Turning a Blog Into a Webpage: Getting Started

Turning a Blog Into a Webpage

This first part is just getting the blog set up and changing fonts and comments.  This could be useful for any of you starting a new blog, or giving your own a facelift.  I'm going to take you through the steps I used to create my "fake website" which I'll share with you at the end so you can see how it works.

Create a new blog
Blogger gives you the ability to have multiple blogs at one time.  So if you're already blogging, all you need to do is create a new one.

Click on "Create a Blog" on your Blogger Dashboard home page.

Follow the steps, and choose a new name for your blog.  Make sure it is one you're happy with, because if you decide to change it towards the very end of this process, it will mess up some of your html codes.  So pick one you're happy with!

The next step is to choose a template.  The window will look a little different from this picture, because I chose the wrong template in the beginning.

If you want your links to show up on the left side, like most websites do, then choose the "Minima Lefty."  Make up your mind now, because as you get farther along, you don't want to switch and redo all the HTML codes.  As you'll see in the coming pictures I accidentally chose a template that had the links on the right side, and I had to redo the website halfway through.

Click on the link and you'll be ready to begin.

Here's what the website will look like to start.

(Last time I promise, but remember that all of your links and extras will be on the left side of the page.)

Changing your fonts and text

Go to the Layout tab at the top of the page, and click on "Fonts and Colors."

They don't give you a lot of color options in that small grid, so instead, you can enter a color hex code into the box.  The website has a chart of different colors with their code next to it.

Play around until you find the right color combination for you.  I would recommend keeping your font a dark color so it is easy for everyone to read.  Also, don't go with a neon color for your background, it can be obnoxious to look at.

Adding a title banner to the top of the page

You can leave the header the way it is, with simple text, or you can create a banner of your own.  Just create a picture in your program of choice.  I found that the best size to make it is, 2.17"x1.00"  This will allow it to fit perfectly in the border at the top, and not to stretch outside of it.

Click on the Layout tab, and go to "Page Elements."  Click edit in the header section and a new window will open up.  Click browse and find your image from your computer.  Then under Placement, choose "instead of title and description."  This will place your new image in the header, instead of the Blog title.  Then click save.

The image I used was smaller than 2.17"x1.00"  If you used those dimensions, the image would fit right inside those blue lines.

These are probably things that most of you already know.  The next post will start to get into the details that will take what currently looks like a blog, and begin to transform it into a website.