MCDM Orientation : WordPress Workshop

Catalyst Survey: Technology Assessment (2010)

Workshop : Create blogs using Word Press.

By using blogging software to reflect on coursework, you practice using this new technology. By customizing your blog space, you develop your personal design aesthetic. By categorizing blog posts, you are becoming literate about Web 2.0 technologies and folksonomy.

• Create your blog! Go to Word Press; select the new account button and follow the prompts. Notes:
  • Consider using your UWNetID as your login/member name. This will make your WordPress URL <uwnetid.wordpress.com> and makes it easy for MCDMers to send you email.
  • Use an email account that you can access in the lab, because you will not be able to move to the next steps until you activate the blog by clicking on a link in an email from WordPress.

   

• Activate your blog
  Log in to your email account and find the WordPress mail that contains instructions. Click the link and your blog will be live! This step “proves” you are a human and not a ‘bot.
• Customize your blog
  Best Practices:
  • settings -> general:
    Create a distinctive name (separate from your login).
  • settings -> general:
    Change the time to [-8] so that your timestamp reflects your timezone (sorta)
  • posts -> categories:
    Consider setting up categories for classes by class number; don’t post as “uncategorized”
  • pages -> about:
    Say something about yourself!
  • links -> this is the blogroll
  • appearance -> themes:
    select a design (don’t leave the blog in default mode)
  • appearance -> widgets:
    designs have different widgets enabled; you can embed a Twitter or Flickr feed, embed any RSS feed, make it easy for people to subscribe to the blog using email or add a tag cloud.
  • appearance -> extras:
    disable snap-preview (mShots preview)

  Recommended settings:

  • settings –> privacy:
    Make the blog public; include in search engines or public listings if you want the outside world to more easily find your blog
  • settings -> discussion:
    To avoid spam, enable “Users must be registered and logged in to comment”
  • settings -> discussion:
    De-select “must approve comments”

2) Edit “Hello, World”

• posts –> edit
  Change the title/subject. Delete the current content (highlight – delete) and replace it with a little information about yourself. Give the post a category. Click “save”.
• visual v html view
• how to add a link

3) How to Create a new post

• posts –> add new
  Type a title/subject. Write something, pick a category. Click “publish”.

4) Users
When you click your name, you’ll see your public profile page. You’ll want to edit this, sometime.

5) Comments
There is a sample comment on the initial post (Hello, World). Change the status of to “unapprove”.

6) Upgrades
You can upgrade ($) your WordPress.com blog in order to edit the CSS, assign it a domain name, increase storage so that you can host audio files or add the ability to host video files. You can also pay $30 a year (at this time) and have your site be ad-free.