Thinking of starting a blog - Microsoft Live Writer, a simple workshop

With the increasing popularity of blogging in schools, Microsoft Live Writer is a tool that makes the whole process very simple and intuitive.  Microsoft Live Writer is part of the Windows Live Essentials free downloads and is just one of a family of very useful tools. It can be used to post to multiple blog accounts, draft posts may be saved locally or on your blog and posts can be scheduled to publish at a time of your choosing.

How to set up Microsoft Live Writer and add another blog

Select the Windows Live Essentials elements you wish to download.  When you initially set this up, Live Writer will prompt you to add information about the name of your blog, its url address, your username and password.  It’s a similar process to add a blog once you have set up livewriter.

	To add a blog once Microsoft Live Writer is set up, select the drop down menu (top left hand side of screen just below the save symbol and just above the paste button). Select Options – you’ll see there are lots of ways of customising Live Writer once it is set up.
Now click on Accounts, then add. Prompt boxes will now appear to take you through the process of setting up. Select the type of blog you are using.
	Add in the information about your blog – url address, user name and password. Tick the box for remembering password.
Once you click on “next”, your blog account will be set up automatically in Microsoft Live Writer.
	You can set up a test post so that when you are using Live Writer, your draft will appear the same as when it is published. This post is automatically deleted and just allows livewriter to see your blog theme.
Once your blog is set up, its name will appear – you can choose to change how this nickname appears in Live Writer if you wish.

To Use Microsoft Live Writer

Once you are set up, using Livewriter to blog is a simple process – I’ll take you through the basics to get you started but you will soon find other options in the toolbar that will help make your post look polished and professional.

	There is a space for the heading – just type in the heading you wish to appear for your blog entry.
The main body of the text can be added easily, pictures may be copied and pasted directly into the post from other applications; video clips may be inserted from your computer or from an online video – just make sure you don’t break any copyright regulations!
	Screen shots may also be pasted directly into the blog post and then cropped/edited as required. Again, take care with copyright!
When you click on the image, you have access to the full range of format tools – which includes the frame effect around your picture, cropping tools, rotation, positioning/wrapping.
	There’s lots of other additions you can make to your blog post – the INSERT tab allows maps, tags and smileys to be easily added.  Tables can be used to organise layout and there’s even a translator tool: "So kann ich Ihnen in jeder Sprache sprechen!"

The other benefit of Microsoft Live Writer is that blogposts can be prepared offline, ready to be posted once you have internet access.

Finally, all that remains is to:

Happy easy blogging!