Blogger Help, Features and Resources:
If you need assistance or have questions, a good place to look for information is Blogger Help.

The Blogger Dashboard
Each time you log in to Blogger.com, your first stop is the Blogger Dashboard. Think of it as a central control panel for Blogger. You can view a list of your blogs here, as well as viewing individual posts in a blog. You can edit posts or drafts as well, and you can click the view button to the right of the editor’s list of blog posts to view each entry’s post page, where the entries are each on their own page. This is helpful when you are using tags such as those for Technorati or De.licio.us on your posts. Be sure to check the bottom of the Dashboard page periodically for site news and announcements.

Your Blogger Template
The templates provided by Blogger are written in HTML and CSS code. (Some resources for learning HTML, CSS and more are included later in this tutorial.) The HTML and CSS coding controls the appearance of your blog and the functionality of its features. Blogger does provide a means for users to modify or edit the template. It is not mandatory that you edit your blog’s template; you can have a perfectly fine blog without doing so. There are some advantages to learning to edit the template, however. Among them:

1. It helps you learn to read, understand and begin to create the coding. This is the best way to learn coding; get your hands into it, and play with it. You can certainly find WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) text editors out there by the dozens, but many of them add extraneous code that is clunky and may or may not function as it should. Learn the basics yourself so that you know what to look for and how it should work, then get tools that will automate your work to allow you to be more productive, if you like.
2. It allows you to add your own personal content and touches to your blog, which is a personal medium of expression; for all that a (potentially) worldwide audience has access to it.
3. It allows you to take charge of your blog’s overall appearance and functionality, to make it “yours.” After all, scores of people may be using the exact same template as yours at any given time. You want yours to stand out in a crowd, and you can do that by adding your own personal touches. Besides, if you plan to spend any length of time maintaining your blog (and why would you not, given your interest in blogging and the benefits it can have for your business or other pursuits?), it is nice to have a comfortable, attractive and easy to use “space” of your own.
4. If something should go awry, you can troubleshoot and identify and fix the problem, with or without support.

To backup your template in Blogger: From the Blogger Dashboard, click the name of the blog for which you want to back up the template. The edit window will appear. Notice across the top of the window there are several tabs, including a Template tab; you will need to click this tab. On the next screen, there is a large window in which your template’s code appears. Place your mouse anywhere in this window, right-click your mouse, and choose select all. Copy all of the text (code) in the window. Open a text editor such as Notepad, and paste the selected text into the text editor. Give the file a name, and save it to your hard drive. Now, you have a backup copy of your template. Get into the routine of saving your template this way each time you edit it, and provide a distinctive name each time. Then, if something goes wrong, you can easily restore a saved copy of the template.

On a related note: You can also backup your entire blog.
detailed Instructions for doing so are available. It is of course easiest to do this when you have only a few posts and it is a good idea to make this a part of your regular routine. If you choose not to back up your posts using this method, you can simply save each of your posts in a text file in a folder on your computer. Also save any links you have in your sidebars on a regular basis. As with any backup, it is far better to have one and never need to use it than to need one and not have one available.

To restore a saved copy of a template: Select and delete the entire existing contents of the template window, then open your saved template file, select all of the text in it using your mouse or keyboard commands, then just copy the text into the blank template window, save your changes, and republish the blog.

To edit your template: You can edit your template by adding to or modifying its code. You can add links to your sidebar for quick access to favorite sites, or you can add various pieces of javascript or other code to add features to your blog. To edit, just copy the template code into your favorite text editor such as Notepad. Another good, free editor is Crimson Editor.
To change your template: If you decide to change your Blogger template, be sure to make a backup of any links or other code you want to keep, so you can place it in the new template. Changing the template without doing this will result in the loss of your added data or code. Under the Template tab, click “Pick new” to choose a new Blogger template, select the new one you want to use, then click the “use this template” button.

A Word About Viewing Source Code
When a novice blogger first looks at source code, it will likely seem wholly nonsensical and incomprehensible. It may even seem like a foreign language and it may feel like it will never be possible, let alone easy, to read. Do not let these impressions deter you. Put the blog you are viewing the source code for in one window if you are using IE (or in one tab in Firefox) and view the source code for the very same blog in another window or tab. Take note of where certain “landmarks” such as the links section are in the blog when it is open in standard view (that is, the blog itself is visible, not the source code), then take note of where the code for those same landmarks is within the source code. You will soon learn to orient yourself by looking for familiar landmarks. Open your text editor, and practice creating snippets of code (such as hyperlinks) so that they are click-able when you are finished. Soon, you will be able to write hyperlinks as quickly as you can type. One suggestion: Go ahead and create a second, “tester” blog, so that you can experiment without causing harm to your main blog’s template..

Some of the templates offered by Blogger as standard are similar to each other, while others differ sometimes markedly. This can take some getting used to, especially for a beginner. Remember: This is a learning process. Give yourself time to look around and do as much reading of help files and other Blogger information resources (including this tutorial!) as you can, and do take time to explore the various tabs, Windows and Settings within Blogger itself.