WHAT' S A BLOG????

Presented by Barbara Resnick

Beginners & Beyond SIG

April 24, 2008

• The word blog is a combination of the words WEB LOG.

A blog is your easy-to-use web site, where you can quickly post thoughts, photos, interact with people, and more. All for FREE.

• A blog can contain anything you want, pictures, text, stories, travel adventures, political opinions, anything you can think of but it should be in good taste.
• Your blog can be read by anyone who has the web address (URL)

Many web sites are created specifically for anyone to access and create blogs. Many web sites for creating a blog can be found by googling blog (no quotes). (Examples are www.blogger.com , www.thoughts.com , http://wordpress.com/, www.squarespace.com, www.myeweb.com .)

However, to see what it is possible to do with blogs, follow some of the links here from GeeksOnTour (Chris is a computer consultant)

• www.geeksontour.com is a web site worth looking at. It is a web site about computer seminars. It would be worthwhile to click on the links Our Blog or Blogs on the left column to see many original blog creations. You will get lots of ideas for your blog.
• www.geeksontour.blogspot.com is a well designed blog with lots of features. It contains two blog tutorials, Examples of a blog and Posting to a blog . Click on those links in this blog.
• http://www.geeksontour.com/newsletters/200803/geeknews-20080311.htm is a link to a newsletter with an advanced discussion of how you can get very fancy and intricate blogs.

Three sites for creating blogs recommended by Kim Komando in her April 3 newsletter are

• LiveJournal,
• WordPress
• Blogger

Two Blog sites recommended by Club Members -

• http://wordpress.com. - Peter Roll recommends this site and sent an example of his blog. To view it, the address is http://paroll.wordpress.com/

• www.blogger.com - a fairly simple blog site and is sponsored by Google and can be accessed through this URL or from within with Picasa. Two example created by thiw web site are http://www.roamingresnicks.blogspot.com/ (no relation) which is a travel documentary and http://hattrickstick.blogspot.com which is a family blog

Setting up a blog on www.blogger.com : The steps to create your blog are

1. Log on to www.blogger.com
2. Follow instructions by
1. Creating your account using an e-mail address. They like it if you have a g- mail account but that is not necessary. Add your password and a display name which will appear at the top of the blog.
2. Choose a template the way in which your blog will appear. Text and photos will in the left hand column and your information and a table of contents or links (by date entered) will be on the right.
3. You are ready to go.
3. Create your blog by clicking on Post where you will find a text box in which to add your thoughts. Click on Add Photo and browse to the folder holding the photo. Text can appear to the right or left of the photo or below the photo when you choose the location of the photo.
4. Continue adding text and photos. Blogger does the rest
5. You can add your photo and a profile.
6. You can delete your blog anytime.
7. Do not forget your account name and password.

Steps to set up an account and POST to that account on www.blogger.com

1. Log on to www.blogger.com
2. Click on Create your blog now. (follow the orange arrows) This is done first time only. When you want to edit or add posts, use the sign in and password boxes (upper right).
3. Fill in an existing e-mail address. Verify
4. Fill in a password for this blogger account. Verify.
5. Copy the funny letters in the box provided. If you mess this up they will give you another chance with different letters.
6. Click I accept terms.. (way at bottom). Then click Continue
7. Type a title for your blog this will be the heading at the top of the blog
8. Choose a URL for your blog. This will be the address for anyone to view your blog to type in the web address line. Click availability
9. Pick a template. which can be Previewed. This is the way your blog will look.
10. GO!

Step by Step Details to post to your blog.

To Post to a blog. Suggestions to make your life easier until you get the hang of this. This takes a little planning. When you are comfortable with this process, experiment with other choices. For Example, medium sized photos positioned left or right, different types and sizes.

1. Select New Post . Put a title on your post.
2. Photos to be uploaded should be saved (resize) at around 100KB or less and file names should be all small letters, no spaces, hyphens and numbers OK. Example: galvestonislandferry1.jpg Make them large size when uploading.
3. Add your photos first. Either
1. One at a time by uploading photos in the reverse order they will appear in your blog. That is, bottom photo should be the first one uploaded. OR
2. All at once by clicking the Add Another Photo option to provide space for another photo. Do this for each photo to be uploaded. In this case, enter first photo in the space at the top and work downward.
3. Click Upload.
4. After all photos are uploaded, click Preview to see how they are spaced. Click Hide Preview to return to edit mode.
5. Add text, positioning the cursor where there is space. Click Preview/Hide Preview as you go to check spacing. Big gaps between photos can be shortened by positioning cursor and pressing delete or backspace. BUT, be careful not to delete a photo. If you try to get it back it will appear at the top, where you will have to drag it down into position if it was in the middle of your photos. Extra space can be added by positioning cursor and pressing ENTER.
6. When done, Preview the Post and then click Publish Post.
7. Posts may be added anytime by signing in with your e-mail address and blogger password. New Posts may be added or old ones edited.
8. Blogger will sort posts by date, most recent at the top and will provide a table of contents of your posts.
9. DO NOT FORGET THE ACCOUNT NAME (E-MAIL ADDRESS), PASSWORD, OR URL. (if needed ,blogger may be able to send some of them.