Session 2 - Using Blogger to create a Website

Your Project

Your major project will be to create a website for a fictitious library that will meet the needs of the organisation and incorporate social media. Start thinking about your library details - i.e the answers to the questions that we looked at last week. To get you started, here are some examples from last year. You can use any of the free website creation tools that we will cover. You must include social media integration and this will need to be specified in your design brief.

Here are some from previous years to give you an idea!

http://sunshinecoastpubliclibrary.weebly.com/

http://maritasmovies.weebly.com/

http://medievalrepository.blogspot.com.au/

http://libraryofrivendell.wix.com/libraryofrivendell

http://sicrsc.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.lavenderhillib.blogspot.com.au/

http://beaconsfieldtoylibrary.webs.com/

Before we get started today, you will find out who you will be working with. Each student will draw a name out of a "hat". Whoever you draw will be the person who you will be creating the website for, so you will need to liaise with them to make sure that you get all of the information required.

Blogger

Today we would look at our first web page creation tool because it is one that most of you are already familiar with - Blogger!!  If it is not one that you have used, you are still familiar with it because it is one that I use.

https://www.blogger.com/

Once you have logged in etc., you can start by creating a new Blog

Once you have logged in etc., you can start by creating a new Blog

 
At this stage, it really doesn’t matter which theme you choose as you can change and customise it at any time.

Once you have selected your theme, you can customise the colours, background images, fonts and page layout. Once you are happy, save and return to Blogger.



Click on Layout.

In Layout mode, you can add, remove or edit any of the “gadgets” that are on your page. This allows you to customise your “web page”.

If you want to include additional pages, select Pages from the left navigation pane.

Click on New Page for each page that you want to add. The title will be what will appear on your navigation. Make sure you PUBLISH them when you are happy.

Once you have pages, you can include the “Pages” gadget to create a simple navigation system.

 

Here is a preview of my Blogger website:

So you might ask about using your own domain name rather than something .blogspot.com. Well with Blogger, you can.

Go into Settings and change the Publishing Settings if you would like to use your own domain name. You can register a domain name at a variety of places on the Internet. Prices do vary!!