“trackbacks” - I’ve turned them on, but I’m not 100% on what they are yet. I think they’re some sort of way of recording links between sites like this. For example, yesterday I posted a link to John Dominik’s site (there I go again, like he needs to boost the number of visitors). I think what trackbacks offer is a way for me to link to his site (or actually, a specific posting), and for not only that link to appear on my site, but for a record of it to appear on his too. And vice versa if need be.

I think the idea behind these is to provide a web of discussion that is easier for you, the reader, to follow. For example if thousands of you (no, there aren’t that many of you, trust me, click the counter over on the right there for the truth), read this posting, and other “bloggers” had read and commented on this posting, you’d have a list of (and links to) those commenting articles by clicking that Trackback() link at the bottom.

It’s a pretty cool idea really, sort of like a “sub-web”. Of course it needs all participants to use compatible serving software (I use Movabletype, for example). I’m not sure what proportion of you visit via the Movabletype site (and so are likely to have the capability), and what proportion of you visit via Daynotes, or because you know me (and aren’t likely to even care, let alone have the capability), but I’d estimate it to be 1:9 against at the moment.

Anyhow, enough rambling. Trackbacks look cool. If you do a site like this, it’d probably be worth considering using software that can do them (here’s a link to some software that allows Trackbacks, even if you’re not using Movable type, but are using a CGI’d server).

Posted by Phil on September 13, 2002 07:46 AM | Categories: Technology