WHAT IS A BLOG?
A blog is basically an online diary. A blog consists of 1) the blog and 2) the 'posts' within the blog... a bit like a book and the chapters within the book.
A blog is a simple way of doing something approaching a website; it can certainly be a simple and effective 'on-line' presence.
A SIMPLE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO CREATING A BLOG USING BLOGGER.COM
To use the blogging facilities at www.blogger.com you need a Google Account. This is easily created…. and free. If you want to follow the instructions below, you may want to open up an extra window.
To get an account:
Do an internet search for ‘google account’
Click on a site which has the heading ‘Google Accounts’
The bottom right of the new opened page should say ‘Create an account now’
Fill out the online form
You will be asked to check your normal email inbox. You will get an email from Google (probably titled ‘Google Email Verification’) asking you to click on a link to ‘verify’ your new Google Account. Getting that email could be almost instantaneous… or it could take ages. Just check periodically!
When you have verified your account, you will be the proud owner of a Google Account. You can, of course, use all the other facilities such as Google Mail, Google Documents, the calendar, etc… or you could just use this account for the Blogger function.
To sign into the blogging area, go to www.blogger.com . Now you've got a Google Account, just go to blogger.com each time you want to use it and log into it with your user name and password.
The first thing Blogger will ask for is a display name. Think carefully about this; do you want anonymity or do you want to use your own name? You may want shared ownership and thus name it after your subject, faculty, etc.
It will also ask you to create a URL. This is a website address. Once you have got this, people can get to your blog by simply typing it in the address bar, just as they would an address like http://google.com, etc. Your address for your blog will be http://whateveryoudecidetocallit.blogspot.com/...the URL (or address) I made up for this blog for example is http://siteknowhow.blogspot.com/ . Of course, you will have to have something which nobody else has used before.
You will now want to create a blog.
3) When you first get in, you will be asked to choose a template. A template is the 'look' of your blog. The template you pick will govern how your blog looks. You can change your mind later on if you want a different colour scheme, layout, etc. When you get more confident, you can go to the 'layout' option and change the typefaces and fine tune your colours.
4) Now it will tell you that you are ready to start blogging.
Don't forget... the blog is like a book and the posts are like chapters.
FINE TUNING YOUR BLOG.
If you are writing your blog, you have three headings top left: 'Posting', 'Settings' and 'Layout'.
'Posting' is where you write your blog.
'Settings' is where you determine how public you want your blog to be, whether you allow comments, etc.
'Layout' is where you can fine-tune the colour scheme, choose different fonts, decide which features you want in your blog, etc.
Each webpage has a version in html code which basically looks like rows and rows of gobbledygook. To have a look at it, you can go into the 'Layout' feature and click on 'Edit html'.
If you want to get REALLY clever, you can put this code
<*style>#navbar-iframe { height:0px; visibility:hidden; display:none; }<*style>
anywhere in the html code to hide the Blogger bar at the top, etc. This is particularly useful if you don't want students' attention to be distracted by having the opportunity to look at other blogs. People seem to be undecided as to whether doing this violates the agreement one has with Google. I leave that one up to you!
BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
A domain name is the web address... blogger.com for example is a domain name.
You can get your own domain name by going to this site: http://123-reg.co.uk. They are very good; reasonably priced and easy to use.
When you get there, register with them. When you then have access to their site, use their search option to see if the name you want is available. Don't type in '.com' or anything like that... just the name. They will give you all the suffixes (.com, .co.uk, etc) which are available.
Once you have the one you want (don't be surprised if what you want is unavailable; each one has to be unique, of course, and the system is world wide.) then go to the next stage until you pay for it. It is not reserved until you have paid for it! Don't forget to delete the ones you don't want... it will automatically put several versions for the same domain name in your shopping cart!!!
When you have bought it, you can log into http://123-reg.co.uk and go to your Control Panel. Your Control Panel is where you manage your domain name and make it do the different jobs you want it to do.
Click on the bit which says 'modify domain'.
Now you can link your new domain name to your blog site by going to the section 'Web Forwarding'. When there, go to the section 'URL to forward website for --------- to:' and type in the web address of your particular blog you have created... it will be somethingsomething.blogspot.com.
At the bottom of the page it will ask you to click on 'update web forwarding'. Once you have done that, typing in your newly purchased domain name in the internet address bar will take you to your site. Done.
Another facility is making up your own email address based on your purchased domain name; the school Technology site, for example, has an email address tech@lordbills.com. You do this by going into the 'Modify Domain' section, then into the 'Email Forwarding' section and then following the instructions... it's fairly simple. Any problems, email me (Tom Bower... TBo) either on the school system or at tech@lordbills.com.
All the best!
Tom Bower
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