On Thursday 22nd September, Chris started to create a blog on Google’s Blogger using some genealogical information – we found out that:
- Much of Chris’s material was in obsolete file formats from 20 years ago. Also her old HTML web page with frames, which still worked on a PC would not work properly on a phone or tablet. You need a “responsive” web page to cater for new devices. Blogger blogs are responsive.
- Starting off was quite simple, All you had to create was a blog name and a URL name.
- Copying and pasting information into a Blog Post, worked, though you must upload photos separately.
- There were full word-processing editing tools in the creation of Blog posts
- Each Post can be assigned labels which make them easier to search for.
- To make the Blog more attractive you can use one of the templates provided by Google. You have the chance of viewing the blog in preview mode as it would be seen on a Desktop, Tablet and phone (each is different).
- The Layout can further be modified by adding or removing “Gadgets” such as a search box, Featured Post etc.
- Security included re-directing the Blog through HTTPS, choosing who could be an administrator or author, who could see and edit the blog, whether it appears in Internet Search engines, whether people can leave comments etc.
- We didn’t get to explore the Featured Post (which is a post, usually pinned to the main page designed to attract visitors) or Pages (Which are fixed pages accessible from a drop down menu – such as “about”)
- We discussed the usefulness of a Blog for a collaborative family project and that a dedicated site such as Ancestry.com was probably better suited for serious genealogy buffs.
- A Blog is a good place through which you can share lots of unstructured material. The use of labels and the search facility make information easy to retrieve.
- You can have several collaborating authors with little chance that others can mess up the site
- Later I found out that photos and videos uploaded to Blogger count against your Google storage space of 15GB
- Here’s a link to the very preliminary blog that we started at the Club! https://westcountrybettertons.blogspot.com
In time…perhaps, I’ll add more stuff!
Chris Betterton-Jones – Knowledge Junkie