MSN Spaces Book: Blog

Another glimpse...

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:59:57 GMT

I found a link to Windows Live Spaces (they are a supporter of the BlogHer Conference in San Jose beginning July 28) and clicked it--and found this "coming soon" site. I can't wait to see the new release. It's going to be awesome.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:56:10 GMT

The excitement is building...can you feel it? Did you notice this new graphical box in the Help panel on the right side of your MSN Space today?

The new release is going to be great! Get ready to be wowwed. :)

Check this out! Microsoft LifeCam

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:56:42 GMT

Have you see the new Microsoft webcams that are optimized for Windows Live Messenger? These are truly awesome. The Microsoft LifeCam VX-3000 is available right now, retails for $49, and plugs seamlessly into Windows Live Messenger and includes face tracking technology, with pan, tilt, and zoom controls.

But here's the one I'm really excited about. The Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 (which hasn't been released yet), will be $99, offers high-definition video with 1.3 megapixel video resolution (amazing), a 3x digital zoom, a powerful built-in micrrophone, a Windows Live Call button that enables you to push a button, choose a contact, and start a video conversation (actually the Windows Live Call button is available on both cameras).

My favorite feature is available in both models: One-Touch Blogging! The product description for the LifeCam VX-6000 on amazon.com says, "with One-Touch Blogging, a single click allows you to upload to Windows Live Spaces, an "online scrapbook" that lets you easily post blogs, photo albums, and personal music lists." Before you know it, video posting will be as easy as pushing a button!

Talking about Spaces updates!

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:59:27 GMT

Some updates to spaces available today! Here are some details below from my (Mike's) blog.

Quote

Talking about Spaces updates!

Lots of updates to Spaces today; some of them are immediately apparent (i.e. support for additional modules, some usability fixes for photos, and another new URL structure) while a lot of them may not be. Here are some thoughts on this release:

Photo album usability improvements. From the Spacecraft writeup: "We listened to your feedback and have brought back the list of all your photo albums on the home page.When you edit your Space, you can use this list to re-order your albums: Just click on the up or down arrow that displays when you hover your mouse over the album title in the list box." I have to admit, I'm not the world's biggest fan of the new album picker, but it's a LOT better than what we had. Rest assured that we're going to continue making improvements as we approach the Windows Live release.
New modules and support for the Microsoft Gadget Framework. This is a MUCH bigger deal that it seems at first glance, but the short of it is that we now support gadgets in Spaces. Right now the gadgets are limited to the ones we have "approved" like weather, stock quotes, quote of the day, and the updated spaces map... but supporting the gadget platform is a HUGE step in the right direction for spaces to become more flexible, more customizable, and more FUN. Look for a LOT of coolness around this in the coming months.
IE7 Beta 2 bug fixes. We've done everything we can to squash these for all of you.
New URL. Again, not the biggest fan of this but it's something we absolutely had to do to continue to grow the service. Greg spoke about these changes here. And I'm actually starting to like it - the URLs look a little cleaner - despite months of complaining to Greg about this ;)
Potential Bloglines fix. See bug details here. We think we nipped this one too finally - please let me know if you are still seeing random unread blog entries in Bloglines (except for the ones from today; those were due to the changes to our URL)

Behind those user-facing changes, the most significant work done in this release, bar none, is our move to multiple data centers (and a bunch of performance related work) to support future growth and speedy page loads for the service. Supporting 100 million users a month is exhausting for those servers - so we've given them a bit of a break. This is some serious infrastructure work that we will be reaping the benefits of for years to come. You should see immediate performance improvements starting now.

Onward to Windows Live Spaces. For those asking about it, there is no need to continue to do so - it's soon. We said it would arrive this summer and we're still on track for that. Remember, the summer is (I think) from June 21st to September 22nd or so. So keep your eyes peeled.

Read more about this release on the Spacecraft blog.

Custom Made Avatars

Fri, 26 May 2006 22:31:16 GMT

I had a chat recently with Linda Criddle the online child safety expert at MSN. We were talking about personal photos on the Internet, and maybe it isn't such a good idea for so many people to know what you and your family look like. There are some safe ways to do a photo-- I have been noticing some folks on MSN Spaces have some great ways of posting a photo that obscures part of their face.

But I really like this idea--custom avatars. I read about this on springwise trendwatchers.com.

From springwise:

"Based in Brooklyn, graphic artist Lina Chin creates digitally illustrated portraits. Working from photographs, her black and white images are stylized likenesses of their subjects. The finished product is a digital file, delivered as a vector image, which lets customers enlarge their portrait without losing image quality. In a small size, digi-portraits make excellent avatars or buddy icons. Prices depend on a portrait's complexity."

--Juliana

Are you using RSS?

Fri, 19 May 2006 14:07:55 GMT

Hello again! I hope you're all taking advantage of the great RSS capability in MSN Spaces. Enabling RSS (Really Simple Syndication) makes it possible for people to subscribe to your MSN Space and have your content delivered directly to their RSS readers (and here's a tip: receiving RSS feeds is going to get a whole lot easier with the 2007 Office release and Windows Vista!).

If you haven't yet set up your MSN Space to be distributed via RSS, it's simple. Click Edit Your Space and choose Settings. In the Space Settings tab, scroll down to the Syndicate this space using RSS 2.0 area, and click the Syndicate checkbox. When the checkmark appears in the box, you know your site will support RSS. Scroll down to the Save button and click it; then go back and add entries to your heart's content.

Others who visit your space and like what they see can subscribe to your MSN Space and have the content delivered to their RSS Reader (or directly to their Office Outlook 2007 Inbox! Or to their desktop in IE7!) by simply clicking the Subscribe to RSS feed link at the top of your space (to the left of the Sign In button).

[When I first began using RSS I was concerned that if the content was distributed from my space automatically, people would never actually come to my MSN Space to see what was going on, which means my site statistics would suffer. (And I love seeing the numbers on my Statistics page increase!) But what I discovered is that your MSN Space statistics reflect it when an RSS reader requests the information from your page--so it's still a site visit. Pretty slick.]

Change the language display of MSN Spaces

Fri, 12 May 2006 16:37:31 GMT

Here's a cool tip I wouldn't have found if one of you hadn't left the question in the Comments area, so thanks! I know that MSN Spaces is huge all over the world and that you don't have to go far to find MSN Spaces in other languages (which I love), but I didn't know how to change the language display of MSN Spaces. So when one of you asked how to display your space in Spanish, I went looking for it. And here's what I found in MSN Spaces help:

You can change the language display by going to the Web site of the language you want to use and logging in as usual. Here are the links for a few languages:

For Spanish, go to http://spaces.msn.com?mkt=es-es
For Spanish (US), go to http://spaces.msn.com?mkt=es-us
For French, go to http://spaces.msn.com?mkt=fr-fr
For German, go to http://spaces.msn.com?mkt=de-de
For Japanese, go to http://spaces.msn.com?mkt=ja-jp

To review the whole list, click in the Search Help box (scroll down in the right margin of your space) and type "change language"; then click the Search Help arrow. Fascinating--and who knows? You might find you have a talent for picking up new languages. :)

New book excerpt on Microsoft At Home and At Work

Wed, 10 May 2006 12:35:35 GMT

Hi everyone! Microsoft At Home and At Work has published a new article from our book. This one is called, "Mobile Blogging Made Easy," and it covers the steps for setting up your space to receive blog posts and photos from your cell phone. I take a lot of photos with my cell phone and post them to my space; I like capturing what's going on in the world and sending it back to share online. :)

You can view the article by clicking the link on the left or by going to the Microsoft At Home page. While you're there, you might want to sign up for their newsletter. It always has a fun and interesting mix of articles and tips.

MSN Spaces Possibilities

Tue, 09 May 2006 15:48:14 GMT

This is really cool. I saw this on your space, Mike, and thought I'd share it here because it's exciting. :)

The Xbox team called on MSN Spaces users who are also Xbox Live® members to blog about their experiences at E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in Los Angeles, California, May 9-11). The expo boasts the introduction of thousands of new games; plus Xbox 360 will be there en force (there were some hints about Halo 3 in the press yesterday) in addition to the other major contenders (Sony and Nintendo, obviously).

Visit the Xbox site to get the list of MSN Spaces users who are the official E3 bloggers. How cool is that? Use your MSN Space to share what fascinates you and you never know who might come knocking at your door! And we'll help you with the practicalities along the way. :)

MSN Spaces for Mother's Day :)

Tue, 02 May 2006 13:50:36 GMT

Are you at a loss for what to give your mom for Mother's Day this year? Here's an idea: Create a family MSN Space! You and your siblings (and your dad, if he's game) can put together a tribute space for Mom, with your favorite stories, photos, music, and more. Here are just a few ideas, off the top of my head, for items you could include on your Mother's Day MSN Space:

Family Story Blog posts from each of the kids
A list of "Our favorite moments"
A list of "Best recipes"
A list of "Mom's adventures"
A photo album of "Mom's garden"
A photo album of "Grandkid art" (you can scan drawings and paintings for Grandma and post them in this album)
A photo album of "Our baby pictures"
Links to gifts, destinations, or other sites you think Mom will love.
Use the HTML PowerToy to play her favorite song or show a video of the kids

Here are a couple of ideas for unwrappable gifts to go along with the MSN Space you create:

Create a personalized photo book with My Publisher. Send copies of the photos from your MSN Space to MyPublisher, an online publishing company that creates beautiful four-color photo books (hardcover) from your favorite images. You can customize it to include text from your MSN Space. (I've ordered several of these, and they are really great.)
Create a screen saver using Photo Story 3. Using those same photos, you can create a screen saver of family images and use Photo Story 3 (which is free!) to set the slideshow to great music. (Last year, for a new mom friend of mine, I created a slideshow of her baby's first year and set it to "What a Wonderful World," sung by Louis Armstrong. There wasn't a dry eye in the room!)
Create refrigerator magnets from your favorite photos on your MSN Space. Use Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 (click here for a free trial download) or Microsoft Office Picture Manager (if you want simple) to touch up your favorite photos; then print them on photo paper, mount them in tiny frames, and glue craft magnets on the back. (This is a fun project for kids on a rainy spring afternoon.)

There are lots of things you can create once you get that creative vibe going! There's nothing that will make mom's face light up more than knowing you remember and care about the family moments you've shared together--and MSN Spaces can help you show her that in a special way. Happy Mother's Day! :) [kathy]

Juliana's Top Five Singles

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:26:34 GMT

I just posted a list of my five current favorite songs in Music.

What are yours?

--Juliana

Looking forward to Montage view :)

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:02:26 GMT

Hi everyone! Thanks for all your comments and interest. We really enjoy hearing from you. :)

As we've previously posted, we wrote Share Your Story: Blogging with MSN Spaces based on beta software, which means several of the features were in development while we were writing about them. (It's really fascinating, btw, to be able to see software go through various stages of development--but it's also a bit like trying to capture and describe a moving target!)

One of the features we wrote about that is still on the horizon is Montage view. On pages 73-74 and 79-81, I talked about different ways to view the photos you add to your space--and Montage view is a really cool feature that lets you view small thumbnails of your images and then "pop out" a selected photo by positioning the mouse pointer on it. I had a blast working with this while I was writing about it. On your space (or any space, for that matter) if you click the Views control (the down triangle on the right side of the photo album below the options), you'll currently see two view choices: Slideshow and Full view. This is where you'll find the Montage view choice when it's available. Very cool feature--and worth waiting for, I think.

[One other note: I'm curious--are you using the Description and Add a comment items for individual photos in your photo albums? I thought these features would get a lot of use, but so far, I don't notice a lot of people using them. Would having some examples help? Just let us know. :) Kathy]

Creating a Guestbook on MSN Spaces

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:51:16 GMT

From Chapter 6. Check out the book on Microsoft.com!

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One of the missing features in MSN Spaces is the ability to leave a comment on a space itself. Comments on blog entries and photo albums are commonplace, but many times people just want to say hello—or they want to comment on your space, not necessarily on something you’ve said or photographs you’ve taken.

The easiest way to enable a guest book in MSN Spaces is to create a blog entry titled “Guest Book.” The content of the entry could just contain something like this:

Leave a comment below to sign my guest book!

After you post this entry, it will appear as a standard blog entry. Now, create a custom list called “My Guest Book,” and add just one entry to the list called “Leave a Comment!” The URL of this list item should be the Permalink of the blog entry you just posted to your space. Now you have a guest book!

- Mike

Thanks for the great review!

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:11:53 GMT

A friend sent us this link yesterday to a great review of our book that was recently posted on an MSN Space (Cyberspace People Watcher). Thanks, Alfred, for reviewing our book and describing it so eloquently. We're glad you like it!

Sometimes writing and publishing books is a little like raising baby birds and then watching them fly away. [I should tell you that this is Kathy writing...I thought I'd better own up to that metaphor, Mike! :)] You're totally immersed in their development and growth; and then once they fly out of the nest (or in this case, off the shelves), you can lose touch with how they're doing. It's really great to hear what others think and be able to find out how well the book is doing its work in the world. It's kind of like a note home. :)

So thanks for the feedback! And keep it coming! We'll do our best to respond promptly to your questions, comments, and suggestions. :)

Chapter 3: A Little Bit of History on Profile

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:23:29 GMT

From Chapter 3 on the new Profile in MSN Spaces. Check out the book on Microsoft.com!

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For years, MSN users have had access to a user profile as part of MSN Member Directory (previously available at http://members.msn.com). MSN Member Directory was a public listing service of profile information for more than 100 million MSN users and a one-stop shop for finding people and learning more about them. MSN Member Directory had fixed categories where users could list themselves—everything from Romance to Hobbies & Crafts—and it provided a way to search for users by the information they entered into their profiles. But MSN Member Directory, is no more; it has been replaced by the new MSN Profile and the search capabilities covered in Chapter 8, “Connecting Spaces and Creating Community.” Now you may be asking yourself, if MSN Member Directory had all this cool functionality, why was it replaced? Good question. Here are some reasons why the new MSN Profile is light years better than its predecessor:

* You can share a greater number of fields with others; before, you were limited to just a handful.

* You can secure information entered into the profile so only people you know and trust will be able to see it. The permissions available range from the most basic (“everyone on the Internet can see my information”) to incredibly advanced (“only my mother and people on my MSN Messenger list can see my information”).

* The new profile includes the ability to subscribe to other people’s contact information as a way to stay up-to-date on changes (we’ll discuss Active Contacts soon!) [Note: feature is no longer called Active Contacts, but it's still there!]

* The profile information is integrated into MSN Spaces Search (see Chapter 8, “Connecting Spaces and Creating Community”), so you still have access to basic and advanced searches.

* The user interface is more closely aligned with MSN Spaces. In the past, if you wanted to associate your profile information with your space, you had to bounce around between MSN Spaces and MSN Member Directory. Now, you can do it all from MSN Spaces.

* The new profile is now integrated into the “gleam” and contact card used in MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger, MSN Spaces, and Windows Live Maill (and also described in Chapter 8, “Connecting Spaces and Creating Community”). This way, your profile isn’t an island of information—when you change it, the people you care about will know almost immediately.

Tip: A number of other profile services exist on the Web, although MSN Profile is the only one that can be added to your space. Each profile is a little different from the next, but cumulatively they’re used by a large percentage of Internet users. Here are some of the other popular profile services: Friendster (http://www.friendster.com), Orkut (http://www.orkut.com), Yahoo Member Directory (http://members.yahoo.com), Yahoo 360 (http://360.yahoo.com), and LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com). [Note: last summer when we wrote this chapter, MySpace.com wasn't too well known - but they are now!]

Sidebar: MY INFORMATION IS ALREADY THERE!

As part of the switch from the old profile in MSN Member Directory to the new MSN Profile, if you were an MSN Member Directory user, your information was automatically “moved” from the old to the new service…saving you the trouble of having to enter it again. Of course, your new profile has far more fields for you to use. So, if your information was previously in MSN Member Directory, the only information that will be added to your new profile is information you had there. This means if you had an old profile containing your location (City, State), your city and state will automatically be added to your new profile. But a field such as Places Lived, which is available only in the new profile, will be blank (since this field wasn’t included in your old profile).

- Mike

Duane's Vacation

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 22:12:11 GMT

Duane is off in Europe--he has some great pics and entries on his personal blog here: http://spaces.msn.com/dspace/

--Juliana

Book Update: MSN Messenger changes

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:30:10 GMT

If you're on the Windows Live Messenger beta, you already know this, but MSN Messenger is going through an exciting change. This means that many of the examples we have in the book (showing screen shots of MSN Messenger 7.5, particularly in Chapter 9, "Extending Your Spaces Experience,") won't match what you see on the screen if you're using the Windows Live Messenger beta. (The beta is really cool, btw, and will enable you to take full advantage of many of the newest features of MSN Spaces; it iincludes shared folders, access to Windows Live Search, and more). See the bottom of this post for a quick shot of the beta as it looks now.

[Also, a note from the news: This article from BetaNews says MSN Messenger is the most popular IM client used world-wide. That's terrific! I thought this was a fascinating article because it gives us a sense of how different countries are using IM right now and which applications they use most. Enjoy! -kathy]

Adding Music Lists

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:02:02 GMT

My music collection is scattered all over the place. I have tons of CDs in my house, in my car and in my office. Half of the cds I own have scratches because I move them so often from one place to another. I haven't purchased an iPod. I want one, but my hubbie keeps saying to wait for a cell phone because he thinks the iPods are a fad. Well, really he doesn't like the idea of me downloading all my music at a $1 a song.

I'm slowly, slowly getting some music on my Tablet PC at work. The pain is that I have an external CD-Rom drive which I have to plug in in order to then rip music from my cds. So, in most cases, I have been downloading them at $1 a song. I know, I know, I should just try to rip one a day. I was looking through my cd collection at work yesterday to see about taking something home for the commute, and realized there were CDs I didn't even know I had.

Does anyone have any good tips or pointers for organizing a music collection from physical cds and your computer?

I've also been wanting to add a music list to my blog, but finally after reading how to do it in chapter 6, I posted a list of Selection of Songs on My Tablet PC this morning. These are a few four and five stars pulled directly from my media player...it is a rather eclectic mix--Fred Astaire, Concrete Blonde, Dixie Chicks, and John Hiatt.

--Juliana

Read an excerpt on Microsoft At Home

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 14:08:10 GMT

Hi everyone! If you haven't seen our book yet, take a look at this month's issue of Microsoft At Home and At Work to read an excerpt in the article, "Create an Online Photo Album." The article focuses on using MSN Spaces to create a simple photo album and upload images your friends and family can enjoy.

[Note: Two weeks ago they also published, "Get Started Blogging," from Chapter 2 of our book. It's still available online, though, so take a look!]

Microsoft At Home and At Work is a great site that offers practical articles for making the most of our digital lifestyles--both at home and at work. :) They have a great e-mail newsletter too; you can sign up by clicking here.

Why I blog and should you?

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:42:46 GMT

People tell me, I would like to start a blog, but I don't know where to start. I see your blog, you have lots of lists and entries, how do you find the time? I'm thinking of starting a blog, but I want to make sure it looks good so I'm thinking of hiring a designer. I don't want to start unless I do it right.

The key is to just do it. Don't think too hard. Just start one. Start it small with just an entry and one list and then gradually add to it. A big decision is whether to make it private for just family or friends or public to the world. Making it private is a bit safer and you can control who comes to your site. Making it public means you will meet all kinds of people who share your interests and thoughts.

Don't think you have to be world class writer. Just write. Blogging is almost a stream of consciousness type of writing. If you don't think you have great writing skills, and are not excited about sharing your innermost thoughts and desires, than just link. Share the links that are important to you with a comment or two.

Why do I blog? Because it starts conversations. Since I started the Jaldous Journal my work colleagues know more about me as a person. I have my blog listed on my email signature and I've had more people tell me in meetings, "You know, I checked out your blog and I liked that book too." or "I didn't know you quilted." I posted an opinion on Google print and Tate Nunnelly contacted me and gave me some good background. I received a thanks from the authors of Freakonomics after I posted about how their book was being marketed. I reviewed Cali Yost's book on Work+Life, emailed her to let her know, and as a result put her in touch with a colleague who has just mentioned she was looking for someone to write an article on Work/Life Balance.

Blogging started a conversation with Mike for this book. I saw Mike's space. I sent him email and asked if he knew who I should talk with over at MSN Spaces about a book. He had written a proposal already, and sent me a link on his blog where he had asked the question, "Why are there no books on MSN?"

A question for you...If you blog, why do you do it? What changes has it made for you? If you post an entry on your blog, let us know here by tracking back. If you have a brand new blog, let us know that too.

--Juliana

Book vs. Reality

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 20:41:54 GMT

Now that you have your hands on the book (you do, don't you?) you may have a couple of questions about things that seem amiss. For example: what's that thing we call "mutual friends" on p136? Why are we referencing something called Active Contacts on p50? Why do the permissions and communication preferences features look a little different than they do in real life on p29, p32, p46, and p49?

Well, the answer is actually pretty simple: things changed a bit from the time we finished the book in September until the time the book was released in March.

One of those things was the Friends list feature. Originally planned for a worldwide roll-out, the product team decided to take a more phased "beta" approach to gather feedback before rolling it out more broadly. So right now it's only available in Australia. And on top of that, the feature is a little bit different as well; the concept of "mutual friends" and "friends" has shifted somewhat. Which means the text in places like permissions and communication preferences (where Friends and Friends of Friends are options) shifted a bit too.

Instead of explaining in more detail, I'll let Dare talk about it by blatently copying part of his very detailed blog post on social networking features (Dare is my partner in crime on the extended Spaces team at Microsoft):

From Dare: The original design for the feature followed the LiveJournal model where you had friends [people who you added to your social network who hadn't reciprocated] and mutual friends [people who you've added to your social network who have also said you are part of theirs]. Mike and I thought this model was similar to how blogrolls work today. There are people in my blogroll who didn't have me in theirs and there are others that do. Lots of people freaked out about this, specifically they didn't want their picture showing up in someone else's space if they hadn't given permission. We played around with different models for differentiating 'friends' from 'mutual friends' but eventually gave up and now just have one model. When you add someone as a 'Friend' they don't show up on your list until they accept and add you to theirs as well. Mike and I disliked paring down the feature in this way but almost everyone else preferred it to the 'mutual friends' model.

Note that this all applies to the feature in Windows Live Messenger as well. Although we knew MSN Messenger would become Windows Live Messenger at the time, we were sworn to secrecy (that pesky little NDA) and had to refer to it as MSN in the book. But the new beta of Windows Live Messenger will have Friends list integration in your area soon just like spaces!

And that thing called Active Contacts? That's still there, it just isn't called that anymore. It become Live Contacts for a short period of time and is now just referred to as "contact updates" - no fancy name. All the places we talked about it being available are still accurate though!

- Mike

Share Your Story: Blogging with MSN Spaces is Out!

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:41:20 GMT

We're excited to announce that Share Your Story: Blogging with MSN Spaces is now a real, hold-in-your-hands book! As we write this, it's on its way to bookstores and Web sites near you. It's great to see the book in full, living color and relive all the examples and interviews we did while we were writing it. As a sneak preview, here's a quick list of some of the topics we cover to give you a boost into creating a space you'll love:

Set up your space in 10 minutes or less!
Write and publish your blog--no HTML needed
Create photo albums friends and family can comment on
Post to your blog using your mobile device
List your favorite music, books, movies, and more
Share your content with others by adding RSS to your space
Personalize MSN Spaces to work your way
Hear the MSN Spaces backstory from the Spaces team!

We'll be posting info in the coming weeks with ideas for tips and tricks, as well as creative ideas you can try on your space. So check back soon! And if you already have your copy, click Add a comment and let us know what you think!

Isn't this the greatest book cover?

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 22:29:55 GMT

Here's the book cover the amazing and fun folks at Microsoft Press designed for our upcoming book. We love it! We hope it inspires you to do something fun with your space.

Also, a note. If you pre-ordered a copy of our book on amazon.com and this week got some strange note saying that there's a delay in the book due to some strange binding issue, don't worry. There's nothing wrong with the book. :) In fact, if you go out to the amazon.com right now (hopefully this will be changed any minute), the Language of the book is listed as Turkish! Don't believe it. It's probably just some weird computer glitch. Comes with the territory. :) But we're looking into it.

We don't have a final pub date (that's publishing-ese for "the date the book will be available") for the book yet because of some terrific last-minute software improvements that are worth waiting for. We'll keep you posted, though. And over the coming weeks, you'l begin to see tips and holiday ideas and whatnot appearing on this space. So come back soon!

Pre-order the book!

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 20:21:24 GMT

From Mike:

Just learned today that our book on MSN Spaces is available for pre-order on Amazon!

First thought: scary because we aren't finished with it.

Second thought: awesome! Everyone else is probably used to it by now, but this is a first for me.

You can pre-order it here. There aren't any details on contents or ship-date (the one they list is not final) but rest assured, it will be a great book ;)

Talking About Spaces Hall of Fame

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:54:54 GMT

Juliana:

Here is a great Spaces site to check out, the Spaces Hall of Fame where awards (or kudos) are given to other great sites on MSN Spaces.

Photos rule

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 21:24:54 GMT

I was out scouting around through the webscape, checking out new Spaces...and I noticed something interesting. Lots of the new spaces use the Photo Album as the primary element, supersized, in the center of the layout, with the other lists and blog elements barely or rarely used. I really like the big photo display and the slide show effect--it enables people who want to "show" more than "tell" to do it their way. Here's a newly updated space to show you what I'm talking about...it puts the photos center-stage (plus the baby is adorable!): http://spaces.msn.com/members/starrygracy/

I just finished writing my initial draft of the photos chapter for our book, and now I'm curious about whether other Spaces users see the photos as more important that the text, or vice versa? What's the centerpiece of your space--photos, text, lists, or something else? Add comments to share your thoughts and ideas--we'd like to hear them!

Lists chapter - Music section

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 00:54:15 GMT

From Mike:

Below you will find a small section of Chapter 8 (Lists) from Share Your Story: Blogging with MSN Spaces. The chapter is currently a total of 25 pages in Microsoft Word and the section below is about 2 pages of that. We covered lots of fun stuff in this chapter including list "hacks", linking to other music stores, and custom lists like language translation, guestbooks, and announcements.

This text has not been edited yet, so please disregard any typos or strange sentence construction :) But if you see any blatant mistakes or missing points, definitely holler. It's pretty likely that this chapter will undergo some pretty massive change before it hits the shelves.

Let us know what you think!

Sharing your music playlists

Music on the Internet has officially arrived. The rise of MP3 players (iPod anyone?) and dozens of online music stores have turned digital music into a reality. People using music to express themselves isn’t new; it has been going on since the first caveperson learned how to whistle. However, never before has it been so easy!

With MSN Spaces, not only can you share your music playlists with your visitors, but you can do so in just a couple of clicks. You don’t have to spend thousands of grueling hours entering information off of CD sleeves… If you use Windows Media Player, any playlist you have already created (including auto-playlists like “Five Star Favorites”) can be shared on your space without any extra effort on your part.

It is important to point out that what is actually being shared on your space is the information (or “metadata”) associated with your music, not the music itself. Your visitors will see the name of the album, artist, and song – but they will not be able to copy the song from your hard drive or from MSN Spaces. That would be illegal in most countries and is not something made possible by MSN Spaces.

If you don’t use Windows Media Player but still want to share your music tastes with your friends and family, you can do so just by typing in song information.

Creating a music list

You can create a maximum of 25 music lists on your MSN Space and each music list can have up to 100 songs.

Creating a music list on your space consists of two simple steps; naming the list and adding a song to it. Let’s take a look at creating a music list from scratch. To do so, just follow these steps:

1. From “Edit mode” of your space, click the Music tab at the top of the page. This will display all of the music lists currently shared on your space. Since we haven’t added one yet, the page should be empty right now unless you have already added one or more lists on your own. See Figure 8-1 for an example.

Figure 8-1 here

Page listing all music lists

Figure 8-1

The music list view shows all of the music lists currently on your space

2. Click “Add a Music List” under Music Tasks to create a new music list.

3. Give your music list a name and click “OK”. This is a required step; if you cancel at this point, your music list won’t be created.

4. Once you have added your music list, you are now viewing that list – and a View dropdown has been added to the top of the page with all of your music lists. When you add new music lists, they will be added to this dropdown.

5. Click “Add Song”. Immediately, three boxes should appear with “Song name (Required)”, “Artist Name”, and “Album Name” (Figure 8-2). Fill in the boxes with your song information.

Figure 8-2 here

Adding a song to the Music List

Figure 8-2

To add a song to a music list, enter the song name (required), artist name, and album name

6. Click “Add” to add the song to the music list.

When you are ready to add more songs to the list, you can just repeat steps 5 and 6.

As soon as you create your music list, it is automatically available on your MSN Spaces homepage for visitors to see. If you would like to choose where the music list appears on the page, you will need to enter “Customize” mode and move it around (see Chapter 7 for more information on layout and customization.)

Removing and editing songs

What happens if you made a spelling error and want to correct it? Simple. All you have to do is click the Edit icon (pencil) to the right of the song details and edit boxes immediately appear for you. Enter your changes and click “Save”. Your changes will then be saved back to your list. Clicking “Cancel” will make the edit boxes disappear again and your changes will not be applied.

If you want to remove a song, all you have to do is click the Delete icon (black X) to the right of the Edit icon. You will be asked if you are sure (Figure 8-3) If you are, click “OK” and viola! No more song. You can always click “Cancel” at this point if you have changed your mind and want to keep the song.

Figure 8-3 here

Confirming removal of a song from a Music List

Figure 8-3

In order to remove a song from a music list, you must first say it is OK

Copying a playlist from Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a program available as part of Microsoft Windows for listening to music and watching DVDs and videos. MSN Spaces makes the act of adding music information as simple as uploading your existing playlists from Windows Media Player directly into your space! This is especially handy if you are a weekend DJ and create lots of playlists.

If you aren’t familiar with playlists, they are just named collections of songs (like “Driving Music”) and can be created by adding songs manually or automatically based on song characteristics (album name, tempo, rating, etc.) Playlists in Windows Media Player are pretty similar in nature to the old “mix tapes” of the 80s and 90s… or the list of songs queued up to play in the table jukebox at your favorite 24-hour diner.

Importing songs from Windows Media Player will only work in Windows Media Player version 8 or later (the latest version at the time of this printing is version 10.) If you don’t already have Windows Media Player 10 on your system, you can download it from Microsoft at the following web address:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/

To import a playlist from Windows Media Player, follow these steps:

1. From “Edit mode” of your space, click the Music tab at the top of the page. This will display all of the music lists currently shared on your space.

2. Click “Copy a playlist from Windows Media Player” under Music Tasks to import a playlist into your MSN Space.

3. You will be presented with a dialog box for security asking if you would like to grant “read access” to your music library (Figure 8-4). In plain English, this is MSN Spaces asking for permission to peak at your songs. If you are OK with this, click “Yes”. Otherwise click “No”.

Figure 8-4 here

Windows Media Player security dialog

Figure 8-4

To protect your privacy, you must first give MSN Spaces access to your playlists

4. If you have a large music library, there may be a delay while MSN Spaces reads your playlists from Windows Media Player. Once it is finished, all of your playlists (including auto-playlists like “Fresh Tracks”) will appear on the page for you to select from.

5. Once your playlists are on the screen, you can see which songs are in each playlist by clicking the plus/minus sign next to its name. When you are ready to choose a playlist, select the radio button next to the name and click “Next” to continue. (Again, if your playlist is large, there may be a delay!)

6. On the next (and final) page, you can unselect the songs from the playlist that you don’t want to copy to your space. By default, all songs will be selected. Once you are ready, click “Copy” to start the copy.

7. Once your music information is copied, you will see all the songs listed on the page (Figure 8-5). At this point, you can edit them manually, delete them, or add new songs to the list if you want to.

Figure 8-5 here

List of songs imported from Windows Media Player

Figure 8-5

All of the songs you selected will be added to your music list automatically – artist and album name included!

The Nice Thing about "Busy"

Sat, 04 Jun 2005 21:01:33 GMT

From Kathy:

Have you seen the movie While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock? Whether you liked the movie or not (I thought it was a bit sappy the first time I saw it but later it won me over), the idea carries: Life goes on while you're busy doing other things.

I've just finished writing another book for Microsoft Press (which went to the printer yesterday! Yay, Steve!) and now I'm making mental and creative space for our book on MSN Spaces. I've been working with MSN Spaces for a long time now, and I was excited about the potential of this community from the very first moment I logged on. But now, as I get back into the flow of posting regularly, I am amazed to discover how much the community has grown! There are so many great spaces--so many creative and fun ideas--so much good writing! Just look around. You're sure to find something that interests you and is worth revisiting for a later look.

So the good side of being busily immersed in another project is that when I'm able to return to this one, I find that the Spaces Universe has grown incredibly rich and full--and it's growing every day. Spring is blossoming into summer here online, and there are many creative voices, sharing what they find, and think, and are. If you haven't already, I hope you'll add your voice to the mix. Over the coming weeks, we'll be looking for examples of spaces to write about (we want to do our best to capture the life and fun in this community), so if you run across a space you think it really great/creative/different, feel free to send us a note or leave a comment pointing us to the space (even if it's your own!).

PS> Interesting article on "Blog Basics" over at the main Microsoft site...helpful info (with links to popular blogs) if you're just getting started.

Writing about Lists

Sun, 22 May 2005 23:56:11 GMT

From Mike:

Writing about a product like MSN Spaces can be pretty challenging. Not only are things changing every few months but soliciting feedback from the community is tricky when half of the things you are writing about haven't been announced yet!

The first chapter I am working on is about the Lists feature. Here is a list (hah, sorry) of some of the things I plan on tackling in one way or another. Note that this outline is pretty unstructured and does not actually resemble the contents of the chapter!

Overview of Lists - adding/deleting/editing
- Reordering list items
Creating a book list
- Linking to your favorite book store (Amazon, B&N, etc.)
Generating a music list
- Choosing your favorite songs from Windows Media Player
- Rating music lists
Creating a blog list of friends and online acquaintances
Dreaming up a custom list (getting creative!)
- Linking to your favorite MSN Groups
- Fact sheets on stuff
- "Top 10" lists
- "Contact me" information
- Timelines/key dates
- Goals & Objectives
- Linking directly to photos on Spaces
- Favorite web sites, movies, TV shows, etc.
- Wishlist (or linking to an external one)
- Quotes & wise words
- Cross-linking to posts on your other MSN Space
- Copyright statements & Disclaimers
- Audio/video
- Items you are selling or interested in buying
- Linking to "Subscribe with" links for MyMSN, My Yahoo, Bloglines, Newsgator, etc.
- Linking to online translators for your space
- Enabling a Guestbook using a List
- Linking to your important entries ("Hot topics")
Arranging lists on your space
Sidebar: Creating lists others will read!

(and maybe some other stuff!)

Special thanks to my readers/visitors for these great ideas! But I know this is just scratching the surface of what a list has been used for in Spaces-land.

If you are using lists in creative ways or have other suggestions, post some comments for us!

Ramping up...

Tue, 17 May 2005 15:53:55 GMT

Juliana:

This blog will be ramping up in a short while. Right now the entire team is wrapping up a few other projects before our book gets really underway.

What does it take to get a book started? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here's the scoop on how the book process has gone so far...

As Mike mentioned in his earlier post, he submitted a proposal to me the same time that Kathy did. My job is to evaluate book ideas and proposals for Microsoft Learning and take the book through the front end of the editorial process. I took a look at both proposals and talked with both Kathy and Mike. I also started researching the blogging phenomenom.

I introduced Kathy and Mike to each other. I knew they would make a great team--Mike being the Lead Program Manager for MSN Spaces and Kathy being a fantastic author we've worked with on a number of books--including one Kathy is wrapping up right now for Microsoft Office. Sandra was instrumental in providing feedback on the proposals and working with Mike and Kathy on the table of contents. We honed the coverage for the book, who the audience will be, etc.

My next step was to convince the team here (who knew little about blogging or MSN Spaces) that we needed to do this book. I did that at an editorial board which is made up of members of my team--other planners, my publisher, Lucinda Rowley, and members of the sales, marketing and editorial team. After we passed the editorial board the book was placed on our publishing plan--the list of titles we are planning to publish this year. Loose ends are being tied up now--contracts, schedules, other projects.

Soon the writing will begin...

Sorry, we can't post the cover shot yet...

Wed, 11 May 2005 15:12:19 GMT

Rats! We had to pull the cover shot - stay tuned!! We'll post again once we have the okay from the team.

Book Cover--See What You Think

Tue, 10 May 2005 21:39:02 GMT

From Juliana:

Today our Creative Team--Patricia and Julia gave us a first peek at a possible cover for the book. I want to hear what you think. You too Kathy and Mike!

We wanted a cover that conveys all the fun things you can do with MSN Spaces. I like the green. In fact, we also asked for the green to wrap around where it is blue on the book spine. We will also take away the Windows flag, replace with the MSN butterfly.

We needed an early cover shot in order to put on the sheet that sales will need to take it out to the bookstore accounts.

Mike's Intro

Mon, 09 May 2005 22:02:28 GMT

From Mike:

Over on my personal space, I posted a little bit about how I became involved in this crazy cool project. Although I am not usually a fan of cross-posting, this time it makes sense:

A few months back I was toying with the idea of writing a book on MSN services. The timing just felt right; we had shipped MSN Spaces and the beta of MSN Messenger, the MSN Toolbar with Desktop Search was just released, and services like MSN Video and MSN Music were (and are) kicking some butt.
I received some positive feedback from people about the idea and over Christmas vacation I put together a proposal for a book on MSN; Stay in Touch! Using MSN Messenger, MSN Hotmail, and MSN Spaces to Strengthen Your Ties. As coincidence would have it, I was putting the finishing touches on the proposal to send over to my contact in Microsoft Press when I got an email from Juliana Aldous about a similar book proposal she had received from Katherine Murray! Of course, I flipped out and immediately sent Juliana my unpolished proposal in the hopes we could make something happen.
Long story short, in no time flat we were all speaking on a conference call about writing a book together about MSN Spaces! We finalized the paperwork, setup a space for the project, and we are now off and running!
I am crazy excited about this. I get to be a member of an incredibly experienced and professional team writing about a product I work with every single day. And as is the case with just about everything I am involved with nowadays, we would like to enlist your help. Please start sending us suggestions, comments, complaints, favorite spaces, least favorite spaces, etc. We have comments enabled at the book space below and would love to hear what you are thinking about the project; good or bad. We intend to make this book fun, informative, and alive! We aren't ready to announce a release date just yet, but you will be the first to know once it starts appearing on the shelves.

Within this space you will see the book unfold before your very eyes. You will have the opportunity to provide feedback, to nominate your own space for mention in the book, and to chat with the team about what you would like to see from us. This is going to be a fun ride!

Birth of A Book

Mon, 09 May 2005 18:19:14 GMT

From Juliana:

"Hello World!"

That one little old phrase used by first-time programmers everywhere really defines for me what MSN Spaces is all about. It is your chance to shout out to the whole world and share a bit about yourself and your own personal story. You can write about your life, you can post photos, you can share your music and book lists.

You also learn more about the world. Just click anytime on the Updated Spaces and you are instantly transported somewhere across the World-Thailand, Brazil, or Anywhere Town, USA, and instantly into someone's life. The world is suddenly much smaller and there are an awfully lot of nice and interesting people in it!

This particular MSN Space will be about the creation of a book, on what else? MSN Spaces. We will show you the behind the scenes story on how a book is created--from concept of idea to printed book. This Space will be a joint effort of the authors--Mike Torres and Kathy Murray, and the publishing team--myself, Sandra Haynes, and Duane Draper. You will get a chance to meet an interesting cast of characters and see how many people it really takes to make a book happen.

But this Space is not just about us! It is about you and how you use MSN Spaces. We want you to show us the fun and unique ways you are using MSN Spaces. We want to hear from you, we want to see your Space, we want to know how you use it to Share Your Story!