Technology Tips: Create a Blog with Google's Blogger.com

Blogger.com is a fantastic free blogging service offered by Google. It offers many more features than the simple blog you have created at our class Ning. Using Blogger, you can customize the way that your blog looks and add many different kinds of content. (For example, here's a fun Latin blog I maintain with Blogger.com: Bestiaria Latina.)

For this Technology Tip, you will create a Blogger.com blog. If you already have a Blogger.com blog, you're good to go - you can send me a link to your blog, and take the extra credit now.

 

Step 1: Log on. Go to Blogger.com and log in to "New Blogger" with your Gmail address (here's how to get a Gmail address to use for access to all of Google's great online services).

 

Step 2: Create blog. From the Dashboard, click on the Create a Blog link which you will see next to the phrase "Manage Your Blogs." (You can create as many separate blogs as you want at Blogger.com.)

 

Step 3: Choose title. Give your blog a title (you can use upper and lower case letters, punctuation, spaces, etc.).

 

Step 4: Choose address. Choose an address for your blog at blogspot. Here you should not use any spaces or punctuation, and it's a good idea to use lower-case letters only. Click Check Availability to make sure this address is available.

 

Step 5: Confirm. Complete the Word Verification to prove that you are a human being and not a computer. When you have proved you are not a machine, click the Continue arrow.

 

Step 6: Choose template. Now you need to choose your template by clicking in the little round "radio buttons" below the template you prefer. One of the best things about blogging is that content is kept separate from form, so you can change the template design of your blog any time you want. So for right now, just pick any one of the templates that appeals to you. Click the Continue arrow after you have chosen your template.

 

Step 7: Your first post. Click the Start Posting arrow. Give your post a title, and type something in the message box. Then click Publish.

 

Step 8: You're done! After you have published your first post, click View Blog, and copy the URL that you see (or save it as a Favorite if you will actual be using this blog in the future). This address is what you need to send to me in an email.

To complete this assignment, send me an email containing the address (URL) of the blog you have created. Make sure you use this subject line: TechTip Blogger.

When you have sent in the email, you can do the Gradebook Declaration for Extra Credit. Here is the text of the Gradebook Declaration you will complete:

NOTE: Deleting the Blog: After I receive the email and write you back, you are free to go back and delete the blog you created for this assignment if you don't actually want to use the blog. Please make sure I have replied to your email before you delete the blog. Then, you can log on to Blogger.com, click on the blog you created from the Dashboard. Go to the Posting tab, and click on Edit Posts and then delete the blog post you made. This deletes the post. Then, go to the go to the Settings tab, and scroll down to the bottom of the screen where it says "Delete This Blog."