How To start your own website or blog for free on Blogger.com

Here's a tutorial on how to create your own website or blog on Blogger.com.
Free, of course.
A common question is what's the difference between a website and a blog ? Well a website tends to be more static and interactive - think online banking.

A blog or weblog tends to be more like a diary of events or new posts, rather like this one, where the posts are dated and time ordered. There's usually a history of posts and a few other boxes on one side.

Start at Blogger.com

It also helps to crank up a fresh "Gmail" to use specifically for this website or blog.
For example, I started up a fresh one called genuinefreelinks@gmail.com. It helps to keep things organised.


Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows you to create private blogs with time and date stamped entries.
It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003.

Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at sub-domain of blogspot.com.
For example, this blog is hosted at "http://genuinefreestuff.blogspot.com/"

You can also buy your domain name for a small fee, and still use Blogger to publish your blog.
Then I might use, say, "http://genuinefreestuff@simonblogs.com".

So, pick a name...

No spaces in the website address !
Click that orange button to continue...

Pick a template...

That's all it takes. Now all you need is something to say.

Here's where it goes next.
There's a NEW and an OLD editor. I still prefer the old for various reasons. You can switch between the two as often as you want.

So, you write a heading, insert some text, upload some pics from your computer.
Set a date to be published if not today's date. I tend to write a few at once and have them drop in at 2 a.m.

Click on that DESIGN button to bring up this page.
Here you can create all the items you see on the right of my blog - Google Search Boxes, Introduction, Adverts (Google will pay you money !), PayPal button, Various Indexes and so on.

If you click that ADD A GADGET you see this...
Simply pick from a choice of many standard boxes.

You can also copy chunks of HTML into a text box to create other gadgets or widgets.
It's quite common to go looking for exotic widgets for your blog. You tend to subscribe to a site like PayPal, enter your details, choose what you want and then receive a chunk of HTML to paste into a box to create, say, a PayPal button like mine. You don't need to know anything about HTML to do it - you just copy and paste.

You can open an "Adsense" account with Google and put Google adds in to earn a little pocket money. Don't expect big bucks though.

That's it in a nutshell. You should be able to work out anything else from the standard boxes and help guides.

*** Incidentally, this is a great way to BACK UP your photos and your diary. If you are on holidays, you can email in a few pictures and a few lines of text to make a blog entry. Do it when you sit down in a free WiFi area. Make sure you set up a new blog before you go, and enable email posting.

Read this post in Blogger Help about email posting - it's easy to do.
https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/41452?hl=en

Looking for something new to say...
Cheers. Si.
Checked April 2014 for link and relevance. 

Batch Photo Picture Resizer. How To re-size multiple images in one drag and drop.

Here's my latest find. A batch photo or picture resizer.
I use this to resize many photos in one hit.Here's the link - Batch Picture Resize
http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize

RTFM ! Read the manual. Download the file and save to desktop or anywhere handy.
I have multiple copies in all my picture folders. It's a very handy tool.

It will look like this "PhotoResize400.exe".



I copy and paste this into the folder of photos I am resizing, and 'rename' it depending on the job I am doing.

Right click and rename the file as shown - test it first.
I have renamed this one as PhotoResize40PQ75IO   - you can copy and past this to rename it.

This means - reduce to Percent 40% of original, at Quality 75%, I=overwrite original file, O=don't wait for the Enter button prompt (makes it a tad quicker).

** Warning  - experiment first with one picture. Try these

PhotoResize80PQ75IO  - shrink to 80 percent of original. Keep the .exe on the end.
PhotoResize60PQ75IO  - shrink to 60 percent of original

Rename as appropriate.

My usual file is renamed as PhotoResizeP75Q75IO.exe - you can copy and past this to rename it.

This means - reduce to Percent 75% of original, at Quality 75%, I=overwrite original file, O=don't wait for the Enter button prompt (makes it a tad quicker).


I then select all the images I want to resize by holding down CTRL and right clicking on all the images I want, then drag onto program file. So easy.

This brings my huge 1Mb pics down to about 110kb. A size suitable for posting in blogs.

** Warning  - experiment first with one picture. Try these

PhotoResize80PQ75IO  - shrink to 80 percent of original. Keep the .exe on the end.
PhotoResize60PQ75IO  - shrink to 60 percent of original

This is an example of  PhotoResize40PQ75IO - My original photo is 481 KB in size...

Drag and drop - very easy.

End result is a picture at only 33 KB in size. This is a bit too small, and looks grainy if I zoom right in.

I have multiple copies of this file scattered through all my picture folders. So don't be afraid to copy and paste it all over the place.

Big thanks to the person who wrote this one.
There is a PayPal button on their site. Donate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Resizing method

* PhotoResize400.exe - maximum side 400 pixels.
* PhotoResize_400.exe - minimum side 400 pixels.
* PhotoResizeF400x300.exe - frame size of 400x300 pixels. The resulting image width will be smaller or equal to 400 and its height will be smaller or equal to 300 pixels.
* PhotoResizeW400.exe - width set to 400 pixels. Height automatically computed to keep aspect ratio.
* PhotoResizeH400.exe - height set to 400 pixels. Width automatically computed to keep aspect ratio.
* PhotoResizeP50.exe - resize to 50%.
* PhotoResize400x300.exe - resize to exactly 400x300 pixels. Aspect ratio is not preserved.
* PhotoResizeD100.exe - resize to 100DPI. Physical size stays the same.
* PhotoResizeD100T.exe - overwrite the resolution information in the header without touching the pixels.
* PhotoResizeK20.exe - resize to approximate maximum size of 20kB.
* PhotoResizeG1024x768.exe - use content-aware resizing to change aspect ratio while preserving content.
* PhotoResizeA400x300.exe - crop and resize to 400x300 pixels. The central part is preserved and resized while the borders are cropped.
* PhotoResizeA400x300x5.exe - extend canvas and resize to 400x300 pixels. The last number (0-9) controls canvas brightness.

Additional options

* PhotoResize400R.exe - process recursivelly all sub-folders.
* PhotoResize400C.exe - place files to current folder (current folder can be specified in shortcut properties).
* PhotoResize400S.exe - skip files already smaller than the requested size.
* PhotoResize400O.exe - do not wait for Enter.
* PhotoResize400U.exe - skip files already existing in the destination location.
* PhotoResize400N.exe - sharpen image.
* PhotoResize400I.exe - overwrite source files.
* PhotoResize400M.exe - copy metadata.
* PhotoResize400E.exe - preserve file modification time in addition to file creation time.
* PhotoResize400Q50.exe - set compression quality to 50%.

Try it on for size. Cheers. Si.
Checked for links and relevance, April 2014.

List of all Search Engines. Google, Yahoo, Bing and many more.

Here's an interesting list for you to look at. All the Search Engines.
There's more than just one you know.
Yahoo has been around for a while.
We all know Google Search by now.
Bing is capturing the market with its pretty pictures and relevance searches.

There's many more than that. Have a read and try a few.
Wikipedia - List of Search Engines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines

StackOverflow is interesting. Go find that one.
http://stackoverflow.com/

Happy hunting. Cheers. Si.
Checked for links and relevance, April 2014.

List of Google products

Here's something to read about. Google products - well, all the free ones anyway.

Here's the link - Wikipedia List of Google Products.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products

This is well worth a look and is a very interesting read.
There might be a few freebies in there you didn't know about.


... and the list goes on and on...

Happy hunting. Cheers. Si.
Checked for links and relevance, April 2014. - Still fascinating.

Picasa free photo editing software and free online photo storage

Here's a tool I use from time to time. Picasa photo editor and online photo storage.

Here's the link to Picasa free download from Google
http://picasa.google.com/

You can download that free program to view and edit your photos.

You can also store them online at Picasa web Albums - which now redirects to Google Photos
http://picasa.google.com/
https://plus.google.com/photos/

This is yet another good way to Back Up Your Computer Now.
If the house burns down or some nasty sod steals your computer, you have your precious pics backed up online.

Running on my mainframe...



Cheers. Si.
Checked for links and relevance, April 2014.