Creating a Blog and Writing Your First Post
For this exercise, you will create a blog for this class (step-by-step instructions below), and you will be using this blog for different assignments all semester long. Setting up a blog for an online class is like taking your seat when you walk into a classroom. The first thing you do when you walk in the classroom is to look for a place to sit, right? Well, in a class like ours, the first thing you need to do is look for a place to "be" online, and your blog provides your place to "be" in this class. Once everyone's blog is up and running, check out the blog stream with all the posts combined as people publish. I hope it will start to feel like a friendly and lively classroom you want to walk into, a place full of fun ideas and conversations.
If you have never used a blog before, here are some key terms to understand:
- Blog. A blog is a website with content that is (usually) arranged by date. You will create one blog for this class and you will be adding new posts to that blog every week. Perhaps it will inspire you to create blogs for your other classes too!
- Post. Each new piece of content that you add to the blog is called a post, and most of the assignments in this class will result in a new blog post. A post can be just a sentence or two, or it can be something that would be several pages long if you were to print it out on paper. A post can contain text, links, images, and video; most of your posts for this class will contain at least one of these elements, in addition to text.
- Template. Most blog software uses a design template so that each post in your blog has the same basic look as every other post in the blog (font, colors, etc.). You can modify or switch templates at any time, changing the design of the blog without changing the content. So, don't worry about the design right now; you can keep on playing with the blog design later until it feels right to you!
For this assignment, you will create a blog to use for this class, and you will publish a test post in your new blog. Later on, you can customize your template and also add widgets to your sidebar to give your blog a personalized look and feel!
I recommend using Google Blogger as your blogging tool, and I'll provide all the help you might need to make good use of Blogger. If you already use another blogging platform, that's fine too! You do not have to use Blogger; as long as your blogging platform meets the requirements listed here, you can create your class blog using whatever software you prefer. A WordPress blog, for example, will work fine. Here are the requirements:
- Full RSS feed for posts
- Full RSS feed for comments
- Linkable post labels
- No advertisements
If you are not quite sure what those things mean, then just use Blogger, and I'll walk you through setting up the blog step by step.
Here is how to create a new Blogger blog, step by step:
Step One: Google account. To set up a Blogger blog, you need to have a Google (Gmail) account. If you don't already have a Google account, it's easy to set up: Create your Google Account.
Step Two. Google account security. I would recommend that you check your Google account security to make sure you have set up an account recovery procedure, such as an alternate email address. Here is the Google Security Checklist.
Step Three. Create a new Blogger blog. To create your new blog, go to Blogger.com, log in with your Google account (if you are not logged in already). Click the New Blog button that you see on the right-hand size of the Blogger home screen. You will then need to give your blog a title (you can change the title whenever you want), and you can choose the web address (it's not really important what this is, but you cannot change it later on, so keep it short and simple). For now, choose the Simple template (do NOT choose Dynamic Views; they will not work very well for this class because they don't display labels), and you can then experiment with the detailed template options later.
Step Four. Create a blog post. You will see a prompt to go ahead and start posting. Click on that link to "start posting" or "start blogging" to add a test post and see how that works.
You can also create a new post by going to your blog, and clicking on the "New Post" link in the upper right-hand corner.
(Only you can see these links at your blog; nobody else can create posts at your blog. If you do not see these links in the upper right-hand corner of your blog, that means you are not logged in.)
Step Five. Writing a post. The screen for writing a new post has a lot of different features. The key things to notice here are the following:
Title box at top of screen — every post needs a title!
- Compose or HTML option. Compose is what you will use most of the time, but the HTML view is very handy!
- Labels options to the right — and labels are VERY important for blog navigation, as you will see.
- Tx is the "remove all formatting" function which is really useful if you are cutting and pasting from somewhere else; just highlight anything that has unwanted formatting and use the Tx button to remove the formatting.
- ABC is a spellcheck feature
Step Six. Publish a test post. Type a title for your post plus a quick message in the post box, just something to test to make sure your blog is working. When you are done, click Publish to publish your first post. Close the "Share" box that pops up. You will then see the post listing page. On the post listing page, you just need to HOVER over the blank space under the post title to see the options: Edit and View. You can then click on View to see your post open in a new browser tab.
Step Seven. Blog address and post address. After you click on view, you should see your post in a new browser tab. Take a look at the URL; the address you see there is the address for this specific post; for example:
To see your actual blog address, click on your blog title, and that will take you to your blog homepage; for example:
It is really important to understand the difference between the blog address (short) and the post address (long). The post address has the year and month of publication, plus the name of the post. The blog address just has the name of your blog. For practically all of the exercises, you will need the address of the specific post, NOT the address of your blog homepage.
Step Seven. Adjust settings. There are a few key settings you need to adjust. To adjust your settings, click on Design in the upper-right-hand corner, and then click on the Settings item at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Here are the settings you should adjust using the Settings submenu on the left:
- Posts and comments. For "Who can comment?" choose "Users with Google Accounts." In my experience, choosing this option pretty much eliminates any spam at your blog, so you can also choose to turn off the "word verification." Members of the class (who should all have Google accounts) will be leaving comments at your blog, and if you turn off the word verification, that will make the commenting process easier for them.
- Mobile and email. Make sure you put in a "comment notification email address" that is an address you check regularly. This can be any address at all; it does not have to be your Gmail address. Don't forget to click Save Settings to save your choice.
- Language and formatting. Choose your time zone, and then don't forget to click Save Settings.
ALL DONE! Your blog is up and running, ready for posting! Please visit the Class Blog Directory (via Google Docs) we have created and update the form with your blog address and the information we request
When you are ready, you will find the Declaration for this exercise below.
Text for declaration:
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:
I have created a blog for this class.
I have published a test post.
I have configured the blog for commenting.
I have entered a comment notification email address that I check regularly.
I have adjusted the time zone setting for my blog.
I have shared my blog address to the Google Doc (Class Blog Directory).
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