How To Get a Blog...

To start off you will need to set up an account. Most web services require an e-mail address and a password. Most free blogging services have an automated set up screen that will walk you through the porocess. I found Blogger to be quite straight forward and their help section is good, so I've remained with them. Each Blogging service has most of the same basic features, but they have some differences too. If the first one you try seems awkward or difficult, try another one.

With Blogger you arrive at a screen that looks like this:




If you click on the big orange arrow on the bottom you can get started.

The first screen you encounter is this one.





When I first started blogging I was worried that the e-mail address I used would immediately become a dumping ground for everything aweful about the internet. After almost two years my e-mail address remains junk free. If you like, set up a web-mail address with hotmail, yahoo, or google, and use that one.

Pick a password and the name you would like to be added to each post you write. I use Mr. A as my display name. Select the checkbox that indicates you accept the terms of service and click the orange arrow again.

Now you get to name your blog. Be creative, but be prepared with several ideas as the Blog address part is sometimes a bit tricky. The "www.-------" that you would like may already be in use. For now you could use just about anything, since after you've set one up, you can always set up another one (you can have several blogs with one account).





Still on step 2, you arrive at a new screen to choose a template. You can change it something else at any time if you change your mind afterwards.





And there you are. Your first blog. There are some settings you might want to adjust, but we'll talk about that in another post.




I have found the help offered from Blogger to be pretty good so far. Most of the basics are covered well. Personally I like the short explanations given for most topics. Short and simple to understand.