How to make a Wordle- beautiful word cloud!

1. Create a Wordle from our blog's RSS feed.
2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?
3. Tag others to do the same.
4.Create different Wordle clouds of your blog's RSS over a period of time.

Save your Wordle screenshots in a special folder on your computer or even better create a set on Flickr to store your archived clouds. See what story your Wordle clouds tell as you compare them to each other. Share other uses (at least one) you have found for Wordle (for your students or personally) to your blog post.

37 ways to make blogging easier...

1. Plan out content with pen and paper.
2. Dedicate time each week to think of ideas.
3. Make it easy to record ideas.
4. Build a life of unique experiences.
5. Use WriteRoom for typing.
6. Set limits on the time allowed for writing.
7. Always have a large backlog of content.
8. Follow a lower frequency of posts.
9. Capture interesting tid bits you find with Evernote.
10. Be passionate.
11. Write about a broader niche.
12. Take extended breaks.
13. Don’t write till you drop – stop writing when you’re on a roll.
14. Follow clear structures in your content (headings, sub-headings, bullet points etc).
15. Pick a predominant medium.
16. Ask visitors what they want.
17. Make every piece of content count.
18. Never stop reading and learning.
19. Set higher standards for yourself as motivation.
20. Forget word count – say more with less.
21. Identify the time when brainstorming for you is most effective and stick with that.
22. The moment it’s not fun: STOP! (and come back to it later)
23. Experiment with different mediums.
24. Clear your head with exercise, good food and a glass of water.
25. Write down EVERY idea, no matter how silly it may seem.
26. Clear off other items from your to-do list.
27. Ask visitors to help with research – have them send in quotes etc.
28. Believe in what you’re saying.
29. Be both topical and non-topical.
30. Don’t overthink it – your content is not set in stone.
31. Think in lists.
32. Always be creating content (if only in your mind).
33. Trust that what you have to say is important.
34. Plug your niche(s) into the Adwords keyword tool.
35. Monitor what related blogs are saying.
36. Add variety to your workflow.
37. Be ruthless. If you’re not feeling an article, delete it.

List came from: http://www.dailyblogtips.com/37-ways-to-make-blogging-easier/ by Daniel Scocco

Adding images & other multimedia

To add an image:

You can add an image from your computer or the Web to your blog. Click the image icon in the post editor toolbar. A window appears prompting you to browse for an image file on your computer, or enter the URL of an image on the Web.
Once you've selected your image, you can then choose a layout to determine how your image will appear in your post. The 'Left', 'Center', and 'Right' options allow you to customize the way your blog text will flow around your image.

The 'Image size' options will determine how large the image will appear within your post.
Click UPLOAD IMAGES to add your image, and then click DONE when the notification window appears telling you that 'Your image has been added.' Blogger will then return you to the post editor, where you'll see your image ready to be published to your blog.

You can also publish images to your blog using your mobile device, Google's free photo software Picasa, or a third-party service like flickr.

To add a video:

To add a video to your blog post, click the film strip icon in the post editor toolbar above where you compose your blog text. A window appears prompting you to 'Add a video to your blog post.'
Click Browse to select the video file from your computer that you'd like to upload. Note that Blogger accepts AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real and Windows Media files and that your video must be less than 100MB in size.Before uploading your video, add a title in the 'Video Title' box and agree to the Terms and Conditions (you'll only have to do this the first time that you upload a video with Blogger). Then click UPLOAD VIDEO.

While your video uploads, you'll see a placeholder in the post editor showing where your video will appear. You'll also see a status message below the post editor letting you know that your upload is in progress. Depending on the size of your video, this usually takes about five minutes. When it is complete, your video will appear in the post editor.

Want to see this in action? Click the link to watch a video on how to add a video to your blog post: Adding a video to your post

All information in this posting came directly from:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=112498#addphotos

Posting to your blog

Once you've logged into Blogger you'll see your Dashboard, showing your list of blogs. Click the blue 'New Post' button to create a new post:

Next, you'll see the Create New Post page. Start by giving your post a title (optional), then enter the post itself:

When you're done, click the "Preview" link to make sure it's ready to go:

Once you're satisfied with your post, click the "Publish Post" button. This will publish your new post for others to see. If your post is still in progress, or not yet ready for publishing, click the "Save as Draft" button.

All information in this post came directly from: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41378

Switching templates

How do I switch my template to another provided by Blogger?

Go to Layout Pick New Template:

and pick a new one:

Finally, click the orange "Save Template" button.

Note: Before switching to a new template, it's a good idea to back up your current one (if you've made changes to it). Go to the Layout Edit HTML tab, and copy and paste the template code to a text file on your computer.

All information in this posting came directly from:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41439

Editing the template of your blog YouTube video

Editing your template and page layout

Blogger's Layout feature is an easy-to-use template editing feature that allows you to edit and customize your Blogger template without any knowledge of HTML or CSS. You can easily edit and customize the colors, fonts, header and sidebar of your blog with a few clicks of the mouse. To customize your blog's layout, go to the Layout Page Elements tab in Blogger.




How to arrange elements in your template

You can arrange the elements in your template the way you want them displayed. Simply click on the element you'd like to move and drag and drop it where you want it to be. You can move your page elements to the bottom of the page, anywhere in your sidebar, or below or above your blog posts. (Note: you can move all elements except your navbar, blog posts and header in some templates.)



Editing elements in your template

Here's an overview of what you can configure when you click Edit for each of these elements:
* Navbar: Select the color you'd like your Navbar to be.
* Header: Add or edit the header of your blog, which includes your blog title and blog description.
* Blog posts: Choose the number of posts to display on your main page. You can choose either the number of days with posts to display or the total number of posts on the main page. You also have the option to show email post links that let your visitors easily email posts from your blog to their friends.
* Profile: Edit/add your profile title, 'About Me' description, and location.
* Blog archive: Edit/add your blog archive title, select your display style (hierarchy, flat list or dropdown menu), choose to display post titles, display oldest posts first, choose your archive frequency (monthly, weekly or daily) and date format.

How to add a page element

You can add several page elements to your blog page or sidebar by clicking Add a Page Element. This will open a pop-up window. Click Add to Blog in the proper element section to add it:

All information in this post came directly from: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=43708

Understanding the template of your blog YouTube video

How to select and post a template

With the Layouts feature, you can drag-and-drop to move parts of your page around, and choose new fonts and colors with easy mouse clicks. Newly created blogs will work this way automatically, but for blogs without this feature, you'll need to upgrade your template. Here's how.

1. Find the name of your blog on your dashboard, and click the Template link next to it. If this link says Layout instead, then it's already upgraded and you can skip the rest of these steps.




2. On the Template page you should see the standard window of HTML code. Now look in the navigation links for the tab that says Customize Your Design and click it.

3.You'll get a message explaining that Blogger will make a backup of your current template and replace it with an upgraded one. The backup will be made available indefinitely, so you can revert back to it later if you need to. Click the Upgrade Your Template button to continue.

4.Choose one of our default template designs. You'll be able to modify it all you want, once you pick one of these as the starting point. Click Save Template when you've made your choice.

5. Now you're all set. You'll end up on the new Page Elements tab, where you can start arranging things however you like. Have fun!

All information in this post came directly from:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=44474

How to create a blog with Blogger YouTube video

Getting Started

Welcome to Blogging 411 Tips & Secrets to help you blog successfully!

Step 1: Find a free blog host! Here are some options:

Blogger
Google Pages
WordPress.com
Xanga
Windows Live Spaces
Diaryland (Online Diary)
MySpace (Social Networking site that includes a blog function)
Vox
Wikipedia: Developer-Hosted Weblog Software (Free and Paid)
Tumblr (Tumblelog)
AOL Journals

Step 2: Set up your password and user name information.

Step 3: Figure out your subject and title- remember to keep it simple so you don't feel overwhelmed!

What is a blog?

A blog is basically a type of website, like a forum or a social bookmarking site. As such it is defined by the technical aspects and features around it, and not by the content published inside it.
The features that make blogs different from other websites are:

-content is published in a chronological fashion
-content is updated regularly
-readers have the possibility to leave comments
-other blog authors can interact via trackbacks and pingbacks
-content is syndicated via RSS feeds