Building+a+blog

Building a Blog
The first thing to take into account when building a blog is the fact that they are quite different from Wikis. Where a wiki allows you to basically design your own website, a blog only serves a single purpose. Due to this, blogs are much less customizable than wikis.

Note: The web address of your blog will be: http://**yourblogname**.edublogs.org

Getting Started with Edublogs
The edublogs website isn't entirely intuitive and changes often. Currently, the link to create a new user looks like this: Clicking this link or going to: @http://edublogs.org/signup-33c/ will bring you to the new account page. The username you choose will be part of the URL for your blog, so choose appropriately. After filling in your information and clicking the "Go to Step 2" link, you will be presented with the "New Blog" page. Here you will give your blog a title and choose the blog type (student, teacher or other). After this step, your blog will be created and you will be presented with a recap of your username, blog URL and password (it actually displays the password on the screen, so don't do this in a really public place).

At this point, you can log into your blog using the "Login to your blog" button. The first time you log into your blog, you will be presented with 2 options: Go to Easy Admin Area - or - Go to Advanced Admin Area You can change this setting at any time, but for the purpose of this tutorial, we will use Easy Admin Area. This will bring you to the main dashboard, which is where you will do the majority of work on your blog.

To log into your blog at any future time, simply go to: [|www.edublogs.org] and login using the sign in bar at the top of the screen. To get back to your dashboard at any time, simply click on the appropriate link on the edublogs main page.

Theme
The default layout for edublogs tends to be very generic and sometimes a bit cluttered. Since blog material is added over time rather than all at once, the first logical step in designing your blog is to make it visually appealing.

Clicking the "Free Themes" tab in the dashboard will show you all of the themes that are available for free edublogs users.

Clicking on any of the themes will show you a preview of the theme, applied to your blog. From here you can either close the preview by clicking the [x] or you can apply the theme to your blog by clicking the link that says "Activate". The theme can be changed at any time, so if you're not happy with it later on, you can always change it.

Design
In addition to the general theme, you can also customize the design of your blog using widgets. Clicking the "Customize Design" tab will present you with customization options.

There are several default widgets available, including:


 * Archives** - An organized archive of all of your blog posts
 * Calendar** - Blog posts organized by a calendar
 * Links** - A list of links which you mention in your blogs
 * Recent Comments** - The most recent comments made on your blog posts

In order to place a widget on your blog page, you simply need to "drag and drop" it onto one of your sidebars. You may have 1 or more sidebars, depending on the theme you've chosen. Each widget has it's own properties that become visible once you drag the widget onto the sidebar.

Adding Content
A blog is very similar to a journal. As a result, most of your content will be added over time, rather than all at once in bulk. By default, your blog will be organized by post, in descending order, starting with the most recent post. You can set up some navigation options that will be explained a little bit later.

To add a new post to your blog, you simply need to click the "New Post" button.

The New Post Page has 2 sections. The content section contains:


 * Title** - This is where you put the title of your blog post. Keep in mind that the date will be automatically attached to your post, so you don't need to include it in the title.


 * Body** - This is were you put the text for your post. Some basic text formatting options are available and you can access some more options by clicking the "Kitchen Sink" button. [[image:Screen_shot_2011-01-27_at_2.22.58_PM.png]]

In addition to text, you can also add some media to your blog post. There are four buttons labeled "Add media" that allow you to add pictures, video, sound and documents to your blog posts. The following example will demonstrate adding a document to the blog post.

Adding a Document
The fourth button on the add media toolbar is used to add something other than pictures, video and sound. Clicking this button presents you with the Add Media dialog.

Clicking on "Select Files" will allow you to choose a file to upload. After choosing your file, it will be uploaded to the edublogs site and you will then be given access to a few properties related to the file. To add this file to your blog post, you simple need to click the "Insert into Post" button. This will add a link to your blog post that downloads the document whenever someone clicks on it.


 * Discussion** - These checkboxes control whether or not users can comment on your post.

The second section of the New Post page is the properties section.


 * Publish** - Allows you to choose to either publish your blog post or save it to work on later. You need to click Publish in order to make your post visible.


 * Post Tags** - If your blog post talks about any specific items, you can add tags or "keywords" in this section. Tags are used for searching, so if you want a blog post to show up in a search, add keywords that describe the content of your post.


 * Categories** - You can sort your posts into categories if you would like to organize them better. Category displays can be added using widgets and categorizing posts will allow uses to filter through posts more quickly. A category is similar to a tag, except that a post generally only fits into one category, and categories should only describe the overall theme of your blog post.

Editing Old Posts
The "My Posts" tab will show you a list of all of the posts on your blog. From here you have the ability to delete or edit your previous posts. Hovering your mouse over a post will give you options to edit, delete or preview. Clicking any of the links will execute the selected action.

Editing Comments
The comments tab gives you access to all of the comments made on your blog. Note that by default, all comments will need your approval before they are posted on the blog. The comments page will look similar to this: Note the comment in yellow. When you hover your mouse pointer over the comment, you will see several actions that you can perform. You can approve, delete or edit the comment, among other things. Approving the comment will make it visible to everyone who reads your blog. Deleting it will remove it forever, and editing the comment will allow you to make changes before posting it.

If you have many comments that you want to delete or approve in bulk, you can use the checkboxes beside each comment and then choose an actin from the "Bulk Actions" menu above the comments.