we’ll guide you through the frequently asked questions and all that confusing tech talk.

To have your own blog you’re gonna need to know a few things.

Hosting, you’ll need a place to “host” your blog.  Which is a place on the internet to store all your files, like blog software and images.  After you order hosting, you can install your blog software.

Software, to make a blog you need blogging software.  This is a program in which you type your entries and upload photos, which then “posts” that info onto your blog website.

lets say you’re using wordpress for your blog software…
– on the internet, you would login at your control panel
– then you would type your entry and upload photos
– and press the “publish” button to add the entry to your blog so that everyone can see what you’re up to

Domain Name, you can order a domain name at goddaddy.com or any other domain name seller.  This domain name will “point” to your hosting account so when people type in your domain name they will see your blog.

Images, some blog programs give you the option of uploading images right in the control panel.  It then gives you a code which you add to your post to show the image.

Choosing Blog Software .

We’ll help you choose the right one for you.

Total Beginner, if you are somewhat computer illiterate
the easiest program that has the most options is TYPEPAD

– on the internet, you would login at your control panel to create your blog
– you can easily change the colors and layout… it’s also very simple to understand how to add things to your blog, and they have a TON of help files.
Your blog would be hosted at their site

Total Beginner 2, if you don’t want to pay for TypePad the easiest program that is free is BLOGGER.

– on the internet, you would login at your control panel to create your blog
– Blogger has some new templates for your blog… if you want an all original look, it’s a little more complicated to change colors and the layout, but there’s lots of help files around the internet to get you started
– www.blogger.com to sign up for an account… you can have it hosted with them which will require you to have a “banner ad” at the top of your blog… OR you can host your blog anywhere else (like with us) and they would remove the banner ad from your blog.

Total Beginner 3, if you don’t want to pay for TypePad
and want to have your own domain name
the easiest free program that has the most options is WordPress

– order a domain name and hosting package at www.hostdime.com
– your new hosting plan comes with a “one-click” install of the WordPress software!
– once your website is up and running, on the internet, you would login at your blog control panel to create your blog
– there are TONS of templates to use with Wordpress, choose one and go
– it’s easy to create links and pages

NOT A BEGINNER, if you are up for a challenge
there’s a lot of cool options for those who like to explore computer programs… some blog software you’ll need to know or learn html skills and other ones are pretty easy to upload to your host.  see the below for links to the blog biggies, like MovableType, which seems to be number one for fiber art blogs.

http://www.plusonegraphics.com/blog/ is the URL of this website.
http://plusonegraphics.com/blog/?p=1  is the URL for this page.
You’ll see this in the address bar.

How do I get the URL for a page I like on a website?
Go to the page and look at the address bar in Internet Explorer (or other web browser program), you will see the URL for that page.

http://plusonegraphics.com/images/new/fan-faded.jpg
is the URL of the above image.

How do I get the URL of an image?
Find an image on a website or use the one above, right click on the image and choose “Properties”. You will see a field named “Address: URL” or “location”
The text following it is the complete URL for the image.
You can copy that address and paste it in your address bar at the top of your browser.

Now you can create a link with the URL, here’s how.
I want an image to be a link .

You can add links to your site in a variety of ways. Make an image a link, make text a link, and the next step is making the link open in a new window.

by the way: the code below that is <br> will make the next link appear right below the first link (in the line below it).

1. To add a simple text link:

<a href=”http://www.yourlink.com”>your link text</a><br>

2. To add an image or button as a link: .
<a href=”http://www.plusonegraphics.com”><img src=”button.gif” border=”0″></a><br>

NOTE:  in the above example the border=”0″ tag will remove any border from your image

3. To add buttons, spacing them farther apart vertically on the page, add two <br>  tags
<a href=”http://www.plusonegraphics.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”button.gif” border=”0″></a><br><br>

more to come . . . . .

How do I make a blog button?
You’ll need imaging/photo software on your computer to make the images smaller.

The typical size for a blog button is about 120 pixels wide by 70 pixels high, or smaller.

You can save it as a .jpg or a .gif

Then What?
You will have to upload the image to your blog. If you use Photo Bucket you can upload it there and view the URL for the image. If you have Wordpress or MovableType, use the normal procedure for uploading images and view the URL for the image.

You have the option of just adding the little image to your blog, or you can code it to be a link.

How the heck do I code it to be a link?

1. Copy the URL for the image (button). It will look something like this:

2 Add the link to your sidebar. Use the URL of your image and type the code to make a link.

The link code should look something like this:

3. That’s it! It’s as easy as adding an image to your blog.

Wondering what that code above means?
The first <a href> and last code </a> are Anchor tags which are used too create links. Anchor tags are used to link to another website,  to another part of your website, another part of your page or an image. The </a> is a closing tag which ends the hyperlink.
If you’ve ever seen a website where an entire paragraph is a link it was probably a case of a forgotten anchor tag.

In the code above the “img src” identifies the image to be shown and links it to the surrounding anchor tags. So in this case the image is visible with a link to your website.
If you had text replacing the button the link would be accessed by clicking on the text. Here’s how it would look – <a href=”http://www.yourblog.com/images/yourbutton.jpg”>my website</a>

What’s a thumbnail?
A thumbnail is simply a smaller version of an image or photo

How do I make a thumbnail?
You’ll need imaging/photo software on your computer to make the images smaller.  The typical size for a thumbnail is 100 pixels wide.

Can’t I just get a little program that does this for me?
yes!  there are a variety of programs to choose from.  Go to cnet.com and search for thumbnails, or, here are a couple links:
1. Express Thumbnail Creator <– very easy to use
2. Easy Thumbnails <– free