Blog-+Wordpress.com

= Create a Blog with Wordpress.com =

Wordpress.com: Wordpress.com (NOT Wordpress.org) is one of the most popular blogging software in the word. Edublogs actual runs an older version of the Wordpress software. Wordpress.com gives you lots of free storage space and you can make great looking blogs with their templates. There is a steep learning curve with the dashboard and the look and the feel of the sites you create is not as flexible as Google Sites (especially when you are embedding html code). It also charges you a fee for domain mapping and will post the occasional ad when using the free version. If you are familiar with edublogs.org, this is a great ad free (except on rare occasions) site to build your blog.

Create a Wordpress account
1. Goto wordpress.com and press GETTING STARTED = = 2. Fill in the form to sign-up (I would make it easy and use you work e-mail address). Add a wordpress.com address for your blog (you can create multiple blogs under one account so don't get too hung up on this). Now agree to the terms of service (read it if you want) and press SIGN UP. 3. you will be sent an e-mail to confirm your account as well as be prompted to fill in your profile information. 4. After confirming your account go back to wordpress.com and you should be logged into the bar at the top o fthe page.

5. Now click on the area beside MY BLOG and select DASHBOARD.The wordpress dashboard can be kind of confusing and a bit intimidating. Once you learned the basics, it becomes a decent way to manage your blog.

The Dashboard
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Below is a screen shot from the wordpress dashboard. On the right is QUICKPRESS where you can quickly post an annoucement to your blog. On the left gives you a summary of comments (that may need moderation) and posts. If you scroll down you will also see yourr site stats and any recent comments that were left on your blog.

Appearance: Themes and Widgets
Scoll down on the left side bar and click the arrow beside APPEARANCE to display the appearance options. Clicking on THEMES will take you to the THEMES page where you can quickly change the overall appearance of your blog. You have the opportunity to preview the theme before you make any final changes to your blog. The widgets section is where you can drag items to and from your sidebar. For example you can add a text box to your sidebar but you can also add things such as Twitter feeds, image boxes etc. Try dragging widgets to your sidebar and see how they look! then try dragging them off to remove them from your blog.

Posting to your Blog
Look on the left sidebar and click on the arrow beside POSTS to give you the posting options. Now click ADD NEW.

Enter the title of the post and then add the text for you blog (you have regular word processing options such as bold, italics etc). You can also add an image, video, music, poll and other media by pressing the buttons to the right of the UPLOAD/INSERT. If you want to add a video, I would recommend using a third party service such as Vimeo.com.


 * Editing the Sidebar**

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Wordpress tutorials
 * Learn Wordpress

Video tutorials of Wordpress.com
 * tour of some wordpress blogs
 * using the administration panel on your blog
 * customizing your blog