he believes every Web site will eventually have to open itself up to readers’ comments, or risk losing their trust.

I know that I almost expect to be able to comment back to most of the writers I read. I keep wishing Josh Marshall would allow his readers to leave feedback because I’d love to see how his insights stand up to other interpretations. And as I’ve said previously, I think the power of comments in many ways defines and shapes what writing in Web logs is. Without that interaction, it’s primarily essay. With it, it’s something slightly different, I think. When your readers are “fact checking your ass,” you really have to pay attention to the accuracy and thoroughness of what you are writing about. That’s why I want to develop that Web logging style and voice in my students.