Section 15. Creating a Post Using the Blogger Editor in Compose Mode

15. Creating a Post Using the Blogger Editor in Compose Mode

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

6 Configuring Basic Blogger Settings

SEE ALSO

18 Using the Recover Post Feature

19 Understanding the Blogger Publishing Process

25 Inserting Images into Your Posts Using Blogger

When creating a post by using the Blogger editor in Compose mode, you have access to numerous buttons that can be used to modify the text elements of your message. Additionally, the Blogger editor can assist you with inserting hyperlinks and images into your post. Using Compose mode is helpful if you want to apply formatting to posts but do not have the HTML skills necessary to do so.

To begin, log in to Blogger and click the New Post icon in the Blogs section of the Blogger Dashboard.

1.	Select the Compose Tab If the Compose tab is not already selected, you must click this tab to switch to Compose mode. You can switch between Compose mode and Manual mode at any point during the composition of your post. NOTE If you do not see the Compose tab in the Blogger editor, you have not selected Yes from the Show Compose Mode for All Your Blogs? drop-down list in the Basic settings.
2.	Enter a Title The title of your post should be relevant to your post content. You can use special characters as well as HTML in the Title text field, which is useful if you're discussing a book or movie and want to italicize the title. However, the formatting buttons that are available in the Compose mode editor are applicable to only the body of your post, not the title. Therefore, if you want to insert hyperlinks or HTML formatting into your post title, you have to do it manually. NOTE The title of your post is also used to formulate the permalink URL if you selected Yes from the Enable Post Pages? drop-down list in the Archiving settings. 15. Creating a Post Using the Blogger Editor in Compose Mode
3.	Type in the Textarea The textarea contains the text that you type, which will become the body of your post. When HTML formatting is applied to this text using the tools provided by the editor, the text will be displayed as formatted. For instance, if you type some text and then apply bold formatting to it, the textarea will display the text as bold. If you switch from Compose mode to Manual mode, the text will be plain but with the appropriate HTML surrounding it. If you modify text in Manual mode by applying HTML formatting to it and then switch to Compose mode, the text will retain its formatting.
4.	Change the Font Family If you would like to change the font family used for the text of your post, select a new family from the Font drop-down list. From that point, all typed text will be in that font family unless you decide to change it midstream. If you want to change the font family for only a specific portion of your typed text, highlight that text with your mouse and then select the new family from the Font drop-down list. Avoid changing the font family too often within the body of your post. To avoid eyestrain for your readers, use a different font for section headings or to set off a special area of your text, such as a long quote.
5.	Change the Font Size If you would like to change the font size used in the text of your post, select a size from the Size drop-down list. From that point, all typed text will be in that size unless you decide to change it halfway through. If you want to change the font size for only a specific portion of your typed text, highlight that text with your mouse and then select the new size from the Size drop-down list. Avoid changing the font size too often within the body of your post. Some examples of acceptable, modified font size include using a larger font size to indicate a subheading within your post, or using a smaller font size to indicate footnotes.
6.	Apply Bolding to Text If you would like some of your text to appear bolded, highlight the selected text with your mouse and then click the Bold icon. You can combine bolded text with additional formatting, such as italics and differently colored text.
7.	Italicize Some Text If you would like some of your text to appear italicized, highlight the selected text with your mouse and then click the Italics icon. You can combine italicized text with additional formatting, such as bold and differently colored text.
8.	Change the Text Color To change the color of some of your text, highlight the portion to be colored and click the Text Color icon. A secondary menu will appear, containing several basic colors from which you can choose. When you use your mouse to click a color, color formatting will be applied to the text you had previously highlighted.
9.	Add a Hyperlink to Your Post You can use the Hyperlink button to assist in the creation of a hyperlink. If you select some text before clicking the Hyperlink button, the selected text will be surrounded by the HTML for the link. However, if you do not select any text, the HTML for the link will be placed in the textarea and you will have to manually place the cursor between the opening and closing <a></a> tags before typing the linked text. When you click the Hyperlink button, you will see a prompt to enter a URL. The http:// will already be present in the text field of the prompt, so if you are pasting a full URL, be sure to paste over the prepopulated comment. If you paste a full URL in addition to the prepopulated content, your actual URL will be something like http://http://someurl.com/, which is invalid. When you have entered the URL, click the OK button and the editor will apply your link code.
10.	Select a Text Justification Setting If you would like to change the text justification of your text, select one of the justification options: right-justified, center-justified, left-justified, or fully justified. From that point, all typed text will be justified accordingly, unless you decide to change it midstream. If you want to change the text justification for only a specific portion of your typed text, highlight that text with your mouse and then select a new justification option.
11.	Create a Numbered List There are two methods for creating a numbered list as part of your post. Before you begin typing your list, click the Numbered List button. The first numbered list item will automatically appear with the cursor positioned after the number. Type the text for that item and then press the Enter key. A new list item will appear each time you press Enter, until you click the Numbered List button again to turn off the formatting. The second option for creating a numbered list is simply to type your list items, press Enter after each item, highlight the list with your mouse, and click the Numbered List button. The numbered list style will be applied to the selected text.
12.	Create a Bulleted List There are two methods for creating a bulleted list as part of your post. Before you begin typing your list, click the Bulleted List button. The first list item will automatically appear with the cursor positioned after the number. Type the text for that item, and then press the Enter key. A new list item will appear each time you press Enter, until you click the Bulleted List button again to turn off the formatting. The second option for creating a bulleted list is simply to type your list items, pressing Enter after each item, highlight the list with your mouse, and click the Bulleted List button. The bulleted list style will be applied to the selected text.
13.	Apply the Blockquote Style to Some Text The blockquote style is typically used to set off a long quote that you want to include as part of your post. To apply the blockquote style, click the Blockquote button before pasting the quoted text; or paste the quoted text, select it with your mouse, and then click the Blockquote button. When your post is published, blockquoted text will usually be indented on both sides to distinguish it from the main post, but the actual style definition for the <blockquote></blockquote> tag is in your style sheet.
14.	Insert an Image in Your Post Click the Image Insertion button to launch Blogger's image insertion interface. For more information on this functionality, please see 25 Inserting Images into Your Posts Using Blogger.
15.	Remove Formatting from a Selection If you have applied formatting to some text and you want to remove the formatting entirely, highlight the text and click the Remove Formatting button. The selection will revert to its base state in which all formatting has been removed. However, you do not have to remove all layers of formatting before applying new formatting to your text; any new formatting of the same type simply replaces the previous formatting. For instance, perhaps you have formatted some text as bold and red. If you want the text to be italicized and blue, simply highlight the text, click the Bold button to deselect bold formatting, click the Italics button to utilize italicized formatting, and select a blue color chip from the Text Color menu. The underlying HTML code will be changed appropriately.
16.	Use the Spellchecker After your post has been written, you can use Blogger's built-in spellchecker to catch any spelling errors you might have made. Click the Spellchecker button to launch the spellchecker application, which acts similarly to typical spellchecker, built into standard word processing programs. The Blogger spellchecker will highlight a problematic word and offer suggestions for changing it. You can select a word from the list of selections, propose your own change, ignore the suggestion, and tell the spellchecker to learn the problematic word. If you change a word via the spellchecker, it will be modified in the textarea of your post. When you have finished with the spellchecker, click the Finish button to return to your post.
17.	Preview Your Post To see an approximation of how your post will look when published, click the Preview link. Previewing your post is part of the overall publishing process, and for more information please see 19 Understanding the Blogger Publishing Process.
18.	Enable or Disable Comments for This Post If Blogger commenting is enabled for your blog, you will see this option for allowing reader comments on a post-by-post basis. Select the radio button next to Yes if you would like readers to be able to comment on your post, and the radio button next to No if you would like comments to be closed.
19.	Change the Time and Date of Your Post You can select a new time and date for your post, which is useful if you began a post and didn't finish it until hours or days later. Unless they're changed, the time and date of the post are the time and date it was started, not finished. You can set the time and date to something in the future or something in the past. If the post is future-dated, it will remain at the top of your index page until that date and time passes. If the post is dated in the past, it will be published in the appropriate order in your archives.
20.	Save or Publish Your Post When you have finished typing and formatting your posteither in its entirety or in a draft versionthe next step is to save or publish the post. If you want to save your post in draft format so that you can put the finishing touches on it at a later date, click the Save as Draft button. If you are ready to publish your post to the masses, click the Publish Post button. You will learn more about the publishing process itself in 19 Understanding the Blogger Publishing Process.