Beginning to blog on SDN/BPX is a relatively simple process.
First fill out / update your blogger profile (a.k.a. your author page) and once you receive the approval mail you can begin blogging.
Unsure how to do so? In the Contributor Corner found in the wiki, we have a Getting Started with Blogs page that has a great eClass by Marilyn Pratt introducing the blog posting process. The process begins by using the weblogger link sent in the approval mail and once there choosing the ‘Create a new blog post' link (see photo).
Most of the fields are self explanatory (or are explained in the eClass above). But to make blogging even easier we added a really useful tool, the WYSIWYG editor. It allows you to quickly edit the main body of your blog (photo below).
As you can see there are many basic Office editing buttons such as; bold, bullets, cut and copy. However there are a few more very useful ones you should get to know.
The button picturing the tree is used to insert/edit an image. Pressing it allows you to add the URL of the graphic in the input field of the popup.
The URL can be obtained by either uploading the image via the upload image link (see photo below ) which in turn provides a URL or by inserting a full path URL to an external site.
The same method is used for adding/editing embedded media (button picturing a ladder) and inserting/editing a link (button picturing a chain).
In the 2nd row of the WYSIWYG there are a few paste buttons. A very helpful button to familiarize yourself with is the 'W' paste (Word paste). If you write your draft in Word, copy it and use this button to paste (and not CTRL V) then your blog formatting will be saved (including links!).
Not to forget the HTML button for editing source code.
For those not yet familiar with the WYSIWYG I encourage you to experiment, it really does make blogging easier.
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