How to Add an Avatar, Part I

I made an avatar. It is sized right, but how to associate it or link to the blog. And can you just use an avatar in comments without linking to the blog? - Rosie

There are two ways to add an avatar. One way to do so is through blogger directly, and the second way is using an off site host. For this post, we will cover the blogger way.

Create a new post in blogger. Upload the picture that you will want to use for your avatar. For our example, we will use my avatar, Elastigirl.



Once you have uploaded your avatar of choice, you will need to go to the Edit Html tab in the upper right corner of the screen.

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Instead of the nice picture format, see a bit of confusing code. This is how blogger understand how you want your picture. You will only need to find a little bit of this code.

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The code you need is always between the two quotation marks. You can select the text and right click to copy, or select the text and hit Ctrl+C to copy. (Note that you do not need to hit the + key. The + is used to indicate that you hit the two keys together.) Next, you will want to save your post as a draft. Mostly, this is to refer back if you happen to lose the bit of code you need. Next go to your dashboard and click on Edit Profile. (An alternate is to open a new window in your browser by hitting Ctrl+N and opening your Blogger dashboard.)

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Next scroll down your profile until you see Photograph. If you have never done an avatar before, there should be nothing there. If a friend has helped you put up a picture, and you want to find a new one, the old picture will be there. Click on Photo Url and paste in the bit of code we copied by hitting Ctrl+V or right clicking and then clicking paste.

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Next, you will scroll to the bottom and hit the Save Profile button. You should now have a profile picture for your blog.

Technically Challenged Humor

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How Do I Change my Text Font and Color?

Say you have a quote that you want to stand out, so you want to put it into a different color. Or you want to bold it, italicize it, or make it smaller/bigger? Using the compose tab, this is actually very easy!

Let's use the following quote as an example:

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

You decide you want Emerson's name to be in a smaller font. First, select the name. Next, click the arrow in the second box from the left, next to Normal Size to select Small or Tiny. For this example, we will choose small.

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After completing these steps, your quote should look like this:

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Next, say you want to put the quote in italics, but you want to bold the name. On your toolbar, you will see an I and a B. The I is for italics, and the B is for bold. First, we select the text we want to italize. Then, we hit the I. It is that simple. For bold, we would select the name and the B. I won't post a picture, but if you try this on your own, your quote should now look like this:

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finally, you want to make the quote orange. First, you select the text you want to change the color to. Then, you will click on the little box with the T and a box of colors next to it. You will be able to find it next to the I button.

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When you are done, your quote should look like this:

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Now you know the basics for changing your text. Remember, practice makes perfect, and after a little practice, we can go into more advance options for customizing your font and colors.

Been Busy

I am really surprised that a few people have stopped by this little blog and said how much they enjoy it. I am not neglecting my duties, I just have been busy. I am not sure how much I can write on blogger anyway, but we will see how far it will go.

Do you have anything you would like to see on The Technically Challeged's Guide to Blogger? Just leave a comment with your question and I will see if I can help you. I think my next post will be on font colors.

How Do I Link to Another Website?

Posting a link is easy, once you know how to do it! First, you want to select the text you are interested in linking. You can do this by putting the cursor in front of the text you want to select and hitting the [SHIFT] +[-->] key to then end or by taking your mouse and left clicking at the front of the text, until a box has selected what you want to create a link to.

Next, you will want to choose the button that looks like a green ball with a pair of sunglasses (or sideways 8 on a green ball).


When you select this link, a box will pop up. In this box, you want to type or paste the URL (aka the web address). Click OK, and your text will get an underline.



After you publish your blog, the text will be blue and any visitor can click on that link and go to the website you linked to.

How Do I Post a Picture?

Perhaps you have been interested in loading a picture, but you aren't quite sure how to do so. After all, those pretty colors and symbols above the text box you are typing in have no meaning for you. You know you are technically challenged, and you are proud of it!

However, you don't want to seem ignorant and ask. What if the person scoffs at you and says, "Dude, it is so easy!" Well, that is why this guide is here! We will help you through your picture crisis!

The first step is to find the pretty blue square on the toolbar above the text box you type in. You can click the picture if you need a larger view. Hit the back button to return to this blog.

After you click the blue button, a box will pop up in a separate window.

From this point, you only want to concern yourself with a few things. Ignore all the rest of the things in the box, with the exception of the five things below.

We are going to assume you know where to find your pictures on your computer. If you don't, you may have to call the neighbor kid and ask him to show you. The reason for this is that each computer is different.

1. The file bar and browse button: So, maybe you know exactly where your picture is. Well, you have the option of typing it in, of course. But most people choose to click the browse button. With the browse button, your My Documents folder will typically pop up. Find the folder you keep your pictures in. In many cases, this is the My Pictures folder. Choose the picture that you want to upload. Then go to Step 2.
2. Chooose where you want your picture to be on the blog. If you are really technically challeged and want things to look pretty, I recommend center. However, you can also choose left or right for your picture, and then the text will apppear next to the photo. It is up to you.
3. Choose how you want your picture to look. In most cases, people visiting your site will be able to click on the picture to enlarge it. I recommend medium or large though, because I don't want to have to pull out my glasses to see a picture either. If you like your pictures to always be Medium and Center, you can choose to put a check in the Use this layout every time box.
4. Upload Image does just that. When you are done choosing your options, click Upload Image. A box will appear telling you that it is uploading the image from your computer. Sit back and take a sip of coffee. When Blogger is done, you will see a box with a blue DONE button. Click this button and your image will appear in blogger.
5. The Cancel button is for anytime until the upload process. Maybe you realized Aunt Ida might not appreciate having a picture of Uncle Earl wearing lipstick posted all over the web. Hit Cancel and no one will be the wiser that you tried to upload that incriminating picture of Uncle Earl.