Wednesday, July 15, 2009

GSAC - Blogging and Web Design - Class 3

Review:
  • Adding images
  • Adding video (2 ways)
  • Adding blogroll

Customizing your layout:

Your template allows you to customize your blog. When creating a new blog, you're first asked to choose a default template, this is the basic initial design of your blog. Later, you can also customize your blog's design using a drag-and-drop interface. You can also add powerful gadgets such as slideshows, user polls, or even AdSense ads. Changing the fonts and colors on your blog is easy too. If you want more precise control over your blog's layout, you can also use the Edit HTML feature. To edit your blog's layout, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Layout link from your dashboard below the blog you would like to customize.
  2. From the Page Elements sub-tab, click Edit to edit existing gadgets, or Add a Gadget to add new ones.
  3. To add a new gadget after you've clicked Add a Gadget, simply click the plus sign next to your desired gadget. You can choose from gadgets by category, or search for a specific gadget in the top right of the pop-up window.

    gadget list

  4. Once you've added the necessary information to your selected gadget, click SAVE. Your layout changes will appear instantly.

    saving chnages to gadgets


Privacy and permissions:

By default, your blog is completely public, and can be read by anyone on the internet. However, if you want to keep it private, you can do that, too. You can change these settings on the Settings Permissions tab.

  1. Under the 'Blog Readers' heading, you'll probably see 'Anybody' selected as the default. When you change this to 'Only readers I choose,' you'll get an Add Readers button.
  2. Click the Add Readers button and then enter the email address of a person to whom you'd like to grant access to your blog. To add multiple people, separate their addresses with commas.
  3. For each address entered, the Google Account associated with that address will be given access to view your blog. If an address is not associated with an account, that person will receive an invitation email with a link allowing them do one of three things:
  • Sign in to an existing account.
  • Create a new account.
  • View your blog as a guest (no account required).
setting Blogger permissions

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Follow other blogs:

With the Blogger Following feature you can keep track of the blogs you follow via your Reading List on the Blogger dashboard. There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the 'Following' widget, ad then follow these steps:

  1. Click the FOLLOW THIS BLOG link under the 'Followers' widget.

    following blogs

  2. You'll then see a pop-up window with the options to either follow publicly or anonymously.

    settings for following blogs


  3. Select how you'd like to follow the blog, then click the orange FOLLOW button. You're now a follower of the blog! If you chose to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile.
  4. When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to your Reading List on your Blogger dashboard. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the 'Followers' widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.




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