Creating and using a blog account

Creating a blog account and writing posts is almost as easy as creating and using a del.icio.us account. However, blog posts are more in-depth and complicated, so you have to do a little bit more.

Topics: remixing

Creating and using a blog account is slightly harder than creating a del.icio.us account, but only slightly so. We will be using an experimental version of the WordPress publishing platform called WordPress Multi-User. WordPress is an open source publishing platform that is highly popular among the budget-minded. One key thing is that I have found is that this highly experimental version of WordPress functions best with firefox, and I highly recommend downloading and using that.

The first thing you need to do is go to this URL: http://high-octane-blogging.org/wp-inst/wp-newblog.php. The instructions are pretty self-explanatory. Your blogs URL will be: http://USERNAME.high-octane-blogging.org. You need this for the coursetools assignment. I have provided this screenshot to help answer any questions:

After you create a blog, you will receive an email with your log-in credentials. Click on the link to log-in. You will see something resembling this screen:

As I mention in the screenshot, we need to modify some settings for Users and Options. For Users, we need to add some naming information so that you will appear as someone other than administrator when you post. Here's a screen shot showing what to do:

Now, we need to fix the timezone your blog thinks it is in. That is under Options > General. We are currently 4 hours behind UTC (that will change in October). I should point out that this setting change may and may not work, but it is worth the old college try. Here's a screenshot showing what to do:

Now, it is time to start writing blog posts. That can be achieved by going to the Write section once you log into the blog. Wordpress has bookmarklets like del.icio.us, but they are specific to your particular blog, so you can really only use them on your own computer. Here's a screen shot that shows the fields you will use in posting. Remember, always use categories, always link, and trackback whenever you can.

You are ready to start blogging. Don't forget to fill in the coursetools assignment.

Bud edited this on September 7, 2005

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