Archiving Your Blog

Today's project was to archive my blog entries.  I pour so much of my heart into these entries (well, and ok sometimes it's just me being a smart-ass, but still), and in the back of my mind is the fear that one day TypePad will malfunction and EAT all my entries.  These entries are the story of my life -- good and bad, funny and not-so-funny.  I write about the stuff that I want to remember.  (And sometimes the stuff that I think you will think is funny.)  I don't want to lose a single word I've written -- I want Jake to be able to read all these entries someday and laugh.  Going through and saving my entries was actually fun -- I had forgotten that I even wrote a lot of things. 

Our memories are odd things (by memory, I mean the functional brain memory and the way it works), and unless we have a trigger for most things, they fade into obscurity within a day or two.  Even major events -- holidays, birthday parties, first days of school, etc -- sometimes will fail to imprint on our long-term memory because there is so much more competing for our attention and brain power.  BUT if you write about it or have pictures to look at, those triggers will help you remember the things you wanted to remember.  And that's a big part of why I blog (and scrapbook.)  That's why since 7th grade I've kept random journals on and off.  The months and years are already speeding up in my life (and I'm only 26!!!) and I hate to look back at another month or year and not have ANYTHING significant to stick out at me. 

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just floating through life, getting from one moment to the next and just surviving because that's all I know how to do.  But then I look at my pictures and the words I've written and I remember specific moments and the bright spots in my life, and I know it's all about more than just getting by.  Life's not ideal every minute of the day, and sometimes we DO have to just plug away and do what it takes to get by (like spend 8 hours a day at work.  heh.)  But as long as we're having a few good moments every day -- moments that make us stop and think, moments that make us FEEL, moments that make us laugh, moments where we connect with people we love -- then we know this is all worth it.

Need help figuring out how to save your blog so you can enjoy it off-line?

How to archive your blog to a CD:
Did you know that unless a webpage has code to prevent you doing this, you can select "file" and "save as" and save the entire page?  The saving process for webpages does two things -- saves a webpage file of what the page actually looks like, and a folder of all the files that go with the page. You need BOTH of these.  If you delete one, the other automatically deletes.  So before you save a page, create a new folder on your desktop (right-click on desktop, select "new" and "folder" and name the folder Blog or whatever.)  Ok, you're ready to start.

You need to be DELIBERATE about the whole thing, so you know you get every entry saved! If you have your entries archived by month, this is a great place to start.  Start from the beginning -- I started my blog in August, so from my main page I clicked on the "August 2004" link in my archives Typelist.  This opened up a page of everything I wrote in August.  If it's an extended post, the entire post will show.  The comments, though, won't, so we'll go back and get those in a minute.  Anyway, from my August page, I did file and save as, which brings up a "save web page" box -- this lets you select WHERE to save the page to.  Select your desktop either from the buttons on the left, or from the "save in" drop down menu at the top.  Then select your "Blog" folder you created, hit open, then hit save. 

Ok, so August is done.  On to September -- at the top of my page, there's are some navigation links -- showing "the page before - main - the page after."  From here I just select "September" and save it.  Now that I'm on September, I see the link for the October page at the top.  Click through each month and save them.  So now at least you have the text of everything you've written.  But we can't live without those comments, right?

There are two links at the bottom of each entry that will open up so you can see the comments -- permalink, and comments.  I chose to archive through the permalinks, because some of my entries link to each other and I want to maintain the integrity of those links.  (Permalink, for those of you who don't know, is the link to take you to a specific entry within the blog.  When you're trying to link to an entry on someone else's blog, you want to select the permalink -- if you just give the blog title, the link goes to the main page.)  So anyway, because I'm using the permalinks,  I just have to remember (or make a note for people looking at my archives in the future) that this is how to access the comments sections.  So go again to your very first entry (I got there by selecting "August 2004" from the archive typelist, then hitting the "end" key to take me to the bottom of the page, then the "permalink" link on that entry to open up just the very first entry.  Do the save as thing, then notice at the top that nifty "before - main - next" set of links.  After saving every page, just click on the next entry (the title will be at the right of main) and save that.  You can go through one by one this way and not miss a thing.

Since each page gets saved by the name of the entry, if you have two entries with the same name (for example, I've posted entries with "Give me a hug" as the title twice), you can only save one of them as is to the folder.  Your choices to save that second one are (a) save it to a subfolder -- create a new folder WITHIN the Blog folder and save it there, or (b) when saving, type a "2" after the file name so it will save.  The links to this page from other pages may not take you there, but at least you have it.  (Let me go home and test out how this works on a computer with no internet -- when I try to open these and hit the links within the saved page, the internet automatically takes me to the weblinks and not my saved links.  I'll get back with ya'll on that.)  ;o)

Your goal in all of this is to save to a CD for storage.  Some tips about this:
* Save to a CD-R, not a CD-RW. CD-RWs are nifty for repeated file writing, but they aren't as stable in the long run as CD-Rs.  If you want something to last (and let's face it, in this case you do), choose a CD-R.
* Before you start this whole process, look at how much data your CD-R will hold.  Mine holds 700mb.  I want to make sure before I try burning and as I'm working on saving these to the desktop that my folder doesn't exceed 700mb.  (Because each page will save by the name of the entry, not the date.  If you have to go back and pick and choose which files to use for one CD and which to save to a second volume CD, it's going to be hard.)  Once you have a number in mind for data, periodically check to see how much data is in your folder.  (To do this: go to your desktop, right-click on the Blog folder and choose properties.  The general tab will show you a "size on disk" number.  Just keep this number below the max allowed on the CD-R.)

One more thing: when saving your page, the thumbnail of any picture you've included will save, but not the bigger version of the picture that POPS, as Kel would say, when you click on the thumbnail.  You get to the big picture through the link your thumbnail is directed to, so it's not part of your page.  I have yet to figure out how to maintain this link in archive, because the thumbnail links to the place Typepad has saved the pic, not where you would have saved the pic in your folder.  But hopefully all those pics you link you have a copy of in their original locations and forms anyway, right?

Comments

[Kelly]

Ok, this is soooooo fab Jen! Thank you! I need to do this as well! I have the same fear!
Check your email soon! ;)

[Sue]

This is great Jen - thank you so much. I've often wondered what would happen to all my ramblings should the web cease to exist! I haven't even printed out my old IP diary yet....slacker ;)

What would I do without you? !

Sue

[Pink Stuff!!!!]

I never cease to be amazed at your endless talents......