When you're writing a diary or a comment, it is certainly acceptable to type some text, preview, and then post, without adding any visual enhancements. Often, though, such enhancements can improve the readability of your work by allowing you to acknowledge a source without distracting from the flow of your text, set off a quotation so that it is immediately recognizable as source material, or draw attention to specific words and phrases. Daily Kos even provides some handy tools that make it easy to enrich your diaries and comments with things like links and blockquotes.
In general, formatting "tricks" that can be done in a diary can also be done in a comment. Practicing your skills in comments (in this diary, for instance!) is an easy and low-stakes way to know what you're doing before you work on a diary. So while these lessons will focus on how to do things in comments, know that the same tools will produce the same results in a diary.
Lesson 1: Links
Readers usually appreciate not having to hunt for your sources, so we'll begin with adding links (hyperlinks). To add a basic link in a comment, use the
Link tool that this site provides:
1. Click on Post a Comment (look either above the Tip Jar or below all of the comments).
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2. Type or copy-and-paste your text in the Post Comment box that appears.
3. Highlight only those words that you want to link from.
4. Look below the text box for a row of buttons (shown at left).
5. Click on the Link button.
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6. Look between the Post Comment box and the row of buttons, and you will now see two rectangular text boxes: one for the URL and one for the Label. Those highlighted or "link" words will automatically show up in the Label box.
7. Copy-and-paste the URL for the site that you want to link to. (The URL can usually be found in the address bar at the top of the page.)
8. Click on the Add button, which is to the right of the Label box.
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9. Click on the Preview button, and test the link by right-clicking* to open it in a new tab or window.
10. Continue to make adjustments and to click on Preview until you are satisfied with your comment.
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11. When everything works and is displaying correctly, click on the Post button.
* To right-click on a Mac, hold down the control (ctrl) key, then click your mouse button.
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For those who prefer to type everything rather than to click on buttons, belinda ridgewood has provided instructions for hand-typing links in Cranky Users: Sunday Kvetching.
Extra Credit: You can tell the browser to automatically open the linked URL in a new tab or window, just as I did with the "Cranky Users: Sunday Kvetching" link above, by adding target="_blank" to the HTML code.
So the original HTML code created by the Link tool looks like this:
<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/27/950630/-Cranky-Users-Sunday-Kvetching">Cranky Users: Sunday Kvetching</a>
Just add a space after the URL, then insert target="_blank" into the HTML code created by the Link tool, like so:
Kvetching" target="_blank">Cranky
Always remember that everything matters when writing code, including spacing as well as characters. The new code with the target added after the linked URL should look exactly like this:
<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/27/950630/-Cranky-Users-Sunday-Kvetching" target="blank">Cranky Users: Sunday Kvetching</a>
Just so you know, both links look identical when posted: Cranky Users: Sunday Kvetching.
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Taking a moment to complete this extra
target
step may increase the likelihood that folks who go read the linked material, which conveniently opened in a new tab or window, will then come back to your page, which will still be up in its original window! It's worth a try, don't you think?
Lesson 2: Blockquotes
Readers can more easily distinguish between your words and those of your source(s) if you use blockquotes, particularly for lengthy quotations. Here is a blockquote of
site guidelines for quoting:
When you quote material that is not your own, please provide a link whenever possible. Also, use the blockquote tags to set off the copied material so that your writing is distinct from the material you are copying.
To set off and enclose material in a shaded box within a comment, use the
Blockquote tool that the site provides. The method is very similar to the one we used for links: highlight the text involved, click a button.
- Click on Post a Comment (look either above the Tip Jar or below all of the comments).
- Type or copy-and-paste your text in the Post Comment box that appears.
- Highlight the text that you are quoting.
- Look below the text box for a row of buttons:
Bold, Italic, Blockquote, Link, Help, Preview, Cancel
- Click on the Blockquote button.
- Click on the Preview button, and make sure that everything is displaying correctly.
- Continue to make adjustments and to click on Preview until you are satisfied with your comment.
- When everything works and is displaying correctly, click on the Post button.
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Another option is to type blockquote tags around the material you're quoting. To do this, just type
<blockquote>
before your quotation begins, and
</blockquote>
(note the added "/") after it ends. Either way, remember to provide a link to the source of your blockquoted material!
Note: If you want to boldface or italicize text, follow the steps above, and just click on either Bold or Italic instead of Blockquote. |
Preview Is Our Friend!
Preview is a lifesaver in TWO important ways! First, it shows us how our comment or diary will look when posted. That may NOT be the way you thought it was going to look when you composed it! Always take advantage of the ability to look at the preview and make sure everything works and looks exactly the way you planned. If it doesn't look right in Preview, your comment or diary will not magically improve after being posted!
Second, when writing a diary, Preview is also the way to SAVE your diary draft. If you're working on a diary, clicking Save & Preview periodically is a very good idea. Otherwise, if the site goes down, or your browser tab gets closed by mistake, you are back to the drawing board!
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Additional Resources for Diarists
During the next few weeks, belinda ridgewood and I will be posting a series of diaries explaining how to do more things. Tomorrow's diary, for instance, will show how to format text using HTML tags to
underline,
strikethrough, etc. Meanwhile,
New Diarists: Resources for All provides links to 1) resource diaries for drafting, formatting, and mechanics of the site; 2) advice diaries re writing, interacting with commenters, and working with groups; and 3) a list of helpful groups and series for New Diarists. And
Cranky Users: Our Story So Far lists how-to diaries published during DK4's first year.
If you have questions about posting comments or diaries, feel free to post a comment and ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll make something up. And as always, experienced kossacks are welcome to ask questions or to post advice for New Diarists as well.
New Diarists is a safe place to practice diary writing skills with a mentor's guiding hand. Experienced diarists are invited to join and buddy up with new diarists, and new diarists are welcome to join and to ask for help. The group's Publication Manager provides a space where we can collaborate on diaries and help with everything from revising to formatting to promoting your new diary.
How-to and Help diaries, such as smileycreek's New Diarists: How to Collaborate with Us on a Diary, will be published to the New Diarists group. Visit our home page and click on the little ♥ to follow us.
Ready to play? Send a private message to nomandates for an invitation to join the group.
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