Customising your blog

Now that you have made your first blog you can start to make it more interesting.

YOUR PROFILE AND AVATAR:

• Sign into your blog, if you are not there already.
• At the top right of the screen, you will see your user name, with an arrow beside it.
• Click on the arrow, then click on 'Blogger Profile' to open your profile.

• Click on the orange 'Edit Profile' button.
• Towards the bottom of the screen, you will see a heading for 'profile photo'. You can either upload a profile from your computer, or copy and paste the web address of a picture you want to use for your profile.

• Further down, you will find spaces to add other information, like your gender, and interests. You can fill out as much or as little of this as you like.
• Right at the bottom of the page you will find a button to save your profile. Click on this when you are done.

CHANGING THE WAY YOUR BLOG LOOKS:

• Sign into your blog, and make sure you are on the dashboard. If you are already signed in, simply go to www.blogger.com to bring up the dashboard page.

• Beside the orange New Post button, there is a grey button with two pages on it. Clicking this brings up a list of options. Click on 'Template'

• Click on the orange Customise button.

• You can choose your Blog template here, and also choose from a list of sub templates to get something you like.
• You can also make more advanced changes using the links down the left of the screen - you are better off ignoring these for now.
• Once you are happy with your blog's new look, click on the orange 'Apply to blog' button.

ADDING GADGETS:

• Gagets are helpful little tools which appear on the side of your blog. Your basic blog has a Profile gadget and a Blog Archive gadget when you start it up.
• Sign into your blog, and make sure you are on the dashboard. If you are already signed in, simply go to www.blogger.com to bring up the dashboard page.

• Beside the orange New Post button, there is a grey button with two pages on it. Clicking this brings up a list of options. Click on 'Layout'

• You will notice little 'add gadget' links scattered over the page. These show where on your blog the new gadget will appear.
• Click on the 'add gadget' link where you want your gadget.

• This brings up a new window which lets you choke your gadget. Some useful gadgets are:
• Blog List - this is a list of blogs you follow.
• Search box
• Labels - this lets blog readers find your post more easily using the labels you've used.
• Followers - this shows a list of people who are following your blog, and allows others to start following your blog.
• Each gadget has it's own settings, but these are usually fairly easy to work out for yourself.
• You can move gadgets about the page by dragging their names.