Blogger Set Up For Dummies

I'm not a computer teckie person, so some of this, a lot of this actually, is taking me a while to figure out (how to get my page set up and how I want it) so I thought I would do this for two reasons:
1.  Share what I'm learning as I go with other clueless people like me.  ha ha
2.  Remind myself how to do them since my memory sucks.  ;)

This is a work in progress so check back later too. :)

Menu Bar 
To get a menu bar on your page (each tab on the bar takes you to a page on whatever topic you like (Mine so far has About Me, Blogger Set Up for Dummies (where you are now). This will go along the top of your blog or elsewhere.  You decide.

Click on Design (right upper corner of your blog page)

Click on Pages

Show Pages As is where you decide where to display the menu bar on your page, along the top, or side (or manually link, I'm clueless about this one. lol)

There will automatically be a Home tab put on there first for you.

Click on New Page, type a page on a topic, put a heading on it.  Do however many of these you like, and it will create a menu bar when you are done. 

Click on Publish and it will take you back to the list you are getting set up so that you can add another one or finish.

Then click on the orange Save Arrangement tab.  All done!  You can go back later (Design and then Pages) and edit, delete, etc.

When you go on your  main page to check it out, if you click on the little tools icon (wrench and screw driver) on the far right, you can change the order they are in or change if you want the menu on the top or side.  

List of your Posts Alphabetically

To put a list on your page of your blog posts (besides the archives one) (alphabetically if you like.  yes!).

You want to use Link List for this. (Otherwise, this is for a list of links to other sites or whatever you choose.)

Note: Before I did this, I set my page to only have one post per page.  That way, I have a specific link (URL) to each specific topic instead of someone having to search the page.  If your blogs are very short, this probably will get too cumbersome. Anyway, then, I was able to make my alphabetized list of posts to go to each subject.  It's very easy to look for topics now on my page. 

(To do this click on Design in the right upper corner of your page, click on Settings down the left side of the page, click on Posts and Comments.  At the top is Show at Most, and you can set it to one (or whatever you want). (This is also where you set who can comment on your page, anyone or certain people.  When I first signed on, turns out, with the default setting they had, my friends couldn't comment.)

Ok, to find the Link List, click on Design in the upper right, click on Layout, click on one of the Add a Gadget buttons where you want it to appear on your page.  Then, select Link List from the list.

Fill out the form:

Title - This will be the MAIN title on your page and should stay the same for each form you fill out (ie Topics by Alphabet) (just look at my page)

New Site URL - This one and the next one ( New Site) are different for each post you did (a link to my Acorn Flour post)

New Site - The title of your page or what it is about (Acorn Flour). (Short and sweet, not necessarily the whole title of the blog post.)

Click on save and then fill out the next one or finish. 

When your list is done and on your page, just click on the little tool icon next to it to add another one, edit, or delete.
It's important to make sure to have that specific link used from the archives, not the main page one that changes. 

Inserting a hyperlink in a word or phrase.  (ie, "click here")

I figured out how to insert a hyperlink into a word or phrase (so you can click on that as opposed to a long drawn out link).   (Right click on the word or phrase where you want to put the link and put the address in there and click ok.)  BUT, that didn't work in Blogger. 

Here's how to do it in Blogger:

Hilight the word or phrase where you want the link, click on the word "link" on the tool bar at the top, copy the web site address in there, and click ok.  Walla! 

Using the Paint program to put text on photos. 

Open a photo, click on the big A on the left, drag the curser to put a box where you want the text to go, click on the colored blocks on the bottom left to make the box opaque and not white, click on the colors at the bottom for the color text I want.

(Note to self, click on View and Toolbar to get the toolbar back on there.)  

How to connect your blog to Twitter, Facebook, etc.
http://www.ehow.com/how_8563927_connect-blogspot-twitter.html

How to add a follow me on Twitter button
(I left the title empty since the Twitter account is the same name.)
http://www.blogonblogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-add-twitter-button-to-blogger.html