Blog Tab

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Explanations and instructions of all things Writing.Com.

#700322 added June 28, 2010 at 8:41pm (edited)
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Blog Tab
Icon: Upgraded Membership (Small) If you have an Upgraded Membership or higher, you can create a Writing.Com Blog. A blog (short for web log) is an online journal that appears in the Blog tab of your Writing.Com portfolio.

While you can choose to make your Blog visible to the internet, Writing.Com Blogs are primarily designed for interaction within the Writing.Com community. Only logged-in members can comment on your Blog, like entries or comments, or rate and review your Blog.

Set Up Your Blog Tab

The first step is to create a Book item with the sub-type Journal/Blog. This sub-type allows the highest number of entries and depends on your paid membership level: Upgraded members can create up to 725 entries, while Premium+ members can create up to 1450 entries.

Although the Journal/Blog sub-type is recommended, any Book item can be used as your Blog because the Blog tab overrides certain Book settings. (For more information on creating a Book item, see: Create/Edit a Book.)

After creating your Book item, copy the item's ID number and enter it into the text box on your Blog tab in your portfolio, then click Setup my Blog.

Your Book item will now be connected to your Blog tab and can be accessed both through the Blog tab and through your regular portfolio listing.

Access Your Blog

Once your Blog is set up, you can access it in several ways: by clicking the Blog link in the left navigation menu, opening the Blog tab in your portfolio, or visiting the direct Writing.Com URL shown in your Blog’s header. You can also bookmark this link in your browser for quick access.

Using the Blog Tab Features

Associating your Book item with the Blog tab adds several conveniences for the author.

You can create new entries directly from your Blog page by typing into the entry text box located beneath your Blog’s header. The entry title, access restrictions menu, and passkey fields appear below the entry body text box rather than above it, as they do in a regular Book item.

When viewing your Blog, custom links are displayed in the left-hand column. To add or edit these links, click Manage Blog Links below the Blog calendar in the left navigation menu. This option only appears on the Book item that is currently connected to your Blog tab.

You can organize links into four sections, with up to 25 links in each category. Click Update Blog Links at the bottom of the page to save your changes.

Member Blogs – Links to other member Blogs within the Writing.Com community
Offsite Blogs – Links to blogs outside of Writing.Com
Writing Links – Links to writing-related resources
Misc Links – Other links that do not fit into the categories above

A small calendar in the left navigation menu highlights the days when Blog entries were posted. Clicking the month or the left/right arrows will display entries added during that month. Below the calendar are links to your Archive, which lists all entries in a table of contents format, and an RSS feed for the Blog.

You can also monitor the number of entries used and the file size usage of the Book item near the top of its Manage Book page. This page can be accessed from the Item Tools menu by clicking the gear icon at the upper right of the item.

Change Your Blog Item

Only one Book item can be assigned to your Blog tab at a time. If your current Blog Book becomes full—or if you simply want to switch to a different one—you can easily change it.

To change the Book item connected to your Blog tab, click the gear icon at the upper right of the item to open the Item Tools menu and select Change Blog Item.

You can also access this setting through My Account → Account Settings. Scroll to Personal Display Options and locate the Blog Item field.

Enter the item ID number of the Book you want to use as your Blog and click Submit Changes.

If you want to remove a Blog item entirely, simply delete the item ID from the Blog Item text box and click Submit Changes.

The previous Book item will still remain in your portfolio as a regular item, but it will no longer use the special Blog tab features.

Additional Notes

You can only have one Book item assigned to your Blog tab. This item appears on the Bloggers page and on the Browse By Type → Blogs listing.

However, you may keep additional Book items in your portfolio that use the Journal/Blog format. These items will appear on the Browse By Type → Books page instead.

The main search page (Community → Search All Items with Type set to Books / Journal / Blog) does not distinguish between Blog-tab Blogs and regular Book items using the Journal/Blog subtype.

If you plan to downgrade your membership from Premium+ to Upgraded, it is important to prepare your portfolio beforehand. Check that your Blog item’s entry count and file space usage fit within the limits of the Upgraded membership. If they exceed those limits, the Blog item will become full and you will not be able to add or edit entries.

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