How to Blog

Blogging functionality has now been introduced in COPA 2.0. Blogging is easy, basically a one way post where visitors can comment on the content. Posting and maintaining your personal blog area is different than posting and commenting in the forums area. This How to Blog Blog is meant to provide basic information to begin blogging on COPA  2.0.

This blog is a "quick start" version of documentation to Blog. For detailed Blog documentation go here on the Community Server website.

First step to start Blogging is to get permission to Blog. Blogging rights are granted by the President of COPA, so if you want Blog contact Curt. Once you are granted Blogging permission you will be placed in one of two Blogging groups: Member Blogs and Market Place Blogs.

Once granted permission to Blog your Blog will be set up by a COPA 2.0 administrator. When your Blog is active go to Forums|Blogs. On this page select either "Member's Blogs" or "MarketPlace Blogs" depending on which group you have been assigned. On the next screen select "Blogs on this Site". Depending on which Blog group you have been enrolled you will see this screen. For purposes of this "How to" we are "test blog" as shown on the page.

Double click on your Blog (for this demo we are using "test blog") and you will see the following screen.

In the upper right hand corner, click on "Control Panel" and you will see this page.

This is your Blog Control Panel. Everything is here to write a Blog, edit a Blog and manage all the settings associated with Blogging on COPA 2.0. For this demonstration let's just "Write a blog post". For most members this will be the task most often performed in the Blog Control Panel. To "Write a blog post" hit either one of hyperlinks marked "Write a blog post". You will see this page.

This page presents the very same WYSIWYG editor you use in the Forums section to make a post. Edit your Blog just like you would a post in the Forums section. It is helpful to include "Tags" keywords for you Blog and you can upload an attachment for your Blogs. When you are finished writing your Blog hit one of the two "Save" options or hit Publish. If you hit on of the save options your Blog will be saved for future editing but Members will not be able to see it. If you want to come back and continue editing your Blog return to the "Blog Control Panel" above, this time selecting "Manage". In the "Manage" page, select "Post" then find the post you want to edit and hit the "Edit" button for that Blog post.

You will note that in the "Published" column there is an icon showing the Published status of your Blog post. If you want to Publish your Blog for members to see then click "Publish in the Blog Post Editor and your Blog will be visible on COPA 2.0.

So that's a quick tour of Blogging on COPA 2.0. We look forward to seeing member contributions of knowledge and experience in the COPA Blogs.