Added: online resources

I have added a page to the site with online resources for map (and Map) related stuff — cartography and infographics blogs, map archives and the like. If you have any favorite resources that you would like to have added, send me the URL and a brief description of what you like about the site, and I’ll add it to the list.

You can find the link in the menu bar, or go there directly.

WordPress iOS editing app gets styling buttons, full-screen mode

Update your WordPress apps!  This is for iPads as well as iPhones.

It’s only fair and right that one of the world’s most popular content management/blogging platforms should have a snazzy and capable iPhone app to go with it. The WordPress app has been updated to version 2.9, adding three new features for mobile users.

The new version adds handy styling buttons right above the keyboard, so you no longer have to put in your markup manually for bold or italic text, links or lists. Full-screen editing gives you more real estate to view what you’re working on, especially handy on the iPhone’s screen. You can also now follow other subscribed WordPress.com blogs directly in the app.

via WordPress iOS editing app gets styling buttons, full-screen mode | TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

ANNOUNCEMENT: site tweaks + poll

Hi everyone,

I tweaked the site a bit, made the menu (in the black bar between the header image and the posts) more useful — it now has quick links to all categories!  I pulled out the ones related to class operations (so, announcements, homework, production, how-to posts) and then put all of the more “map-themed” ones under a catch-all header of “categories.”  All are nested menus, so more options pop up when you mouseover.

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QuickStart Word Press for THEA 228

These are your notes from our Word Press training session on the first day of class. It is mostly a visual reminder of where things are, or how to get to specific actions.  Don’t forget that the built in Help button (top, far right) is contextually sensitive to the page/section you are on — it’s great!

Use the Dashboard button in the WordPress toolbar to get to the Dasboard.
You can also use the Add New button to quickly jump to adding a new post or uploading an image without having to go through the Dashboard.

The dashboard allows you to add new posts or media and also edit existing posts or drafts. It is your control center!

The red arrows show the Dashboard links to “Posts” and “Media”.

 

 

 

Every post needs a category assigned!

Use the Categories window (midway, right) to select an appropriate category. You can change it later if need be by Editing your post (or using the Quick Edit link.)

 

 

 

A handy trick is to use the date of a post to re-arrange its place in the blog. You can set a date to publish, or change the date of a published post by clicking the Edit button Next to the date in the publish window ( top, right).

 

 

WordPress: post-dating assignments

When I make a syllabus it makes general mention of all assignments (to help students with their own time management of assignments) but then I write up much more detailed assignment sheets for each project, which I have to then remember to xerox and hand out at the appropriate class.

Using WordPress as our backbone in 228 this semester, I decided that instead of making hard copies of assignment sheets, they would be posts (category: assignments) instead of hard copies (greener too).

Added bonus: since WordPress allows you to set the date and time for posting, David and I can actually write ALL of those posts in advance, setting them to go live at, say, 3:30pm on the day that the assignment is given. And then forget about it!

I’m terribly excited…

Categories vs. Tags — Support — WordPress.com

This seemed like a good way of thinking about the difference between categories and tags, so I ran with this:

Once upon a time, WordPress.com only provided a Category option.

Categories allowed for a broad grouping of post topics, but when you wanted to describe a post in more specific terms, more categories were required. That led to very long category lists inside the blog and very long lists in Categories Widgets.

So we now have tags, too.

Tags are similar to categories, but they are generally used to describe your post in more detail.

For example:

via Categories vs. Tags — Support — WordPress.com.