There are many options that will allow you to get more functionality out of writing or editing your blog. Today we will go over how to change your font options, add pictures, change paragraph options, copy/paste, and paste from Word.

First, go into the "Write Blog Post" page. The "Edit" page is essentially the same as the writing page, and holds the same functions. You can access the write a blog post by going to your control panel > Common Tasks > Write a Blog Post. Once here, we can type our post and use the advanced options.

Bold:
The first four buttons are used to change the special format of words. The first icon from the left is the "Bold" function. This will make letters thicker and easier to read. I use this on all my text to make it stand out better from my background and easier on the eyes. You can use the "B" button to toggle bold on and off. The button will be outlined in gray when active. You can turn the button to the ON setting and type, then switch it OFF when you no longer want bold. You can also write your text and highlight it, then switch its boldness on or off. From here on out, I will be posting in bold.

Italics:
The second icon from the left is the "Italics" function. It works exactly like the "Bold" function, only it makes the words slanted. This is useful to offset or emphasize a word or statement. 

Underline:
The third icon from the left is "Underline". It puts an underline below the selected words. It functions the same as the other two keys and is also used to emphasize a word. 

Strikethrough:
The fourth icon from the left is "Strikethrough". This key functions the same way as the previous three and is used to cross out a word. 

Outdent:
This is merely a button that removes an indent. 

Unordered List:
This creates a bulleted list. When you click this button, it enables the bullets function. Each time you press the "Enter" key, a new bullet will be made. This is useful when posting a list or outline where you want each item offset and itemized. 

Ordered List:
This is basically the same as the Unordered list, but it uses numbers instead of bullets. 

The middle set of buttons deal with images, hyperlinks, and smileys. We will save these functions for the second installment of advanced blog posting.

Cut/Copy/Paste:
These allow you to use the copy/paste functions from Microsoft Word. You should be familiar with these functions already but I will outline them just in case. Copy will create a copy of the highlighted text and save it to the memory temporarily. Cut does essentially the same thing, but removes the original text to move to a new location. Paste takes the text in the memory and pastes it into whatever place you have selected for it. There are quick shortcuts to do this from virtually any program in windows. Ctrl+X will Cut, Ctrl+C is copy, and Ctrl+V will Paste. Using these keystrokes can save lots of time. 

Paste From Word:
Personally, I write up all my blogs in Microsoft Word, and copy/paste them into my blog. I write extensively long blogs and have a lot of work to lose if my browser were to crash on me. I also like to be able to write blogs ahead of time so I can post them each day, and I like to keep records of them on my computer. I used the "Paste From Word" to write this blog in Word and Pasted it into my blog. When you have finished your post in Word, click "Select All" from the "Edit" menu. You can also click and drag to highlight your entire post. Then either right click and copy, or press Ctrl+C. Now that your post is copied to the memory, click on the "Paste From Word" button in Blogiversity. Click in the blank box and press Ctrl+V to paste into it. Then just click "Insert" and your text will appear in your blog. 

I will go over the other buttons in a later post.