Fair warning: This post is lengthy and includes links to other sites and resources, but kick your shoes off, relax, and read on anyway. Some of this will be old news, but I wanted to take time to write it down, in case someone new to blogging is wondering, "where on eatth do I even begin with blogging," and "why would I want to blog; what's in it for me?" Note: Blogger is not the most advanced Blogging platform there is, and it lacks some amenities, but hey, the price (free!) is certainly right, and it's an excellent (relatively safe and painless) place to learn.
Blogging began for me last summer as a novelty after I found a link to Blogger on Ask-it-Here, a Q&A website I frequented and still visit when I have time. I knew a little html, and nothing about template editing of any sort. I was green as Ireland's grass on Saint Patrick's Day. I didn't even know the right questions to ask, or who to ask them of. I posted hit or miss for a long time, using a standard-issue Blogger template that I wasn't too fond of...and I began building a list of blogs I read by visiting blogs and blog linking sites. The first blog I read (because of a link I found in Blogger's Blogs of Note one day) was Prison Pete, on Blogger. I noted with some interest the contents of his blog's sidebar, and eventually began wondering how I could add personal touches to my own blog...but before I got to that point, I almost gave up on the entire blog. Yawn. Borrring.
Then, in April, through a link in the Langa List, an online computing newsletter, I found Kate. (I've linked to her a few times already). She and I began to exchange e mails as I asked how she got her blog to look the way it does, and how she implemented some of its features. She was and is more than patient, and answered my questions so that I could understand. She was the one who helped me take my first tentative ("Oh, what if I break something? This is so scary!) steps toward editing my template. Thank goodness. All that code was hard to read and difficult to understand. Now I walk through it a lot more briskly; I've learned that it may bite when it doesn't work as expected, but it doesn't kill. I put code for my links in the wrong places often, and she would help me get it straigntened out. One fine day, I discovered that I could post my own links that actually worked, miracle of miracles. That did it; I was hooked. I started editing my template on a regular basis, tweaking, adjusting, goofing around. It was (and is) fun; I never expected that.
I learned to save a backup of my template and even my individual posts, by copying the template code and post entries and saving the data in text files, which has proven not only a wise thing to do, but has meant the very preservation of my blog. Notetab Pro, my text editor of choice has been in constant use as well, for viewing source code, making notes and keeping me at least minimally organized. My list of bookmarks for blogging, resources and information, and of blogs themselves (not to mention website design) began as one or two links...then one or two folders, then several folders...and finally just grew in seemingly geometric progression. I store my bookmarks online, because I could never replace them all if something happened to them. Besides, every serious computer user eventually learns to backup; data loss is no fun.
Somewhere along the way, in early May, I found Blogger Forum. The site is an absolute gold mine of help, support, information and other resources for bloggers, be they total neophytes or advanced users; they don't mind ignorance-based questions I'd be embarrassed to ask in some other places. I got a lot of help from the Forum, and learn from it all the time. Every time I want to undertake a new project associated with blog tweaking, my first resource of choice is Blogger Forum; more often than not, it's because of something I've read there that I decide to test the water for adding new features in the first place And it was on Blogger Forum that I found my current template. The three column layout has been incredibly useful, and the high-contrast is easy on my eyes.
Adding My own links soon got to be "yesterday's project." I figured out how to add my booklist by writing the links code into my template, and made them clickable so they could be searched via Amazon; this was another of Kate's suggestions. I added my G-Mail button next, along with my guestbook code. Then came Blogroller, which meant I needed to sign up with that site for a free account. (If it isn't free, I don't do it, at least for now.) I found some useful Blogger hacks, and added those, to add drop down lists for my archives and for my recent posts. The recent posts drop down is not essential, since only ten of those display...but I do like the look of the two drop down lists together, so they will stay. In my quest for a new and better template, I did find a new icon to replace the default "powered by Blogger" one that since the default was unappealing. Commmenting by Haloscan (another free accout sign on). W.Bloggar came along just in time to keep me from feeling totally chained to my browser for posting and editing. By that point, I'd become an avid blogger. A day is hardly complete without posting. I even decided to create other blogs, for different areas of interest (cooking, inspirational posts, and Firefox tips -- the latter of which is yet to be reestablished following a snafu in June. Somewhere down the road, I have plans for a photoblog, which has been made easier since the addition of Blogger Images; no more Hello/Picassa/online storage of photos necessary, thank goodness.) Then I even decided to go looking for a free webhost, whereupon I found f2o. that led to my posting the beginnings of my personal homepage on the internet. That's a whole different adventure, but it dovetails into blogging because blogging was where I began to notice the possibilities.
Along the way, I was still reading posts and getting ideas from Blogger Forum, and even from other blogs, some of which I considered and discarded, others of which I shelved for later consideration. Some of these blogs contain excellent tutorials for things that catch my interest. Those get added to my blogroll in half a heartbeat. I've even written a couple of tutorials myself, mostly as "how-to" reminders to myself, but also to help others have an easier and more enjoyable experience.
Just recently I found Greasemonkey, an extension for Firefox...and that opened up whole new possibilities via the use of userscripts; this extension had come to my attention in the past, but seemed over my head, then it just clicked in my mind as to how to use it.
My latest quest is to add categories to my blog; this is going to take some work, since Blogger does not support categories. But yes, indeed it can be done. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight any time soon. I love the creativity of blogging, I love watching it come together and having the coding work (and even when it doesn't, it's another learning experience.) This blog (and the process of creating, maintaining, and improving it) is a major source of gratification, probably because as a person with a congenital dual disability, outlets for expression of creativity are limited. This is one that I can control and manage on my level, on my terms, and doing so does not require the ability to run, jump or even that I have perfect vision, which I've never had, and barring a miracle never will have; my vision has been described by one professional as "usable," and eye surgeries have helped keep me from complete blindness.) This blog (and my others, plus my webpage) are all works in progress...but half the fun is in the journey, and I'm in no hurry. I like the scenery on the trip, and I like the people on the train. Many of them are far advanced in comparison to where I am...but they do not mind lending a helping hand...and I know there are people now where I used to be, wondering about blogs and blogging. This, then, is part of the helping hand I can extend to those who need it. I'm no expert. I just share what I learn.
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