Tips, Techniques, & Examples

The 2 simplest reasons a blog entry may not show after publishing are:

Recently we got a request to add a sign-in link that will log you into your Blog to manage it onto the Blog Sidebar.  We investigated the default Sign In Widget which gives you a link but does not log you into manage your blog.  NOTE:  As of January 17, 2008 The Sign In Widget for all new blog will now give you a link and sign you in to manage your blog, so all you would need to do is add that Widget to your Sidebar.

If your blog was already created though, you can do the following to update your sign in Widget. 

Open Design | Widgets and find the Sign In Widget in the Widget Templates Section.
Open it up for editing
Select all of the code that is in the Textbox and delete it. 

Paste this code in the Textbox:

<div class="widget-sign-in widget">

<h3 class="widget-header">Sign In</h3>

<div id="signin-widget-content" class="widget-content">

<a href="https://blog.iup.edu/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi" title="Login">Sign In</a>

</div>

</div>

And save the Widget.  Then just add this widget to your sidebar and publish the blog.  This blog contains the sign in Widget in the Secondary Sidebar.

Follow the steps below to learn how to create and publish a blog entry.

1. Login and select the blog that you would like to manage.  Please see How to Login to Your Blog for detailed instructions.

2. Select the Write Entry button on the main menu or choose Entry from the Create feature in the main menu.

3. The create entry screen appears:

4. Listed below are the most common fields that you would edit when creating a new entry.  For a more detailed list of entry options, please view the following vendor documentation: Creating and Publishing New Entries.

• Title - Enter a title for your blog entry.
  

• Body - Compose the body of your blog entry in this field.  A basic set of word processing tools are available within the body field. 
  

• Tags - You can enter tags in this field.  Tags are short descriptive words or phrases that identify the subject matter of the Entry.  If you would like to add multiple tags, please enter a comma between tags. IUP uses a stylized way of visually representing the post popular blog topics at blog.iup.edu called a tag cloud.   Tags are typically in alphabetical order and the frequency of the topic is represented by large highlighted text. IUP's tag cloud is located at http://blog.iup.edu/cgi-bin/home/tagcloud.cgi.
  

• Categories - Categories are generally more structured and are used to distinguish different topics within your blog.  For example, if your blog contains posts about sailing and cooking you could setup two different categories, one for each of topic.
  

5. Click the "Save" button - The save button will save and publish your new entry.  Click on the view site button on the dashboard to view your new entry. The view site button is circled in red in the image below:

What are blog roles?

Blog roles are the identity of a user that defines the set of tasks they can perform in that blog.  For information on how to manage roles with users, please see the documentation titled How to Mange Blog Users at http://www.iup.edu/itsupportcenter/howto.aspx?id=50687.

What are the blog roles at IUP?

Blog roles at IUP consist of Blog Administrator, IUP Editor, IUP Contributor, IUP Feedback Moderator, and IUP Trusted Commenter.

What privileges does each of the IUP Roles have?

The tasks that each of the IUP Roles can perform is outlined below:

Blog Administrators

• Administration - Configure Blog,  Manage: Categories, Tags and Address Book, as well as View Activity Log
• Authoring/Publishing - Create/Publish Entries, Send Notifications, Edit All Entries, Manage Pages, and Publish Blogs
• Designing - Manage Templates
• Assets - Manage Assets, Upload Files, and Save Image Defaults
• Commenting - Post Comments and Manage Feedback

IUP Editor

• Administration - Manage Categories and Tags
• Authoring/Publishing - Create/Publish Entries, Send Notifications, Edit All Entries, Manage Pages, and Publish Blogs
• Assets - Manage Assets and Upload Files
• Commenting - Post Comments and Manage Feedback

IUP Contributor

• Authoring/Publishing - Create Entries
• Assets -Upload Files
• Commenting - Post Comments

IUP Feedback Moderator

• Assets -Upload Files
• Commenting - Post Comments

IUP Trusted Commenter

• Commenting - Post Comments

1. Browse to http://blog.iup.edu, then click on "Sign In Here" from the menu.

2. At the Movable Type Login Page enter your IUP Computing username and password.

 

3. Select the blog that you would like to manage from the drop down menu at the top of the screen.  To expand the drop down menu, click on the green arrow (circled in red in the example below).

 Accessing the Request Form 

1.  Browse to the blog homepage: http://blog.iup.edu/

2.  Select the "Request Blog" link.

3.  Select "Yes" on the security alert window to continue.

4.  This is a secure site so you will be asked to login using your IUP computing username and password. You will need to enter your username in the first box and your password in the second.

Requesting a Personal Blog 

1.  Select the radio button for a Personal Blog.  Click Next.

2.  You will be presented with a confirmation message indicating that your personal blog has been created.

3.  Proceed to "How to Login to Your Blog".

Requesting a Group Blog 

1.  Select the radio button for a Group Blog.  Click Next.

 

2.  When requesting a Group blog you will need to enter a title for the blog (e.g. IT Services News).

3.  Next enter the last part of the URL for the blog in the text box titled "Url of the blog?"  This is usually a short description of the blog (e.g. ITNews).

 

4.  Click Submit.  You will be presented with a confirmation message indicating that your group blog has been created.

5.  Proceed to "How to Login to Your Blog".

 

Requesting a Course Blog 

1.  Select the radio button for a Course Blog.  Click Next.

2.  After selecting Course Blog, you will need to decide which type or types of course blogs to create.

3.  Place a check mark beside each type of blog that you would like to create.

4. Click Submit.  You will be presented with a confirmation message indicating which blogs have been created.

5. Proceed to "How to Login to Your Blog".

What types of blogs are available at IUP?

You can request 3 different types of blogs; a personal blog, a group blog, or a semester-based course blog.  A description of each blog type is provided below.

Personal Blogs

A personal blog is a place that's all your own.  You can share pictures, publish movies, take notes, or just write your own thoughts.  It is a place to express yourself and your ideas.  IUP personal blogs can be requested by IUP students and employees.   A student or employee can request one personal blog.  Students and employees are administrators of their own blog.   Blog permissions and properties are set by the blog administrator.  The URL for this type of blog would be http://blog.iup.edu/username.  (e.g.  http://blog.iup.edu/jdoe for employees & http://blog.iup.edu/abcd for students)

Student Blogs are inactivated based on the following criteria:

• Student blogs are inactivated for students sixty dates from their date of graduation.  Students are sent a reminder e-mail message two weeks before an account is inactivated.
• Student blogs are purged 180 days (six months) from their date of graduation.

IUP employee blogs are inactivated based on the following criteria:

• Faculty accounts are inactivated ninety days from the URSA termination date or last work date (whichever is more recent).
• Non-faculty and non-student-employee (staff) accounts are inactivated the same day as the termination date or last work date (whichever is more recent).
• All employee accounts (both faculty and non-faculty) are purged 180 days (six months) from the inactivation date.

 

Group Blogs

A group blog is a place available to IUP employees and employee sponsored student groups to publish and discuss topics important to their departments or organizations.  For example a group such as the SGA (Student Government Association) could work with an employee sponsor to request a blog.  The employee sponsor can then set the blog properties, add additional blog administrators, and add manage user accounts.  The URL for this type of blog would be http://blog.iup.edu/grp/urltitle (e.g. http://blog.iup.edu/grp/SGA).

Group blogs are perpetual except under the following conditions:

• Blog administrators are notified after 9 months of blog inactivity.  Reminder email is sent each month until the 12th month is reached.  The blog is deleted after 12 months of inactivity.
• Blog administrators are removed when their IUP Computer Account is purged.  The blog will be deleted if all blog administrators IUP Computer Accounts are purged.

 

Semester-based Course Blogs

Only a faculty member of record for a course may request course blogs.  These blogs are tied to a specific course/section and used at the discretion of the faculty member.  The blog administrator is the faculty member requesting the blog and permissions and properties are set by the administrator.   Blogs are term based and expire at the completion of a semester.  If a faculty member needs a blog to last beyond a semester it is recommend that they request a Group blog type.   Blog security is managed by course groups.

When requesting a Course blog a faculty member can choose from several different templates:

• Single Blog by Term - Instructor - Course - Section
  • A single blog per each section of a course.  Instructors would have the option to make a separate blog for each course section they are teaching.
  • The instructor is the requester and administrator for the blog and the registered students in the course/ section are contributors to the course blog.
  • URL  for this template - http://blog.iup.edu/courses/term/instructor/course/section (e.g. http://blog.iup.edu/courses/summer2008/sherwood/engl101/001)
• Multiple Blogs by Term-Instructor-Course-Section-Student
  • A blog is created for each individual student in a specific section of a course.  Using this template each student in the course section would get a blog.
  • The instructor and the student are the blog administrators for the blog for that student.
  • URL for this template - http://blog.iup.edu/courses/term/instructor/course/section/studentusename
    (e.g. http:// blog.iup.edu/courses/summer2008/sherwood/engl101/001/abcd
• Single Blog - Rollup by Term-Instructor- Course- All sections combined
  • A single blog for all sections of a course.  Instructors requesting this template would get single blog for all sections they are teaching in a course.
  • The instructor is the requester and administrator for the blog and the registered course students are contributors to the course blog.
  • URL for this template - http:// blog.iup.edu/courses/term/instructor/course (e.g. http:// blog.iup.edu/courses/summer2008/sherwood/engl101)
• Single Blog-Rollup by Term- Instructor-All course sections combined
  • A single blog for all courses and all sections of those courses the instructor is teaching in the current semester. 
  • The instructor is the requester and administrator for the blog and all registered students for that instructor are contributors.
  • URL for this template - http:// blog.iup.edu/courses/term/instructor (e.g.  blog.iup.edu/courses/summer2008/Sherwood)

In this demonstration you will see how to add a Blog Roll to your Blog.
 From http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000427.html.   "A blogroll is a listing of websites that often appear as links on weblogs. This list of links is used to relate the site owner's interest in or affiliation with other webloggers.

A walk through is available as well as the steps

1. A new widget will need to be created for the Blog Roll so Select Design | Widgets
2. In the Widget Templates section select Create widget template
3. Give it a meaningful name.  ex: BlogRoll
4. Fill in the code box with this code:
     <div class="widget">
       <h3 class="widget-header">Blog Roll</h3>
       <div class="widget-content">
           <ul>
               <li><a href="http://www.iup.edu/inside/rss">Inside IUP</a></li>
              <li><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MovableTypeBeta">Movable Type News</a></li>
          <li><a href="http://www.campustechnology.com/rss/rss.aspx">Campus Technology</a></li>  
       </ul>
       </div>
   </div>
5. Then you can change where the links go to and the names.  You can have as many links as you want.
6. Save the Widget.
7. Now you will need to add the BlogRoll widget to your Widget Set, so in the Widget Sets section click the name of your layout you are using. 
   
8. Drag and Drop Blog Roll from the available Widgets to the Installed Widgets list.  This will make BlogRoll appear in the sidebar.
9. Save Changes for the Widget Set.
10. Publish and View your Blog.  You should now see the Blog Roll appear on your sidebar.

Today's example will be how to setup a Template in your blog that will aggregate entries from other blogs and provide a RSS feed.  This can be a really useful template for a course blog where each student has their own blog and you want to view all of their posts in a feed.

Use the following steps or view the walk through.

1. We first have to create a new Index Template.  Open Design | Templates.
2. Click Create Index Template under the Index Templates Section.
3. Give it a meaningful name ex: MultiBlog RSS Feed
4. In the code box paste the following code:

<$MTHTTPContentType type="application/rss+xml"$><?xml version="1.0" encoding="<$MTPublishCharset$>"?>
<rss version="2.0">

    <channel>
        <title>My Favorite Blogs Feed</title>
        <link><$MTBlogURL$>/rollupblogs.xml</link>
        <description>A RSS Feed of my Favorite Blogs</description>
        <language><$MTBlogLanguage ietf="1"$></language>
        <copyright>Copyright <$MTDate format="%Y"$></copyright>
        <lastBuildDate><MTEntries lastn="1"><$MTEntryDate format_name="rfc822"$></MTEntries></lastBuildDate>
        <generator>http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/</generator>
        <docs>http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification</docs>
<mt:MultiBlog include_blogs="357,336,337">
        <MTEntries lastn="15">
        <item>
            <title><$MTEntryTitle remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$> on <$MTBlogName$></title>
            <description><$MTEntryBody encode_xml="1"$></description>
            <link><$MTEntryPermalink encode_xml="1"$></link>
            <guid><$MTEntryPermalink encode_xml="1"$></guid>
            <MTEntryCategories>
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category"><$MTCategoryLabel remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></category>
            </MTEntryCategories>
            <MTEntryIfTagged><MTEntryTags>
                <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag"><$MTTagName remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></category>
            </MTEntryTags></MTEntryIfTagged>
            <pubDate><$MTEntryDate format_name="rfc822"$></pubDate>
        </item>
        </MTEntries>
</mt:MultiBlog>  
 </channel>

</rss>


5. Now you will need to change the line that says <mt:MultiBlog include_blogs=" and add the blogs ids you want to display.  To find a blog id to add, you can use the System Overview | Blog list.  For each blog you are a member of it will be listed.  You can mouse over and see the blog id in the status bar of the browser.
   
6. Under the Template Options give the blog a meaning output file name ex: rollupblogs.xml.  It should be an .xml file since it is a RSS Feed.
7. Save and Publish the new template
8. Here is our finished project on our Blog.
   

A few things to keep in mind with this:

• This template will need republished everytime you want an updated list of entries, since it is published statically (right now the only way available) you will have to republish it for it to have an updated list.
• You will have to manually enter it into the URL unless you modify a widget and create a link to it:  The address will be BlogURL/rollupblogs.xml if that is what you named it.
• You can also change the template code around, it is set to the last 15 entries per blog, and the name and description can be what ever you want.
  

Here is a technique to create a RSS Feed for your blog.  By default Movable Type did not include an RSS Feed, just an Atom Feed.  Neither standard is considered better, but some Feed Aggregators work better with one or the other, so it can be a good idea to include both.

What you are going to have to do is create a new Template, and then add it to a widget and the HTML Head Temlpate.

The step by step text is below, also available is the Captivate Walkthrough  

1. Open up Design | Templates
2. Click the Create Index Template link in the Index Templates Section.
3. In the top Box give it a meaningful name (RSS).
4. In the box with line numbers (the code for the template) paste the following code: <$MTHTTPContentType type="application/rss+xml"$><?xml version="1.0" encoding="<$MTPublishCharset$>"?>
   <rss version="2.0">
       <channel>
           <title><$MTBlogName remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></title>
           <link><$MTBlogURL$></link>
           <description><$MTBlogDescription remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></description>
           <language><$MTBlogLanguage ietf="1"$></language>
           <copyright>Copyright <$MTDate format="%Y"$></copyright>
           <lastBuildDate><MTEntries lastn="1"><$MTEntryDate format_name="rfc822"$></MTEntries></lastBuildDate>
           <generator>http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/</generator>
           <docs>http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification</docs>
           <MTEntries lastn="15">
           <item>
               <title><$MTEntryTitle remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></title>
               <description><$MTEntryBody encode_xml="1"$></description>
               <link><$MTEntryPermalink encode_xml="1"$></link>
               <guid><$MTEntryPermalink encode_xml="1"$></guid>
               <MTEntryCategories>
                   <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category"><$MTCategoryLabel remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></category>
               </MTEntryCategories>
               <MTEntryIfTagged><MTEntryTags>
                   <category domain="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag"><$MTTagName remove_html="1" encode_xml="1"$></category>
               </MTEntryTags></MTEntryIfTagged>
               <pubDate><$MTEntryDate format_name="rfc822"$></pubDate>
           </item>
           </MTEntries>
       </channel>
   </rss>
   
   
5. In the Template Options set the output file to: index.xml
6. Then click Save.  This will now create a new file in your published templates called index.xml.  To test this publish your blog and then goto your blog and add /index.xml to the end of the url and you should get your RSS Feed. 
   
7. If everything works we need to add it to the Syndication Widget if it is on your blog.
8. Open Design | Widgets
9. In the Widget Templates list you should see Syndication, Open it.
10. You will see a
    <li><img src="<$mt:StaticWebPath$>images/status_icons/feed.gif" alt="Subscribe to feed" width="9" height="9" /> <a href="<$mt:Link template="feed_recent"$>">Subscribe to this blog's feed</a></li>
11. Add the following line right below it: <li><img src="<$mt:StaticWebPath$>images/status_icons/feed.gif" alt="Subscribe to the RSS feed" width="9" height="9" /> <a href="<$mt:Link template="RSS"$>">Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed</a></li>
12. Then save this Widget.  Now when you publish and look at your blog you will see two links to subscribe to the blog feed.
13. Finally you will want to modify the HTML Head Template to add the RSS feed as a feed to subscribe to.
14. Open Design | Templates
15. In the Template Modules Section Open the HTML Head Template
16. Below the line that has:
    <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Recent Entries" href="<$mt:Link template="feed_recent"$>" />
    

17. Add this:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Recent Entries" href="<$mt:Link template="RSS"$>" />



18. You should now have an RSS Feed added to the blog and to the list of available feeds for your blog.