Ektron 9.00

Working with Blogs

A blogshort for Web Log is a form of online information sharing. You create a main blog post, and others can comment on it. Or, you can use a blog to create an online diary of everyday life. Your most recent blog post appears at the top with associated blogs following. Some blogs display a calendar on which days when blogs were created are highlighted. The blog workflow is as follows:

  1. An administrator creates a blog in the Workarea, assigns blog subjects, creates a blog roll, and decides how comments are handled. In the Workarea, a blog looks like a content folder but has a distinct icon (). See Adding a Blog.
  2. A developer adds the blog to a Web form using blog server controla server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s, then publishes the form. See the Blogs server controls.
  3. Ektron users can add blog posts, either from the Workarea or the website. Depending on permissions, the post is either published immediately or submitted to the blog’s approval chainA series of users or user groups who must approve content before it can be published.. See Working with Blog Posts.
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  4. When published, site visitors can view the post and add comments. See Controlling Blog Comments.
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You can use a Smart Forman Ektron-defined Web page that contains XML (hidden from the end user) to display content, and receive, verify, and save user input. to implement structured blogging, which provides a form for the blogger to complete instead of free-form writing. For example, you create a book review blog and want to make sure that an author submitting a review provides:

For information about working with Smart Forms, see Working with Smart Forms.

NOTE: Unlike the Smart Forms you can assign to regular folders, you cannot require the user to select a Smart Form when creating a new post. It is only an option.

Editing blog properties

Editing Blog Properties

Prerequisite

To edit blog properties, you must have permission to Edit Folders on the blog’s Advanced Permissions screen.

To edit blog properties:

  • Workarea: navigate to the blog folder, click View > Properties, then click Edit Properties.
  • website: log in, navigate to the blog, open the menu for the blog, and select Properties.

You have more options when you edit the properties of a blog than when you create it. This saves time when you are adding multiple blogs to a site. You can set these properties when creating or editing a blog.

  • Name—Create blog, Edit properties—The name of your blog as it appears in the content folder tree.
  • Title—Create blog, Edit properties—The title of your blog as it appears on the website blog. It only appears if the ShowHeader Blog server control property is set to true.
  • Visibility—Create blog, Edit properties
    • Public—any site visitor can view the blog
    • Private—Membership and Ektron users must log in to see the blog.
  • Tagline—Edit properties—A line of additional information that describes the blog. It appears below the title if the ShowHeader Blog server control property is set to true. For example, the title of a blog is “John’s Blog Page.” The tag line could be “A place to learn about John's past, present, future, and his current state of mind!”
  • Post Visible—Edit properties—The number of posts visible on the blog page. If the number of posts exceeds this number, only this many of the most recent posts appear. For example, if this property is set to 10 and you add 11 posts, only the 10 most recent posts appear. This number can be from 1 to 999. If you leave this field blank, all posts made during the current day are visible.
  • Comments—Create blog, Edit properties—Choose how to handle comments by checking the appropriate boxes. For more information, see Controlling Blog Comments.
  • Update Services—Edit properties—Enter a service that notifies a blog search site when blog posts are added to your blog site. These blog search sites allow Web users to search content contained in blogs around the world. To use this feature, check the Notify blog search engines of new posts box and enter a path to a search site. An example path is: http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping.
  • Style sheet—Edit properties—If you want to provide a custom style sheet for the blog, enter the path to it relative to the site root. For example, WorkArea/csslib/my_custom_blogs.css. Leave this field blank to inherit the default style sheet, blogs.css, located in Workarea/csslib. You can customize the default style sheet but your modifications will get overwritten when you upgrade Ektron.
  • Content Searchable—Edit properties—Specify whether the blog can be found through site searches.
  • Display Settings—Edit properties—Specify the tabs that you want displayed when you create or edit blog content.
Adding a blog

Adding a Blog

  1. From the Workarea, choose Content.
  2. Click the folder in which the blog will reside.
  3. Choose New > Blog. (You also can right click on a content folder and choose Add Blog.) The Add a Blog screen appears.
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  4. Complete the Properties tab according described below.

    • Name—The name of your blog as it appears in the content folder tree.
    • Title—The title of your blog as it appears on the website.
    • Visibility—Choose whether the blog is private or public. If private, only logged-in site visitors can see it.
    • Comments—Choose how to handle comments by checking the appropriate boxes. See Controlling Blog Comments.
    • Taxonomy tab—Select taxonomy categories to apply to the blog. See Also: Organizing Content with Taxonomies
    • Templates tab—Select templates to apply to the blog. See Also: Working with Templates
    • Subjects tab—Add subjects to the blog. See Also: Adding Blog Subjects
    • Blog Roll tab—Add blog sites that you want blog readers to visit. See Also: Adding Blog Roll Links
  5. Specify the information in the tabs, and click Add Blog.

NOTE: To create a blog, you must have permission to Add Folders on the blog’s Advanced Permissions screen. See Also: Managing Folder and Content Permissions

Deleting a blog

Deleting a Blog

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to Content then the blog folder. (From the website, open the menu for the blog and click Properties.)

    NOTE: To delete a blog from the website, you must be logged in and have permission to Delete Folders on the blog’s Advanced Permissions screen.

  2. Choose Delete > This Blog. A dialog box asks you to confirm.
  3. Click OK.

WARNING! Deleting a blog removes the blog and all of its posts, comments, and quicklinks. After a blog is deleted, you cannot retrieve its posts, comments, or quicklinks.

Adding blog subjects

Adding Blog Subjects

Subjects make it easier for site visitors scanning a blog page to find posts that interest them. An author assigns one or more subjects to a blog post. When the post is published, a list of subjects assigned to all posts appears in a column. A site visitor can click a subject to see all related posts.

For example, a blog’s subjects are General Information, Cardiology, Oncology, and Neurology. A blog is written about the importance of screening and then assigned to the Oncology subject. When a user clicks Oncology, the screening blog appears with other blogs related to Oncology. By default, a blog's subjects appear with other blog components when a Blog Server control is placed on a Web page. A developer can place a list of blog subjects only on a Web page via the BlogCalendar server controla server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified..

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A subject only can be assigned to the blog in which it is created—it cannot be reused with other blogs. With each new blog, you must create new subjects. This gives you the flexibility to tailor unique subjects to each blog.

To add or edit a blog subject:

NOTE: To add a blog subject from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, open the menu for the blog and click Properties.)
  2. Choose View > Properties.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. Click the Subjects tab, then Add Subject.
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  5. Enter the subject. Add as many subjects as you want by clicking Add New Subjects.
  6. Click Save.
Removing blog subjects

Removing Blog Subjects

NOTE: To remove a blog subject from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, open the menu for the blog and click Properties).
  2. Choose View > Properties.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. Click the Subjects tab.
  5. Click Remove Last Subject to remove the subject from the end of the list, or click Remove to remove a specific subject.
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  6. Click OK to confirm removal of the last subject. You can continue to remove subjects at the end of the list by clicking the Remove Last Subject link.
  7. Click Save to save your changes.
Adding blog roll links

Adding Blog Roll Links

A blog roll lists website links to your blog page; a list of related blogs, or blogs that you want your visitors to view. See Also: BlogRoll server control.

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NOTE: To add a blog roll link from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, open the menu for the blog and click Properties.)
  2. Choose View > Properties.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. On the Blog Roll tab, click Add Roll Link. The Add Blog Roll Link form appears.
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  5. Fill out the form. Add as many links to the blog roll as you would like.
    • Link Name—Describes the link in the blog roll.
    • URL—Enter the URL of the blog you are adding to the blog roll. It must begin with http://.
    • Short Description—Add a short description of the site.
    • Relationship—Enter the relationship of the blog roll link to you or to the site. For example, brother. Click Edit for a pop up screen that helps you choose the site's relationship.
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      • URL—Check this box if the address is owned by the same person or company.
      • Friendship—Choose your level of friendship with the site owner.
        • Contact
        • Acquaintance
        • Friend
        • None
      • Physical—Check this box if you have physically met the person who owns this blog.
      • Professional—Check if the site owner has a work relationship with you. Select all that apply.
        • Co-worker
        • Colleague
        • Geographical—Select one.
        • co-resident
        • neighbor
        • none
      • Family—If the site owner is a family member, select the relationship.
        • Child
        • Parent
        • Sibling
        • Spouse
        • Kin
        • None
      • Romantic—Check your feelings toward the site owner.
        • Muse
        • Crush
        • Date
        • Sweetheart
  6. Click Save.
Removing blog roll links

Removing Blog Roll Links

NOTE: To remove a blog roll link from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, access the blog’s menu from the site and click Properties.)
  2. Choose View > Properties.
  3. Click Edit Properties.
  4. Click the Blog Roll tab.
  5. Click Remove Last Roll Link to remove the roll link from the end of the list, or click Remove Roll Link to remove a specific roll link.
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  6. Click OK to confirm removal of the last blog roll link.
  7. Click Save.
Controlling blog comments

Controlling Blog Comments

Blog comments let site visitors add their thoughts about a blog post.

IMPORTANT: Do not confuse blog comments with history comments. You can add a history comment to the blog post by clicking the Comment tab. This is not the same as adding a comment to a blog post on a site. When you add a history comment, it has the same properties as a comment associated with content.

The blog administrator controls commenting by deciding who can add comments and whether a comment requires approval for publication. By default, comments are fully controlled. This means they are enabled, must be approved, and a site visitor must log in to create them. The following blog properties control comments. See Also: Editing Blog Properties.

  • Enable Comments—Allows user in Workarea and site visitor to add blog comments. Also displays comments on site and in Workarea.

    NOTE: An Administrators group member can add comments, regardless of how this checkbox is set.

  • Moderate Comments—Determines if comments must be approved before they appear on site. If this field is checked, only Ektron users with permission to edit the post can approve comments. If a user without edit permission adds comments, they only appear on the website after being approved by someone with edit permission.
    An unapproved comment is indicated by a red exclamation point (). If a user with edit permission logs in, comments are automatically approved.

    NOTE: Membership users cannot approve blog comments.

  • Require Authentication—Determines if a user must be logged in as an Ektron or membership user to add comments via the website.

If comments are enabled but not moderated, any site visitor can add a comment. If you want to ensure comments on your site meet certain criteria, moderate them.

IMPORTANT: If comments are not moderated, they appear on your site as soon as a site visitor submits them.

On the site, blog post comments appear when you click the Comments link or the Title of the blog post. The comment page contains the original post, any comments, and a form to post new comments. Depending on how the page is designed, the calendar and blog roll also may appear.

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The Workarea’s View Posts in Blog screen lets you add, view, approve, edit, and delete comments for a blog post. The Comments column indicates the number of comments. An unapproved comment is indicated by a red exclamation point ().

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Adding a blog comment

Adding a Blog Comment

Prerequisite

To add a comment, you must have Add permission on the blog’s Standard Permissions screen.

To add or edit a blog post comment from the Workarea:

  1. From the Content area, navigate to the blog and find the post that you want to edit.
  2. Click the number in the Comments column. The View Comments for Post screen appears.
  3. Choose New > Comment. The Add Comment screen appears.
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    • Name—The person submitting the comment. This information is required.

      NOTE: This text box appears only when a site visitor, who is not a regular user or membership user, is adding a comment. If a regular user or membership user adds a comment, their name and email address is taken from their user profile.

    • Email—The email address of the person submitting the comment. This information is required.

      NOTE: This text box appears only when a site visitor, who is not a regular user or membership user, is adding a comment. If a regular user or membership user adds a comment, their name and email address is taken from their user profile.

    • Homepage—A URL for the person’s website.
    • State—Set the comment’s state to approved or pending.
      • Approved comments appear on the site immediately.
      • Pending comments must be approved before they appear.
    • Comment Section—A text area to insert comments about the post.
    • Post Comment button—Post a comment by clicking this button. Depending on the comment’s settings, it either posts immediately or is submitted for approval.
Deleting a blog comment

Deleting a Blog Comment

When a comment is deleted, you cannot retrieve it.

  1. From the Content area, navigate to the blog.
  2. Find the post that you want to edit.
  3. Click the number in the Comments column. The View Comments for Post screen appears.
  4. Click Delete. A dialog box asks you to confirm.
  5. Click OK to delete the comment.
Approving a blog comment

Approving a Blog Comment

Comments can require approval if:

  • they are submitted from the website and Moderate Comments is checked in the blog’s folder properties.
  • a user submits the comment from the Workarea and sets its state to Pending.

Only users with permission to edit content (posts) within the blog folder can approve comments.

To approve a comment:

  1. From the Content area, navigate to the blog.
  2. Find the post that has a comment that requires approval.
  3. Click the number in the Comments column. The View Comments for Post screen appears.
  4. Click Approve.
  5. The comment’s status changes to approved.
Notification of blog comments

Notification of Moderated Blog Comments

Whenever a moderated blog comment is published, the Notification system can notify interested recipients. See Sending Notifications to a Community.

Upon the posting a moderated blog comment, a Moderated Blog Comment message may be generated.

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Working with blog posts

Working with Blog Posts

Your website displays only published blog posts. However, you can see all blog posts in the Workarea, regardless of status. In the Workarea, you can also create, edit, delete, and archivethe state of content upon reaching its end date. What happens next is determined by your choice at the content's Schedule tab > Action on End Date options field. Choices are * Archive and remove from site (expire) * Archive and remain on site * Add to CMS Refresh Report blog posts in the same way you work with content. See Also: BlogPost server control.

Blog posts on the website

Blog Posts on the Website

You can view published blog posts on the website. A blog post has a Title, Content, Comments Link, Post Time, Date, and Editor Information.

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  • Title—The headline of the post. Usually what a site visitor scans through to find a post to read.
  • Permanent Link—If you click this link, a new screen appears. The new screen indicates the permanent link to this blog post. As long as the blog post is active within Ektron, you can access it via the URL in the browser’s address bar. Most blog pages show only recent posts. After a post is moved off the blog’s front page, it is still accessible via this link.
  • Content—The body of the post.
  • Comments Information—The comments link shows the number in parentheses of comments for a post . When this link is clicked, a new page of comments for the post appears. Also on the page is a form to add comments about the post. The comments only appear if a site visitor has logged in or authentication is not required for blog comments.
  • Editor Information—The person who created or last edited the blog post.
  • Post Time and Date—The date and time a blog post was created or last edited.
Blog posts in the Workarea

Blog Posts in the Workarea

Viewing a blog post in the Workarea is similar to viewing content in the Workarea. Navigate to the folder that contains the blog then click the title of the blog post in the View Posts in Blog screen.

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The View Posts in Blog screen shows the following information about each blog post.

  • Title—The headline of the post. Usually what a site visitor scans through to find a post to read.
  • Comments Information—The comments link shows the number in parentheses of comments for a post . When this link is clicked, the View Comments for Post screen appears. If a red flag () appears next to the comments icon, they are awaiting approval.
  • Editor Information—The person who created or last edited the blog post.
  • Post Time and Date—The date and time the blog post was created or last edited.
  • Status—The status of the blog post. For example, if the blog post is checked in, the status is I.

From this screen, you can perform all functions with a blog post that you can with content. You can give it a summary, add metadata, associate a task, assign Web Alerts, and so on. You must have Edit permission for the blog to perform these functions.

NOTE: You can also add a history comment to a blog post by clicking the Comment tab. This is not the same as adding a comment to a blog post on a site. A history comment has the same properties as a comment associated with content.

Adding a blog post

Adding a Blog Post

NOTE: To be able to add a blog post, you must have Add permission on the blog’s Standard Permissions screen. To add a blog post from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder and choose New > HTML Post. (From the website, open the menu for the blog then choose New Post.)
  2. When the Add Content screen appears, use the editor to create the blog post. You create a blog post the same way you create content. See Also: Editing in Ektron.
    If you are a member of the blog’s approval chainA series of users or user groups who must approve content before it can be published., it is published immediately. If not, the post is surrounded by a yellow border. An approval chain member must approve it before it appears on the website

When the post is published, it appears within the blog on the website.

You can add tags to a blog post to further define information about it for blog search engines. For example, you create a blog post about your favorite band and enter the following tags:

  • Music
  • Guitars
  • Rock & Roll

When a person visiting a blog search site searches for Rock & Roll music, your blog post appears. Some blog search sites have a page specifically for searching blog tags.

Editing a blog post

Editing a Blog Post

NOTE: To be able to edit a blog post, you must have Edit permission on the blog’s Standard Permissions screen. To add a blog post from the website, you must be logged in. Also, if another editor changes a blog post, the posting information reflects the new editor, the date, and the time the information was changed. This is important to remember if you want the original person who posted the blog to get credit for the post.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, open menu for the blog then choose Properties, then choose the post.)
  2. Click the blog post title you want to edit.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Change the blog post. When the blog is published, the changes appear in the blog post on the website.
Approving a blog post

Approving a Blog Post

If someone who is not a member of the blog’s approval chainA series of users or user groups who must approve content before it can be published. creates or edits a blog post, its status is set to Submitted. It only appears on the website after a member of the approval chain approves it. While its status is Submitted, it has yellow border on the View Posts in blog screen. To approve a blog post, see Approving or Declining Content.

Deleting a blog post

Deleting a Blog Post

NOTE: To be able to delete a blog post, you must have Delete permission on the blog’s Standard Permissions screen. To delete a blog post from the website, you must be logged in.

  1. In the Workarea, navigate to the blog folder. (From the website, log in, open the menu for the blog, choose Properties and then choose the post.)
  2. From the menu, choose Delete > Posts. The Delete Contents screen appears.
  3. Click the check box next to each post you want to delete. To select all posts, click the check box next to Title.
  4. Click Delete Contents (). A dialog box asks you to confirm.
  5. Click OK to delete the selected posts.
Adding or editing blog posts with Windows Live Writer

Adding or Editing Blog posts with Windows Live Writer

Ektron authors and membership users can use Windows LiveTM Writer to add and edit blog posts to your site. If users have the proper permissions, they upload images and attach files from their system. For additional Windows Live Writer help from Microsoft, click here and sign into the Microsoft website.

NOTE: Ektron only supports the 2010 version of Live Writer.

If you have previously set up Windows Live Writer, choose Weblog > Edit Weblog Settings. Then, skip to step 4.

To set up Windows Live Writer to work with your Ektron blog:

  1. Go to Windows Essentials: Other Programs and download Windows Live Writer.
  2. Begin to install Live Writer. The Welcome window appears. Click Next.
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  3. In the What blog service do you use? window, select Other services, then click Next.
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  4. In the Add a blog account window, enter the following information:
    • Web address of your blog—the page that contains the blog. For example, http://<your site>/CMS400Min/blogs.aspx.
    • Username—your username to log on to the Ektron site.
    • Password—your password to log on to the Ektron site.
    • Set Proxy...—if needed, edit the proxy settings, then click Next.
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  5. In the Select blog type window, from the Type of weblog that you are using drop-down, choose Custom (Metaweblog API).
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  6. In the Remote posting web address for your blog field, enter the path to the site's xmlrpc.aspx file. The default location is http://site root/Workarea/Blogs/xmlrpc.aspx. Then click Next.
  7. The Select Blog window appears. Select the Ektron blog that you will edit with Live Writer, then click Next.
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  8. Windows Live Writer is installed.
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Subscribing or unsubscribing to a blog or blog post

Subscribing or Unsubscribing to a Blog or Blog Post

Logged-in site users and Membership users can subscribe to a blog or a blog post.

  • By subscribing to a blog, you are notified whenever posts are added to it.
  • By subscribing to a blog post, you are notified whenever comments are added to a post.

If you want to stop receiving notices, you can unsubscribe.

To subscribe to a blog or blog post:

  1. Navigate to the blog on the site.
  2. Click Subscribe (). The Subscribe/Unsubscribe screen appears.
  3. Select the Notification Type.
  4. Click Add Subscription.

To unsubscribe to a blog or blog post:

  1. Navigate to the blog on the site.
  2. Click Subscribe (). The Subscribe/Unsubscribe screen appears.
  3. Select a Notification Type.
  4. Check the Unsubscribe check box.
  5. Click Update Subscription.