Edenwald & Baychester Community

"Mood smileys" allow you to let your readers know what mood you were in when you created your entry. The "currently playing" feature allows you to publish the name of the song or band you are listening to while creating your entry. These features are located right below the text editor (select specific weblog/photoblog, choose "blog" > "new entry"). Simply insert the title of the music you're playing (if any) and choose the smiley that best reflects your mood.

Pings inform weblog catalogs (such as weblogs.com) about your latest entries. This enables even more readers to access and keep track of your weblog. Weblog catalogs offer an overview of all registered weblogs on the net which have been recently updated. As soon as you have created an entry, we automatically inform these services via ping to alert non-Edenwald & Baychester Community users of your weblog. At the moment we ping weblogs.com, blo.gs and blogrolling.com.

You can activate this feature on the administration page by selecting "settings" > "ping".

The homepage of your weblog/photoblog is the first thing a visitor of your site will see. If you want to display your latest entry, regardless of its location/category, you need to select the administration page of the particular weblog, click "Weblog -> More options -> Latest entries as separate category" and activate the feature. Remember to save your changes.

The title of an entry cannot be longer than 80 characters. If the title exceeds this limit, the last characters are cut off. You should always give your entries a title to increase readability of your blog.

If you have selected and copied text (crtl+c) from another source, this text can then be pasted into the text editor (crtl+v). Macintosh users can simply use the apple key instead of the ctrl key. It's easier to post text from other weblogs/ websites by using the "easypost" feature.

See also:
» What is "easy post"?

Of course not! But,the best way to build up a community of enthusiastic fans and readers is to post entries on a regular basis.

There are three ways to search for old entries: a fulltext search in your weblog, using the calendar to look for entries made on a particular date, and a chronological browse beginning with the latest post. This last function is offered for every category. Since there are only five entries displayed on each page, you have to continue your search by clicking "next page". In order to return to the previous site, choose "previous page".
The calendar allows access to your entries on certain dates. All entries created on a specific day will be displayed. The calendar depends on the category you select. To browse through another month, simply click "<<" or ">>" next to the name of the month you're looking at.
You can also find old entries via "search this blog". Entering the search term and clicking "search" will present all entries containing the searched term.

You can edit or delete old entries at any given time. Edited entries will then be displayed as "changed".

Within your administration pages, you have the choice to move each entry into another category on the right hand side of each entry.
Select a category and click the "go" button. You can then find the entry in the selected category.

The calendar displays a link for each day that entries were created. Clicking the link will lead you to all entries made on that particular day. If there were more than five entries on that the day, you will find the link "next page" at the foot of the page. Selecting "<<" and ">>" enables you to change months.
The calendar only refers to the displayed category. If you wish to find specific entries, it is best to use the full text search of your weblog.

You can mark entries as "public" or "private" in the text editor. It's easier to simply click the padlock right next to each entry without starting the text editor. The status of the entry changes immediately.

Select the particular weblog and then click "Edit entries" on the administration page. Then click "edit" on the chosen entry. Right below the editor, you can insert the desired date into "Date of entry".
Please note thtat the format of the date you are entering needs to be the same as displayed in the editor, e.g. 2/26/05 for February 2, 2005.

You can only use this feature if you have installed Internet Explorer Version 5.5 or later or Mozilla 1.4. Unfortunately, older versions and other browsers do not support this format.
The text editor is as simple to use as any other text processing software. Select single words or complete sentences/paragraphs/posts, then change the fontsize, fontstyle etc. Give it a try!

You can save your entries as drafts in the text editor by clicking "save as draft", located right below the text window. Drafts are invisible to other users. You can edit your draft anytime and then publish it.

See also:
» How to change the status of an entry from private to public and vice versa

Click "Insert link" in the text editor in order to add a link to your entry. Enter the link in the new window. Click here for more details.

See also:
» How to insert a link

Click "Insert image" in the text editor in order to add an image to your entry. Select and insert the image in the new window, which will open. Click here for more details.

See also:
» How to insert pictures to my weblog

If you allow co-authors to create entries in your weblog, a category can be "moderated". This means that a moderator, as opposed to the author, can make the entries public. If an entry is saved but not yet made public, this entry is "internal". After the moderator makes the entry public, it is then visible to other users.

The name of a team appears in front of an entry if it has only been published to be visible to that particular team. This is only displayed in the administration view.

If you only want a specific group of people to read your entries, you can limit the visibility of your entry to this group of users. If you have not assigned a group of friends yet, you should do this first. Click here for more information.
As soon as you assign a group of friends, you can limit the visibility of your entry in the text editor ("Entries -> New entry"). You will find this "Visibility of entry" option below the text window. If you haven't defined any groups of friends, you can only choose between "private" and "public". If you have defined teams and at least one user has accepted your invitation, you will find the option "mulitple teams" as well as all individual teams. Select the team of your choice and click "Publish" after editing your entry. If you have selected "multiple teams," a list with all teams will open. You can then select the teams that you want to be able to read your entries.

If you have already defined teams in your weblog, you can limit the visibility of your entries to certain teams. In order to select those teams, you have to select "multiple teams" in the visibility section below the text window in the editor. This allows you to choose the teams which are allowed to read your entry.

Click the smiley symbol in your editor. A new window will open, offering you a variety of smiley icons to choose from. Just click on your favorite to include it in your post. If you use a browser other than Internet Explorer (version 5.5 onwards), you will see the instruction <img src="some_smiley">. As soon as you have posted it, it will change into a normal smiley.

A team blog can consist of moderated categories. Within these categories all entries have to be made public by a moderator before they are visible to others. If an author creates and submits an entry in a moderated category, it will show as "internal" - if you are the moderator or owner of the weblog, you can then click "publish" in order to make it visible to others.

You can create entries if you are logged in and on the administration page of a weblog. Immediately after logging in, you are automatically directed to the Dashboard. On the right of each weblog you find an icon with letter and a green plus on it - one click and the editor opens (you can hold your mouse over each icon to see a short description).
You can also reach the editor once you are within the administration pages of a single weblog by clicking on the "Entries" menu item.
If you have created several categories, you can decide while editing your entry which category you want to publish it in. The category options are located right above the text window.
Once you have started your text editor, you can choose from a couple of handy features - however, this will depend on the browser you use. If you have installed Internet Explorer Version 5.5 or later or Mozilla 1.4 or later, you have the choice of editing text in a similar way to any text processing program (e.g. Micorsoft Word).
Users of other versions or other browsers can only add images and links to their entries. Unfortunately, more advanced editing functions are not supported by these browsers. Of course, you can edit your entries any time later if you have a new browser at your disposal.

See also:
» The administration site

If you discover fantastic content on other weblogs or websites and want to use it in your own blog, "easyPost" allows you to insert complete articles or sections of text into your editor with just one click. In order to use "easy post," insert the specific link (which refers to the source) located on the top of your Dashboard into the favorite list of your browser.
So when you discover great content while browsing the web, simply click "easy post" in your favorite list. The editor, including the text, opens automatically. If you haven't logged into Edenwald & Baychester Community yet, log in now. All edit features are now availabile for you to use. You can add text, choose the correct category and submit your entry. The content you chose is now published on your blog.
Please note that some browsers and popup blockers might interfere with EasyPost and thus cause problems.

Just like posting comments on other blogs, there is another way to inform readers that you're posting entries on the same topic. This feature is called TrackBack. TrackBack can only be used if the owner of another blog has allowed trackbacks on his/her blog. If an entry has received a trackback, this is visible in the administration view as well as the normal view, right below the entry.

TrackBack allows you to comment on someone else's entry and publish the comment on your own blog. The easiest way to use it is via "easypost". If you find yourself on a weblog with an interesting entry (and assuming that TrackBack is permitted), click the "easypost" link you have added to the favorite list on your browser. Comment on the topic in the editor and select the entry title to which the trackback will lead and save your entry. Two things will happen: the entry will be saved in your own weblog, and a "trackback-ping" will be simultaneously sent to the commented text. This ping creates a link from the original entry back to your own entry/comment.
Using "trackback" without "easypost" is a little more complicated. First of all, you have to display the TrackBack option in your own editor. Choose the administration level of the specific weblogs/photoblogs and activate the feature under "Weblog -> More options -> Entry settings". Now you can generate the trackback URL below the text window while creating your entry. As soon as you have published your entry, this address will be contacted in order to create a trackback. You will only find the trackback-url in another system if a trackback service is being offered.

Since TrackBack offers another way of commenting on an entry, there is no alternative way of activating TrackBacks.
All entries that you have authorized comments for also allow other users the possibility of commenting via trackback.

"Mood smileys" allow you to let your readers know what mood you were in when you created your entry. The "currently playing" feature allows you to publish the name of the song or band you are listening to while creating your entry. These features are located right below the text editor (select specific weblog/photoblog, choose "Entries" > "New entry"). Simply insert the title of the music you're playing (if any) and choose the smiley that best reflects your mood.

Pings inform weblog catalogs (such as weblogs.com) about your latest entries. This enables even more readers to access and keep track of your weblog. Weblog catalogs offer an overview of all registered weblogs on the net which have been recently updated. As soon as you have created an entry, we automatically inform these services via ping to alert non-Edenwald & Baychester Community users of your weblog. Please contact your portal administrator to see what services are being notified.
You can activate this feature on the administration page by selecting "Weblog -> More options -> Ping weblog directories".

Whenever you start your text editor to post a new entry, you will find visibility and comments set to a specific value, e.g. "all Internet users can comment". If you want to change that for an entry, you can do so.
However, if you want to have different settings for every entry you post, this might be tedious chaning it everytime. Thus, you can define those default values at "Weblog -> More options -> Entry settings".
Also, you find an option to enable or disable comment moderation on that page.

See also:
How does comment moderation work?