In this tutorial we show you how to create your blog using the free blogger.com service.
1. Examining a blog site
The word " Better Days " on top is the name of your blog. You can see two entries (or Posts ) on this blog. One is called " I like the new blogger.com " and the other one is called " My Blog at Typepad ". At the bottom of every post you see some information like the date itwas posted, comments etc.
2. Creating your own blog on Blogger.com
a) Go to www.blogger.com and click on the "Create your blog now" icon.
b) This is the sign-up page. Fill in all the fields. The display name is the name that will appear at the end of each post. (eg: In this case it will be "Posted by antboy")
c) On the second screen, we will be asked for the title of your blog - this is what appears on top of our blog. The second field asks for a blog address. This is the address that our friends and students will use to find our blogs.
d) In this step we will choose a design for a blog. If you are not sure, just pick anyone at random. You can always change it later. Select a template and click on the "Continue" icon at the bottom of the page.
Blogger takes a couple of seconds to set up your blog.
e) Nice, now your blog has been created and you can start posting content.
3) Posting Content
a) Here we are posting our first entry. You can publish your entry (it is available immediately on the web) or save it as a draft for later editing.
b) Once you select publish post, you will see the progress animation. Blogger is publishing your post. As soon as the posting is complete, you will see a screen that looks like this
To see your blog, click on the "View Blog" text.
c) To go back to dashboard (say you want to edit or delete a post), click on the "Back to Dashboard" icon. This icon is on the top right part of your screen.
On the dashboard you can add a new post, change settings etc. You can also create a new blog. Say you want to talk about your class notes but you don't want to mix it with your original blog that you maintain about your hobby. You can click on "Create a Blog" icon to add another blog.
d) To add another post, we will click on the "+" icon.
4. Editing and deleting existing posts
a) Go to the dashboard and click on the name of your blog. For example, here we will click on the words "Better Days".
b) You will see a listing of all your posts. You can click on the "Edit" icon to make changes to the post.
c) And of course, the "delete" link would make that post go away.
5) Creating a group blog
A group blog allows multiple authors to post. You can create a group blog with your students or friends. Select the settings/members tab and fill in the information.
You will have to repeat this process if you have more than three friends.
6. Adding images to your blog
As Blogger is a free service, image hosting is not provided as images tend to take up a lot of space on web servers. However, there are several other free image hosting services that allow you to link pictures to your blogger.com account. One of the easiest one to use is flickr.com.
a) Creating a Flickr account
Go to www.flickr.com and register for the service.
After you have registered you can upload your pictures to the site.
b) To move pictures from Flickr to your blog on blogger.com, you need to provide your blogger.com account information. Go to the page http://www.flickr.com/account/
One of the sections here deals with Blogging. Click on the "Your blogs" link.
c) Click on the "Set up a new blog" link
d) Select "Blogger Blog". Click on the "Next" icon
e) Type in your Blogger.com log-in and password
f) If you have multiple blogs, you will be asked to choose which blog do you want your pictures posted too.
g) Once your blog is setup on your Flickr account, you can go to any picture and click on the "Blog this" icon.
Continued Exploration
This section contains links to interesting Blog related material I find on the web.