How to get started with Blogger

< How to find and fix errors in Javascript : Web Jargon Buster >

This guide is to show you how to set up a brand new blog on Blogger.  Note: Writing this guide does not mean that I recommend Blogger, it is just a guide to show you how to get started.

Creating a blog

Go to www.blogger.com and register an account.  You'll see the Blogger Dashboard.



Click on "Create your blog now" to get started.



In the first box, type in the title of your blog.  I'm just going to call my blog Ben.  In the second box, type in your desired blog address.  This should be as short as possible, although many names will already be taken.  Click on Check Availability after typing the blog address to see if it's available.  I'm going for benbarden.blogspot.com.  (This is a test blog - it's not replacing benbarden.com!)  Click Continue.




Now choose a template.  Use the scrollbar to see more than the first few.  I'm going to choose Scribe.  Click Continue.



Well that was easy!  Click Start Posting - let's get our first page up.

Creating an About page

I'm not too keen on the default Blogger Profile page, so I'm going to create an About page.  This page tells visitors who I am and why they should read my blog.  When you clicked Start Posting, you should have been taken to the posting editor:




Fill in the title and content as shown.  Add something a bit more detailed than my example!  When you're done, click Publish Post.




Looks good.  Keep this window open - we'll need it in a moment.

Click on the "in a new window" link and you'll be taken to your blog.  In some browsers this will actually open in a new tab rather than a new window - it depends on your settings.  What you want to do now is click on the title of the post you just published.



Now look in the address bar of your browser, which displays the link to the current page.  Click once in the address bar and the link will be highlighted.  Now press CTRL+C to copy the link to the clipboard.  In my case the link is as follows:

http://benbarden.blogspot.com/2008/02/about-ben.html

Next, go back to the window or tab that told you your post was published successfully.  Click on the Layout tab at the top.




Next to the About Me box, click on the Edit link.



In the window that pops up, click on Remove Page Element at the bottom, and click OK to confirm this.

Next, click on Edit HTML just beneath the Layout tab.




Scroll to the very end of the box until you see the code in the above screenshot.  You're looking for <div id='sidebar-wrapper'>, which controls your sidebar.

Place your cursor at the end of <div id='sidebar-wrapper'> and click the left mouse button.  Then press Enter, and insert the following code:

<div style="width: 150px; float: $startSide; padding: 8px 0; margin: 0;">
<ul>
<li><a href="">About Me</a></li>
</ul>
</div>

Now you need to paste the address of your About page between the double quotes.  In my case, the code will end up looking like this:



Now click Save Template.  Go to your blog and refresh the page.  Mine now looks like this:



See the "About Me" link on the top left?  No matter how much you post, that link will always be there.  As you add more posts to the blog, the Blog Archive section will fill up, and the about page link will not be as easy to find.  So while it doesn't look very useful to have two about links at this stage, it will be invaluable when you have posted a few times.

A small footnote: Most of this process didn't take a long time to follow.  However, the Edit HTML screen took me 7 or 8 tries to get right - and I am very familiar with HTML.  Blogger does not appear to make life very easy when it comes to editing the HTML.  Bear that in mind if you want to do anything more advanced...

Anyway, I hope you found this tutorial useful.

Did you like this post? Subscribe today!

Comments

Name *
Email *
URL
* Required Fields. Email will not be shown.
Verification:	Type the message into the box below. The letters are case sensitive.
Help Enter your comment:
Rate this article: 5 4 3 2 1 No rating (5 = Highest, 1 = Lowest) Note: if you have already posted a rating on this page, a new vote will not be added.