On Posting...

While this is a collective blog and thus anyone who is a member can post to it, there are some directions and guidlines for posting. Please read this post so that we can keep the coblog organized, efficient, and usable.

1. The coblog now has what is called "peekaboo" posts. This means that on each post, only a summary is shown initially. There is then an option to click "read more..." which will open the full post. Likewise, there then appears "summary only..."which when clicked will return the post to summary view. The reason for including this feature is to make the coblog more readible and usable. Many posts end up being fairly long. This causes the user to have to scroll a great deal. With peekaboo posts, this problem is averted because summaries are all that is shown. Now, what does this mean for you? Well, in order to create a peekaboo post, you must follow these instructions:

Each peekaboo post will consist of two parts, the summary and the main part. The summary can simply be the first couple of sentences of the post, with emphasis on making it flashy to draw people to want to read more. When you open the text editor to create a post, you will see the following:

"Type your summary here.

Type the rest of your post here."

You must highlight the first line and overwrite it with your summary. Then you must highlight and overwrite the second line with the rest of your post. (for any html savvy people, this is just to ensure that the main post is within the span) If your post is short and you do not think it needs a peekaboo post, simply write the entire thing over the "Type your summary here" line and delete the "Type the rest of your post here" line.

2. In order for the coblog to be organized, the Labels must be utilized. Therefore, when you post, ensure that you enter labels (separated by commas) in the label box just below the text editor. These labels can be anything, but it is generally a good idea to use more than one and to try to use labels that have already been created, which you can find in the label cloud on the coblog.

Very important! The coblog now has a tabbed menu at the top of the post entry column. Right now, it consists of "Home" (all posts), "News" (posts labeled "news"), "Discussion" (posts labeled "discussion"), "Audio" (posts with embedded audio), "Video" (posts with embedded video), and "Instructions" (posts labeled "instructions"). In order to increase usability, make sure to label your post with either "news" or "discussion" (the "instructions" label is to be reserved for developers to post information pertaining to the use and functionality of the coblog along with tutorials). This will help us maintain two distinct sections for the coblog. If you would like to have more tabs, and thus more options for labeling, leave comments on this post so that they can be developed.


In review: 1. Make your post a peekaboo post! 2. Label your post appropriately! This means it must have at the very least one of the following labels: "News", "Discussion", "Audio", or "Video".

Any questions?


All it takes is participation...