The easy way to add links to your favorite web sites in your sidebar is to use the Link funtion at the bottom of your "Edit My Profile" screen.  You do not need to know HTML programming to do this.  You don't need to worry about going in to the "Edit Template" screen at all.

Log in to HSB
Click on "Edit My Profile" in the sidebar
Scroll to the bottom of the page
Look for...
In the Link Title box, enter the text that you want in your sidebar (the words that everyone will get to click on.)

In the Address box...
Enter the URL of the site.
The easy way to get the exact URL is to open another window and go to the site.  Move around the web site to exact page that you want you guests to find and then highlight the Address (URL) in your browser and copy it.
To copy, you can use the CTRL C method or Edit Menu /  Copy.
(I hope all of you are using FireFox by now.)
Go back to your HSB Profile Screen and Paste in web address into the Address Box.
To paste, you can use the CTRL V method or Edit Menu / Paste.
Click on the Save Links button.

You can now follow the same sets to add another link.

(I think that all of the standard templates have the ability to display these links.)

Have you ever scrolled down your blog and had it slow down by the photos?  It is probably because you have resized the photo.

There are two ways to over come this slow down problem.

If you use a  photo storage service like PhotoBucket or FlickR, choose the size that you want displayed from their service.  This way your photo will already be the right size before you put it into your blog.

If you aren't familiar with the photo storage interface (or don't want to take the time to learn it), you can re-size your photos before you upload them.  I like Google's photo software.  You can download Google's Picasa at http://picasa.google.com/.  This software will scan your whole computer and find all of your photos.  It also lets you easily crop, resize, fix red-eye, and adjust color and brightness.  It is easy to learn and use.

So, lets all size our photos before we put them into our blogs so that everyone can scroll our blogs without that jumpy effect that frustrates us all.

View Entries

•     A list of all the entries that you have written.  If you have selected 7 entries per page then only 7 entries will display on the first list. To gain access to older entries, change the Page number just above the list of entries.

Add New Entry

•     This option gives you a window where you can type your blog entries.  Be careful if you use a word processor to write your entries because the codes from that software will be copied into the blog area and can sometimes make your whole blog go wacky.

•         Entry Time/Date          
•         Who Can Read?     
•         Entry Category     
•         Allow Comments?     Yes or No    
•         Send to Mailing List?     Yes or No    

Manage Categories

•     Add or Delete Category titles on this screen.  These are just titles of your categories that are used to organize your blog entries.
•     Please read my "How to Blog... What are Categories?" and "How to Blog... Using Categories" posts.  You can find links to these in my left sidebar.

Choose Template

•     You can choose one of the standard templates here.  Be warned that your current template and any modifications that you have made will be lost.

Edit Template

•     Change the way your blog looks by modifying the CSS or HTML code.

General Settings

•    Entries Per Page (How many entries will be on each page.)
•    Recent Entries (Entry titles shown in your sidebar.)
•    Timezone
•    Date Format     
•    Time Format     
•    Show Title Field?
•    Privacy Default for New Entries     (Choices are Everyone, Only Registered Users, Only Friends, Only Me)
•        This is a default for all new entries.  You can change individual entries viewable status when you type your entries.
•    Content Default for New Entries     (Good place to put your sig line.)
•    Mailing List Mailing List
•        If you want to notify others when you have written a new entry, enter their email addresses in this field. The addresses should be seperated by commas only.
•        Example:  myemail@domain.com,john@doe.com,jane@doe.com
•        The users will only be emailed if you have checked the Send to Mailing List? option on your Add New Entry page.
•    Banned IPs (If you want to restrict one person from viewing your blog, enter their IP address here.  This only works if they have a Static IP address.)

Comment Settings  (These are global setting that effect old and new entries.)

•    Show Comments?

        Show comments to everyone.
        Show comments to registered users.
        Show comments to my friends only.
        Hide comments from everyone.

•    Who Can Comment?

        Everyone can comment.
        Only registered users can comment.
        Only my friends can comment.
        No one can comment.

•    Comment Default for Entries

        New entries allow comments.
        New entries do not allow comments.

•    Comment Notification

        Yes, email me each time a comment is posted.
        No, do not notify me.

•    Comment IP Logging

        Yes, log the author's IP address from each comment.
        No, do not log IP addresses.

•    Comment Author Options

        Author can edit and delete their own comments.
        Author can only delete their own comments.
        Author can only edit their own comments.
        Author cannot edit or delete their own comments.

Edit My Profile

•     Upload New Avatar

      - File size must be less than 100kb.
      - You can upload JPG, GIF, and PNG images.
      - Image dimensions must not be larger than 150x300px.

•     My Profile Tell your visitors more about yourself.

      First Name     
      Last Name     
      Email Address     
      Display Name     
      Weblog Title     
      Brief Description     
      Weblog Category     
      Website Address (URL)     
      IM Screenname     
      Gender     
      Birthday     
      City     
      State/Region     
      Country     
      Interests     
      About Me    
      Interests    
      Show my real name?     
      Show my email address?     
      Show my friends list?     
      Show my user stats?     

Manage Friends (Check this screen often.  You are NOT informed via email if someone adds you to their friends list.)

•    Add A Friend
•    To add a friend to your list, enter their username in the field below.

Site Feed (RSS)  (Text version of your blog that can be read by site feeds.)

•     Site Feed (RSS)
  
•     If you want to syndicate your weblog entries using RSS, select "Yes" in the following pull-down box.
•         Publish Site Feed?     
•         Number of Entries     
•         Publish with HTML?

Send Pings  (Help search engines find you.)
    Sending pings to weblog indexing services is a great way to attract new visitors to your weblog. If your ping to a service is successful, your weblog URL will be listed on their website. You should only send pings if you have made updates to your weblog since your last ping. Also, some services may make you wait for a short period between pings. Please be patient - pinging can sometimes take up to a minute.

•         Ping Weblogs.com
•         Ping Blo.gs
•         Ping Technorati
•         Ping Ping-O-Matic

File Uploads

•     Use this page to upload and manage your graphic files.
•     You may upload files with the following extensions: jpeg, jpg, gif, bmp, png
•     Disk space:  1 MB

Support & FAQ:   Support options:

•         Templates & Variables Guide:  Learn how to use custom variables in your weblog template.
•         Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):  Most common questions are answered here.
•         Contact Support:  Email support if you have an issue with your weblog.

Logout

Several times I have heard people say, "Back-up Your Blogs".  I have looked around for instructions.  Well.... Did you find them?  I didn't.  So, I thought that I would write some for everyone.

First, there are two different ideas of a back-up.  Do you want to back-up your 'template' or your 'entries'?  Having a back-up of your template is great, but won't do much good if all of you entries get lost.  I assume that your entries have taken a lot of time and energy to create and that you probably would like to have them for the future or you would not have written them.

Want a quick and easy way to save it all?

Open your blog in a browser window.  Go to your profile and check how many entries you have.  Make a mental note of this number.

Login to your account.  Go to "General Settings' and make a mental note of how many "Entries per Page" you have now.  Change this number to the total number of entries that you have written and Save.

Click on "View Weblog"

On the 'File' menu, click on "Save Page As" or "Save As" (depending on your browser).  Click on "My Documents" icon on the left side.  Create a Folder for you back-up by clicking on the small folder at the top that looks like it has an orange flower on it.  Name the folder what ever you would like.  Double click on the folder that you have just created to open it.  Click on the "Save" button at the bottom.

Go back to the browser window with your "General Settings".  Click on "Return to Settings".  Change the "Entries per Page" back to the original number and "Save" the setting.

You now have a backup of ALL of your entries and all of the pictures that are on your blog in one place.  You can view this file even when you or not connected to the web.  Open your "My Documents" folder and double click on the folder that you created.  Your file will be there with a folder of the same name.  All of your pictures will be in the folder.

Now for the hard part.  Making a back-up of your template.  Okay, this isn't so hard but there are a few warnings that I must state.  Don't save the template into a word processor because extra codes will be introduced and auto-correct will mess things up.  Make sure that the whole template loaded before you copy it.

Click on "Edit Template".  Scroll to the bottom to make sure that everything loaded.  If you see /html, then you know that you have it all.

Click anywhere in the box with the template code so you can select it all.
Then, "Select All" (on the Edit menu) and "Copy" (on the Edit menu).
Close the template without saving.

Open a NotePad file (or other text editor)
Start Menu, All Programs, Accessories, NotePad
In this new NotePad window, "Paste" the code and "Save" the file to the folder that you created for you blog backup.  (While the Save window is open: click on My Documents on the sidebar, locate your new folder, double click on the folder to open it, click Save button)
Close the NotePad file.

After you have a complete back-up of your blog, you will only need to back-up when you change your template or you have several new entries.  You can follow the above directions without changing your "Entries per Page" if you want to save just what shows on your current Home page.  Example, if you have 7 entries per page, then make a back-up when you have 7 new entries.  Remember to change the file name when you "Save" into your folder so that you don't overwrite your full backup.

If you find this useful, please leave a comment and/or link to this entry on your own blog.  Thanks, Ronda

UPDATE:  For power bloggers....

If you blog won't completely load with your "entries per page" set to a very large number, you can set your entries per page to 50 or 100 and then backup each page of your blog.  You will need to view your "Home" page (your page 1) and save it as Page1 or something similar.  Then advance to your next page as you normally would and then save it with a name like Page2.  You will need to save each of the pages individually and give each a unique name.  You might want to create a folder for your backup files before you start.  You might also want to attach a date to your backups.  I name my files, 120706Page1  and 120706Page2.  Remember that this process creates a file and a folder that have the same names.  The folder will contain all of the graphics (except some background graphics) contained on the page.

In one of my comments, I was asked...
"When you add a link to your blog when you are posting, does the site which you are linking to know you are linking to them? Also if someone links to your blog, how do you know?"

The simple answer is you don't know unless you (or they) do some research.  An easy way to find all of the times that you are mentioned at HSB is to do an advanced google search.  Search for your username and/or your real name.  Limit the search to the "Domain" of www.HomeSchoolBlogger.com.  This search list every entry that you have made, all of the comments that you have left for people, all of your friends links, and anyone who is linking to your blog.

Another way to track how people are coming to your blog is with a site counter.  This will only alert you to incoming links if someone actually clicks on that link AND if you get to your site counter before the entry passes through your view window.

Want to add colored text to your entries?  Have you tried to click on the 'Text Color' or 'Background Color'  icons on the 'Add New Entry' page but nothing happens?

Most of us have computers that are a few years old.  When we use the 'Add New Entry' page to do our (daily, I wish) blogging, we scroll down until the white area where we are going to be typing in fills most of our monitor.  Well, here lies the problem!

Next time you add a blog entry, click on the 'Text Color' icon or the 'Background Color' icon and then scroll up until your can see where you would enter your username when you login.  (Oooh! Oooh!  I see colors).  Click the icon again and the colors will disappear. Click a couple more times just for fun.

To actually use these functions

Categories are just a way of organizing your entries.  Your entries will display as normal even if they are marked with a category.  They will still move down the page as you add new entries.  The will still be shown as normal in your archives list.

"But wait," you say, "then why would I want to use them if they don't do anything?"

Here is what they can "DO".  They can help other people find related entries on your blog pages.  They can give your reader an idea of the entry type at a glance.  They can help you to find your older entries easily.

Okay, let's say I have a recipe that I want to add to my blog but also want to put it into a category with all my other recipes. I type my blog entry and mark it with my category. When I post, the entry will appear under my main page as a normal blog entry and a link will be with it for my categories title of "Recipes". This entry will act like all of my other blog entries.  New entries will push it down the page like normal and it will still be in my archives with all of the others.

The only thing that is different about this entry is the link for my category.

When someone (including me) clicks on the link for my "Recipes" category…. Only my recipe entries will be shown.  Yummy!  My friends wont have to chew through all of my posts to see other recipes that I have blogged.  Saves time and frustration and makes your blog easier to navigate.

For an explanation of Categories, please see: How to Blog... What are categories and why would I use them?

Using categories for you blog entries is easy once you understand the steps.

• Add a new Category to your account
• Mark the entry with the Category name
  

Okay, okay... you want to know "How" to do this... here it goes...

Login to your account.
Click on "Manage Categories" in the side bar.
Click on "Add Category".
Type the category name.
Click on "Add Category".

Repeat the above steps if you want to add several categories.

Once you have added the categories to your account you will be able to apply them to your entries.

Click on "Add New Entry" or "View Entries" and "Edit" an existing entry.
Scroll down to just below the entry window and look for "Entry Category".
The default is none.
Click on the down arrow to the left of the category name.
Hover your mouse over the appropriate category name that you have entered into your account and Click.
Save your entry as normal.

View your blog page to find the entry that you have just modified and look for the category name.  It should be displayed and CLICKABLE!  (are you excited?  having fun yet?)

Click on the category name in your entry and your blog will now display the entries that are in this category.  The number of entries displayed from this category will be limited to the number of entries that are shown on your home page.  So, if you normally show 5 entries on your home page, only 5 can be shown on your category page.  Most layouts will show a next/last options that you can click on, but it WON'T take you to the next set of entries in this category.  Sorry.  It will take you to your normal Page2.  (It's a limit of the system.)

There are 2 ways around this limit.  You can make your categories specific enough to not have the older posts fall off the bottom or you can change your "Entries Per Page" setting in your "General Setting" to a larger number.  Please don't make this number too large or your pages will take forever to load and remember some people have dial-up internet.

Also, you can check the number of entries in each category under the "Manage Categories" screen.  If you find that a category is growing too large, you might want to split it into more specific topics.

If you would like to create sub-categories and have them listed on your sidebar, please contact me for design work.   Your important posts will be easily accessible in the future and you won't be limited by the "Entries Per Page" issue.

Have you ever posted an entry and then realized that it just wasn't right?  So, you delete it and then re-do the whole thing later because you don't want something that isn't just right on your site.  Right?


Even after you post an entry you can temporarily put it into "draft" mode.  It won’t display on your blog, but it will be waiting there for you to edit later... without having to re-type the whole thing!

If your entry is already posted to the web...

• Click on "View Entries" on the sidebar after you login.
• Look for the entry that you want to temporarily remove.
• After the entry name will be "view  edit  delete"
• Click on edit.
• Go to the bottom of the "Edit Entry" window and click on "Save As Draft".
• You can then logout, your entry will not display for the world to see, but it will be patiently waiting for you to edit it!

Also, if you are partly done entering a post, you can also "Save As Draft" and finish it later!  You can logout of HSB with several entries in draft mode.

To get a draft entry posted to your blog,

• First... find some time (tell me where to find it! I need more.)
• Click on "View Entries" on the sidebar after you login.
• Look down your entries for the word draft.
• Normally all of your entries will say, "view  edit  delete".  This one will say, "draft  edit  delete".
• Click on edit.
• Modify the entry to your satisfaction.
• Click on "Save Changes" at the bottom of the "Edit Entry" window.

And you’re done!

If you will save time because of this entry, can you use a little of it to leave a comment here?  Thanks!