Making Gling Work For You: Part Seven
Welcome back! I can’t wait to go exploring with you again today. This edition of Making Gling Work For You will cover the sidebar options of Friends, Articles, Blogs, Photos and Bookmarks. This is a lot of ground to cover, so I hope you wore some sturdy shoes.
Friends
Clicking the Friends link in the sidebar takes us back to familiar territory. It takes you to the very same page you get when you click your name! (See Part Three)
Articles
You are reading an article right now. You can access these handy informational tidbits in the sidebars of most pages or by going to the Blog section.
Blogs
Blogs are a great way to share insight and information you have gained on your gluten free journey. You may not know this, but anyone can post a blog entry on Gling. Also, keeping up with blogs is a great way to learn new things and stay updated on everything on and off of Gling.
Clicking the Blog link in the sidebar will take you to the page for All Blogs. This is the main page, containing the most recent entries. There are a lot of pages and great information to search for here. You can use the tabs at the top to find your Friend’s Blogs, Your Blogs or Write a Blog Post.
To write a blog post, click the appropriate tab to get started. Once on the posting page, these are the things to fill in:
Title: Try to write a title that clearly captures the main idea for your post.
Slug: This will be the defining portion of the URL for your post. Pick something short and sweet. You can use letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. (i.e. The slug for this post will be gling_user_guide_7)
Body: Type your post here.
Tease: A couple short sentences about the post. Tell what it is about to draw readers in.
Status: Choose to either save your post as ready for the public or as a draft to finish later.
Allow Comments: Do you want feedback? (of course you do!)
Post Content Markup: This is the formatting language. Gling blogs support Markdown. For detail on how to add pictures, links and formatting to blog posts, go to the Gling Tribe Making Gling Work For You. (Also known as the Newbie Tribe)
Tags: For tips on tagging, see Part Two
Click CREATE to share it with the world!
Photos
Whether it’s a yummy photo for a recipe or pictures of you and your pets, we all love photos. The Photos section offers Glingsters a great opportunity to interact and share.
Clicking on the Photos link in the sidebar will take you to the main photos page. The photos are arranged by most recent entry. There is a lot of clicking to be done here! The tabs are Latest Photos, Your Photos, Friend’s Photos and Upload A Photo. Each entry has clicky stuff too.
Clicking on the name of the person who posted the photo will take you to that person’s profile. Clicking on the photo itself will send you to that photo’s page. There you will find a larger image of the photo, a comment box (to show some love) and the option to get the embed code for the photo. The embed code is the HTML code you would need to place the photo on another site. As a courtesy, it’s a good idea to check with the person who posted the photo before taking it for another site. That way everyone is happy and no copyrights are infringed on.
To post a photo, click on the Upload A Photo tab. Once on the posting page, click the Browse button next to the Image box to search your computer for the photo you want to upload. Next, add a title and a caption to tell a bit abut the photo. Notice that the Public box comes pre-checked. If your photo is private, uncheck this box.
Example
If I want to post a photo of cookies, it would look like this.
Title: Scrumptious Shortbread Cookies
Caption: These cookies go perfectly with a cup of coffee or afternoon tea.
The safety level of your photo should always be safe. This means that it is G rated and you have the right to use it. To finish up, add your tags and click UPLOAD.
Bookmarks
Bookmarks are a great way to share fun sites and links with your pals on Gling. Click on the Bookmarks link in the sidebar to begin...
The main page of bookmarks is the tab marked All Bookmarks. The other tabs available are Add Bookmarks, Your Bookmarks and Friend’s Bookmarks.
Staying on the main page allows you to sort through a mega-amount of resources. Arrange the entries on this page to appear by popularity (reddit-like hotness) or by date entered.
Each entry contains the name of the person who shared the bookmark (which will take you to their profile), the date the bookmark was posted, the Bookmark (link to another page), a save option and tags. When you save a bookmark, it gets added to your profile page for easy access later. There are also voting arrows. Try to vote on every bookmark you try so we can all have an accurate popularity count.
Posting bookmarks is super easy- it all starts on the Add Bookmark tab. First, enter the URL of the page you want people to go to. To do this, go to the page you want to share and copy the entire URL from your browser bar, then paste it in the box. The description should be the title of the page the URL links to. Add a note about the page to let people know what it is. To finish, tag your bookmark and click ADD BOOKMARK.
Example
I want to add a link to my review blog (which, unlike the scrumptious shortbread cookies above, actually exists.) It would look like this:
URL: http://www.glutenfreeproductreviews.blogspot.com
Description: Gluten Free Product Reviews
Note: Honest reviews of gluten free products, including food and skin care.
Tags: product reviews, food, skin care
That does it for this week, boy are my feet tired! Some of you super observant Glingsters are saying, “But, Marissa, you skipped the Tribes!” First off, gold star to anyone who noticed :) I did skip Tribes, and for very good reason. The tribes section is huge! it is the network of outbuildings behind the main Gling mansion. This means that Tribes get an article all to themselves. Join me next week to delve deep into the jungles of the Glingaverse and explore the outposts that Tribes have to offer. For that one, you should bring some war-paint and a good pair of hiking boots :)
