As you will be posting to your blog each week of the programme, you will have plenty of time to explore further and get really familiar with how blogs work.   However, for now, if you have done both your Things and still have time or enthusiasm left, you could take a look at some of the following:



Advanced blog settings


Blogger offers a lot of options to get your blog set up exactly as you would like it to be.   Click on 'settings' under the name of your blog on your dashboard and explore.   You can:

  • add a description to display underneath your title
  • change the date/time settings (Blogger assumes everyone is in California by default)
  • change the settings for comments so that you can restrict who can comment (we'd recommend at least 'users with Google accounts' so that other 23 Things participants can comment)
  • set up email or mobile posting
Customise your layout


Click on layout under the name of your blog on the dashboard.   This brings you to a screen where you can add gadgets, which are things that sit in your sidebar.   You'll explore gadgets and widgets further towards the end of the programme, but if you click on 'add a gadget' you can take a look at some of the things you can add to your blog - a picture, some text, a list of links.   To add a gadget, just click on the blue plus sign next to it in the list.   You can move gadgets around on the page by dragging and dropping them, but remember to save any changes you make!   You can also change the fonts and colours of your template by clicking on the link at the top, or change the template completely by clicking on 'choose new template'.