Edit What You Wrote

1. Proof read what you wrote
2. Spell check it
3. Fancy it up

1. I have to admit, I sometimes get so wound up in what I'm writing, and so anxious to get it posted, I don't proof-read it like I should.  I had this problem way back in High School, but that was rooted in hating to re-type something on a manual typewriter.

With the digital world, it is so easy to take a few minutes and check that what you have said is readable.

2. The editing tools on the Blogger tool bar include a spell checker.  It's that ABC with a green check.  Click it, and Blogger will high-light anything it thinks is spelled wrong with a yellow highlight.  Click on the highlighted word and you will be offered  possible spellings, or giving the option to have Blogger ignore the spelling.  You may have noticed that as you type, Blogger will also underline words that it thinks are misspelled.

3. You can spice up your writing using the other items on the tool bar.

To use the editing tools, stay in the Compose mode.  I'll give a brief summary of each icon/tool, but I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about how to edit.

Curved arrows - allow to Undo and Redo your changes

F - this drop down menu gives you a list of the Fonts available in Blogger.  Default results in the blog appearing in the default of the user/reader's browser.  If you want to control the look, then you will need to apply a Font the text; e.g., to a word, sentence, paragraph, etc, by selecting the text with your cursor and clicking on the desired font from the menu.

TT - this drop down menu gives you some text size choices.  You apply a text size change the same way you would apply a Font change, by selecting text and clicking the desired size from the menu.

Normal box - this allows you to creating a hierarchy in your document of headings.

B, I, U, ABC - these 4 icons allow you to bold, italic, underline, or strike-out text.

A with heavy black bar - this drop down menu offers the change to change the color of your text.  Highlight the text you wish to change, and click on one of the color choices.

highlighter pen - this drop down menu works the same as the text color menu, but instead, applies the color behind the text selected.

Link - use this icon to add a link to your text.  Click on the icon, and a pop-up window will ask you for the text for the link and for the link's web address (URL).  You can also use it to put in an email link that people can click.  I would avoid that, as robot programs pick up email address links and will spam your account.

picture - use this icon to add a picture.  I will talk about adding pictures in another posting.

video - use this icon to add a video, including YouTube.  I will include this in the posting about adding pictures.

broken page - clicking this icon will put in a page break.  I'm not sure when that would be useful, so will have to experiment with it.

group of lines - this drop down allows you to left justify, right justify, center, justify on both sides.

1-

2-

3- - this icon allows you to create a numbered listing.  When you hit the return key, it will provide you with the next number for you list.

dots and lines - this icon allows you to create a bulleted listing.  It works the same as the numbered listing.

" - the quotation marks are used for blockquotes.  They indent the text to set it apart from other text and is good for quoting a brief section from someone else.

Tx - hitting this will remove all formatting from text you have selected with your cursor.

ABC with green check - as discussed in section 2 above, this is the spell checker.

NOTES:  If you closed your first posting, get back to it from the Blogger Dashboard. Click the Pages icon, and it will take you to a listing of your postings.  Simply click on the title of the posting to open it for editing, or click the word Edit beneath it.

COMING UP NEXT: Adding Pics!

Your First Post

1. Create New Post
2. Select a title for your Post
3. Start typing

1. From the Blogger Dashboard (that place that lists your blogs and your reading lists), you should see your new blog.







Ignore the New Blog button--that's there if you want to start a whole new blog, not for adding to your existing one.

To the right of the blog title, are several buttons.  The orange Pencil icon button allows you to start a new posting.  The Pages icon button takes you to a listing of postings you have created.  The drop down menu on that button takes to other options we will talk about in the future.  The View Blog button takes to a new tab where you can see your blog as it exist out there in real time.

Start a new posting by clicking on the orange Pencil icon button. 

2. At the top of the next screen will be a large orange B button.  That takes you back to your Blogger Dashboard.

Beneath that, you will see your Blog title, the word Post, and a text box with the words Post title, and then several buttons:  Publish, Save, Preview, Close

Underneath is a row of text editing buttons similar to those seen in common word processing programs.  Be sure to keep the Compose button selected unless you are familiar with using HTML to develop web pages.

Beneath that is a large text box where you will type the body of your text.

On the far right are several additional options under a drop menu titled Post settings.  We will get to those in a later posting.

Start your first posting by giving it a title by typing over the words Post title.  DON'T click any of the buttons to the right just yet.

3. Now, place your cursor in the large text block and start typing.  Don't worry about how it looks at first, just get your thoughts down on the page.  Once you have what you want, or at least a first draft, click on the Save button at the top.

If you want to see what your blog now looks like, click on the Preview button.  It opens a new tab with a Preview (written across the top corner) of your blog posting.  This is how it will look to your readers (minus the Preview ribbon of course.

No one can see your posting at this point, unless you have clicked the Publish button.  For now, select the Save button to save the posting in draft form.

Notes: Signing back in will take you first to the Google main page.  To get to Blogger, look for the More drop down button on the black menu bar.  Click that and select Blogger.  This takes you to the Blogger Dashboard.

Coming up Next:  Edit What You Wrote

Set up a Blogger account

1. Sign up at www.blogger.com
2. Welcome screen
3. Create new blog

1. When you get to www.blogger.com, look for the SIGN UP button.  On my screen/page, it was in the upper right corner.

If you already have a Google or Google+1 account, you can use that.  I like creating a separate Goggle account for Blogger, just to keep any unwanted emails out of my regular email accounts.  The set up does ask you a bit about you, but this information DOES NOT show up in your visible profile.

The next step is your public/private profile.  I don't add anything to my profile to keep my privacy.  Other people like to add some basics, like a photo.  It's up to you and your comfort level on the web.  This information can be changed later.

2. The Welcome screen/page gives you a chance to allow Google/Blogger to send you email junk.  I unclick the box.

The next screen/page is your blog list and is called the Blogger Dashboard.  Your blogs will be listed here, as well as anyone else's blog you want to add to your Reading List.  When you log in the next time, you are sent directly to this screen.

3. Click on the New Blog button and a pop-up screen appears. The first text box asks for your blog's title. Pick something catchy, but not too long.  My AC'12 blog name is TOO long, and is truncated at times when I post to Facebook, etc:  Alaska or Bust -- how Electro-Willys traveled to Alaska and back in less than 60 days 


The next text box asks for your blog web address.  This time, pick something short, that you will remember, so that it is easy to verbally tell others were to find your blog.  Our AC'12 blog is found at m38mike.blogger.com.  m38mike is Mike's jeeping handle.

Then it asks you to pick a template.  I recommend starting with SIMPLE.  You can change this later.  Once you have selected a template, it will tell you that it is "Creating a blog".

NOTES: I use Google Chrome on a Windows7 desktop.  I know that if you are using an iPad or other mobile device, it is possible that pages/screens for creating your account may look different.

COMING UP NEXT: Your First Post