How To: Upload a video to your blog

There are going to be 2 different types of video you will want to upload to your blog: a video you made yourself or a video you found online made by someone else.

To upload a video you made to your blog, the first thing you need to do is turn your iMovie project into a movie file. To do this, while in iMovie go to File > Export. A box will appear in iMovie. The Quicktime tab should be selected, but if it isn’t, click it. Next, choose the compression you want to use for your movie. Because you’re going to be uploading to a website, choose ‘Web’ from the dropdown menu. Then click ‘Share’. Next, type in the box what you want your video to be called and where you want it to be saved. I would recommend the Movies folder. Now click ‘Save’. This will save a .mov version of your film. Remember all videos are saved to the computer you are using, not your school account. This is the same with iMovie projects, so try and remember what computer you’re using so you know where all your files are being saved.

Now you have a movie file, go to www.youtube.com, where your video is going to be hosted. This means, where your video will be kept online. Log into your YouTube account (see the YouTube How To if you’ve forgotten how) and click on Upload. When the page loads, click on the yellow box that says ‘Upload video’. Find your video then click Choose. Once your video has uploaded you can add a description and tags if you want to. If you don’t want to, just click ‘Skip for now’. This will take you to your videos page.

To use a video that you have found online made by someone else, go to the website you found the video on. If you found the video on Blogger, you should see the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner of the video. If you click on this logo it will take you to the page it is hosted on, on YouTube.

This next step is the same whether the video is your own or someone else’s. On the video’s YouTube page, click on the <Embed> button under the video. It’s in the bottom row of buttons on the right, next to the ‘flag’ button. When you click this, a box will appear with a HTML code highlighted in it. Copy the text in the box. If your mouse doesn’t have right click enabled, hold down the ‘ctrl’ button as you click. Or you could use the shortcut, which is ‘cmd’ and ‘C’. Now go to your Blogger dashboard.

On your Dashboard, click on NEW POST. When the New Post box appears, click on the ‘Edit HTML’ tab. Paste the HTML code into this box. Now click back on the ‘Compose’ tab. You won’t be able to see your video on this page, but you will be able to see an outline of where your video will be. Now you can add a title to your post and any text you also want to have in your post. Move the cursor either side of the video, depending on where you want your text, and continue posting as normal.

You now have a video embedded in your blog that can be viewed either on your blog, or on YouTube.

How To: Add photos to a post

To add photos to your post, when in the New Post tab click on the ‘Insert Image’ button on the tool bar. It looks like a little photo, between Link and the little clapperboard. A blue box will appear giving you the choice where to get your images from. Make sure Upload is highlighted. Now click ‘Choose File’, now find the photo you want to add and click ‘Choose’. Then in the blue box click the ‘Add selected’ button at the bottom. This will add photo to your blog. You can add text around the photo just like you can with a video.

How To: Add pages

Pages are different tabs on your blog. They are known as ‘static pages,’ which means you can only have one post per page. It would be a good idea to use pages to create a Welcome or About Us section for your blog. You could use this page to introduce your group and the people in it.

To add pages to your blog click Edit Posts on the Dashboard. Then click the Edit Pages tab; it’s next to the Edit Posts tab that’s already highlighted. Now click the blue button that says NEW PAGE.  Name your page whatever you want to call it, for example ‘About Us’, and write a post as you normally would.  You can edit your pages after you have published them, just like the posts on your blog. You can also have a separate layout for each page if you want.

You can also add a gadget to help you navigate between pages on your blog, similar to the labels gadget. To do this, go to the Design tab and go to Add and Arrange Page Elements. Click Add a Gadget where you would like to add your pages gadget. I would suggest adding this gadget either near your archive and labels gadget or at the top of your blog under your heading. Remember you can rearrange your gadgets on the layout tab so if you change your mind about where you want this gadget, you can move it later. When the gadget page opens click on the blue plus next to the Pages gadget. Here you can change the settings for your pages; such as the order your pages appear on your blog and what you call your main page where your posts are. This page, by default, is called ‘Home’ but you can change this if you want to something like ‘Posts’ or ‘Work Log’ etc. When you’re finished editing the settings, click the orange SAVE button. Also click the SAVE button on the Add and Arrange Elements page too so you save any changes you made to your layout.

How To: Use labels

Labels are a useful way of organizing your posts. When you’re adding a post, at the bottom of the text box you’ll see a box that says ‘Labels:’ and also has Show All next to it. Click in this box to add your label, a label can be anything you want and you can have as many different ones as you want (the limit is about 5000, but are you really going to use that many?!) You can add more than one label to each post. I would recommend each member of your group have their own label; then each member can “label” the posts they did within your blog. This will help you keep track of who wrote what. You can also create labels for the different sections of your work, for example planning or research. Then even if you have multiple posts for each section, you will be able to group them all together under labels. This will also make it easier for moderators marking your work.

When you have added labels to your posts, you need to have them viewable on your blog so you can navigate using them. This will enable you to group all posts with the same label together. To do this, go to the design tab on your dashboard. You should see the ‘Add and Arrange Page Elements’ page. On one of the empty boxes, click Add a Gadget. I suggest using one of the boxes near your Blog Archive. When you click Add a Gadget, a window will pop up with all the gadgets you can choose from. Scroll down, to near the bottom of the list and you should see the Labels gadget. Click on the blue + button. You will be given options on how you want this gadget to look, choose these for yourself. Then click the orange SAVE button. This will add the Labels gadget to your blog. Now click on the orange SAVE button on the ‘Add and Arrange Elements Page’.

How To: Edit a post

Here's how to edit a post, whether you have already published it or not. On your Blogger dashboard click Edit Posts, next to the blue NEW POST button. This will take you to a list of all your posts. Find the post you want to edit and click 'Edit' next to it. This will take you to the same text box you saw when you created the post. Now you can edit the post and either save it or publish it, just like you would when creating one.

How To: Add a post to your blog

To add a post to a blog, go to your blog’s dashboard on Blogger. Click on the blue button that says NEW POST. Enter a title for your post in the title box. Make you’re on the Compose tab, not the Edit HTML tab, then click in the text box and start typing your post. When typing your post, treat it like a word document: if you’ve got a lot to write, make sure you save it regularly by clicking the blue SAVE NOW button. Blogger should save your blog automatically at intervals anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to do it yourself, you never know when the internet could drop out! You don’t have to finish your post in one go; if you need to come back to it later, make sure you save your post and go back to the Dashboard. You can also preview your post before you publish it by clicking the blue PREVIEW button. This shows you what your post will look like on your blog. When you have finished typing up your post and are happy with how it looks, click the orange PUBLISH POST button. This will publish your post and make it public on your blog. Remember you can always go back and edit posts after you’ve published them, so don’t worry if you notice a mistake.

How To: Set up a YouTube channel

You will need a YouTube account to upload your videos to so they can be viewed on your blog. To do this, make sure you are logged out of both Blogger and Gmail, then go to www.youtube.com and click on the yellow button at the top of the page that says Create Account>

You need to enter a Username, doing the same as you did for both Gmail and Blogger, use your group name for your YouTube account. Also the same as before check the availability and if someone else is already using your user name, ask your teacher for a new username. You need to enter all the fields, so for ‘Postal Code’ use Trinity’s postcode: IG8 0PT. Enter a date of birth and choose a gender. It doesn’t matter what you choose for this, so use your own or make one up, you can hide this information on your YouTube channel. However I would suggest using the correct year, even if you make up the month and date of the ‘Date of Birth’. Leave the box ticked for “Let others find my channel on YouTube if they have my email address” and you can decide if you “would like to receive occasional product-related email communications that YouTube believe would be of interest to” you, though I don’t think you’ll want to tick this box. Now click the I accept button at the bottom.

Now you need to add YouTube to your Google account. Because you already have a Google account from signing up to Gmail, enter your Email and Password into the boxes on the left. Ignore the form on the right.

You can now customize your channel and set your preferences. To do this click your username in the top right corner, with the downward pointing arrow next to it, and click ‘Account’. Here you can edit your account, including what information is shown on your channel and what emails you get from YouTube. Add as little or as much info as you want (though I would recommend leaning towards little!) and it’s up to you what notifications you get from them. When you’ve finished changing your Account Settings, click the Save Changes button.

To change how your channel looks, click your username again, this time click ‘My Channel’. Here you can adjust your channel ‘Settings’, ‘Themes and Colors’, ‘Modules’ and ‘Videos and Playlists’. Once you’re happy with your changes, click the Save Changes button.

How To: Create a blog

To set up your blog, first go to www.blogger.com Once the page has loaded, do not click the orange button that says CREATE A BLOG, this process will ask you to set up a Google account, which you already have. Instead, enter your Gmail login details in the top right corner, next to the page title where it says ‘Sign in to use Blogger with your Google Account’. Then click SIGN IN. This will take you to a page where you will need to enter a display name and accept Blogger’s terms and conditions.

For your display name use your group name, the same one you used for you Gmail address. Then click Create a Blog. You need to name your blog; use your group name again, and if you want include the names of the people in your group, in your ‘Blog title’, for example “Trinmedia400: Tom, Dick and Harry”. For your ‘Blog address (URL)’ again, use your group name, for example “http://trinmedia400.blogspot.com”. Check the availability of your blog name, it should be free but do it just in case. If for some reason your group name isn’t available to use for your URL, let your teacher know and you will be given a new URL to use. Then enter the ‘Word Verification’ and click on the orange arrow that says CONTINUE.

Now you can choose the template for your blog, customise the layout and edit your personal profile. This will change the way your blogs looks to anyone who views it. You can include any information you want (I wouldn’t give too much away though!) and your blog can look however you want it to. Though do remember that this blog is so you can keep a record of the work you do so teachers and exam moderators will be viewing it. You can now start posting on your blog.

How To: Set up Gmail

You will need a Gmail account for your group in order to use Blogger and YouTube. Remember, it’s one account per group.

To set up your groups Gmail account, go to www.google.co.uk and on the tabs bar in the top left corner of the page, where it says Web, Images, etc click on Gmail. If you can’t see this tabs bar, move your cursor towards the top left of the page, sometimes the bar is hidden and moving your cursor over it will show it. When you get to the Gmail page, you will see a button on the bottom right that says Create an account >>, click this button and it will take you to the ‘Create an account’ page.

You will be given a group name, for example Trinmedia400, which you will use to create your account. When entering the details of your group, don’t use your own details; use the ones we give you. For First name: enter Trinity and for Last name: enter Media and your group number, for example Media400. Your Desired Login Name: will be your group name, for example trinmedia400@gmail.com. Check the availability of your login name, and if your group name is not available let your teacher know and you will be issued with a new group name. Your group can choose any password you like, as long as it fits Google’s criteria and is something everyone in your group will remember. Please make sure you write down your login name and your password. You will also have to hand your login details to your teacher and me, so be ready to give them the information when we ask. You can also choose your own security question, but again, make sure the answer is one you all remember. It’s probably a good idea to write this down too, although we wont be asking you for this information. You do not need to add a Recovery email, unless you want to, but you can leave it blank. However you do need to type in the Word Verification. Once you have done all this, click the button that says ‘I accept. Create my account.’

Once you click this you will be taken to a page that gives you a brief overview of a Gmail account. Then click ‘Show me my account’; this will take you to your Gmail inbox. Here you can customize your account any way you like, though I’d suggest waiting till after the lesson, as you’ve got a lot to get through first like creating your blog!