Tutorial Blog 3: The Web Log (aka The Blog)

Prior to this course, I've had very limited exposure to blogs. I usually only encountered them when reading about current events or looking up different topics of interest online in order to get opinions, reviews, and more information on products, etc. However, blogs can be written about a wide variety of topics.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a blog is "a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog

That said, a blog can essentially be written about anything the writer/author wishes to share.

Once you've figured out your first idea or topic to write about, next comes putting your thoughts into text. There are many places online where you can write and blog for free. One of these sites happens to be the one I am using for my Blogs, www.Blogger.com. Signing up is free, easy, and once you have your account, you can dive right in and begin. Blogger.com makes sharing your thoughts and ideas as easy as possible by providing what they call the "Dashboard". Here is a screenshot of what my dashboard looks like:

As you can see, it's very clean and easy to navigate. Once you've created a profile, you can customize it and tell people about yourself, if you wish (these options are on the left, next to my picture).

Now on to the blog portion of the Dashboard...
In looking at the heading "Manage Blogs", to the right of that, you will see how many blogs you have hosted through Blogger.com, I currently have one. Below that, the title of your blog is displayed, i.e. "ISM3004 Blog", followed by the number of posts, the date of your last post, and a link you view your blog's page.
Next, you'll see the "New Post" button, and other options related to your blog, this is essentially your "blog control center". It seems pretty straight forward, but here you can create a new post, edit posts you've already published, as well as view comments, blog settings, etc.

To get posting...
We'll start by taking a look at creating a new post. By clicking the "New Post" button, you'll be brought to a page that looks just like this:

What's great about this page is that it looks very similar, and functions very similarly, to today's most common word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. In creating a new blog post, all you have to do is add a title, type out your thoughts, and publish! If you wish to format, add links, pictures, videos, etc., the toolbar at the top provides you will all of these options and more. Here's an up-close look at the toolbar:

Like I said earlier, it's very similar to something you might find in programs such as Microsoft Word, and is very easy and straight-forward to use...and it even includes Spell Check!
If these options aren't quite what you wanted, or maybe you want more options, I was in the same situation when I first began posting. Not to worry though, in looking at Microsoft Word, you can actually open up a new template for a blog and publish your posts straight from Word! All you have to do is enter your log-in information when prompted by Word, type up your post, and publish...it's as easy as that.

A quick look into Editing Posts...
There's one last basic thing I wanted to touch on in this tutorial, and that's editing posts that are drafts, or posts that you have already published. To do this, you start by going to your Dashboard, and then selecting Edit Posts. In doing that, you'll be brought to a page that looks similar to this one:

Down the left-hand-side of the screen you have your labels, which you add to each post, and these are simply key words or phrases that will help people find your post.
In the main viewing pane on the screen though, you'll find the list of all your posts, both published and drafts. To the left of the title, you are given the options of editing all the posts, and for those you have published, you are given the additional option of viewing the post. To the right of the title, your labels for that post are displayed in green, along with the word "draft" if it is unpublished,  followed the date you began work or published the post, your name as the author, and the option to delete the post.
Clicking on the "Edit" option will open the post and look similar to this:

Here you can edit the post just as you would if you were typing a new post. Once you are finished editing, you can preview the post if you wish, or publish it right away!

Just a few notes...
The items I discussed above are really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to posting blogs on Blogger.com. This web log platform gives you a number of customization options to make your blog, truly yours. Some options to choose from are layouts and designs they provide, or you can customize your layout or design and even edit the html to make your blog look the way you want it to.

In writing various blogs for this course, I've learned way more than I ever thought I would about blogs. Hopefully this informational tutorial helps you better understand the basics of this platform should you decide to publish your thoughts and ideas online.