The Settings Tab...

Most Blog providers will have a 'tab' or a 'screen' dedicated to adjusting the settings for your blog. This tab can be a little intimidating when you first look at it. With so many options, and often some words used in a context you haven't seen before, it would be easy to see why some people might give up.

When you first create a blog, most blog providers have the default settings already set up so that you will be the only person who can post, but the whole world can view and comment. It's possible that you want your students to be able to contribute as authors, but not have full control of the blog (like access to the settings), or perhaps you want only them to be able to read the blog, not the entire on-line community. These things are possible by adjusting the settings to your blog.

In Blogger, most of the options have a fairly good description of what they do right beside them, so be patient and read it over. I'll go over some of the settings here.

I have found that the most important setting to adjust is the "Comment Moderation" option. For me, I just want to take a quick look at what someone has to contribute before it 'goes worldwide'. The pictures below will show you where to make this change.

Navigate to the Settings tab, and locate the 'comments' link below.



Scroll until you find the 'comment moderation' option.



When you enter your e-mail address, Blogger will send you a notification each time someone leaves a comment. In this situation I would have to log in (there is a link provided in the email), and approve or reject the comment before it appeared on the blog.

Another option you may want to change in the settings is who can publish to the blog. Again with Blogger, it would look like this:

In the settings tab, select the Permissions link;


Select the Add Authors button;



and sent invitations by email. I have noticed that many of the invitations are recognized by email software as automatically generated so it sorts them into the recipient's trash. Anyone you invite may need to be promted to look for the invite there.


You can also control who can see the blog by selecting the desired option below. This is also found in the Permissions link.


As your blog grows, you may find that your needs change and consequently so may your Settings. If you're not sure and the help section isn't 'helpful' you can always create a 'Sandbox' blog to try out different changes to see what happens.

Or, since you're reading this, leave your question in the comment section. I'll be notified by email, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.