Blogger Review

Blogger was cool from day one. The layout was simple and inviting and the ease of use was second to none. There was no question what the user was expected to do upon visiting the Blogger.com website. The blogger product is still very easy to use and is still somewhat cool even though Google bought it and changed some things.

Blogger has a 3 step process for starting a blog. First you have choose a username and password (if you have a Gmail or Adwords account - use that) otherwise you will have to create an account. Next, you  have to choose a name for your blog. It can sometimes be tricky to find a name that isn't already taken (ie: yourname123.blogspot.com). I had to try 3-4 times before I picked a name that was not yet used by another blogger user. After you name your blog you have to choose a template. There are quite a few to choose from and after you find one that you like it's as simple as clicking the next button.

Now you're ready to make your first post. The first thing I tried was uploading a simple jpeg image and I got an error, even though the file was only 24kb. I tried it again and it worked just fine. I like how you can choose how the text will align with your uploaded image. Makes it easy to wrap text around smaller images in your posts. The text editor was easy enough to use, I bolded some text and added a hyperlink without any confusion or problems. Then I published my post.

If you get distracted while writing a new post, blogger will automatically save it as a draft. This is nice because you won't lose any work if your computer crashes or your power goes out while posting. Another cool feature with the Blogger system is the ability to add a video clip to your post with ease. Of course, the Google owned YouTube gets preferential treatment, but you can add other types of video as well.

One fun feature with the Blogger system is the random blog link at the top of your blog. Click "Next Blog" at the top of page and your off to visit an interesting blog. Within minutes I was learning about NASCAR racing and poodles with just a few clicks. A good way to kill a couple hours or even a whole afternoon.

Blogger is a veteran in the blogging world and is worth a look if you just want a dead-simple free blog. See what I mean. If you want a little more control to tweak things and add cool plugins, I would recommend checking out Wordpress instead.

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