Viewing Your Blog

You can view your blog by entering the URL that was previously assigned, or by going to the Dashboard (www.blogger.com), clicking the blog name, and then clicking the View Blog tab. As you can see in Figure 23.6, a typical blog includes a Blogger search bar at the top of the page, with the title of the blog just below that. Blog posts take up the balance of the page, with assorted personal information in a narrow column to the right or left of the postings.

Figure 23.6. The author's blogThe Curmudgeon Speaks.

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Each blog post is accompanied by a date and time stamp (sometimes above the post, sometimes below), as well as links to any reader comments or other blogs that have linked to this post. Click the Comments link to read any comments; click the Links to This Post link to see the links.

While the format of the blog posts themselves is fairly standard, the elements in the narrow column are highly customizable. Most blogs include an About Me section (which may or may not include a photo), a listing of recent posts, a listing of archived posts (typically organized by month), and any other information you choose to include here. For example, I've customized my blog to include books I'm reading, DVDs I'm watching, and CDs I'm listening to. You can customize your blog in a similaror differentfashion, as you like.