How to register, write, and comment
~ by Administrator - July 16, 2007 ~
It’s really easy to participate at the Cheshire Town Post. Anyone can contribute or comment. And, unlike diary-style blogs, all posts start out on the front page. To get started, you’ll need to register.
How to Register
Click the Register button up at the top of the page.
Fill out the short registration form.
All set. Your password will be emailed to you.
Check your email, note your temporary password, and login using the link in the email or the login button at the Cheshire Town Post. It may take a few moments for the email to arrive.
Once logged in, it’s a good idea to change your assigned password to something more memorable. The password update box is on the Your Profile page. The first time you login you’ll start on that page. So, take the opportunity to change your password.
How to Write Your First Post
From the user dashboard, click on ‘Write.’ Alternatively, you can click ‘Report’ from the top of the main CTP page.
You can keep this as simple as you like. There are plenty of options to explore, but you can save those for later. Enter a subject and write out your two-cents.
To preview, click ‘Save and Continue Editing.’ Your work will be saved as a draft visible only to you and you’ll see a preview of the post towards the bottom of the Write Post page.
To save for later, click ‘Save.’
To post your work on the front page, click ‘Publish.’
Formatting Your Text
Now, let’s get just a little bit fancy. We’ll make some selected text boldfaced as a simple example of how to format.
Highlight the text to make bold and click the b button on the Post toolbar.
Now the text you had highlighted will have some formatting tags before and after it. It might look funny, but click preview if you’d like to see how your readers will view it. As you may realize, the toolbar buttons just save you the time of typing out those before and after markup tags.
Adding Pictures from Your Computer
Click the Browse button from the upload area visible below the Post box where you have been writing.
Locate and select the photo on your computer.
Click the upload button. It may take a moment if you upload a very big file.
You’ll see your uploaded images listed in the Browse tab of the upload area.
Click the image and choose Send to Editor to insert it into your post. Note that the editor will insert the fancy markup text wherever you had the cursor.
Use ‘Save and Continue Editing’ to preview.
Here’s what we see so far in the preview area.
Adding links
Highlight the text in your post that you would like to turn into a link (like the woodchuck text below) and click the ‘Link’ button on the Post toolbar. A new box opens up asking you for the link. Enter the url or link address, complete with the http:// in front. Click ok. Here, we’re linking to a Wikipedia article on groundhogs.
Here’s the preview.
If everything looks good, click ‘Publish.’
Adding Comments
Whether you’re a registered member or not, you can comment. Find the comment link below each post.
If you’re registered and logged-in, this will be even easier. Otherwise, fill out the basic fields.
For the forum to work, we need to all be very comfortable with how to post comments.
If you have questions, be sure to write cheshiretownpost at yahoo dot com. You can also search Google for tips on how to participate in a WordPress blog or site.