J-Walk & Associates, Inc.

New Feature: Excel Blog Headlines

I added something new to the site: Excel Blog Headlines.

It lets you see the titles of the most recent posts at 21 Excel-related blogs. The titles, of course, are links to the actual posts. If a blog provides a feed for comments, you'll also see links to the most recent comments. The blogs I've identified are:

• AJP Excel Information
• Andrew's Excel Tips
• ASAP Utilities Excel Blog
• Cellmatrix.net
• Contextures Blog
• Daily Dose Of Excel
• Excel Blog @ TVMCalcs.com
• Fresh Excel Tips
• Information Ocean
• JKP's Excel Pages
• Jorge Camoe's Charts
• Ken Puls Blog
• Methods In Excel
• Microsoft Excel Team Blog
• Newton Excel Bach
• Nick Hodge's Excel Blog
• Pointy Haired Dilbert
• PTS Blog
• Smurf On Spreadsheets
• Spreadsheet Page Blog
• Spy Journal

The best way to keep up with blogs is to use an RSS reader. Many are available. I prefer Bloglines, but Google Reader is also very popular. If you use an RSS reader, you can read the actual posts (not just the headlines) all in a single browser tab.

I also created an OPML file that contains information on the 21 Excel blogs. You can download this file and import it into your RSS reader, and you'll have an instant subscription to all of those blogs.

There are other Excel blogs, but they aren't included in my list because they've either been abandoned, or they don't provide an RSS feed. If I overlooked your Excel-related blog, please let me know.

- Reader Comments -

Following are comments in response to this item.
The most recent comment is at the bottom.

1. By Jon Peltier. Comment posted 04 September, 2008 10:39am

   How about "More Information Per Pixel" by the BonaVista MicroCharts people:
   http://feeds.feedburner.com/xlcubed
   
   Also "Me, Myself, and BI" by the Bissantz SparkMaker folks:
   http://blog.bissantz.com/feed
   
   Or are these too peripheral to Excel?
2. By John Walkenbach. Comment posted 04 September, 2008 11:17am

   I hadn't seen either of those sites. I added the first one, but I'd say the second one is too peripheral. I'll put it on the "wait and see" list.
3. By Tim Mayes. Comment posted 04 September, 2008 11:41am

   That's a nice feature, John, and thanks for including my blog.
   
   I was a bit disappointed, not too much, though. I was hoping that you had created an RSS reader for Excel itself. I was trying to do exactly that a few weeks ago so that I could have a live connection from Google Spreadsheets (which can output a feed) to Excel. I got something kind of working using VB .Net, but I was hoping for a VBA solution.
4. By John Walkenbach. Comment posted 04 September, 2008 1:04pm

   Check out Colo's RSS reader in Excel:
   
   http://www.puremis.net/excel/soft/EaZyRss.shtml
   
   He uses a Webbrowser control. It's an unprotected add-in, so you might be able to adapt some of this code.
5. By Tim Mayes. Comment posted 04 September, 2008 4:17pm

   John, Thanks! That looks excellent and the source code isn't protected so I can customize it. That looks perfect for what I need.
6. By Dick Kusleika. Comment posted 06 September, 2008 8:05pm

   I was surprised that I hadn't heard of a few of those blogs. Oh well, subscribed now.
7. By Jon Peltier. Comment posted 08 September, 2008 5:05am

   Dick: Yeah, there's a strange one, Daily Dose?
8. By Dick Kusleika. Comment posted 09 September, 2008 6:19am

   I hope nobody is taking their "daily dose" medication based on my posting schedule. They'd probably be dead by now.