Publishing a Blog with Blogger: Visual QuickProject Guide [Paperback]

Elizabeth Castro (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321321235 | ISBN-13: 978-0321321237 | Publication Date: February 6, 2005 | Edition: 1

If you want to start blogging fast, but don’t want to get sidetracked by the details, then you need a Visual QuickProject Guide!

Writing in a journal is all well and good, but when you're ready to share your musings with the world (and you think the world is ready to receive them!), a blog is the way to go. For just $12.99, this compact guide shows you how! Using big, bold full-color pictures and streamlined instructions, it covers just the need-to-know essentials that will get you blogging with leading free blog software--Google’s Blogger--in a matter of minutes.  Best-selling author Elizabeth Castro takes you through each step of the blogging process--from acquainting you with the interface to setting up your blog, creating your profile, posting email, adding pictures and audio, and more. Occasional sidebars and tips point out other useful blogging tips and tricks. 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elizabeth Castro has written all four best-selling editions of HTML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide. She is also the author of Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web and XML for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide-- both best-sellers! Liz founded Pagina Uno, a publishing house in Barcelona, Spain.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (February 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321321235
• ISBN-13: 978-0321321237
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,217,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I moved to Barcelona in 1987 to study bilingualism but found a job in a computer company instead. After managing the translation of many different computer programs (FreeHand, PageMaker, Illustrator, and more), I started a publishing company to translate and publish computer books in Spanish. In 1993, moved back to the US to write my own books. Started with Netscape, and then moved on to HTML, Perl, XML, Blogger, iPhoto, and most recently EPUB. You can find more personal info about me at my blog A Year in Barcelona (http://www.ayearinbarcelona.com). My regular blog is Pigs, Gourds, and Wikis (http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com). I spend a fair bit of time on Twitter (@lizcastro). And my full website is www.ElizabethCastro.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast And Easy Way To Become a Blogger, April 28, 2005

By 

Diane Cipollo (Editor at BellaOnline.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Publishing a Blog with Blogger: Visual QuickProject Guide (Paperback)

A blog or weblog is a great way to get started on the web and Blogger.com from Google is one of the most popular software for creating weblogs. In her book, Elizabeth Castro assumes that this may be your first web project as she walks you through the basics for creating a blog at Blogger.com.

First, she gives you an overview of Blogger.com, what the software does, and why she chose it as the subject for her book. After she introduces you to the Blogger Dashboard (the control panel where all the work is done), Castro shows you how to open a Blogger account, give your weblog a name and choose a template. The template does all the work for you when creating your weblog pages. All you need is the content that you want to publish and the template places everything in the correct spot on the webpage. Castro does a great job explaining all of this with step-by-step instructions and lots of illustrations.

Once you have posted your first weblog entry, Castro moves on to more advanced Blogger features such as working with the template tags to customize the look of your blog, how to control the members and comments features, how to post an entry by email and how to use Audioblogger to post an entry via the telephone.

Now that you have your weblog ready for the public, Castro discusses hosting your blog through Blogger's BlogSpot hosting or on your own server. Finally, she shows the many ways to publicize your blog including email and site feeds.

Elizabeth Castro has written many other Visual QuickStart Guide books for Peachpit Press.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you need to know to blog using Blogger, June 15, 2006

By 

Manny Hernandez "@askmanny" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Publishing a Blog with Blogger: Visual QuickProject Guide (Paperback)

I have been writing on my blog using Blogger since 2002, so I am very familiar with almost all the options it provides you with to get your word out there in the blogosphere. Yet, I was able to pick up numerous new things when I read this book by Elizabeth Castro. It goes from the very basics that you'd need in order to get off the ground, all the way to incorporating audio into your blog, blogging via e-mail/telephone, customizing your blog, hosting it yourself and much, much more. It's incredible the amount of useful information that the author was able to pack in a little over 100 pages.

As an experienced Blogger user I highly recommend this title (and of course, I recommend Blogger as a blogging platform).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn to Blog Really Fast, September 7, 2005

By 

Nelda S. Mohr (Stafford, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Publishing a Blog with Blogger: Visual QuickProject Guide (Paperback)

I bought several books on blogging because I'm scheduled to teach a class about blogging at our library in late October. This little guide is the perfect teaching tool. Although it only covers one blog host, blogger.com, most of the information can be used with any host.