how to set up your own blog using wordpress...you can change your title at a later date how to set...
TRANSCRIPT
How to set up your own blog
using
Melanie Richards
Head of Geography at St Ursula’s Convent School
Setting up your blog
You can’t change your
user name once it is set
up so think carefully –
chose a name you will
remember easily
When deciding on a domain name try to think of something
that is catchy and is easy for your students to remember. YOU
CAN NOT CHANGE THIS ONCE YOU HAVE DECIDED. This
will be your permanent address of your blog.
You can
change
your title
at a later
date
How to set up a blog
Click on visit the
homepage
This is now your blog and if you type in
your domain name this is what you will
see.
This is your
management panel
click to go to your
dashboard to get
started
Lets start with
Presentation
Presentation of your blog
This is where you can
chose your scheme.
It is best to try to
chose one with
categories and one
that allows you to add
widgets and a header
of your own choice
Browse through them and pick your
own theme
When you click onto your choice it will give you a
preview. Click activate to decide on this one. In
the future you need to take care as once you have
switched it may affect your original settings such as
the image header.
Try to pick an image that
has an area where you
can see the blog title
easily
This will roughly be the size of the image
you can use from a standard photo.
You can browse any image
from your computer. If you
want you can go and take
some pictures of your
school or of anything. I got
my students to hold some
globes up and took a
picture. It is best not to
have images of any of your
pupils on the header.
Then click on upload
To view your site at any
time click here
You should now have the
header image of your choice
To change many of the
features such as dates and
privacy controls you will
have to go to the options
menu
Here you can get rid of the Tagline on your title by just
deleting ‘just another wordpress.com weblog’ and also you
can change your blog title although I wouldn’t advise it if
you have set your domain name to the same title.
You can also change your email address
although you will have to confirm your
address.
Change the date format and time format
if you want
Set how you want
your blog to look do
you want your latest
post first or a kind of
static home page?
How many posts do
you want for a page?
Setting your options for
students
This is under the
discussion option
and is very important
to protect your
students. Make sure
the box An
Administrator must
always approve the
comment is always
ticked
Now lets have a go and
writing your first post. You
need to go to the dashboard
and click on ‘Write’
Writing your first post
This is your first post
make sure you give
your post a title
All the icons above are just like the word
icons so you can now start to write your first
post.
This icon will bring down
another toolbar which allows
you to format your text. E.g.
bold underline and colour.
Now have a go at writing your
first post including some
underlining and font colour
changes.
This icon allows you to put a
picture into your post. You
can do this in two ways.
1. Upload a photo
2. Link to another photo on
another site.
Putting a picture into your blog
If there is a photo you
want from another site
you can put it into your
blog by finding out what
the URL is (that is the
address) you can do this
by clicking on any ima
Right click on the
image you want and
then click on
properties and copy
the URL from the box
This is the link select it
and copy it and then
paste it into the URL link
on the pop up window
on your blog.
Then click insert and
your image will appear.
It is better to upload
your own images as you
have to be reliant on
them staying where they
are if the site deletes a
page then your image
will no longer be found.
I only use this way if I
am linking to the site.
You can of course
upload your own picture
and you do this by
Browsing for your file
and then click on
upload.
Once uploaded you can
send to the editor and it
will appear in your post.
Creating Links to other sites
One of the important
features of a blog is to
get your students
linking to other sites
and making it easy for
them to find them.
You can link text and
pictures to a site by
highlighting the image
or the text and clicking
on the paperclip icon
Here you can copy the
link from any site and
paste it into the URL
link box. If you want
students to keep your
blog open then you
can select to open this
in another window.
You can also give the
link a title which will
appear when the
mouse clicks over it.
Don’t forget to click on
insert.
Create categories to organise
your posts
You are now ready to
post however you
must make sure you
keep all your post
under categories. In
order to add a
category you can do
this here or go to the
manage tab above
and add your own
categories there. It is
a good idea to think
about these before
you start your blog.
You can create categories
and sub categories. Think
about what you will be
using your blog for. I have
sub divided them into year
and topic. You can select
posts to link to more than
one category.
Publishing your posts
When you have
written your post you
can either save it as a
draft or you can
publish it. If you
publish it will appear
straight away
You can also select
passwords so that
only those you want to
see can see the post.
Good if you want to
share information will
other teachers.
This is how a post
will look so far. You
can get your
students to post
comments if you
wish. If you are
logged in you will
be able to edit this
post by clicking on
the little pencil
Adding video to your post
To obtain the URL you will need
click on the tab for more and
copy the URL
To make your site
more interesting
you can add videos
and slideshows and
other content. You
can have a look at
www.gorgeousgeog
raphy.co.uk or any
other blogs for that
matter to see what
you can include.
You just have to get the URL
again and type
[youtube=insert the URL]
Adding Slide Shows
Slideshare allows you to put
your own power points into your
blog. All you do is set up an
account and upload a
presentation then you copy the
URL here and paste it into your
blog
This is an example from my
site showing the fire from the
Olympic site.
Adding Widgets
Add widgets to make your
side bar easier to navigate
and put information from
other sites in. This is under
presentation and widgets.
Drag the boxes into the
default side bar
Add your flickr photos
Show your categories
Put a blogroll onto your blog
Add a search bar
Show recent comments
Adding Pages
You can write a page
that is static and doesn’t
change this is useful for
vocab and course
details. I have created
pages within pages for
this. In order to do this
just click on write and
then write a page.
Depending on your
layout it will show it in
the side bar or as a tab.
This is an example of a page
and below the blue links link
to other pages with the unit
overview and web site links
and key words and
definitions.
Setting up a blogroll
Set up a blogroll which is a
list of all your favourite sites
by clicking on blogroll and
add links.
Allowing Comments
Get you students to leave
comments as part of their
homework.
Click on the comment button on
each post and students can leave a
message. In the widgets you can
display the latest comments from
students. Don’t forget to click on
the moderate comments.
Other Ideas
Link to web cams so
that they download
instantly to your blog.
This is done the same
way as obtaining an
image from a site.
Other things you can do
• Putting Voki’s onto your blog
Use Voki to create a talking
character. Voki.com you will
have to download a piece of
software to embed these.
This is how a Voki will
appear in your post.
Students can click play
to hear it speak. This is
good for introductions to
enquiries.
Insert google earth files
into your blog for others
to download. You can
do this by hosting your
files at a place called
http://googleearth.artery
solutions.com/ and
then just linking to the
URL
Use scribd to download
word documents that
can be zoomed in and
scrolled through and
allows students to print
them.
Just save your KMZ or
KML files from google
earth and then browse
for them here and it will
produce a URL link
which you paste into
your blog.
Check who has been looking
and who links to you
Some web sites to enhance your
blog
• http://wordpress.com
• http://www.voki.com
• http://www.slideshare.com
• http://www.youtube.com
• http://www.scribd.com/
• http://googleearth.arterysolutions.com/
www.gorgeousgeography.co.uk
For more Geography related sites
look under my blogroll and links
I can be contacted by leaving a
comment on my blog or
by email