HOW TO: Use the Class Blog (WordPress) | Digital Writing 101

SLIDE VERSION ARTICLE VERSION WRONG WAY Pasting a plain URL is the wrong way. WordPress will not automatically turn URLs into clickable links, the way Facebook and G+ does, so …

NOTE: I wrote these instructions for students who were using a class blog I set up on my own domain name, using the full self-hosted version of WordPress. But the …

If you spot a problem with your blog post or simply want to add more material to it, you can easily open it again and edit it. FRONT END ACCESS …

EMBEDDING VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE OR VIMEO Embedding a video from YouTube or Vimeo is super easy, as these are by far the most popular video hosting sites. For details on …

IMAGES: Must be in a web-ready format: jpg, png, or gif Please also resize the images for the web, as described on: HOW TO – Make an Image Web-Ready PDFs: …

Wondering if you’ve posted all the required comments for earlier calendar entries? See the steps below the screen shot. (1) Go to the blog dashboard and click on the Comments …

Composing Long and/or Formatted Posts If you’re planning to write the kind of blog post you’re putting so much work into that you’d be devastated to lose it, I HIGHLY …

WHAT IS READER-FRIENDLY WRITING? While you’re in school, most of your writing is directed towards a teacher who is obligated to read it. But after college, most of your writing …

These instructions show you how to create an embedded audio player that plays your audio file. FIRST follow these steps: Make sure your audio file was correctly exported to mp3 …

Draft vs. Published The most common reason why you might have trouble viewing a post you submitted to the class blog when you try to find it from the front …

If you want to include a quotation in a post that will span more than two or three lines, or if you want to use special formatting to call attention …

VISUAL MODE TOOLBARS When you first open a post editing window, you’ll most likely only see one row of tools in the formatting toolbar, which will look like this if …

On the class blog for WRTG 3020, you can upload and attach files as long as they’re under 10mb and saved in one of the following formats, with the appropriate …

I strongly recommend that you compose your discussion posts in Word or another word processing program and save them on your computer, so that you always have a copy available …

Finding the Right Code on SlideShare (1) After you upload a PDF or presentation to SlideShare, view it as it appears on the “front end.” (2) Click the Embed link …

These instructions show you how to create a click-through slideshow that features images you uploaded to the blog. Our class blog has two options for slideshow layout, standard and carousel, …

After you register for an account on the class domain, you’ll be able to log into the class web site and edit your WordPress account settings, which will allow you …

Short guide to editing an image after you’ve uploaded it to a blog post. Editing Image after uploading

For long blog posts as well as drafts and final versions of projects, put the content of the post behind a “read more” tag. That way the long content won’t …

If you want to edit one of your blog posts but are having a hard time finding it on the Posts page on the Dashboard try sorting the list to …

An easy way to embed PDFs and presentations into blog posts and other web pages is to use a free hosting site like Scribd.com (1) Sign up for an account …

Wondering what happened to the Visual editor tab on your post editing page? Try checking your Profile to see if you have the box shown below checked. If you do, …

FORMATTING TEXT IN COMMENT BOXES When you comment on a blog post, you’ll notice that you don’t have a formatting toolbar like you do when you create a new blog …

If you want to restrict a blog post to only those who have a password, follow these steps: (1) On the post editing page, look in the Publish box in …

NOTE TO WRTG 3020 STUDENTS: Follow the steps below first, to learn about appropriate content for your header. Then follow the instructions on: HOW TO – Create a Header Image …

NOTE: I wrote this page for my WRTG 3020 students, who have the option to customize a blog as part of one of their projects. The layout of the study …

This screencast provides a short overview of how to manage links in the sidebar of a WordPress blog. FOR STUDY GUIDES As I noted in the first Study Guide Blog …

You’ll need to decide what elements to include on your study guide sidebar and how to customize them, if needed. At a minimum, you should probably use the following widgets, …

As you already know, blog posts should be assigned to categories, typically only one category per post (although you might see a reason for using more than one category in …

To make a post “stick” to the top of your most recent blog entries page, even after you’ve posted newer entries, make it “sticky.” (This option is only available on …

This screencast gives you a brief overview of how to customize the sidebar on your study guide blog (applicable only to WRTG 3020 students). WRTG 3020: Study Guide Blog: Sidebars …

Short overview of choosing a theme for your study guide blog. (Mainly for WRTG 3020 students.) Study Guide: Choosing Themes

NOTE: I wrote this page for my WRTG 3020 students, who have the option to customize a blog as part of one of their projects. The layout of the study …