Blogging 101: How to Use Blogger

Hello children! And welcome to the big and wonderful world of the Internet which you might start having trouble with leaving soon! Oops, I don't think that's what your parents want to hear, so let's just keep your imminent Internet addiction between us (and the blogosphere) for now.

Anyway, seeing as many of you are new to blogs, Blogger and even emails, I thought I'd do an introductory post about the basics of using Blogger.

First of all, there are two ways to access your blog. The first is through a link (the long string of words that usually ends in .com found in the top bar on your Internet browser). The link to your blog will end with .blogspot.com. The link to Kassy's blog (this blog) is aforappleee.blogspot.com. If you want to read your blog or share it with other people, you will give them the link.

The second way to access your blog is only for you. For example, if you want to write a new post, add a photo or change the layout or colours of your blog, you will go to www.blogger.com, which looks like this:

Enter your email and password and Sign In.

After you sign in, you will see your Blogger Home screen. The top half of the page shows the different blogs you own (you can have different blogs for different things), and the bottom half of your page is a reading list of Blogger blogs you follow.

Now, click on the name of your blog to go to the Overview page, where you will see a left sidebar with many options. To make a new post, click the orange button in the top left corner that says "New Post".

When you make a new post, you can either "Publish", "Save" or "Preview" it by clicking on one of the buttons on the top right corner. If you are working on a piece but want to save it for later, you can click Save. Your work will be saved, just like in Word or Pages. You can come back and find the post under "Posts" in the left sidebar on the Overview page.

If you are working on a post and want to see how it will look on your blog, you can click Preview. Remember, clicking Preview does NOT post your entry to your blog, meaning if someone else goes to your blog, they will not be able to see your post. You have to click Publish to properly post your entry onto your blog so that other people can see and read it.

The other options in the sidebar you need to know are "Posts" and "Template". Clicking on "Posts" will allow you to see and edit all of your blog entries quickly. You can also see your saved drafts here. If you click on "Template", you can customize how your blog looks.

Comment with questions!