WordPress is pretty intuitive. Our WordPress site is hosted by bluehost.com. Take a few minutes to check out the features our site has, though I will update these over time. We can add video, images, audio, and even create interactive videos.  When you are using the editing box, notice that you can expand the tools you use, and you can view each story in a visual or HTML mode (toggle it to see the difference.) It is usually easier to use visual mode, unless you are copy/pasting any kind of HTML code, like links or video. Then use HTML view.

How to videos:

Basics for editor
Change user display or byline name
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Pending_stories___user_names
Ping_backs

You, or anyone can call 312 436-1820 and leave a story as a message for us. The story will be save as an MP3 and also transcribed. The quality of the transcription will depend on how clear the call was. You can find any calls at our site e-mail. Monitor that e-mail for press releases we can turn into stories, story pitches, etc. I try and e-mail the senders of  good press releases and ask them to submit their information as a story to the site.

User: [email protected] passwd: 4grant

The basics:
1. Each story submitted by a contributor is labeled “pending” and needs to be published by an editor.
2. Editors’ stories are published right away.
3. Every story needs a CATEGORY. You will see the category list as you post a story. Choose at least one category for the stories. You can put stories in multiple categories. If we want to search our site, we can search by category, and this is helpful. Categories are also very important to getting stories into search engines correctly.
4. Tags are also important for search. Think what you or a typical person would type into a search engine, if they were trying to find the story you are working on. Type those words in as tags.
5. Attribution and authorship:
a. to submit any story, you or other contributors must be logged in (you need to register first,)
b. when a story is published, it will automatically be labeled with “by username.”
c. have the contributors submit the stories so you don’t have to add a byline to the story, or add a byline with their name to the first line of the story.

Embedding Video:

NOTE: to EMBED video from youtube, etc. copy/paste the EMBED code from the video host site. Paste the code into the HTML view. YOU MUST DELETE THE LAST COMMAND, WHICH IS “</OBJECT>” IF THE APPEARS IN THE CODE. Also, you can see the height and width specifications of the video in the code. Make sure the width is 400 or less or the whole layout on the page will be off. You can set a width, and just delete the height command.

Some things the site admin can do that you might not be able to do (currently Barbara K. Iverson is site admin)

• Change the name that is displayed for a user, so if Johnny Jones has registered as “Big Idiot” I can change the name displayed in his or her bylines to whatever I want. E-mail me if/when this needs to be done, with the user’s name that needs to be changed.

Topics:

• Checking for stories submitted by contributors that you will edit and publish http://screencast.com/t/vgmJHNtm
• What is a “ping” and “pingback?” http://screencast.com/t/hqgZkgErsm2
• Here is how you modify the date. Note that when you put a story in the queue originally, you can set the date of publication at that time, or do it retroactively. http://screencast.com/t/bRdx9eU4c
• Our site analytics get messed up if we do not post the stories with the author’s name in the “by” box.  When you are logged in, stories YOU post will say they are “by” Editor. Just because you write “by so and so” in the first line of the story, doesn’t do anything for our searchability and user statistics on the big Internet. Please change the “author name” box when you upload the stories. To do that, the author needs to be registered on the site, and it is easiest if they have used their real name, not a “handle.”
  Change author name:
  http://screencast.com/t/qDhJqhNg

Basics_for_editor video
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