How to Create a Blog Entry

Blogging

Each registered user of the CIRTL Cafe has an individual blog. Blogs are made up of individual posts that are time-stamped and are typically viewed by date (from most recent to least recent). Creating a blog entry creates a single post in your blog. You may attach files and images to your posts. 

1.) To add an entry to your blog you must be logged into the cirtl.net site. Once logged in click the "Create Content" link which is in the right-hand box labled with your username that appears on every cirtl.net page. The next page that appears will show you various kinds of content that can be created. Click the link that says "Blog entry".

2.) Give your blog entry a title and add any tags you feel apply to your entry. Tags are important because they establish relationships between content on the site and help produce more reliable search results. If someone clicks on a tag anywhere on the CIRTL Café site, that person will see a list of all the content on the site that also has been tagged with that same term.

3.) Create the body of your blog entry in the text box.

4) *OPTIONAL* Within the "Input Format" drop down menu you may select filtered or full HTML for your blog post. Filtered HTML allows the use of certain HTML tags within the text. By default, the “filtered HTML” option (which is well suited for those who do not plan to edit in HTML)  is selected.

5.) *OPTIONAL* Within the "File Attachments" drop down menu you can attach images and files to your blog entry. Images will be displayed within the blog entry itself, so it is important to select an image that will fit in the central column of the page. You can attach one image per blog entry, but you can attach multiple files. The files will be displayed in a list at the end of the blog post; people can click on them to download them.

6.) *OPTIONAL* Before submitting your blog entry, there is an option to give your blog entry a unique URL path (such as mypages/pagename). Click "URL Path Settings" to display and edit your blog entry's URL. Although not required, this is useful for creating easy-to-remember, user-friendly URLs. 

6.) Click the Save button. You may preview the blog entry if you wish.

7.) You can access your blog entries one of two ways.

• Click the "View recent blog entries" link within your "My Account" page.
• Click the "CIRTL Cafe" tab in the upper blue navigation bar, and then scroll down to "RSS Feeds & Blogs". On the next page you can find your blog listed under the "Blogs" menu.