Blogging 101 - Introduction

all right, let's get started. The first thing we need to do is catch up on the world of blogs. Here's a very short timeline of blogging, to give you a temporal perspective on the blog.

June, 1993: The oldest archived "NCSA What's New" page is dated June 14th, 1993. This is a brief, regularly updated page that focuses on chronicling the growth of the internet, which was at the time still just emerging from its infant stage. In essence, this is the earliest known example of a weblog, in it's most prototypical form.
December, 1997: The term "weblog" is coined by Jorn Barger.
August, 1999: Pyra Labs launches Blogger, the blogging tool we will be working with here at Blogging 101.
NOW: New bloggers decide to start their own blogs thanks to Blogging 101.

There you go. That was easy, wasn't it? Now, on to the next thing.

When the internet first came into existence, everyone was predicting that it would be the new challenger to mass media and its monopoly on publishing. Blogging is the manifestation of this prophecy, and the major media syndicates are starting to notice. Here are a few links to articles dealing with blogging and it's impact on media and the world. (1|2|3|4|5|6)
these links and many more were obtained from the blogger news archive, a site that focuses on blogging and blogger in the news.

Let's get you acquainted with Blogger, shall we? Below is a screenshot of the Blogger front page, located when you point your browser here. I've labeled the different areas, and right below the image I'm going to tell you what's what. Ready? Good! Let's go!

All right, let's start with the area labeled A, at the upper center of the page. This thakes you to the sign-up area, where you set yourself up for a new blog. I'm not going to cover this in this area, but when you're ready, hop on over to the sign up part of the site and i'll walk you through it in baby steps.

The next section, labeled B, is located in the middle right area of the page. this is the log-in box, and after you've signed up this is where you're going to type your information in to start blogging.

The section of the page labeled C, on the upper left, lists the ten most recently updated blogs, and once you've set your site up, and provided you follow the Blogger guidelines, you might see your site up there as well from time to time. The Blogger guidelines are as follows: first, your blog cannot contain pornography or any other such content, and second, if your blog is hosted on blog*spot (which, if you're just learning how to blog now, it will be), you must include a link to the Blogger website. That being said, this area is great for getting ideas for that next killer template or site design. I should know: that's where i got my first template design ideas from as well!

the next section, labeled D, is on the lower left of the page, and it's the "blogs of note" section. it's sort of like "fresh blogs" section, except that these sites have been handpicked by the blogger staff for being noteworthy for one reason or another. if you're just not finding ideas you like in the recently updated section, try the sites here for some more solid ideas.

The section labeled E is all about blogger news. Maintained by Evan Williams, the founder of Blogger, and Jason Shellen, it's chock full of interesting tidbits of news on Blogger, and Blogger in the news!