Weblogs

A Weblog allows you to easily publish a wide variety of content to the Web. You can publish written essays, annotated links, documents (Word, PDF, and PowerPoint files), graphics, and multimedia. Blogs are often maintained and run by a single individual.

Some examples of software and services you can use to create and start your own weblogs include Blogger, LiveJournal, Typed and Wordpress.

When you first log onto your WordPress account you will see the page below. when you click on “My site” it will come up with your website.

To be able to edit your blog you need to edit the URL. Get rid of Https:// and after .com add “/wp-admin” this will then take you to your dashboard.

To start a new page use the sidebar on the left. When you create a new page this is going to be the first thing the viewer will see in your menu bar. So the name of the page needs to be a topic/category that all your posts are related to.

Just like adding a new page adding a new post is also on the side bar.

For a post you will need a title, which is the first available box you can type in. The second larger box is where your content can go.

You can add pictures by clicking the add media button situated above the contents box. Here you will have the choice to view pictures you’ve already uploaded to WordPress or choose files from your device.

If you would like to hyperlink a word or phrase you just highlight the piece of text you want to hyperlink and click the link button.

This will bring up a box where you can insert your hyperlink.

Its important to categorise your posts because if your views are looking for a particular post they can easily locate the categories section at the bottom of the page. To add a new category go to the right side bar and select add new category.

Privacy setting are very important, if you do not wish for your post to be public to everyone then you can either make the post private which means only you can see it or password protect your blog post. If you decide to password protect, anyone who knows the password will be able to view your blog.

When you create a page and a post you will need to organise them accordingly.

On the left hand side bar select appearance and choose menus. If you want a page to appear on your menu bar you need to add the page to your menu by selecting from your posts and pages on the right panel. If you want a page to appear as the first topic on your menu bar you need to move the box fully to the left. If you want a post to appear under the page in your menu then the box needs to be moved slightly to the left so it looks like ouse made a indent.

This is a example of my menu bar. As you can see all my main pages are seen first on the menu bar, until you hover over the page then it provides a drop down bar where you can choose the relevant post.

As your blog is public, people can comment on your posts. to view comments select the comments section from the side bar. You can delete or reply to comments from the page below.

WordPress allows you to follow other WordPress accounts that you are interested in. To follow a new blog select My site in the top left hand corner and this will create a new side bar. Select people from the side bar.

Once you have selected people from the side bar the page below will be displayed where you can see your followers. To add new people click the plus sign with the symbol of a person. You will need to know the blogs name to be able to search it.

WordPress is a self-contained system and does not require HTML editing software (such as Adobe Contribute or Dreamweaver). You can create a new page or blog post, format text, upload images (and edit them), upload documents, video files, image galleries, etc. all without the need for additional HTML or FTP software.

A disadvantage of WordPress is that if you want more advanced and modern themes you have to pay a fee monthly. This could be classed as not having as much freedom to someone who has their own website not hosted by anyone.