Blogging Tricks & Ideas

Hi jammers! In my blogging experience, I have picked up a few tips and helpful tidbits, and this page is where I share as much as I can with you all! ^.^ Search for specific tips by using the command: Control - F for PC's and Command - F for Macs.

How to Start a Blog in a Minute

With Blogger, Google's free blogging platform, it is super easy to start a blog in under half a minute! If you have a Google account, simply go to this icon at the top right corner of your screen:

Icon shown inside of dotted red circle.

By clicking on that 3 by 3 tile icon, you get a list of all of Google's apps. You will probably see Google+, Gmail, Google Drive... etc. Click the More link at the bottom of the list. Scroll down until you see the orange Blogger icon.

Clicking on that will bring you to Blogger's dashboard. When you reach the Blogger dashboard, click on the New blog button:

Button shown inside of dotted red circle.

By clicking that, you will be brought to a window looking like this:

Type in what you want your blog's name to be. Ex: Animal Jam Graphic Central!

Then, type in what you want your blog's address to be. For example, AJGC's is: animaljamgraphiccentral.blogspot.com. 

Google will let you know if your address has already been taken. If someone has already used the URL you wanted, a yellow exclamation point will appear next to the address box. You can then select any template you want. The possibilities are: Simple, Dynamic Views, Picture Window, Awesome Inc., Watermark, Ethereal and Travel. Keep in mind that you can customize this template later. 

How to Customize Your Blog

To customize your blog's colors, fonts, theme and overall look on Blogger, follow the following steps:

Go to your Blogger Dashboard and select the blog you would like to customize.

Once you have chosen the blog to customize, select the Template tab on the sidebar.

On the Template page, you should see a picture of your blog's existing template. Click the orange Customize button, underneath the picture of your template.

By clicking on the Customize button, you will be brought to a view of your blog, except with a black menu at the top. The menu should have 5 tabs: Templates, Background, Adjust Widths, Layout and Advanced. 

TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR TEMPLATE- Click on the Templates link on the sidebar and select one of the Blogger templates, such as Dynamic Views, Picture Window, Awesome Inc., Simple and a few others. Remember- you can make this template look any way you want. The preview or example of the template is not how your blog will look once you are done with customizations!

TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR BACKGROUND- Click on the Background link on the sidebar. There should be an image of your current background image. Click the small grey arrow next to your background image, and a new menu of Blogger's provided background images. You can pick any of these, or you can upload your own by clicking Upload Image in the categories of backgrounds on the left. Click the orange Done button when you have chosen your background image.

TO ADJUST THE WIDTHS- Click on the Adjust Widths link on the sidebar. There should be two or three sliders- one for the width of your entire blog and one or two for your sidebar(s). You can adjust these widths by moving the sliders or by typing a width into the box. (Tip: If you have a text widget, make sure that the width of your sidebar allows your words to be all on the same line, with no words beginning on one line and continuing on the next.)

TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR LAYOUT- Click on the Layout link on the sidebar. There should be two headings- Body Layout and Footer Layout. Under Body Layout, you can select one of the layout options. Take into consideration: how many sidebars you want and where you want your sidebars to be. Select a layout template that you want. After that, choose a footer layout under the heading, Footer Layout. There should be three options: a one column footer, a two column footer and a three column footer. Choose which one you want for your footer. To rearrange the gadgets, go to Dashboard > Layout.

TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR FONTS, LINKS, COLORS & MORE- Click on the Advanced link on the sidebar. This is where you can customize the fonts of your body text, post titles, gadget titles, tabs and blog title, as well as the colors of your links, body text, gadget titles, post titles, tab text and tab background, date headers, blog title and header, outer and post background. If you are a beginner at blogging, don't worry about the CSS option at the bottom just yet.

Click the Apply to Blog button when you are all done.

Have fun customizing your blog!

How to Add Top Navigation Pages

Many jammers have been asking how to add the list of pages below your blog's header. Here is an example:

Adding pages can be a bit tricky to figure out, but it is actually ridiculously easy! 

Go to your blog's Layout. Then, click the Add a Gadget button below your header, like so:

Just like all the other gadgets, this will bring you to a pop up menu with a list of gadgets in it. Scroll down until you see the Pages gadget:

Click on that, and then it should bring you to another pop up menu that looks something like this:

Check the boxes of the pages that you want in your top navigation. When you check them, they will appear on the right column. You can drag and drop the pages to change the order of which they will appear under your header.

After you are satisfied with your pages, click the orange Save button and view your blog to make sure it worked!