Using a Blog

How to blog at Creighton

The new blogging service at Creighton is built on the WordPress platform, if you are familiar with WordPress then you are ahead of the game. If not, don't worry, this document will get you up to speed on how to use your new blog.

General Information about your blog

WordPress information on blog administration

WordPress glossary of blogging terms

WordPress information on podcasting through your blog

Getting Started

Creating a Blog

To create your own Creighton blog, simply go to blogs.creighton.edu/NetID. Your blog will automatically be created the first time you visit. Once there, log into your blog through the "Login" link toward the bottom right hand side of the page. You will be prompted for your NetID and your Blue password. Once you’ve logged into your blog, you can write a blog post, change the blog name and appearance.

Writing a Post

To write a post, login with your NetID and blue password and click on “Write” at the top of the page. You will default into the “Write Post” screen. There is a text box for your Title and one for the main body of your post. There is a menu bar that allows you to alter and align your text and create bullet points. Additionally, you can insert links, images, and even view the HTML code of your post.

Along with writing a post, you have additional options along the right side of the screen. You can turn off comments, password protect your post, create new categories, and tag your post to those categories. To access all of these features, click on the plus symbol next to the feature heading.

To preview your post, click on the “Save and Continue Editing” button. You can see the preview by scrolling down towards the bottom of the page.

By clicking on the "Publish" button, you will publish your post to your blog.

See Also

WordPress information on writing a post

Look and Feel

Themes

To change the look of your blog, choose from several different themes. Login with your NetID and Blue Password then click on “Presentation” at the top of the page. You will see several different themes ,you can select for your blog. Simply click on the theme you want. The theme is instantly applied to your blog. To see how your site looks with the theme you've selected, click on "View Site" in the colored bar. If you do not like the theme you've selected simply return to the "Presentation" screen and select a different theme.

To change the name of your blog, click on “Safe Options” at the top of the page. Within the “Safe Options” tab, you can change the name of your blog, the tagline and determine how many blog posts show on your front page as well as set keyword filters for comments. Click the "Save" button at the bottom of the screen to activate your changes.

Add images to a blog

You can add images to your blog. There are two ways to do it. Log into your blog using your NetID and Blue password. Click on the "Write" link and you will default into the "Write a Post" page. The first way to add images to your post is to use the "Insert Image" button (this button looks like a tree) on the rich text editor tool bar within the "Post" text box. This button allows you to link to an image on a different website by inserting the image URL into your post. Click on the button and you will be prompted for the URL of the image you want to link to your post and a description. You can also determine the image alignment in the post.

NOTE: You should link to images that are on a publicly accessible web server. Linking to images on your desktop will not work.

Click the "Insert" button and the image will be linked in your post. If you click on the "Save and Continue Editing" button, you will be able to preview your post at the bottom of the page.

The second way to get images into your post is to upload images from your local machine into your blog through the "Upload" tab towards the middle of the "Write a Post" screen. Here you can browse your local images and upload, name, and describe the image which will be accessible to you for every post or page you create from the "Browse All" tab. The "Browse All" tab will appear once you have uploaded an image into your WordPress blog.

Use the My Music Plugin

You can add audio to your blog that will automatically start to play when someone visits your blog. Login with your NetID and Blue Password and click on “Presentation” at the top of the page. Select the "My Music" submenu tab directly under the "Presentation" link.

To choose a song for your blog, select it from the drop down list and click "Save". If you have rights to a song which you would like to have listed, please submit an email to [webmaster@creighton.edu]

Organize Your Thoughts

Create a Category for your Blog

You can "tag" your blog entries with categories that you create. Categories help your readers more easily search your blog. To create new categories log into your blog using your NetID and Blue password. Click the "Manage" link towards the top of the page. Next click on the "Categories" submenu tab directly under the "Manage" link. To add a new category, scroll down the page to "Add New Category" text box. Type your Category in the Name text box. For example: Creighton Basketball, English 522 or Cats. Next you can select a "Parent" category for your new category. If you want to keep your new category unrelated to any existing categories then leave "none" in the Category Parent field. Then, describe the category and click on the "Add Category" button to create your new category.

See Also

WordPress information on categories

Write a Page

Writing a page is a bit different than writing a post. To write a page, once again click on “Write” at the top of the page and then click on “Write a page” submenu tab that appears directly under the "Write" link. The “Write a Page” screen looks similar to the “Write a Post” screen; however, there is no option to “tag” the page with a category along the right side. Additionally, pages can be linked to other pages through the “Page Parent” button on the right side of the screen. So if you were to write a page on interesting software for the PC, and then decided to create separate pages for different types of software, Games, Web, Music, Free, you could make the original page you created the “parent” page and the rest of the sub-pages can only be viewed from that page.

See Also

WordPress information on pages

Collaborate with Others

Moderate Comments

One of the features of blogs is allowing your readers to leave comments on your blog posts. Since it is your blog you do have some control over who can leave a comments and what they can write. Click on the "Manage" link at the top of the page and then choose the "Awaiting Moderation" submenu tab that appears directly under the "Manage" link. In this panel you can approve or disapprove comments left on your site. (Additionally, when you write a post you can determine if you want comments available or not for that specific post.) You can also turn off comments for your entire site in the "Safe Options" panel. Uncheck the box to "allow people to post comments on the article."

See Also

WordPress information on moderating comments

WordPress information on fighting comment spam

Subscribe to a Blog

To subscribe to a blog you can do several things: Download a web browser that can read and translate rss feeds, such as IE 7 (still in beta), Firefox or Safari (Mac OS only). You can download a “feed reader” -- there are several available. Or you can use a service such as bloglines.com to subscribe to your blogs. To subscribe you will need the to have the RSS feed URL. The RSS feed URL for the Creighton blogging service will be similar to this example:

https://blogs.creighton.edu/NetID/?feed=rss2

"NetID" in the above example URL will be replaced by your NetID in a live RSS feed.

Using the 'Subscriptions' Plugin

The subscriptions plugin allows you to create a series of links in a given category to RSS feeds and then display all the entries from those feeds on a single page. A common use of this feature would be to create a "friends" page with all of your friends' blogs displayed. You can add friends from Creighton's blogging service, LiveJournal, MySpace, and any other site which creates an RSS feed. You could also use this to pull in news stories from several different news sites, or just information from your favorite pages.

The first step is to create a new "Link Category" and fill that category with RSS links. To do this, select "Links" from the top of the page, then the "Link Categories" submenu tab that appears directly under the "Link" menu. In the "Add a Link Category" section, enter a descriptive name for your category, select your options and click "Add Category" at the bottom of the page. Next, choose the "Add Link" submenu tab. You will need to give your link a "Link Name" and enter the RSS link in the "RSS URI" field. Be sure you enter this information in the "RSS URI" field, not the "URI" field. You may have to scroll down. Make sure the "Category" drop down box is set to the category you've just created.

Common RSS Link Formats

Once you have added your RSS feed links, select the "Subscriptions" submenu, find the category you've been working with, and click "Activate". When you view your site, you'll notice that a new page has been created with the title of your link category. If you browse to this page, you will notice that it contains an aggregation of all the feeds which you have subscribed.

Let Other People Contribute to my Blog

Coming soon . . .

Cleanup and Administration

Edit or Delete a Post

You can edit your posts or delete them even after they have been published to your blog. Log into your blog using your NetID and Blue password. Click on the "Manage" link towards the top of the page. You will default into the "Manage Posts" page. Your last 15 posts are listed along with links to "View", "Edit" or "Delete" each post. By selecting the "View" link you will see what that post looks like on your blog. By selecting the "Edit" link the post will open in the "Write a Post" page with the title and text available for you to edit, save, and publish. Posts will not be visible in "View" mode until they have been published. By selecting the "Delete" link you will be asked if you are sure you want to delete the post. You can search your archive or you can browse your archive by month to find a specific post to edit or delete from this page as well.

Edit or Delete Pages or Categories

You can edit or delete pages and categories as easily as you edit or delete your posts. Log into your blog using your netID and your Blue password. To edit or delete a page click on the "Manage" link towards the top of the page. Then click on the "Pages" submenu tab under the "Manage" link. Your pages are listed with links to "View", "Edit" or "Delete" each page. By selecting the "View" link you will see what that page looks like on your blog. By selecting the "Edit" link the page will open in the "Write a Page" page with the title and text available for you to edit and save. By selecting the "Delete" link you will be asked if you are sure you want to delete the page.

If you want to edit or delete a category select the "Categories" submenu tab next to the "Pages" submenu tab under the "Manage" link towards the top of the page. Your Categories will be listed along with links to "Edit" or "Delete" your categories. By selecting the "Edit" link the category will open in the "Edit Category" page with the name and description available for you to edit. By selecting the "Delete" link you will be asked if you are sure you want to delete the category.

See Also

WordPress information on pages

WordPress information on categories

Activating Plugins

Plugins extend or expand the functionality of WordPress. You can turn off or on plugins to add functionality to your blog. Not all plugins are activated by default. To change your plugin settings, log into your blog using your NetID and Blue password. Next click on "Plugins" towards the top of the screen. You will see a list of plugins with a description next to them. Plugins that are "Active" are highlighted in light green. To deactivate a plugin click on the link "Deactivate" under the Action heading to turn the plugin off. The plugin is off when the entire row turns white and "Deactivate" link changes to "Activate." To activate a plugin click on the link "Activate" under the Action heading to turn a plugin on. A plugin is on when the entire row turns light green and the "Activate" link changes to "Deactivate."

Next - Using Blogs in the Classroom

Building a Course Blog.

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