Blogging on Building Green is easy. So is posting a photo to the image gallery.
First, you'll need to create a user profile.
When you're logged in, you can start a blog post by clicking on contribute in the sidebar, or by clicking on post in the upper right-hand corner of the page:
On the Post Selection screen, choose what you'd like to do:
Click on Write a Blog Post.
This opens the Building Green editor, where you can categorize, compose and publish your blog post. Below are step by step instructions, followed by some style tips and more advanced trouble-shooting information.
Title:
We recommend chosing a title that accurately describes what you will be writing about. This makes it easier for other readers to find your post using our search engine.
Keywords:
Enter as many keywords as you like, separated by commas.
Tip: Check out the tag cloud in the sidebar to see which tags are most popular, and type in any that apply. You can make up your own tags, too. The editor will also suggest similar tags as you type. The more genertic your tags, the more search-friendly your post will be--ie, "kitchen, appliances, refrigerator" is a better than "decorating a kitchen, stainless steel fridge".
Body:
This is where you type the main text of your entry. When you mention a website by its URL (eg, www.buildinggreentv.com) a link will automatically be created. If you want to add styles like bold, italics or underline, a photo or create a bulleted list, use the familiar WYSIWYG buttons. For example, to make a line of text bold, highlight it first, then click on the B.
tip: if you hover your cursor over a button without clicking it, a description of its function will appear.
Adding photos to a post, or posting photos:
Whether you're posting photos directly, or adding them to your blog post, the process is much the same:
First, position your cursor where you want to insert the image and click. If you're only going to use a single image, we recommend you position it at the very beginning of your text. Next, click on the camera icon in the rich text editor. This will open a pop-up dialog box where you can choose an existing image from your image gallery, or upload a new one.
Uploading a new image:
First, assign your image a title, and if you like, choose a gallery category, add some keywords, and write a brief description. The keywords and description can provide helpful information for other readers who see your image in the gallery, but only the image title is required.
Click browse to locate the image on your computer.
Finally, click upload. The photo will be copied onto Building Green, and a new dialog box will appear.
Here you can change the alignment setting if you like, and insert the photo to your post.
To edit an existing post:
All of your contributions to Building Green are listed on your profile. Click on the title of the post you wish to edit. You'll then see the whole post, and a tab marked edit. Click the edit tab, and you'll be taken back to the Write a Blog Post page, where you can change anything you like and re-save.
Some tips on netiquette:
Can I re-publish content from my own website?
Yes. We encourage bloggers to cross-post material from their own sites. Be sure to link back to the original to drive traffic to your site!
Can I re-post content from other websites?
You may cite up to 250 words freely from any website, regardless of the copyright or license. This is called fair use and allows you to directly quote--always with attribution and a link of course! Quoting any amount of text as if it is your own writing is plagarism, eh?
A good rule of thumb: Most websites display a copyright or creative commons license. Read it and abide by the limits it sets. When re-posting content from someone else's blog or website, never import the entire article or post, even if it's under 250 words, and always include a link to the original.
Can I post an advertisement?
No. We enthusiastically welcome businesses as contributors to our share section, but request that you participate by sharing content-- knowledge and expertise-- but not blatant advertisements or pure self-promotion. You may describe your business in your profile, use your logo as your profile image, and post information about community events, classes, and the like, but actual advertisements will be taken down at the discretion of the editors. If you're unsure about the suitability of something you want to post, feel free to ask us!
Troubleshooting:
Why are snippets of code showing up in my post?
If you cut and paste text from another website or a program like Microsoft Word, you may see bits of code show up in your text, or experience formatting problems. That's because there is always a lot of code "under the hood" even when you're looking at a simple paragraph of text.
If you want to use a word processor to compose your thoughts before posting them on our site, we recommend you use a plain-text editor like Notepad or Wordpad rather than a full-on word processor like Microsoft Word. And keep it simple--bold, italics, numbered lists--these are the kinds of coded elements that do not translate well between formats. Try writing your rought draft in plain text only, and add any styling after you cut and paste your text into the Building Green editor, using our WYSIWYG buttons for making bold headlines, lists, italics, etc.
Tips for cutting and pasting:
Sometimes you may want to cut and paste an article from your own site, or another website, into ours. There are a couple of tricks that can make this go smoothly.
The first, and simplest, technique is to first cut and paste the text into a plain-text editor like Notepad or Wordpad. Plain text editors don't recognize html tags, and this extraneous data will be stripped out of the text. You can then re-copy and paste into the Building Green editor, and add any styling yourself.
The Building Green editor automatically strips out most of this annoying code, but you can still experience strange formatting if you aren't careful, and these are good practices you can use across many different websites where you might wish to contribute.
That's it! Happy blogging!
-- the editors
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