Customizing your blog

Changing the title of your blog

After you log in, in the tab bar, click ‘Settings’ > ‘General‘. You will see a field for blog title as well as a field for the site tagline which is a space for a brief description of your site. After making changes, click the ‘Update Options’ button to save.

Changing the privacy of your blog

When creating your blog you will be asked if you want search engines to be able to index your site. If you answer no to this question you prevent people from finding your blog using search engines like Google, Yahoo!, etc.

Once your blog has been created, you will have the ability to restrict access to your blog using the following options.

Change this setting by clicking ‘Settings’ > ‘Privacy‘ in the tab bar. Then, next to ‘Blog visibility‘, click the appropriate option.

Adding a custom image to the header of my blog

If, after you choose a theme for your blog, it allows you to change the header image, you can access it by going to the ‘Design‘ tab, then clicking ‘Header Image and Color‘.

Not all of the themes provided by Blogs@UWW allow you to add a custom header image. And each theme has its own options through which you can customize the look and feel of your blog.

What are widgets?

Widgets are built-in to WordPress and allow you to customize the side columns of your blog You can use widgets to add a list of recent photos, comments, flickr photos, del.icio.us links, and much more. You can find your widgets by clicking the ‘Design‘ tab, then by clicking > ‘Widgets‘. You may also get access to more widget as you activate new plugins. (See the Plugins section in this document for more information on available widgets)

Widgetbox Widgets

Widgetbox (http://www.widgetbox.com) is a site/service that offers over 5,000 additional widgets that can add functionality to your blog (in particular your sidebar). In order to make these widgets work, you need to set up a free account on Widgetbox. Learn more about available widgets, and how to use the service on the Widgetbox support site..

Managing posts

Password protecting a post

Click the triangle to the left of ‘Password Protect This Post’ on the very bottom of the page to open the ‘Password Protect This Post’ widget. Enter a password into the text field. Make sure that the password you choose is shared with your readers.

Note: If you would like to restrict access to your entire blog, see the “Changing the privacy of your blog” section above.

Adding Flickr images to a post

Before you can add Flickr images to your post, you will need to enable the Flickr Manager plugin for your blog. Choose the blog you wish to enable to plugin for by clicking on the name of your blog’s tab at the top. (How do I enable a plugin?)

You must configure the Flickr Manager plugin before you can use it to insert images.

1. In the tab bar, click the ‘Settings’ tab, then click ‘Flickr’.
2. Click ‘Authenticate’ .
3. A new browser window will open. If prompted, login to Flickr using your Yahoo! ID.
   
4. Click the ‘OK, I’LL ALLOW IT’ button to authorize Flickr access.
5. Minimize the Flickr window and, in Blogs@UWW, click ‘Finish’.
6. Click the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page to save your preferences.

To insert a Flickr image into a post or a page: find the ‘Flickr’ button below the ‘Title’ field. Click an image. It will automatically be inserted.

Adding YouTube videos

To be able to add YouTube videos, you must enable the ‘Viper’s Video Quicktags’ plugin. (How do I enable plugins?) When writing a post or page in your blog look for the Youtube icon in the Visual Editor toolbar.

Paste the URL of the YouTube video in the dialog box that appears.

Copying and pasting from Microsoft Word documents

To paste text from Microsoft Word, be sure to click the ‘Paste From Word‘ icon in the post or page toolbar.

A window will appear where you can paste your Microsoft Word text. Click the ‘Insert‘ button to insert the text into your post.

Using pages in your site

It may be desirable to have regular web pages in your blog. Examples are a page describing yourself, a list of your courses, department contact information, a mission statement, etc. Pages will be available from all pages.

Making a page in your blog

To create a page in your blog, do the following:

1. If you can post to more than one blog make sure you are in the correct blog by clicking the blog name from the tabbed list at the top of the page.
   1. Click the name of the blog you wish to edit.
2. Click the Write tab at the top of the page.
3. Below the ‘Write‘ tab, click ‘Page‘.
4. Add a title. In the Title field at the top, enter a subject, title or name for your page. This name will go into the <title> tag of your page.
5. Click the Publish button. Your post will appear on your blog. If you’d like to save and continue to edit your content, click the Save button. When you are ready, click the Publish button and your message will be posted.

Once the page has been posted, it will appear on your blog site under Pages.

Managing and deleting pages

To edit a page that has already been created, login to Blogs@UWW, then click the ‘Manage‘ tab. Click the ‘Pages’ tab. Click the Page Title of the page you wish to edit. Click the check box next to the Page Title, then click the ‘Delete‘ button to remove the page permanently.

Re-ordering pages

Since pages are not chronologically oriented, by default, pages will appear in alphabetical order on your site by name. To change this display order of pages, do the following:

1. Click the ‘Manage‘ tab, and click the ‘Pages’ tab.
2. Click the ‘Edit‘ link next to the page you wish to move.
3. On the very bottom of the Edit page, click the triangle to the left of ‘Page Order‘ to show that widget.
4. Enter a positive whole number. Lower numbers will appear earlier in the list. It is suggested to use multiples of 10 for numbering. (Your first page should use 10, your second page, 20, etc.) By doing this, if you need to insert a page, you will not need to change the numbers of all of your pages.
5. Click the ‘Save‘ button to apply the changes.

Extending your blog

Uploading files to your blog

Blogs@UWW allows you to upload files to your blog. Currently, we support uploading of the following formats:

jpg, jpeg, png, gif, mp3, mov, avi, wmv, midi, mid, pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, zip, ppt, pptx, rtf, swf, flv

If there is a format you would like us to allow, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

Using external services to store images and documents

You have 50 MB of upload space. This may not be enough space if you are uploading large pdf files or images it may be preferable to use an outside service that you can integrate with Blogs@UWW such as Flickr for your photos or DivShare for your files. Note that it is always possible to link to files saved on UW-W services such as your facstaff or department web space, or student storage.

Importing existing blogs into Blogs@UWW

Before importing a blog, please contact the Learning Technology Center for assistance and guidance. You can import a blog from numerous other blogging platforms such as WordPress, MovableType, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Grey Matter, TextPattern, DotClear, and RSS.

To import your blog from an application other than WordPress, please read your respective blogging platforms details for exporting your data.

Once you have exported our data from your blog, in the tab bar, go to ‘Manage‘ > ‘Import‘. From here click on the respective blog type you are importing. Browse for the saved file on your computer, and click the ‘Upload file and import‘ button.

Exporting Data From Blogs@UWW

To export your data from Blogs@UWW, you will need to create an export for your blog (or an individual export for each blog you have on this service). In the tab bar, click ‘Manage‘ > ‘Export‘. When you export your blog you will be given an XML file that stores all of the posts and comments for your blog. Keep in mind that links and pages will not be exported.

Important: If your blog has a series or documents that you uploaded directly to Blogs@UWW, you will need to contact the Learning Technology Center in order to get copies of all those files. Once you have these files and upload them to your new space, be sure to change the URLs to reflect the location of your blog. Additionally, you will need to update the URLs to images and documents in your new blog in order for them to work.

An overview of tabs in WordPress

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first page you see once you login to Blogs@UWW.

From here you can click on several different tabs that will bring you to various pages wherein you can post new articles, edit your own posts or comments, update your user profile, and view your blog, etc. This also shows you an overview of the latest posts in your blog, your size quota, if new comments have been posted, etc.

Write

This is where blog posts are written and published. This is also where you can create individual static pages. The Post and Page links (which are two links of the Write tab) allow you, to write a post (or an article for the blog) or create a static page that is distinct from the blog posts because they remain outside of the blog’s reverse chronology (most recent post at the top of the front page). Both of these pages have the same layout and provide you with similar (but not identical) options.

Manage

This is where you can edit your posts and pages; manage your uploads ; create and manage your categories; import content from a variety of different blogging platforms; and export your blog content to an XML file than can be uploaded to another free hosted blog or one that you yourself host. You can manage files uploaded to your site, but do not actually upload on this tab. Upload files from the Write tab, when composing a new post or page.

Design

This tab lets you control the overall look and feel of your blog. If you go to the Design tab you will see a number of images that highlight different themes you can use for you blog. Double click on any of the over 170 themes available and view your site.

Depending on the theme, you can also further customize the look and feel of your blog/website.

This is where you will also customize your Widgets and Header Image and color.

Comments

This is where you can mange, moderate, or delete any comments you receive on your blog. Note: by default. comments are allowed for new posts. To change this preference, go to the ‘Settings‘ tab and click ‘Discussion‘.

Plugins Tab

Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress. There will be a limited number of plugins made available to all Blog@UWW users, depending on the added functionality you need you may activate it or deactivate the appropriate plugin in this tab. (How do I enable a plugin?) (List of plugins)

Users

You can use the this tab to add other users to your blog and control the level of permissions they should have. You can also edit your personal profile, such as changing your nickname, adding your IM address, and various other personalized options.

Settings

The Settings tab allows you to change many of the overall settings for your blog. For example, you can use the tabs within the Settings page to change the blog title, change the time zone, or add a brief description. The various tabs allow you to control comments, reading and writing options for your blog. This also is where you control the privacy settings for your blog or even delete your blog entirely. Additionally, if you are adding plugin functionality, often times you control the settings for plugins within this tab.

Plugins

Plugins add additional functionality to your blog. Below is a list of plugins we currently have made available on Blogs@UWW.

Activating Plugins

To activate a plugin, click the activate link to the right of the plugin description, once a plugin is activated it will be highlighted in green. Keep in mind that certain plugins may also require you to activate a widget so that you can incorporate it into your sidebar. Additionally, certain plugins may require you to setup certain features (setting up any particular plugin might require you to look for these settings once you activate it in the Options or Manage tabs).

List of Plugins

Note: Some plugins require accounts on third-party services not maintained by UW-Whitewater or the University of Wisconsin System. Support for the plugin does not represent endorsement of the third-party service by the Learning Technology Center/ITS, iCIT or UW-Whitewater and are provided as a convenience.

Name	Description	Plugin Website
Advanced Category Excluder	Hide categories from your blog.
Advanced Category Excluder Widgets	Add’s widgets that support category exclusion
All in One SEO Pack	Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog.
Cache Images	Goes through your posts and gives you the option to cache all hotlinked images from a domain locally in your upload folder.
Category Posts Widget	Adds a widget that can display a specified number of posts from a single category. Can also set how many widgets to show.
Firestats	Statistics plugin for WordPress
Flickr Manager	Handles uploading, modifying images on Flickr, and insertion into posts
Search Everything	Adds search functionality and customization options. Including options to search pages, excerpts, attachments, drafts, comments, tags and custom fields (metadata). Also offers the ability to exclude specific pages and posts. Does not search password-protected content.
Table of Contents Generator	Automatically generate a table of contents in a post or a page based off of headings
Thumbnails Manager	Allows you to resize, change the properties of, or delete thumbnails. Also allows you to change some default thumbnail settings.
Viper’s Video Quicktags	Allows you to insert video from YouTube video, other services, and personal videos.
Widgetbox Widget	Used to insert any widget (news, pictures, games, activities, information, etc.) from widgetbox.com.
Widgetize Any HTML	Provides a widget interface for any HTML code, so you can insert any HTML code including Javascript code snips into the sidebar.
WordPress Mobile Edition	Makes your blog easily viewable on mobile devices such as PDA’s and mobile phones. No special mobile site address is needed.
WP-o-Matic	Automatically make posts in your blog from RSS/Atom feeds.
WP-Polls	Allows you to insert a poll into your blog.
WP-Polls Widget	Adds a Poll Widget to display single or multiple polls. Required: activate the WP-Polls plugin.
WP-Sticky	Allows you to make a post that always stays at the top of your blog.
wpLicense	Allows selection of a Creative Commons license for blog content.
WP Vivtiger Image Resizer	Allows users to crop and resize an image easily using the WordPress attachment system.

I’m seeing an error message. What do I do?

If you are coming across an error message please contact the Learning Technology Center to send us the exact verbiage of that message, where it happened, and your blog address so that we can research and fix the problem promptly.

How do I get more help for issues not listed here?

If you have further questions, concerns or comments, contact the Learning Technology Center.