Creating blog entries

[David Blevins <da...@visi.com>]

The basic process I've been using for the blog posts I create is:

   1. set the blog post to publish in say 2-3 days (or later if I  
create a handful of posts all at once which is frequently the case).
   2. send a preview URL to the list for lazy consensus.

POST DATE

When creating a blog entry you can click the "Advanced Settings" link  
at the bottom of the page and actually set the date/time that an entry  
will be posted.  As mentioned, I typically use 2-3 days to get some  
time for lazy consensus.  Frequently, I'm creating 2-3 blog posts all  
at once and use that feature to spread them out over the course of a  
week or two.  Once you've set the date/time, you just click the "Post  
to Weblog" button.  Don't worry, it won't actually post anything till  
the specified date/time.

PREVIEW

I also cooked up a script that is now installed on blogs.apache.org  
that allows everyone to review the entries before they're actually  
posted.  Sort of a "review than commit" process for blog entries so we  
all feel welcome and encouraged to write up posts.

When you create an entry and before you post it, just "Save as Draft"  
and then "Full Preview" which will give you a link like the following  
which only you and other editors will be able to see:

   https://blogs.apache.org/roller-ui/authoring/preview/openejb/?previewEntry=teeeeest

To create a publicly readable preview link, just hack out the "roller- 
ui/authoring/" part of the path like so:

   https://blogs.apache.org/preview/openejb/?previewEntry=teeeeest

Note this can only be done on blogs that authorize the "preview" user  
and is not enabled by default.

For those that are lazy and know how to create bookmarklets in your  
browser, this will do the editing for you:

   javascript:window.location=window.location.toString().replace(/ 
roller-ui.authoring./,"");


CODE SNIPPETS

I haven't found a good solution for this and have just been using  
"<pre>" tags to surround the code.  You can use a service like  
gist.github.com and include the gist via a javascript url.  The code  
will look all nice and pretty, but unfortunately the code will not  
technically be part of the blog content so won't show up in the rss  
feed or search engine indexes.


-David

Re: Creating blog entries

[Joe Bohn <jo...@earthlink.net>]

Does anybody else have any opinions on this process for the Geronimo 
Blog?  I'd like to post a link to the wiki content for deploying the 
Apache Aries samples on Geronimo 3.0.

It seems that this process is the more conservative than just posting 
content (as I did with the initial welcome post) ... so I'll follow this 
process for my next post on the Aries sample installation (barring any 
strong objections).

I'll use the PREVIEW approach for my post on the Aries Samples on G 
since I'm laying a little ground work (very little) regarding the 
efforts between Apache Aries and Geronimo.   If I don't hear any 
objections I'll publish this post in a day or two.

https://blogs.apache.org/preview/geronimo/?previewEntry=apache_aries_samples_running_on

BTW, I don't see the "preview" user authorized but it seems that I can 
get to this link without login so I think it should be available for 
everyone.  Let me know if you can't access the link.

One more thing - our current text area for the blog entries is just that 
- one big, text area without any type of editor ... so you have to enter 
html to have it formatted.  I updated the preferences where there is a 
choice to use the "Rich Text Editor (Xihna)" - but this didn't seem to 
make a difference for me on either FF Or Safari - perhaps it will work 
with IE - let me know if you have better luck.

Joe


On 4/29/10 4:32 PM, David Blevins wrote:
> The basic process I've been using for the blog posts I create is:
>
> 1. set the blog post to publish in say 2-3 days (or later if I create a
> handful of posts all at once which is frequently the case).
> 2. send a preview URL to the list for lazy consensus.
>
> POST DATE
>
> When creating a blog entry you can click the "Advanced Settings" link at
> the bottom of the page and actually set the date/time that an entry will
> be posted. As mentioned, I typically use 2-3 days to get some time for
> lazy consensus. Frequently, I'm creating 2-3 blog posts all at once and
> use that feature to spread them out over the course of a week or two.
> Once you've set the date/time, you just click the "Post to Weblog"
> button. Don't worry, it won't actually post anything till the specified
> date/time.
>
> PREVIEW
>
> I also cooked up a script that is now installed on blogs.apache.org that
> allows everyone to review the entries before they're actually posted.
> Sort of a "review than commit" process for blog entries so we all feel
> welcome and encouraged to write up posts.
>
> When you create an entry and before you post it, just "Save as Draft"
> and then "Full Preview" which will give you a link like the following
> which only you and other editors will be able to see:
>
> https://blogs.apache.org/roller-ui/authoring/preview/openejb/?previewEntry=teeeeest
>
>
> To create a publicly readable preview link, just hack out the
> "roller-ui/authoring/" part of the path like so:
>
> https://blogs.apache.org/preview/openejb/?previewEntry=teeeeest
>
> Note this can only be done on blogs that authorize the "preview" user
> and is not enabled by default.
>
> For those that are lazy and know how to create bookmarklets in your
> browser, this will do the editing for you:
>
> javascript:window.location=window.location.toString().replace(/roller-ui.authoring./,"");
>
>
>
> CODE SNIPPETS
>
> I haven't found a good solution for this and have just been using
> "<pre>" tags to surround the code. You can use a service like
> gist.github.com and include the gist via a javascript url. The code will
> look all nice and pretty, but unfortunately the code will not
> technically be part of the blog content so won't show up in the rss feed
> or search engine indexes.
>
>
> -David
>
>