Create a blog

Go to Blogger.com.

Log in with your Google Account and click


Follow the on-screen instructions to create a new blog.


Give your blog a title.

Type in an address that is available. All blogs created with Blogger start with a .blogspot.com address.

Pick a template. You can always change this later.

Done!

The Dashboard

There's a couple ways to easily access the Dashboard. The Dashboard is your control panel for starting new posts and customizing your blog. You'll be using it a lot.

If you click the Blogger "B" logo on the left side of the NavBar...

You'll see a list of all of your blogs. Each blog has a orange button to write a post and a drop-down menu to access all the menus like Layout, Template, and Settings.

Alternatively, you can click Design on the NavBar and you'll go to a Dashboard for the blog you are currently working on (instead of a Dashboard for ALL of your blogs). There are easy links to all of the other menus along the left side of the Dashboard.

Post Text

You can add text. Change fonts. Change sizes. Bold. Italics. Underline. Change colors. Highlight.

AlignCenter.

Align Right

If you can word process...you can blog.

Insert Images

To insert an image in a post, click the picture frame on the tool bar. Blogger offers several ways to add images.

Once you've added an image, you can click on the image to format its size, whether or not it has a caption, and whether or not text wraps around it.

Insert Video

To insert a video, click on the Video button on the toolbar. You'll have all sorts of choices of how to insert a video

You can upload any video from your computer.

You can search YouTube for the perfect video or access any video you've saved to a playlist in your YouTube account.

You can grab videos from your phone (requires Google+)

And even record directly from your webcam. Look at how easy it could be to flip your classroom!

Customize Everything

From the Dashboard, click Template.

If you're an HTML wizard, you can make changes directly to the code. But since most of us aren't, click Customize and the editor will tweak the code for you. Change the color of links, the title font, the background image, etc.

Dynamic Views Templates

You can turn on Dynamic Views 

from the Dashboard>Template.

Gadgets

You can add Gadgets through Layout.

Gadgets give your blog additional functionality. Typically, the Gadgets appear in the sidebar of your blog.

Google offers 20-some basic gadgets and there are 1,000+ others to choose from.

They quickly and easily give your blog a polished and slick look without you needing to know any HTML code!

Layout

 in the Dashboard to change the look and feel of your site. Rearrange the key elements by dragging & dropping them. 

Change your blog's favicon (the tiny icon that represents your blog). You start out with the orange blogger B but can change it to anything you want.

Change the color of the NavBar or hide it completely.

Add a Gadget. 

Use Blogger to Flip Your Classroom

Blogger provides a great platform for flipping your classroom.

Outside of class time, students can read your posts, watch videos you select, examine embedded images, etc. and can be ready to do something with them in class the next time you meet with them.

Blogger blogs look great on mobile devices so students can access your blog everywhere.

A Walled Garden

Control who can read your blog.

From the Dashboard, you can control your blog's readers in the Settings menu. The default  setting allows anyone to read it. If a person isn't authorized to read your blog, they'll just see a Google login screen.

Video Sub Plans

How cool is this? 

You can now record videos from your webcam 

and insert them directly into a post. 

Click the Video button on the toolbar while composing a post.

iPad

On an iPad, there is limited functionality with editing the layout of your blog but basic posts are no problem. There's apps for iPhone and Android as well so you can live so you can blog from your mobile device live from Tahrir Square.

A Walled Garden, Part II

You can hide your blog from search engines to further insulate your students from the what lurks in the dark corners of the Internet. The Privacy options are in the Settings menu.

Note: The default for these settings is "Yes."

Really long posts

You know the way that when you're reading the front page of the newspaper and you get to the bottom of the column and it says CONTINUED ON PAGE A6? If your post is super-long you can enter a Jump Break

Don't like the .blogspot.com address?

In Settings, you can purchase a domain name for $10 a year so your site doesn't use the .blogspot.com address. I purchased apgov.org for my AP Government classroom and it's been a fantastic experience for my students. If they need something, I just tell them to get it at apgov.org.

Mobile View

Make it easy for visitors to your blog to navigate your site on their mobile devices.

From the Dashboard, click on Template and select a Mobile template.

Stats

From the Dashboard, click Stats to see the stats from your blog. How many people are visiting your site? What are your most popular posts? What countries are your visitors from?

Control Comments

You can control comments by clicking Settings>Posts and Comments in the Dashboard.

You can chose how comments appear (or if they do at all).

You can choose who can comment.

You can choose whether or not comments are moderated. Moderation means that comments have to be approved by a blog moderator before they appear on your site.

Multiple Blog Authors

Share the load of providing content for the blog. From the Dashboard, you can invite other authors to write for your blog in the Settings menu.