Our website is a blog. You probably already know that a blog is an online journal or diary – 'blog' being short for 'web log'. The entries, or posts, are displayed in date order, so when you look at our homepage (or click 'Main' above), what you see are the five most recent posts, newest first.

So when a post disappears from the homepage, where does it go? Is it lost to the mists of time? Oh no. Every time we make a post we assign it to a particular category. That means you can browse all posts by looking through the category links to the right. Some of the categories (like 'Contact') have only one post in them, others have many. Alternatively, you can look at old posts month by month, by using the monthly archives – again, links to the right. Categories or Archives: the content is the same, the only difference is the way they’re organised.

There are two great things about blogs: first, they're really easy to update so there should be new content regularly. Of course, you can bookmark your favourite blogs and visit them once a week to check for new content, but another way to keep track of them is by using 'newsfeed' software (like NetNewsWire), or by using a service like Bloglines. More on this in a future post, which I will link to from here.

The second great thing is that a blog allows dialogue between author(s) and readers. All you need to do is click on the 'Comments' link that you'll find at the bottom of each post, and fill in the form that appears. Your message won't appear on the website straight away - comments are moderated so that inappropriate content can be filtered out - but it will appear as soon as it's been checked, and your message will be forwarded to the relevant person here at Whitewater, so that they can respond.

We don't want to create blog posts just to hear ourselves type: we want to create a site that is useful and interesting to people who read it. You can help us do that by letting us know what we're doing right (and wrong), when you agree (and disagree), what you love (and hate) about our site. Or if there's any particular issue you'd like to hear our thoughts on, we'll do our best to oblige.

Anna Crofton