What is Blogger?
Blogger is a free, web-based tool that helps you publish to the web instantly -- whenever
the urge strikes. Blogger is the leading tool in the rapidly growing area of web
publishing known as weblogs, or "blogs," as we like to say.
What is a weblog/blog?
A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged
chronologically -- like a what's new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs
varies greatly -- from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a
company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even
fiction.
Blogs posts are like instant messages to the web.
Many blogs are personal, "what's on my mind" type musings. Others are collaborative efforts based on a specific topic or area of mutual interest. Some blogs are for play. Some are for work. Some are both.
Blogs are also excellent team/department/company/family communication tools. They help small groups communicate in a way that is simpler and easier to follow than email or discussion forums. Use a private blog on an intranet to allow team members to post related links, files, quotes, or commentary. Set up a family blog where relatives can share personal news. A blog can help keep everyone in the loop, promote cohesiveness and group culture, and provide an informal "voice" of a project or department to outsiders.
To see some examples of different types of blogs, see Blogger.com's Blog of the Week archive.
What does Blogger.com do?
Blogger gives you a way to automate (and greatly accelerate) the blog publishing process
without writing any code or worrying about installing any sort of server software or
scripts. And yet, it still gives you total control over the look and location of
your blog.
More specifically, instead of hand-coding your blog posts and frequently uploading the newest version of your page, you make posts to your blog by submitting a simple form on the Blogger web site, and the results immediately show up on your site, with your design.
How does Blogger work?
Magic! Actually, you provide Blogger a template of your page (or use one of the
pre-designed ones) that indicates where you want your posts to appear. When you make a new
post, you'll get a "Post & Publish" button that will automatically FTP your
new page to your web server. No muss. No fuss. Total control.
If you don't already have a web site/server, you can get one (for free) when creating your blog.