Top portion of a weblog

1. The "banner"- larger text is the ttitle of the site. It nearly always links to the entrance page from everywhere else in the blog, a subtle "home" link. The smaller text is usually some descriptive "tag line" for the blog. As you consider creating a blog, try to think of a catchy, original title and a zippy tagline.
2. A blog "entry". This is the main composition, the content part of the site. Entries are usually listed chronologically reversed (most recent at top, and are typically grouped by the day the posting was made (2). The "excerpt" (3) can be a few paragraphs that are the teaser text to draw you deeper into the full content (4) or can be just a short entry on its own. Some authors keep these purposely brief and others write long front entries. An entry often contains a timestamp (5) which in this case is also the "permanant link" to the full entry. There is a link to a pop-up window to read and write comments (6), and another window that displays "TrackBack" entries (7)- these are links automatically entered from other bloggers who have written about your site (more on this later).
3. The "sidebar", usually a collection of navigation links and other blog site tools, cna be on the left, right of the page. The author can order the sidebar in almost aby desired way... in this example there is a blurb explaining to a new visitor the purpose of the site (this is rarely done!).

The sidebar

1. A blog-wide keyword search tool.
2. A calendar view to see the daily posts for the current month (the blog creates this for you)
3. A link to blog archives organized by month (again, the blog creates this for you)
4. Links to the most recent entries in this blog (the blog creates this for you)
5. Links you have selected to add to your site: you can add as many as you like. Oftne this maybe be called a "blogroll" as it can be a list of other weblogs the author reads on a regular basis, sort of how you can learn something about a person by the books on their shelf.
6. The RSS syndication link for this site: An XML file created automatically that allows others to "subscribe" to the content published on your site (see section C above).
7. Creative Commons license: a way to provide some usage statement for your content (see Creative Commons License).
8. Blog software: version and link to the site where someone can find out more about the blog system you are using.

Note: Images and parts description from Alan Levine's "blogshop: Anatomy of a Weblog".