GSAC - Blogging and Web Design - Class 1

Introductions and Basic Blogging

Introductions:

1. Do you have a website or have you tried to build one?
2. What do you want out of a website?
3. Do you follow any blogs? - http://middletowneyenews.blogspot.com/
4. What could you blog about?

Blogs, Wikis, and Websites:

1. Blogs (WebLog) are a series of thoughts/collaborations/discussions
2. Blogs can use text/images/video relating to a topic or theme
3. Blogs are displayed reverse-chronologically, and updated regularly - http://caterwauled.blogspot.com/
4. Visitors can add comments that can be moderated or unmoderated
   
5. Wikis are community knowledge bases - each user can add or remove content - the wisdom of the crowd
6. http://www.wikipedia.org/
7. Websites are relatively static - the webmaster creates content
8. All 3 are websites with varying degrees of visitor/community input possible
   
9. You could blog about:

• family events
• diary
• planning
• hobbies
• business
• trips
  
• opinions
• classes

Blogger:

1. Log into your gmail account
2. 
3. Log into My Account (you can also skip going through your email, and go directly to the blogger page: Blogger homepage)
4. Click on Blogger, and accept Blogger's Terms of Service
5. Click on Create a Blog
6. Pick a name and address (URL) for your blog. Note that this will have xxx.blogspot.com as the URL (eg: http://gsacbawd.blogspot.com/)
   
7. Choose your favorite template (this is how your blog will look when you publish it).
   
8. Add information to your personal profile and customize how your blog looks

Starting to Write Your Blog

1. Click the NEW POST button
   
2. Start by giving your post a title, then enter the post itself:
3. 
4. When you're done, click the Preview link to make sure it's ready to go:
5. Once you're satisfied with your post, click the Publish button. This will publish your new post.