tyabblemons Said:

Communications is at the very heart of a successful family. We've found a way to use a password protected blog to share information really easily with all of our large family.

"I could never get everyone together in the same room!"

Our family is diverse, and while we're a tight unit, we all have individual lives. We can communicate by SMS text for free, with our phone plans. But text messages can be clumsy, and often arrive at awkward moments - especially if you're a student studying in class. We don't want to distract the kids while they're in school. Also, Facebook is blocked by the school, and Facey is not the most private of platforms. The blog is a much neater option.

By using a password protected blog, they can check for updates at a convenient time for them.

I use tricks to keep them checking the blog. We give away a (small) daily prize to the first person to text me the code number embedded in the day's post. But it turned out that this wasn't really needed. One of my sons said "Dad, if you put comments on this, I'll never use Facebook again!" So I put comments in (by Disqus), and we haven't looked back.

We post about all kinds of things - about appointments, after-school snacks, dinner plans, jobs to be done and a million and one little things that we need to communicate to each other to keep the family running smoothly.

The family really likes the blog. They like the concept, and they like using it. They are able to publish to the blog if they wish, and have done, or they can just interact via the comments. We no longer have to find each kid and let them know what's going on.

Communications has always been the secret to our family's success.

We're using free Evernote and free postach.io to host the blog, and they provide the domain for free. I don't know what other platforms have a login option for a blog, but we keep it behind a password because our traffic is private.

     A very warm welcome to you! The reason that I need a blog is that I had a lot of random posts just lying around in my Evernote files - things that I have published to a web-page, but had no index or any way for anyone to search for my posts. If you don't have the URL, you don't get to see it.

     Being just a little bit different, I was not keen on user-friendly blogs like Blogger, even though I've used them in the past very well. But they're complicated, and you don't control all of the information on your blog. I could go with something by Wordpress, but anyone who has dealt with them knows what a mountain that is to climb.

     Coincidently, I posted (on the Evernote Forums) my wishlist of Evernote features, on the 4th of July. On this wishlist was a request for statistics, and a way to insert comments on a published page. Using links, I could create my own 'Front Page' for my blog, and link everything from there:

• A preview of the page as it would appear published on the web. The web version format varies considerably from the note on the desktop client, mainly in line spacing.
• Ability for readers to insert moderated comments at the bottom of the web page. (Yeah, I know, big ask. Perhaps a 'write-only' note?)
• Style-sheets or another way to change theme for published version.
• Readership statistics for web-page views. The ability to embed html widgets would achieve this."

      A kind reader by the name of 'forever-evernote' responded that I should investigate a third-party app for Evernote called postach.io, which publishes a blog straight from your Evernote notebook. I did investigate, and thus began a very steep learning curve, but at the end of it, we have a blog, with comments, and statistics thanks to Google Analytics. It took a bit of setting up, but I'm sure you'll agree that the end result is worth it.

     I've chosen a very simple theme. I wanted the blog to be easy to peruse and navigate. You'll notice there are no ads at this stage, but if the blog proves popular then I will put one single Google ad block in, and that will be all.

     Please enjoy clicking your way around Tyabblemons Said:

     Multiple blogs are a coming feature of postach.io, and I will be opening another blog as soon as possible for the Tyabb Cockatoos. I will publish further news of this on the home page.

     If you've found this page because you're setting up your own postach.io blog, then I recommend you persevere. If you're stuck, your first port of call should be to the support team - they are very responsive. Click the question mark at the bottom right of your screen on your postach.io dashboard. If you'd like instant help you can try posting here in the comments and I will be notified. If I can help with your setup I will, but I'm no expert and might teach you bad habits ;) My one piece of advice is to ensure you set your blog theme before adding anything to the HTML source code, as a new theme overwrites the code.

     I cannot specify a genre that my blog fits into. I will post about anything that may come to mind. My current projects are the Tyabb Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, and photography, and I'll post about those. We are nearly ready to build the Tyabb Cockatoo Sanctuary, and I hope you'll come along for the ride. The sanctuary will be specifically designed to house four birds with Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), and meet their ongoing needs. PBFD birds cannot be released back into the wild, as they infect other wild birds.

     I am waiting for my domain name ( http://tyabblemons.com ) to point to the blog, but since I've posted this welcome, that has happened now. I'm delighted to have you visit here, and I always appreciate, and try to answer all comments. Enquires regarding the wild Tyabb Cockatoos can be made by leaving a comment on one of the pages.

     For now, I'm not going to clutter up the page with Facebook 'like' icons and the such. If you'd like to share any page on social media, please copy the URL into your post.

     Comments on these pages are moderated. 'Please respect' - the only rule. I'll state up front that the comments section of my blog is a dictatorship, not a democracy...

     Having said that, if anything got deleted by me, it would be an extreme measure indeed. I encourage diversity of opinion. I've always believed that we have far more to learn from people who disagree, than those who agree.

     Please enjoy yourself here. These pages are written for you.

     Brad - 10th July, 2013.