For Those About To Blog

BLOGGING 101

This post is for those who don't blog and should, like you, Diane!

Here are some instructions on how to get started:

Go to https://www.blogger.com/start
On the right hand side of the screen, click on the orange arrow that says 'create your blog now. This will take you to a page to create your Blogger account.
-Enter your email address
-Create a password (this will be used each time you log into Blogger)
-Enter your display name. This will appear each time you write a post, like on mine it says 'Posted by Holly' so I just entered my name for this one.

Next you will create your blog title, like on ours it says 'STOKER FAMILY'
Then you'll enter the actual web address. I had no idea what I was doing when I created our blog, so I put 'jeffstokerfamilyblog'.
Note: Each time you enter your blog's web address, there will be a 'Sign In' option in the upper right side. You'll need to sign in to write posts and make any changes to your blog.

Choose a Template. Choose one from Blogger and if you want to change it later, there are a lot of different options. Then, after you've chosen a template on Blogger, the next step is to start writing!

Are you still with me?

Ok, then delete all of the text in the text box and paste the new code you copied from Pyzam. This MUST be a Blogger Layout, so make sure it says that above the template in Pyzam. Then click 'Save Template' and then, after changes have been saved, click on 'View Blog'. Start writing!
**When changing your Blogger Background to a Pyzam background, if you've added links to your blog, like how I have my 'Friends' listed on the right, or my quotes, and my slideshow all in the sidebar, you WILL LOOSE ALL OF THOSE LINKS!** So be sure to write them down BEFORE changing templates.

POSTING
Click on 'New Post' in the upper right corner. Each post has a place for a title, and another text box where you tell your story.

To add pictures:
In the tool bar, underneath the 'Title' box, click on the little picture of a blue sky and a mountain. This will open another window to upload your picture. Click 'Browse' then locate the picture you want to upload in your files. If you're using a picture from the Internet, there is a way to do this from this windo, but I haven't figured that out. What I do is copy the picture, paste it in 'My Pictures', then upload it the first way by clicking 'Browse'.
You can determine the position of your image by choose Left, Center, Right, or None and the size by choosing small, medium, or large all in this same window.
Then click 'Upload Image'. This may take awhile and you can go back to your post and finish writing while the image is uploading, just be sure to keep that window open and don't exit out of it until it says to click 'done'.

To add video:
In the tool bar there is also an option to upload video, which is the filmstrip looking picture next to the mountain and blue sky picture. I haven't had much luck using this option, so I use OneTrueMedia and have a lot better results.

Click on the green 'Get Started' button. Then click 'Select Files' and choose the video you want to upload. Then click 'Upload'. This will take awhile and if it works, you'll see a green check mark next to the file you uploaded and you'll click on 'Done'. Then you'll be able to choose the size of your player but you have to pick the first few options, if you pick any of the custom options then it asks you to pay for the upgrade.
Then get the code and paste it in your post.

When you are ready to see your post on your blog, click 'Publish Post'. A good idea is to click 'Save Now' so that you don't risk loosing your work, but Blogger also does 'auto save' and saves it for you.

Labels
There is a small text box underneath the area where you're writing your post that reads 'Labels for this post:' That is how I catogorzie mine into things like, Our Family, Ethan, Kamden, House, etc. Then if I want to read about something in particular, I just go to my Labels section on my blog (in the tool bar on the right) and click on whatever topic I want. You don't have to do this, it's just a page element you can add. I'll get into that in a minute.

Page Elements
From your blog's main page, click on 'Customize' in the upper right.
There will be an 'Add Page Element' option on the right. Click on that.
A new window will pop up with all of the elements you can add. It adds them from the bottom up, so whatever element you want at the bottom, enter that first. I have my 'Blog Archive' at the bottom of my side bar, that shows previous posts and the titles that I've recently written.
Then I have my 'Favorite Sites' which I added with a 'Link List'. When you click on that, a new window will come up wher you can enter the web address to the site and what you want the title to appear as on your blog.
I used this same element to add my 'Recipes' link and links to friends' blogs.

Then I chose to display the labels for my posts.

For my slideshow, I used the HTML/JavaScript element and just copied the code from my slideshow. This is the element used at the bottom of my blog for my playlist and for the age and anniversary tickers.

Slideshows
I use www.slide.com for this. You'll need to create an account and then you can start creating! It's pretty simple and upload is fairly fast. You can play around with the slideshow and customize it with different styles, skins, backgrounds, effects, and captions.

Playlists
I use ProjectPlaylist. You need an account for this also, and then you just start searching for music by artist or song and create a playlist. Then you'll have the option to choose a color for your player, if it's on shuffle, and if it's on autostart so that the music starts when your blog is viewed.

Blog Settings
From your blog, click on 'Customize' then click on 'Settings'. There will be little subtopics across the top like 'Basic' 'Publishing' 'Formatting' 'Comments' etc.
Basic
This is where you can change your blog title, like if I didn't want mine to say 'STOKER FAMILY' anymore.
Read through the options and change the settings how you'd like them. I would suggest selecting 'No' for adding your blog to the listings and letting search engines find your blog. Then the only people who can read your blog are those who know the exact web address.

So there you have it, a confusing and all-over-the-place description of how to get your blog started. Hopefully it's useful to someone! Happy Blogging!