Some Helpful Hints

Hey all - since I have officially established myself as the class computer nerd, here's the post I promised about blogging tips.  If I left anything out, if my directions are confusing, or if you have any other questions... please let me know, I am certainly happy to help you out!


How To Edit Your Blog Layout
If you haven't already noticed, there's a Layout button on your Blogger dashboard and at the top of the page while you're posting things... once you click that, four other buttons show up under it (Page Elements, Fonts and Colors, Edit HTML, Pick New Template).  You want to start out by picking your template, and then you can edit the details.  If you click on Fonts and Colors you can, as you might guess, change all of the fonts and colors on your blog.  A lot of templates don't let you change the background color(s) though, so make sure you have one that you like.  The best way to figure things out is to just play around with it and see what fits your style.  Once you have it the way you want, DON'T FORGET TO CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON!

If all you were interested in was how to put a sweet picture on your blog heading, I'll tell you how to do that too :)  First, you need to have a sweet picture.  Then you need to go to the Page Elements section (under the Layout tab, just like the previous stuff).  This is where you can edit how things are arranged on your page or add "gadgets" like Miranda's lovely fish pond.  There are a lot of different gadgets and things so you might want to look into that if you're interested.  But to add a picture to your heading, click the Edit button for your header (it will have whatever title your blog has).  There, you can edit your blog title, blog description, and add a photo.  Under Placement you want to make sure to click "behind title and description," otherwise it will cover up your blog title.  Upload the photo you want (I think it will prompt you to select what size you want, too)... One thing I will say about that is that once you upload your photo, you might want to go back to Fonts and Colors and change your title color and font to make sure you are able to read it.

How To Find Your Comments
Personally, I prefer to get email notifications when somebody comments on my blog, because the email sends a direct link to that post so I can just go straight there and reply if I want.  To set up email notifications, click on the Settings tab on the top (or on your dashboard)... and when you do that you get like 9 buttons underneath, I don't really want to explain them all but you can play around with stuff if you want.  Click on the Comments button, and then if you scroll all the way to the very bottom of that page, you'll see a "Comment Email Notification" box... type in your email and then click the Save Settings button on the bottom.

I'm not exactly sure what Jen was talking about with being able to see all of your comments on one page, but there is another way to quickly find your comments... if you click on Posting on the top and then Edit Posts underneath that, it gives you a list of all of the posts you have on your blog.  To the left of the date the post was published, there will be a link that says "__ comments" if your post has any comments.  You can just click on that to see them.

I think that's all for now.  Like I said, let me know if you have any other questions, maybe I can put together a nice little FAQ page for us all :)
-Mary