A blog is a page that aggregates blog posts written in an informal or conversational style.
Anatomy of a Blog
Blogs are comprised of two different page types:
- Blog Front Page (blog) - This is the landing page for your blog. It can include optional intro copy and body copy to summarize the blog's purpose or content. The primary feature is a feed of all blog posts, listed in reverse chronological order (most recent posts first), with a summary of each post that includes title, intro copy, main image (if uploaded), and a link to read the full post.
- Blog Post - A blog post is an individual article, story, or news piece on a blog. It can include intro copy, body copy, author information, and an optional main image.
Optional features available on blog front pages and blog posts:
Note that there are two different workflows for editing your blog: editing the blog landing page, i.e. the information about the blog overall, and adding a new individual post to your blog.
Blog Front Page
Adding a blog to your website
A blog that has only a few posts or hasn't been updated in a long time is often less preferable than having no content at all. Before deciding to add a new blog to your website it is important to consider the following questions:
- How often do you plan to update your department's blog?
- Will you be able to maintain your department's blog over time?
- Is your content best suited for the blog format, i.e. regular, informal updates that are available as a running archive over time? Or is it the kind of information that is better suited to a page?
If you believe you have the content and resources to maintain your blog you can request one for your department website by emailing helpdesk@oxy.edu. Include the following information in your request: page name, page type, menu placement. We recommend that you have at least one or two blog posts ready to add before your blog is published.
Editing your blog front page
Steps
- Navigate to the blog you want to edit, e.g. oxy.edu/my-department/blog.
- Click the edit button.
- Edit the text in the intro copy and body copy field as desired.
- If you would like to add a main image to your blog, please email the web team.
- When you are done making your changes click save at the bottom of the page.
Adding a new post to your blog
Example of a blog post:
Steps
- Navigate to the blog where you want to add a post, e.g. oxy.edu/my-department/blog-name.
- Click the "create new blog post link" just below the edit button or in the righthand sidebar.
- The "linked to blog page" field will be pre-populated with the name of the parent blog for your post.
- Title - enter your blog post title in the title field.
- Publishing date - today's date is the default publish date. To backdate a post, select a date in the past.
- Main image - See our tutorial on uploading images for more information. Blog posts have three image size/display options:
- Banner Image - displays at full-width at the top of the page. This should only be used for very large, high quality images.
- Full Body Width Image - displays at the same width as the text content on the page. This is the best option for most landscape-style images.
- In-Body Image - displays within the text of your blog post. This is the best option for portrait-style images.
- Optional Image Credit - if you want to include the photo source you can add it to the image credit field
- Intro - Enter a one sentence headline for your post. In the above example, the intro copy field displays the post author's name.
- Body - Type or paste your story, article or news piece in the body field. This field can contain text, tables, links, images and video.
- Groups Audience - Before saving, select the parent DEPARTMENT for your blog (in this example, Admission & Aid) from the field titled "Groups Audience". You will only see a list of departments you have access to edit here. If you do not see the department that your blog belongs to in this list, please email helpdesk@oxy.edu to request an update to your permissions.
- Click "Save" to publish your blog post.