How to use the Blog

For Readers

If you're just visiting, this site works like most other blogs on the Web:

• posts are arranged chronologically, with the most recent post appearing first;
• each post is tagged with labels;
  
• you can browse by date or by label using the links in the sidebar;
• and you can comment on most posts using the moderated commenting feature.

For Contributors

If you're a member of Danielle Mihram's FREN-351 class, then you're a contributor to this blog. That means that you have the ability to easily post everything from images and links to excerpts from interesting sites and descriptions of your own research. Here's how to get started:

To post a new item

• Login using the Sign in button at the top right of the blog. Once you're logged in, you'll stay logged in for a few days, so you won't have to do this every time.
• Click on Posting --> New Post.
• Give the post a Title. Try to come up with something that is short but descriptive. Be creative.
  
• Enter the content you want to post into the main text box. This can be anything from some notes you've made from offline research, quoted text from another website (with a link directing readers to the source), a collection of images you've gathered, a YouTube video or a list of resources and links.
  
• Edit the way the text looks and behaves using the buttons across the top of the text box. These buttons also enable you to add multimedia and interactive elements like links, images or videos.
  
• Add any images using the Add Image button.
• Add any videos using the Add Video button (NOTE: if you want to embed a YouTube or other online video, see the special instructions below).
  
• Add links by highlighting the text you want to add the link to, then click the Link button. Paste the URL of the web page you want to link to into the popup box, and your link will now be active.
• Once you're done creating your post, make sure to label it. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. Labels help us to organize all the material on this site. Give your post three or four labels, separating each label with a comma. For example, a post about a medieval garden in Normandy might have the labels, "medieval, gardens, Normandy."
• Finally, click on Publsh Post. Your post will now appear on the blog.

To edit a post

• To make changes to an existing post, click on Posting --> Edit Posts.
• Click on Edit link for the post you want to change.
• Make your changes using the same tools described in the posting a new item instructions (above).
• Click Publish Post to save your work to the blog.

General tips

• You can save work-in-progress without publishing it to the blog by clicking the Save Now or Save as Draft button next to the Publish Post button.
• Adding lots of labels to your posts is key to making a collaborative site like this work. As the amount of material posted here increases, the labels are going to help all of us to discover the connections between our various research interests.

Adding YouTube videos

• Many online video sites like YouTube allow you to "embed" the videos you find there into a blog. To do this, copy the "Embed" code from the YouTube page (found in the info box to the right of the video).
• Next, in the blog interface, you're going to need to switch your posting mode from "Compose" to "Edit Html". The tabs for doing this are in the upper right corner of the text editing box for your post.
• Once you're in Html mode, paste the YouTube embed code you copied into your post where you want the video to appear.
• Switch back to "Compose" mode and publish your post. The video will now appear on the blog.