Internal training for librarians and staff at the Auraria Library on how to use the Drupal-based Library News blog.

1. Drupal Blog Training March 1, 2011

2. Image credit: wantabetterwebsite.com

3. Blogs are… …websites that consist of short “newsy” posts that are usually listed in reverse chronological order (newest at the top) …often centered around a topic of interest to the blogger(s) …perfect for posting news bits to the library’s home page

4. Didn’t We Use Blogger? The three public facing blogs used the free Blogger software until last fall We used RSS feeds to put the posts into the “Library FYI” portion of our web page We can now easily create blogs in Drupal with the following benefits: No Google account/separate login required Look and feel matches the rest of our site Achieves the same thing with one product

5. Tips for Writing for the Web, 1/2 AVOID USING ALL CAPS. UNLESS YOU’RE REALLY YELLING.  Keep paragraphs short; in fact, bulleted lists are more scannable and easier to read Avoid jargon; write so non-librarians can understand Avoid marketese; give it to ‘em straight Avoid using “free”

6. Tips for Writing for the Web, 2/2 highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others) meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones) bulleted lists one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) the inverted pyramid inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion half the word count (or less) than conventional writing Source: Jakob Nielsen, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

7. Logging in to the Web Site Go to library.auraria.edu/user Log in, using your network/email user ID and password To log out, you can: library.auraria.edu/logout, press enter/return Click on the “Log Out” link in the “Blogger Tools” menu

8. Since you’re a blogger now…

9. Creating a New Blog Post Create some SHORT copy about the event, news, or other topic about which you wish to post Log in to the web site as described above and click “Post to Library News Blog” in the “Blogger Tools” menu

10. Blog Post Fields, top half

11. Blog Post Fields, bottom half

12. Filling out those Fields, 1/2 All fields are required except for “Image” Title: Something short and catchy! Mention date, if appropriate Image: Attach just as you would via email “alt text” required for users with visual disabilities Body: Keep it short and simple; more tips to follow Use the formatting palette, but sparingly Posted by: Firstnamelastname, i.e., Nina McHale

13. Filling out those Fields, 2/2 Library News Categories This is a taxonomy feature that lets us “tag” events so that we can label and classify them There is an pre-existing taxonomy, BUT we can add new ones just by typing Add new tags sparingly; having a lot of them doesn’t really make sense Separate multiple tags with commas Publishing options drop down Use to un-promote and un-publish posts

14. All Categories Closure Events Exhibits Holidays Jobs Resources Scheduled Outage Services Skyline Catalog Technology Web Sites

15. …then click “Save” When you click the “Save” button, all of the information you have entered is published as a web page As soon as you click “Save,” your post is automatically published and promoted, which means it’s listed under “Library FYI” on the library’s home page

16. Editing an Existing Post, 1/2 Log in to the web site as described above Click on the “List My Content” link in the “Add New Content” menu block Click the title of the post you wish to edit Click the “Edit” tab Make your edits Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page

17. Editing a Post, 2/2

18. Deleting Posts We can “un-promote” posts, removing them from the “Library FYI” section of the home page We can “un-publish” posts, so that our users can’t see them, but we still can Unpublished web pages have a pinkish background We can delete posts, zapping them from existence forever Use with caution! 

19. Un-Promoting a Post, 1/3 Promoted=listed under Library FYI on the Library’s home page All web content has an expiration date. You may want to remove a post from the home page because: The information is no longer timely The information is not longer accurate Your post was for an event that already occurred There’s too much stuff under “Library FYI”

20. Un-Promoting a Post, 2/3 Log in to the web site as described above Click on the “List My Content” link in the “Add New Content” menu block Click the title of the post you wish to edit Click the “Edit” tab Click to expand the “Publishing options” field Uncheck “Promoted to front page” Click the “Save” button

21. Un-Promoting a Post, 3/3

22. Un-Publishing a Post, 1/2 Log in to the web site as described above Click on the “List My Content” link in the “Add New Content” menu block Click the title of the post you wish to edit Click the “Edit” tab Click to expand the “Publishing options” field Uncheck the “Published” Click the “Save” button

23. Un-Publishing a Post, 2/2

24. Deleting a Post, 1/2 Log in to the web site as described above Click on the “List My Content” link in the “Add New Content” menu block Click the title of the post you wish to edit Click the “Edit” tab Click the “Delete” button at the bottom of the page Click “Delete” to go ahead, or “Cancel”

25. Deleting a Post, 2/2

26. Questions & Feedback Documentation outlining all of the steps we’ve covered today is on the wiki: http://intranet.auraria.edu/wiki/index.php/Posting_to_Blogs Feedback: How was this session? http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22BYNB4ACL4/