Using new blogger isn't too difficult

Blogging should be fun but the change to the new blogger has been a little stressful for me and for others. I have been using the new blogger for a while now but when it first appeared on my feed I didn't like it. I would use it and then revert to the old format. I particularly did this when I couldn't find how to do things such as posting pictures or increasing the size. Since I've been lucky and have had time to play with the new version I thought I'd do a quick tour of it for you.  I'm using a computer as this is how I generally post. The new blogger is supposed to make it easier for you to blog from your phone but I haven't tried it yet.

When you log into blogger instead of the New Post button there is a large plus sign at the bottom right of the screen. Click it and you're taken to the editing page for your new post

The editing page is fairly similar to the earlier version. There is no longer a box for the title, instead it goes on the line above the editing tools.

I'm not going to do lots of photos as that will get boring so I'll run through the editing tools starting at the left hand side of the screen. These tools are the same as most word processing software packages such as Word. The first three buttons are for bold, italics and underline.   The next button is for paragraph formatting and gives you a drop down menu of;

Major Heading

heading

Sub-heading

Minor heading

I haven't used these as I generally don't put heading in my posts but if you use Word or any other word processing tool they have heading of different sizes to help you make you writing clearer for the reader. 

The 5th button with the big and little T is your font size and we had this in the old blogger. Alongside this is the button for the font style also in the old version.The underlined A is for font colour, don't get too excited as it can make the text difficult to read. The tipping pot is for the background colour. When using this button remember you may need to change the colour of your font.

The back facing and forward facing arrows are 'undo' and 'redo'  The next two (buttons 11 and 12 are to increase, or decrease, the indent at start of paragraphs.

The next two buttons allow you to;

• bullet point information

1. or you can use numbered bullet points
2. It will make writing lists of UFO's you're working on easier.

Remember to click back on the button to stop using bullet points

Most of us use the next three buttons a lot, insert or edit link, insert an image and insert video. If you click on the insert or edit link button it gives you a choice of creating or editing a URL or creating/edit anchor. I use the create or edit URL and once you click on it you get a familiar screen where you can paste the URL and type the words you want to appear as the link in your text.. 

Next up is the button to add images. I must admit I find this process slower than the old blogger and it has taken a bit of time to get used to. Clicking on the button the drop down menu asks if you want to,

• upload from computer
• upload from photos
• upload from blogger
• by URL

I usually upload from my computer and clicking on this link takes you to a browse button from which you can go to wherever you store your photos on the computer. Once you've selected the photo it will appear on this feed. Click on the photo and a pop up menu appears which gives you the option to chose left, centre or right to position your photo. Click on the pencil to edit the size of your picture. The edit will also allow you to add a caption to your photo.

The last buttons are mostly self explanatory, The smiley face lets you insert special characters. There are a range to chose from or you can search for more or draw what you want. The button next to it allows you to insert a jump break. A jump break will allow people to see the first part of your post up to the jump break and they can then decide if they wish to read the rest. The window picture allows you to insert a table or edit it. The three lines with an up down arrow will alter the line spacing and the last four are the justification i.e. left aligned like this post, right aligned, centred or justified.. You then have the three dots which give you some more options.

Above the red line and to the right you have 4 buttons.. The two little arrows pointing opposite ways changes the view of your post to html. The disc next to it saves your post. Once saved, to return to blogger click on the arrow above your title. Above the save button you also have a question mark which is the help button and feedback. I've found this quite useful. The eye shape lets you preview your post as your readers will see it. and the shape like a paper aeroplane will publish your post.

Down the right hand side are the post settings. Here you can add labels if you use them. The 'published on' , if clicked will enable you to change from automatic publishing to setting a time and date so you can schedule your post. The permalink links your post title to your blog name as a permanent link. The location is what it says on the tin and the options is about whether reader comments are allowed or not.

Many if not all of the changes made to blogger are to help accessibility. This isn't just about people with disabilities it includes all of us and how we access items on the internet, using a computer, phone or tablet. The changes should make it easier to post from our phones although if I use my phone it will probably be quite a short post.

I hope you found this useful. Just play around with it and get to know how it works. You can't break you blog or accidentally delete it from the page. Some time spent playing now will speed up your post writing in the future. 

Lyndsey