Personal Pages: The Web, Your Way, Part 3: Content and Benefits
You've been learning html, and have survived the process, since you are reading this. Congratulations. So you have some shiny new html skills, and you are eager to use them. A wonderful and interesting way to do so is to make your very own personal page (or pages). You can include almost literally anything you can imagine (eventually, as your skills improve, so will your page!)
The first step was to download a template, which came in a zipped file containing an index.html page and a css page. I unzipped the file, and opened the index.html page in my browser and displayed its source code in my text editor. (I've detailed how to do this below, so keep reading...)
I originally began with a single Start Page, and it had a lot of different links and resources I use all the time on it. Just as I thought I was done with it, a suggestion was made that I could actually create several pages, still stored in a folder on my hard drive, and link them together. (I link the pages together by using an (< a href="title of my page.html">page display name< /a> )string in the source code page for my main page to link to others. Check out the html tutorial for the exact format of this string.) That opened up lots of new space and vast potential.
I took some time to search for various components such as javascripts and other resources and links I knew I wanted to include, then saved that information in folders so that it was easy to find and quickly accessible when I was ready to work with it by putting links on my pages or adding it via scripts. Be careful to "set limits" for yourself with this step; the internet is a vast place, and without some kind of cap, you will "never" finish finding neat "toys" to include!
I kept my main or "index page" and opened it to the source code page and simply retitled the page and saved it as an html document. I repeated this process for each of my other pages, one at a time. To open the index page in Firefox, I choose File>>Open File, then browse to the directory (folder) where the file "index.html" is stored, and click "open". Voila! the page appears in my browser. If I need to edit the index.html file, I do so in my text editor, then save the edits. I come back to my browser and simply reload/refresh the page, and my edits appear. Use this same process to open/edit/view any of your other pages; just browse to where they are stored and select their file names, instead of "index.html".
My index page: For the main page, I asked myself what I most needed or wanted to have immediate access to at any given moment. So, this page includes links and information I use constantly. The point is to keep things well organized and orderly, in an attractive "package", which is the page itself. I have a site index, listing all of my current pages in a clickable menu. I have some of my favorite places online similarly available with one click. There are links for RSS feeds in one section; starting page links for sites such as Start.com in another. Many of Yahoo.com's services are available in another section of the page, grouped together for ease of use. I have the weather from a couple of sources displayed in a section of its own; Google resources; work-related links; sections for frequently accessed download sites and search engines plus search boxes for Yahoo, Google and even Yahoo and Google combined. There is a section for online magazines and periodicals I enjoy; links for my blogs, even a monthly calendar. I have a To-Do List, which acts as a type of weekly calendar. All of this content is on a single page. You can imagine how much time that saves...but wait! There's more...
Another entire page is set aside for all of my bookmarks. These can be quickly and easily updated when desired. No more loss of bookmarks! Similarly, I have a page to hold an index of my software CD's and the CD keys. (Since the page is not online, I have no anxiety about doing this because I do use security procedures on my computer. This single page has already been a huge help; it prevents me from needing to search for an elusive CD key if I need to re-install registerd software.) Web Design links and information get another page; blogging and related resources yet another. I have one page for a monthly appointment calendar, and another for a yearly calendar. I have a page just to keep track of the freeware and downloaded software I use; this way, I don't have to wonder what that cool piece of software was! As you can see, you can include nearly anything you like on your page(s); let your imagination and personal needs be your guide to deciding what, if any, other pages you want to create. I've even used Javascripts from Javascript.com to implement some of the features (like the calendars) on my pages. The scripts come with installation instructions, and like the other resources mentioned in this series, they are free.
A few of the benefits of having personal pages: --information can be collected, displayed and stored in a manner that makes sense to you. It is highly customizable and can be edited at any time.
--you do not need to pay for a server to be able to view your pages; they open withing your browser. You can of course choose to host any pages you desire online if you like.
--you can include information you may not want others to have access to, since the pages are not online. Use security procedures of course.
--you have offline as well as online access to your pages.
--you have another outlet for your individual creativity, and you can experience seeing your pages "happen" before your eyes and under your fingertips. Pretty powerful!
Personal Pages: The Web, Your Way, Part 2: HTML
Ok. You're intrigued by the idea of having your own personal pages. But...you've never written html code in your life; you've never even seen html code, and wouldn't know it if it walked up and said "hello!"? Not to worry. There is a way for you to get acquainted with html, relatively easily and painlessly. For this, you will need your browser (either open two windows, in Internet Explorer or open two tabs, side by side in a tabbed browser such as Firefox.) You will also find it helpful to have available an html tutorial site such as htmlbasix or the w3c html tutorial provided in Part 1 of this post topic. Also check out html Goodies. As you can begin to see, there is no shortage of excellent resources available online for any level of learning, and a lot of it is free!
For Internet Explorer: Choose View>>Source to view the source code for any webpage you like (including the source code for this blog entry!) With the page itself loaded on one page, and the source code page (which may not look like anything that could possibly make sense) open in another window, you will need to begin at the top of the source code page. Notice there is a tag,"html" enclosed in brackets (<>) This is to tell the browser to prepare to "read" the html document. Similarly, at the end of the document, the closing "html" tag (in <> wwith the html preceded by a /) indicates the document < head > tag near the top of the page. That's where the heading of the page will appear, and you can place code in that section as well, to help the page look and work as it should. There is also a < /head > tag, to show where the heading information should end.
Further down the page, there is a < body > tag, which is where the code for the body, or main part of the page, is placed. Look at the loaded page, then at the source code, and compare them to see where things show up in the source code page. Incidentally, viewing source code is a great strategy for learning how an author made a page look terrific...or terrible. Go ahead and practice viewing the source code for some of your regular sites of interest. Use the tutorials, and pretty soon, html will begin to make much more sense.
In Firefox, you can open two tabs, side by side, and use the View Source With extension to open the source pages with your favorite text editor, then just follow the same steps as outlined for Internet Explorer.
Also, get out your text editor (notepad, or whatever flavor you like best; it needn't be fancy to work), and use what you've seen in the source code pages and in the html tutorials to see if you can write some html code yourself, then save the document as .html or .htm format. Don't forget to save your work frequently (after every three to five edits, to make it eaiser to spot when you make mistakes (and so that the errors you do make will be easier to correct.) Now, open it using your browser! That's right. It will work. This is also the way you will write the code for your personal pages. Don't worry if you don't get it exactly right at first; most errors are easily fixed, and it is a learning process, so give yourself permission to experiment, just to see what happens. Nothing is carved in marble. You can even create several pages and link them together into your own personal mini-site with the pages stored on your hard drive in a folder (or several). Coming up, we will explore what could be included in your pages and some benefits of using them.
Personal Pages: The Web, Your Way, Part 1 Introduction
Every time you open your browser to a website, you are presented with a start page. Yahoo.com, MSN.com, and any other site you can think of does this, and you may not even think aboout it. The problem is, you are presented with someone else's idea of content that is useful. There is another option: you can make your own personal pages, with content that is relevant to your needs.Here is the information on how to create your own Start Page for your browser. I find this a very useful thing, because all of "my" favorite, most-used and often-needed links and resources are just a mouse-click away. First, gather your tools: You will need a template. If you don't want to make your own, you can find scores online for free. One of the best sources I've found for free templates is Open Source Web Design. Once you've chosen your template, you will need a text editor. I use Notepad,but I've also found Notetab and Crimson Editor which is a good freeware product, especially useful.
You will of course need some basic knowledge of html and/or css. You will find many excellent tutorials for these on the Internet if you don't already know them. One excellent tutorial source is W3C HTML; this site includes CSS tutorials and information, plus all sorts of other useful guides and help files. Another good source of html information is found at HTMLBasix. I've also used some Javascripts on my page; Javascript.com is one of the resources I've used for the scripts, which are also available for free. The site includes helpful Guides and Reference materials you can download as well; they are for beginners as well as advanced users, so don't be afraid to have a look around.
What do you do, though, if you've never even SEEN html code? Don't panic. I'll talk about that in Part two...
Freeware Review: HTML Calendar Generator
I freely admit to being a very organized person. I liked keeping track of things on paper in the "old" days; I carried my planner everywhere I went for a long time. Now I've moved things to my computer, but old habits die hard, and I have my new, personal web pages to help me stay sane these days. One of the features I wanted in my personal pages was a calendar, to help keep track of important dates and appointments. I wanted a calendar that looks sharp, is easy to use, and can be customized and easily edited. Just by the way, it would be nice if it didn't cost mega-bucks. Doug found the perfect calendar package for my needs. The HTML Calendar Generator meets all of my criteria, with style.
The software will generate a calendar for your webpage by creating files for the entire year, the current month, and for individual months. There is a simple FTP client that will publish the files to a server for a live web page. (At first, we thought this would be a problem, because my personal pages are not on a server; they are of course in a directory on my hard drive.) It turned out this was not an issue, because once the files are created using the generator (more about that in a minute), there is an option to "write" the files to the program's directory on the hard drive. When the files are written (which takes no time at all, I simply went to the folder, following the path provided in the generator, and moved the calendar.html file plus the files for the individaul and current months to the same folder where my personal pages files are stored. Then, I opened the page the calendar would appear on in my text editor and simply pasted an html link to the calendar.html file, saved it, and refreshed the page in my browser. No javascript to deal with, and it worked in a flash.
The Calendar Generator Screenshot: The first thing to do after you've downloaded the software is to click the Configure button. There are more than 80 configuration options to work with, and more information is availabe by choosing Configuration from the software site's main page menu. If you need to make changes after you generate your calendar, just run the generator again, make your changes, then write (or publish) the files again, and if necessary, move the files to the appropriate directory. Cool features: Set recurring dates (holidays, birthdays, other special events occurring on the same date each year) by clicking the Recurring tab under the configuration menu. View Screenshot. Notice that in the screenshot of the main window of the software that, on the bottom of the main screen, a calendar for the current month appears. Double-click on any date in the calendar, and add up to ten notes and up to ten URL's for that date. This is handy for noting appointments or other important information. You can also add images to the dates by entering the image path and filename or the image filename for image files that are stored in the same folder or directory with the calnedar files. Add additonal html for your calendar page: Screenshot. This section allows you to modify the default html that the program writes for your calendar. Additional HTML option: This option tells the program whilch additional html option to use. Path and name of header file / Path and name of footer file: If select the "External files instead" option then you will need to specify those external files here. Your calendar will be inserted between the header and footer files, creating one new file. Basically to use this option just create a page that looks like you want and split it into two parts at the point where you want the calendar to be inserted. This HTML code will appear before the calendar / This HTML code will appear after the calendar: If you select the "Add HTML below to default" option then you will need to enter the HTML code you want in the appropriate boxes.
The Bottom Line: If you need a calendar for your webpage or local personal page, you will find the HTML Calendar Generator has an attractive interface; it is easy to use, easy to customize, and best of all, it's free! Read more!
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Software Review: Blogger For Word
For some time, I have been using the free Blogger For Word add-in to write, edit and publish posts to my blog from within Microsoft Word. Once I downloaded and installed the add-in, three buttons appeared on my Word toolbar.
* Publish button: creates and publishes a new post from the text in my document. * Open Post button: enables me to edit my last 15 Blogger posts in Word. * Save as Draft button: enables mr to keep a post unpublished; it will appear in my Blogger account, but not publicly on my blog.
Especially welcome is that now I can easily save copies of my posts in a folder on my desktop as they are created. This is handy in case of a crash in which my posts vanish. With this add-in, I can create posts for my blogs without opening my browser.
THe add-in requires Windows 2000 or better, and Microsoft Word 2000 or higher. You can log in with your existing Blogger user name and password or create one if you need to do so.
You can obtain Blogger for Word here. Read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, then click the blue "Agree and Download" button.
Freeware Review: Delicioso
If you use De.licio.us (and if you don't, what planet are you on?) for blogging and bookmarking, you could do a lot worse than check out ¡Delicioso!. What is it, you ask? Good question!¡Delicioso! is a neat little freeware program that automates the process of submitting URLs to De.licio.us social bookmarking/tagging service. It takes only seconds, and you can submit URLs in batches. Fill in your De.licio.us username and password, enter your blog (or site's) URL in the URL field, and click Quick Submit, or enter the URL plus the title of the post you want to submit, and click Get Info. the tags for your post will be automatically generated, then you can simply click "submit." Done. What could be easier?
There is a textbox at the bottom of the screen that will either display information for individual links you click there, or that will submit the selected links to De.licio.us for you, and if for some reason you need to gather the tags from an entire blog's postings, you can easily do so by typing the URL, then the title of the blog in the Title field. In the textbox where the URL's appear, simply click on an individual URL with the "Get Info" Button selected. Then, as you click on the individual URL's, the tags for that post are displayed in the tags field, and you can copy and paste them. You can also load URLs from a file stored on your computer, if you like.
For free, and with no limitations of any sort, you have nothing to lose by trying it, so hop on over here and download it. See if it doesn't turn you into a Delicious power-user very quickly. Read more!
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Categories by Delicious for Blogger
SO: You have a blog (or more than one) on Blogger, and you want to include Categories. Blogger.com does not support categories as one of its features currently, but it is certainly possible to include categories on your blog. This tutorial will show you one method of creating categories. (This tutorial is for Del.icio.us; I plan to work on categories using Technorati as well when time permits, with a similar tutorial to follow.) Grateful acknowledgement is extended to TruckSpy/RedRyder52 for his patient assistance in the Blogger Forum with this topic.Gather your tools: --a blog (or several)...
--an account on De.licio.us -- Delicious is a social bookmarking or 'tagging' service. Registration is free.
--a tagger, such as the one found here, that uses Firefox's GreaseMonkey extension that will make it easy to insert tags into your posts. There are several of these on the internet. Choose the one you like best.
BE SURE to edit the bookmarklet's properties so that the De.licio.us link points to your De.licio.us page and your taglist, and not those of whoever wrote or edited the script for the bookmarklet. You want your tags in your posts to link properly, or you will end up with someone else's tags altogether, which is not the ultimate goal.
When you install the bookmarklet, there will be a window below your post edit window where you will enter your tags, separated by spaces, then click "add tags", and the tags will appear at the last cursor position in the edit window.
Update: Instead of putting a tagger into your Blogger template such as the one mentioned above, you may prefer using Delicioso. A review of Delicioso is included in the Teaching Tree.
The Process: Once you have your Blogger.com blog, your De.licio.us account and the bookmarklet set up, you are ready to proceed. There are four basic steps to follow; they are listed here, with detailed explanations following the complete list:
Step 1. Make sure that each of your blog's posts are tagged. Step 2. Add each of your posts to De.licio.us Step 3. Add the code for the Categories drop-down menu to your blog template Step 4. build your categories list in your template
Details:
Step 1. If your blog is new, it will be easy to just add your tags as you write each post. If, however, your blog has been around for a while, you will likely have some posts that do not have tags added. For those, you will need to spend some time entering your tags manually, using the bookmarklet of your choice.
Step 2. (a) Now that all of your individual posts have been tagged, you will need to add the individual posts to De.licio.us. There are two ways to access the permalinks for your posts. One way is to open each individual post on your blog, and click the timestamp. This will take you to the permalink page. An easier way to access the permalinks is to open the Blogger Dashboard, and click the title of the blog you want to work on. This will take you to a page where your posts are listed by date and post-title. On the right, there will be a link that says "View." if you click "View", you will be taken to the permalink page for each post.
(b) When you get to the permalink page for your first post, copy the address for the post from your location bar, and use a bookmarklet (you can obtain one called "remember this page" from De.licio.us--which, by the way is included in the De.licio.us toolbar available as an extension for Firefox) to add each of the post pages to De.licious. If your added tags do not appear on the De.licio.us page as you add the permalink pages, you can always insert tags or change, edit, delete or merge them on De.licio.us. (See De.licio.us About for more information). Continue adding the permalinks for each of your blog posts in turn, until they are all listed on De.licio.us. (The individual post pages will appear as hyperlinks.)
3. The dropdown list for the delicious categories is just a normal dropdown linked to YOUR delicious tags. You can obtain the code from this page in Blogger Forum.
4. Now you will need to build your categories menu list. You will do this in your blog's template, where you want the list to appear.
You have to build the menu putting each category in its own
When you complete the tutorial, you will be set, with categories on your blog. Get into the routine of (a) tagging each new post before you publish your blog, and (b) using the De.licio.us bookmarklet to save each new post's permalink page to De.licio.us, and don't forget if you add a new category, you will need to manually add it to your template. Happy tagging, and happy posting!
Author's Comments: This was a fairly large project to undertake, in my experience. It is best done when you have ample time and relative quiet to enhance concentration, at least for me. If you're the type who thinks best with blasting heavy metal streaming from your speakers in quadraphonic stereo surround-sound...more power to you. I also had to pay careful attention to details to keep from getting "tangled up", but I did find that Firefox was a big help, because I could easily switch back and forth between tabs to see that every entry was posted, tags were copied, and worked correctly. I have edited this tutorial several times while working on this project, and I hope it is clear and helpful. If not....comment!
Blogging Central 101, Part 6: Blogger Hacks, social bookmarking and a few other gems
Blogger Hacks:
Once you’ve worked with Blogger for a while and have become comfortable with it, you may wonder what else you can do with it. There are a number of Blogger Hacks you can implement to further customize your blog. Read and follow the provided instructions carefully, and do remember to backup your template before you begin.
Adding Categories:
One hack I’ve used is adding Categories to Blogger. Categories organize your posts by topic, which can make it easier for you and your readers to locate specific information quickly. Note: The ability to use categories in a blog is not currently directly supported by Blogger, but there are ways to do this. I’ve written a tutorial for one way to add categories to your blog, using De.licio.us, a social bookmarking service. Another method of doing Categories is found on the Virtual Scratchpad blog by Matthew Sheffield. Here is the direct link to his tutorial. This hack proved a challenge to implement, but with patience, practice and help from a few fine bloggers, it was successfully done.
Speaking of De.licio.us: If you decide to use this service, check out the Absolutely Delicious Complete Tool Kit. The site is frequently updated, so you may want to bookmark it for future reference.
Related Resources for Extra Support: if you do run into issues you can’t resolve, take heart. Help from other experienced bloggers is only a few clicks away: Blogger Forum is a forum where bloggers at all levels of expertise from complete novices to advanced coders come together to share questions, answers, suggestions, links and helpful information related to blogs and blogging. You will need to register (free) with a user name and password to post. Other blogging forum resources: Forum 4 Bloggers and Blogger Talk.
Related Resources for Social Bookmarking (These are just a few of dozens of such services available currently):
The Team Blog: Let’s say your blog is for a company or business. Perhaps there is a need for more than one person to work on or post to a blog. With Blogger’s Team Blogs, this is not a problem. Here are answers to several questions related to Team Blogs.
Of Possible Interest: You may be interested in this post from my main blog, which documents my early experience with Blogger.com.
I hope by the time you have finished with this tutorial, you are well on your way to understanding how to create and maintain an enjoyable, informative and successful blog. Happy coding and happy blogging!
Blogging Central 101, Part 5: Learn the Code!
Your blog can (and should!) reflect your personal style, and interests. Since there are many people using a particular template, whether it is one provided by Blogger or from an external source, you will want your blog to truly be uniquely yours. One way to accomplish this goal is to learn to create the coding in your template. There is a vast amount of free information online that will help you learn different types of coding. They range from very basic to advanced, so you will always find something to suit your particular needs. Here are just a few:
Learn some basic HTML: One HTML site geared to beginners is Lissa Explains It All, a site written with children in mind. It is very easy to follow, and does include advanced HTML as well. This site has been online since its author was 11 years old, and she is now in college. Other resources: See this Blogger Help resource, the Barebones Guide to HTML or w3Cschools HTML Tutorial or HTML Goodies for help with learning basic html coding skills. This skill-set will be necessary when you need to edit your Blogger template. There are also many resources for learning CSS and even Javascript online when you are ready for those; you can find them by doing a search using Google or your favorite search engine.
Later, you can even use javascripts such as the ones from Dynamic Drive, Hotscripts or many other such sites on the web.
Contacts in your blog: An Important Note About Spambots and How to Avoid Them: One important reason for learning to code HTML has already been noted in this tutorial: It allows you to add links of all sorts to your blog, so that both you and your readers have access to the sites you link to. One such link you are likely to want to add is an e mail link, to allow readers to contact you if they have questions. You may want to set up an e- mail account specifically for your readers to use to contact you; this will help keep your regular-use e mail in-box from overflowing. One note of caution: You will likely want to take steps to encrypt the e-mail address that you place on your blog, to prevent it from being harvested by spam-bots. You can do this by using the E-mail Riddlertool from Dynamic Drive. If you would like to create a button for G Mail or one of several other e-mail services, please refer to my tutorial for making a G Mail Button in this blog for detailed instructions and needed resources.
Blogging Central 101, Part 4: Where To Find Help; Template Basics
Blogger Help, Features and Resources: If you need assistance with Blogger, or have questions, a good place to look for information is Blogger Help.
The Blogger Dashboard Each time you log in to Blogger.com, your first stop is the Blogger Dashboard. Think of it as a central control panel for Blogger. You can view a list of your blogs here, as well as viewing individual posts in a blog. You can edit posts or drafts as well, and you can click the view button to the right of the editor’s list of blog posts to view each entry’s post page, where the entries are each on their own page. This is helpful when you are using tags such as those for Technorati or De.licio.us on your posts. Be sure to check the bottom of the Dashboard page periodically for site news and announcements.
Your Blogger Template The templates provided by Blogger are written in HTML and CSS code. (Some resources for learning HTML, CSS and more are included later in this tutorial.) The HTML and CSS coding controls the appearance of your blog and the functionality of its features. Blogger does provide a means for users to modify or edit the template. It is not mandatory that you edit your blog’s template; you can have a perfectly fine blog without doing so. There are some advantages to learning to edit the template, however. Among them:
1. It helps you learn to read, understand and begin to create the coding. This is the best way to learn coding; get your hands into it, and play with it. You can certainly find WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) text editors out there by the dozens, but many of them add extraneous code that is clunky and may or may not function as it should. Learn the basics yourself so that you know what to look for and how it should work, then get tools that will automate your work to allow you to be more productive, if you like. 2. It allows you to add your own personal content and touches to your blog, which is a personal medium of expression; for all that a (potentially) worldwide audience has access to it. 3. It allows you to take charge of your blog’s overall appearance and functionality, to make it “yours.” After all, scores of people may be using the exact same template as yours at any given time. You want yours to stand out in a crowd, and you can do that by adding your own personal touches. Besides, if you plan to spend any length of time maintaining your blog (and why would you not, given your interest in blogging and the benefits it can have for your business or other pursuits?), it is nice to have a comfortable, attractive and easy to use “space” of your own. 4. If something should go awry, you can troubleshoot and identify and fix the problem, with or without support.
To backup your template in Blogger: From the Blogger Dashboard, click the name of the blog for which you want to back up the template. The edit window will appear. Notice across the top of the window there are several tabs, including a Template tab; you will need to click this tab. On the next screen, there is a large window in which your template’s code appears. Place your mouse anywhere in this window, right-click your mouse, and choose select all. Copy all of the text (code) in the window. Open a text editor such as Notepad, and paste the selected text into the text editor. Give the file a name, and save it to your hard drive. Now, you have a backup copy of your template. Get into the routine of saving your template this way each time you edit it, and provide a distinctive name each time. Then, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore a saved copy of the template.
On a related note: You can also backup your entire blog. detailed Instructions for doing so are available. It is of course easiest to do this when you have only a few posts and it is a good idea to make this a part of your regular routine. If you choose not to back up your posts using this method, you can simply save each of your posts in a text file in a folder on your computer. Also save any links you have in your sidebars on a regular basis. As with any backup, it is far better to have one and never need to use it than to need one and not have one available.
To restore a saved copy of a template: Select and delete the entire existing contents of the template window, then open your saved template file, select all of the text in it using your mouse or keyboard commands, then just copy the text into the blank template window, save your changes, and republish the blog.
To edit your template: You can edit your template by adding to or modifying its code. You can add links to your sidebar for quick access to favorite sites, or you can add various pieces of javascript or other code to add features to your blog. To edit, just copy the template code into your favorite text editor such as Notepad. Another good, free editor is Crimson Editor. To change your template: If you decide to change your Blogger template, be sure to make a backup of any links or other code you want to keep, so you can place it in the new template. Changing the template without doing this will result in the loss of your added data or code. Under the Template tab, click “Pick new” to choose a new Blogger template, select the new one you want to use, then click the “use this template” button.
A Word About Viewing Source Code When a novice blogger first looks at source code, it will likely seem wholly nonsensical and incomprehensible. It may even seem like a foreign language and it may feel like it will never be possible, let alone easy, to read. Do not let these impressions deter you. Put the blog you are viewing the source code for in one window if you are using IE (or in one tab in Firefox) and view the source code for the very same blog in another window or tab. Take note of where certain “landmarks” such as the links section are in the blog when it is open in standard view (that is, the blog itself is visible, not the source code), then take note of where the code for those same landmarks is within the source code. You will soon learn to orient yourself by looking for familiar landmarks. Open your text editor, and practice creating snippets of code (such as hyperlinks) so that they are click-able when you are finished. Soon, you will be able to write hyperlinks as quickly as you can type. One suggestion: Go ahead and create a second, “tester” blog, so that you can experiment without causing harm to your main blog’s template..
Some of the templates offered by Blogger as standard are similar to each other, while others differ sometimes markedly. This can take some getting used to, especially for a beginner. Remember: This is a learning process. Give yourself time to look around and do as much reading of help files and other Blogger information resources (including this tutorial!) as you can, and do take time to explore the various tabs and windows within Blogger itself.
Blogging Central 101, Part 3: Blog Traffic (Tell People About Your Blog)
Congratulations! You are now a blogger. Now, you may begin to feel as though you are shouting into an empty bucket: “Hello. . . ! Is anyone out there?” It can begin to feel rather lonely. When you’ve created your first few posts, you will likely want to think about how you can “advertise” your blog’s existence, or “presence” on the Internet. There are many blog search engines you can choose from, and you can even choose several. Here’s a selection from a recent Google search:
You can register your blog for free with any or all of these or other search engines. Blogger.com also offers helpful suggestions to help increase traffic to your blog. Find them here. Once you have your blog established with just a few posts and have registered with the blog search engines of your choice, the next step is to let those search engine sites know when you’ve updated your blog. You can do so by pinging the sites. As with most things that are blog-related today, you have several pinging services, such as Pingoat to choose from. Here is one site I found that provides a list of several pinging services you can choose from; you can use more than one such service as well.
Blogging Central 101, Part 2: An Introduction to Blogs
Before I ever began writing my blogs, I was reading them. You can find interesting, informative, instructive, fun, newsworthy or even controversial blogs everywhere on the Internet; just use a search engine such as Google’s new BlogSearch or similar search engine, (more below about these), and begin reading. When you find blogs you like, you can place them on a blogroll, in a list that you can even post on your own blog. I use a free Blogrolling account for this, and I’ve placed a bit of code into the template of my blog to display the blogroll in a sidebar. The blogroll is, in my opinion, better than simply having bookmarks for various blogs in a folder.For one thing, if I am away from my own computer and for some reason I can’t access my bookmarks, my blogroll will likely still be available (unless of course the blogrolling site is down.) Plus, clicking an easily visible hyperlink for a blog is quicker than rummaging through folders looking for a link. Also, I began viewing the source code of blogs I enjoyed, to see how the coding was written and how features such as drop-down menus were implemented. If you have Internet Explorer, go to View in the menu bar, and choose Source. This will open the source code so that you can see it and study it. I find it helpful to use Mozilla’s Firefox browser and its “View Source With” extension, (setup to use my favorite text editor for viewing the code) because I can keep the blog open in one tab and open another tab for viewing source code; it is a matter of a mouse-click or two to switch back and forth between the tabs. This is how I learned to read Blogger’s source code, and I used a text editor to copy and work with code I wanted to use, to learn how it worked.
Getting Started with Blogger: Create Your Blog You have decided you want a blog. This is easy to do with Blogger: Step 1: Go to http://www.blogger.com/start, and click on the “create your blog now” arrow. The first step is to create a Blogger account. Here you will choose your user name, set your password, (you will need them each time you log in to Blogger.com, although you can check the “Remember Me” box to set a cookie for your log in if you like) and choose a display name for your new blog’s signature line. Just fill in the requested information (including a valid e mail address) in the text boxes, then read and accept the Terms of Service. Click the Continue arrow to proceed.
Step 2. Choose a title for your blog, and enter the URL (this may be a form of your blog title. Example: One of my blogs is titled “Angelsong’s Firefox Index”. The URL I chose is http://angelsongsfxindex.blogspot.com, which is the actual web address for the blog. Complete the word verification by typing the text you see into the text box. Click the Continue arrow to go to the final step.
Step 3: Choose a template for your blog. There are a number of templates available on Blogger; choose any one you like. (You can change your template later, if you like.) When your blog is created, you can begin posting right away, or you can create a profile for yourself and tweak your blog’s settings first. You will see an edit window where you will type your blog entry; provide a title for your first post, and write whatever you like. You can create as many blogs as you like, and you can have blogs for different purposes. It’s up to you. One of the best things about blogging is that the blogger is in control of many aspects of the process. Read more!
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Blogging Central 101, Part 1 Everything You Always Wanted to Know (But Didn’t Know Where to Ask)
If you’ve been out and about on the internet at all, you have likely seen references to “blogs”, “blogging” and “bloggers”. You may even have read a blog or two, (if you are reading this, it may even be a blog entry!) and now you’ve decided you want a blog (or several) of your own. Welcome to an exciting and dynamic part of the world of online writing and publishing; come on in! This tutorial will help you get started by providing some basic blogging information plus somewhat more advanced information and resources. I know I am presenting a lot of information here; this is a collection of resources and information I’ve gathered in a little more than a year of blogging. To make it easier for you to use and refer to, I’ve created sections. Take what you need, use it, and then come back for more when you are ready. No rush, no pressure; you can proceed at any pace comfortable for you.What is a blog? Defining a few terms: Let’s begin with a few definitions. A “blog” is short for “weblog”, which is simply an online journal or diary to which one or more people post entries on a regular basis. A blog can be used for a business, to share news and information about a product, service or company, or it can also be personal, to document events in day-to-day life. A blog can also be useful for instruction via posted tutorials. For some people including myself, a blog may be their first foray into the world of online publishing, and can be a way to gain certain skills, such as writing or editing hypertext markup language (HTML) or cascading style sheets (CSS) code, via editing a blog’s template. I will provide more information about templates and editing shortly, so keep reading . . .
“Blogging” is the process of creating and maintaining a blog. A blog is maintained via postings, or entries made on a regular basis. A “blogger” is a blog’s writer or contributor.. Note: I draw a distinction between “blogger” and “Blogger”. For the purposes of this tutorial, Blogger refers to a specific blog platform, which is owned and operated by Google. (There are many other choices of blogging platforms available; you can search them out on the Internet. Some of these are free; others require a fee. Also, some, such as Blogger, are hosted; others require you to have a web server to upload them onto. Blogger is hosted on Blogspot. This discussion focuses on Blogger, since that is the one I am currently using and therefore the one with which I am most familiar.)
Blogger is a good choice of blogging platform for beginning bloggers, because it offers useful features that are fairly easy to use (such as editable templates) and it is free. New features are planned for Blogger, and several have been added to make it easier and more productive for new users. One such feature is Blogger for Word. This is a downloadable plug-in for Microsoft Word that makes it possible to write, edit and post a blog entry from inside Word. This tutorial is being composed in a Word document. It is also possible to include photographs in a blog entry, using Blogger. Formerly, a user had to do this via two external programs. Currently, all it takes is a few mouse clicks in Blogger. You can also host photos and other types of small files such as icons on an external site such as ImageShack
Welcome to The Teaching Tree!
Hello, and welcome! Come sit beside me and relax under this huge old Oak, and let its spreading branches shade you as the breeze ruffles through the grasses. This is a unique tree. It is known locally as the Teaching Tree. Allow me to be your Guide as we explore new areas of learning relating to computers, the Internet, the wonderful world of Blogs and possibly even other topics. I will share my own tutorial lessons with you here, and I will show you where to go to find others. I will provide reviews of others' tutorials as well, and I'm willing to help answer questions when I can or help you locate answers elsewhere on the Web. I welcome your participation:
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-->please use the comments section of The Teaching Tree. Let me know what your interests are, what your learning desires and challenges are, what works for you in the tutorials you will find here, and just as importantly, what does not work. Together, we will make The Teaching Tree a place of learning, enlightenment and enjoyment for everyone.
A quick note about the sidebar: Click the Headings in the sidebar for access to the archives, links and resources. These may change from time to time, so check them often. Read more!
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You will find tutorials here for Web Design, Blogging, and Computer-related tips and other How-To's. I welcome your comments, questions, suggestions and discussion of topics related to the above. If you write tutorials, tell me about them and include a link. You may get a mention here.
I have many interests including web page design, cooking, reading, Blogging, and helping others learn new computer-related skills. I strive to keep learning and growing.
