Blog+Settings


 * An overview of blog settings **

To change settings, click on the **Settings** tab toward the top of the page. This will bring up several categories of Settings that you can adjust.


 * Basic**: Blogger’s descriptions are pretty self-explanatory; there probably isn’t much need to change any of the standard settings on this page.


 * Publishing**: This is for switching the blog to your own domain (it is possible, for a small annual fee, to register your own domain name; if you do so, Blogger will let you use that address instead of _.blogger.com).


 * Formatting**: Allows you to change how many posts are displayed on the main page and how to display date and time for your posts and elsewhere on the blog. The other settings can be left as they are.


 * Comments**: This is one of the more important Settings to look at. It lets you determine who can comment. It is possible to restrict who can comment; the strictest option is to restrict it to only members of the blog – this is the best way to restrict comments to only members of a class, if you so desire. To allow your class to interact with the blog in this scenario, you would need to make all students in the class members of the blog (discussed in more detail in “How to Use a Blog in the Class Room”).

You can also choose to moderate comments by changing “Moderate Comments” to “Always,” meaning that before any comment is posted on the blog, you will be emailed with the comment and have the opportunity to approve or reject it (N.B., you cannot moderate comments of other members of the blog – meaning that if you have made your students members of the blog, as mentioned above, you cannot moderate their comments. This should not be a major concern, as in this situation you will always at least know who has made the comment).

Finally, you can enter an email address so that even if you do not choose to moderate comments, Blogger will inform you whenever a comment is made.


 * Archiving**: These settings can be left as they are.


 * Site Feed**: The first setting is the only one of these of interest – an RSS reader, such as Google Reader, can automatically inform someone each time there is a new post on the blog; selecting “Full” under “Allow Blog Feeds” will allow an RSS reader to show someone the entire post; “Short” will allow the reader to show a short paragraph only, which will force someone to click through to your blog to read the full post; “None” (not recommended) disables this function entirely.


 * Email**: If you enter email addresses in the first field, any new post will be emailed to those addresses. By enabling the “Email Posting Address” (and entering your own “secret words”), you can post to the blog simply be sending an email to the specified address.


 * OpenID**: This is not something you need to worry about, unless you are interested in learning more about it (there is a link with more information on the page).

You can also limit who can view your blog here – the default is to allow anyone to read the blog, but you can also choose to limit it to certain email addresses of your choosing or to people who are members/authors of the blog. Unless you have privacy concerns about the material on the blog, I would recommend allowing anybody to read the blog, as otherwise you are restricting many of the potential advantages of a blog.
 * Permissions**: This allows you to add authors to the blog; as mentioned above, you can make your students authors (aka members) of the blog, so that they can also post. Other possible co-authors for a blog might be teachers at other schools or a teacher with whom you are team teaching a course. If you choose to add another author to the blog, you can then determine whether to make them an administrator or not (the default is not). Authors can only create and edit their own posts and comments, while administrators can edit all posts, add and remove members, and change the blog settings and template. For more information, see [].

Onwards to Blog Layout Skip ahead to Posting