IUCN Blog Tutorial
Go to: http://portals.iucn.org/blog/
Click on author login (bottom left of page)
User name: admin Password: iucnadmin
Blog Dashboard: Admin page
To add a new post
• In the left hand side column, under post, Click on ‘add new’
• Add title: you can copy paste from any document
• Copy text into main window – use ‘paste as plain text’ icon.
• Add By + the name and title of the writer in bold and add a hyperlink to their programme/region/organisation. Add a full stop at the end of this line. This is important for clarity in the RSS feed.
• Add hyperlinks in the text and check formatting. E.g remove extra spaces between paragraphs.
Insert photos using ‘add an image from file’ tag; select the image from your computer:
Please see below for more details on how to add the image, select the right alignment and size options. Remember to click on insert into post when you’re done.
• Click on the alignment you want and select the size (size option must correspond to the size of your image, otherwise it will not show).
• Now click on ‘insert into post’ (bottom left of the window)
• Once the image is inserted into your post, right click on the image to select ‘image properties’; For ‘H space’ and ‘V space’ – add the figure 2 (this creates some space around the image so that it does not merge with the text).
• Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab. In the ‘Advisory title’ box, add the caption and credit information. IMPORTANT!! This creates a ‘rollover’ caption that viewers see when they place their cursor over the image. Some photographers may insist that the credit appears on the photo itself.
• Select the categories for your post and click ‘Save draft’
• Select tags or add new tag names (to appear in the tag cloud – as many as possible. Make sure you include in the tag list, the categories that you have selected, for consistency. Click ‘Save draft’
• Preview your post. Check images and links work.
• When you are happy with the post, click ‘Publish’.
• Check to see that it has appeared.
• Alert the person who has written the entry and ask them to help promote it among their networks.
Tips and troubleshooting
• There is a two hour time delay for the latest entry to appear on the RSS feed on the home page. This can be changed by editing the RSS container and re-publishing the home page.
• If the link from the RSS feed to the latest entry does not work, check that tere are no apostrophes or unusual characters in the URL/permalink which is found under the title.
• Vary the size and position of the images in each entry to make the blog more visually appealing.
• Embed videos or photo galleries where available: from YouTube, click on the button “share” below the video. Click on “embed”. Then select all options and the size you wish. Finally, copy the URL code that shows in the box. Paste it in the text box of your blog (AFTER SELECTING in the blog post “SOURCE”). The URL Code is part of the “source” coding. It is not text. Therefore it should be added in the HTML code where you want to see the video.
• You can back-date or post-date entries be editing the dates in the ‘Publish’ box, top right.
Go back to the dashboard:
• You can always edit blog posts published in the past. Click on “post”: