Using WordPress Blogs

Using WordPress Blogs Creating an account • Go to: http://wordpress.com and create a new account • Choose your “Blog domain” (URL) carefully as you can’t change this. (The blog name can be changed later) • You will need to check your e-mail to verify the account and then update your Profile to make sure your name appears as you’d like it to. • All aspects of your blog are managed from the ‘Dashboard’ accessed from: http://yourblogdomain.wordpress.com/admin Adding Posts • Select Post and from the drop down choose ‘Add new’ • Give your blog post a title and then type your post directly into the blog where possible. o Take care copying from Word. Use the ‘Paste from Word’ button. • Always classify your posts appropriately using categories &/or tags Categories & Tags • Categories (recommended) & Tags (optional) are used to classify your posts to make it easy for your readers to navigate the blog. Each post can be classified with multiple categories & tags o Categories are best used as broad topics that form an overall index. o Tags should be more specific (& potentially more numerous) Saving & Publishing Posts • Use ‘Save’ to save a draft for publishing later (or regularly if you are writing a long post). • Use ‘Preview’ to check the post before publishing & then ‘Publish’. • You may view, edit and delete your own posts via the ‘Manage’ tab. Posts vs Pages • Posts are your regular blog entries. Each one is are added at the top of your homepage. • Pages are for longer or more permanent content e.g. an ‘About’ page Adding Links, & Images Your posts can include images and links to other websites and files. Links • To make a link to a web site, select some text in your post and use the ‘link’ button in the blog toolbar to add the URL (web address). Need help? Contact clt-support@lse.ac.uk or call x4697

Images & Files • Click the Add image button and then the “Choose files to Upload” button to find your file. Select the file and click “Open”. • Complete the Title & the Caption. The title will appear as the linked text when you are linking to a document (e.g. a PDF). The caption is more important for Images, it should describe the image, e.g. ‘Photo of the LSE Library’ • Choose alignment & size • Click the “Insert into Post” button to add the image/ file link to the post Further Advice for Images & Files • Use web friendly formats: gif, png or jpg for images. Keep image file size small – resize large images before uploading them to the blog. Use http://www.shrinkpictures.com/ More advanced (free) editing tool: http://picasa.google.co.uk/index.html • After inserting an image into the blog you can make further changes via the edit image button . • Copyright Reminder: only include images that are your own or ones that are copyright cleared. See http://clt.lse.ac.uk/Multimedia/Multimedia-Resources.php for some sources. Quotes & Long Posts • Quotes – Use the blockquote button when quoting directly from another website AND provide a link to the site. • Long Posts – use the split post button to split longer posts. Appearance • Themes – select your favourite from a choice of 75+ • Widgets – add navigation menus & other features to your blog Users • Allows you to set up multiple users to edit a blog • All users will also need a Wordpress account General Blogging Tips • Write regularly • Develop an informal writing style • Write shorter concise posts where possible • Use links and images where possible • Always ‘tag’ your posts appropriately • Copyright – do not use any text or images you do not have the right to use. Make sure it is clear when you are quoting others and link to the source. Need help? Contact clt-support@lse.ac.uk or call x4697

Using WordPress Blogs

by Matt Lingard

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