Setting the General Options of Your Blog

Let’s start the personalization by setting the general options of your blog. The following steps show you how you can change the blog title, tagline, language, email address, timezone and date format of your blog.

Personalize Your Blog

1. Click Settings menu. You can find the setting menu in the navigation menu of the left of your screen. It is located under the tools menu.
2. Click the General link on the Settings Menu
   

   General link on Settings Menu

3. The General Settings page is loaded.
4. In the Blog Title text box, please enter the name of your blog.
5. In the Tagline text box, enter a slogan that describes your blog. The tagline should be a short phrase that describes the objective of your blog.
6. You can choose the language in which you want to publish your blog from the drop-down Language menu. You can also change the Language of the admin panel by clicking Modify the Interface Language link, located below the drop-down menu. You can have your blog published in English but have the Administrator panel displayed in another language.
7. Type your email address in the E-mail Address box. The email you put in this box will be used for administrative purposes. WordPress will send all emails to this address. You can enter the email you used to sign up with wordperss.com.

Setting the Date and Time

WordPress.com allows you to set your local time so that your blog posts are published with a time stamp in your own time zone. The steps below show you how you can establish your settings in this area.

1. Timezone: This setting ensures that all your blog posts and comments left on your blog are time-stamped with the time you have set by choosing a UTC time from the drop-down menu. For more information about UTC, please read Coordinated Universal Time. If you are unsure what your UTC time is, you can find it at the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Web site. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) can be considered equivalent to UTC.
2. Date format: The default date format is F j, Y (F = the full month name; j = the two digit day; Y = four digit year), which will give you the output of August 24, 2009. You can change the date format by clicking the circle to the left of an option. You can also customize the date display by entering your preferred format in Custom option text box. The time and date format that you can use could be found at PHP Web Site (http://us3.php.net/date)
3. Week Start On: This sets the day of the week you want your calendar to start with.
4. Click save.

Updating Your Profile

Your profile allows you to tell the world a little bit more about yourself. To get started, follow these steps:

1. Click the Users menu
2. Click Your Profile link on the Users menu
   

   Users Menu

3. There are four preferences in the Personal options of your profile page:
   

   Personal Options

   • Visual Editor: This enable the Visual Editor of the Add New Post page (Posts > Add New Page)
   • Admin Color Scheme: This option changes the colors in your wordpress.com Administration panel.
   • Keyboard Shortcuts: Keyboard shortcuts are designed to save your time navigating through the different areas of the dashboard and administration panel. Click the more information link (http://codex.wordpress.org/Keyboard_Shortcuts) to read more about what shortcuts are available.
   • Browser Connection: You can select whether to use HTTPS connection when visiting your WordPress.com administration panel. HTTPS refers to the SSL-encrypted connection which protects you from potential hackers.
   • Interface Language: As mentioned before, this sets the language for the Administration panel only.
   • Primary Blog: WordPress.com allows you to have more than one blog under one account. If you have more than one blog, you can choose the blog you want to be your primary blog from the drop-down menu.
4. Name is the next section of your profile page. You can input your personal information such as your first name, last name and your nickname, and choose how you would like your name to be displayed publicly.
   

   Name Section

5. In the Contact Info section, you provide your email and other contact information. Email is the mandatory field. This is needed for wordpress.com to send you notification about new comments or new user registration. If you would like to change it, you need to do so on the General Settings page.
   

   Contact Info Section

   Aside from email, you can input website and various Internet chat programs such as AIM, Yahoo!IM, and Jabber/Googl Talk.

6. About Yourself Section
   • Biographical info: Type your biography in the text box provided.
   • New password: This allows you to change your password for your blog. When you create a new password, try to use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols to make it harder for anyone to guess what it is. For example, my@dmin123!. Change your password regular is a good practice that protects your blog from malicious attacks.
7. Click save button.

Uploading a Picture of Yourself

In the Gravatar section of Your Profile page, you can upload a picture of yourself or an image that represents you. The steps below show you how to insert a picture or avatar into your profile.

1. Choose the image you would like to use as your avatar and save it to your computer
2. Click Change My Gravatar link in the My Gravatar section.
   

   My Gravatar

3. In the Gravatar.com window, click Upload a new image from your computer.
   

   Upload Your Gravatar

4. In the Select File from Your Computer window, click Browse button and select an image from your computer.
   

   Select File from Your Computer Window

5. Click Next button
6. Use the crop tool to highlight the area of picture that you want to remain after cropping.
   

   Crop Tool Window

7. Click Crop and Finish! button
8. Choose rating.
   

   Rating Window

9. Click the X in the upper right corner of the window to return to the Profile page in your wordpress.com administration panel.
   

   Gravatar Uploading Final Window

You can change your picture anytime you want by revisiting the Profile page and following the steps mentioned above.

Related posts:

1. Getting Your First Blog: Creating a WordPress.com Account
2. WordPress Blog Post-Install Checklist
3. How to Display Facebook Statuses on WordPress Blog