Citizen Journalism Blog

First you log in. Usually, the log in page is at http://wwww. blablabla your blog dot com/wp-admin.

This is where you log in.

You will come to the dashboard.
On the left side bar, in light blue fonts are the buttons you need to write or add anything.

If you see a light gray triangle, click that and the board will expand further.

To add new post, just click Add New.

Then, it will lead you to another page where you can start writing.

Here's where you can write new post

After you have written whatever you want to write, you can click Publish on the right side bar. It is the blue button. WordPress will autosave as you write so you don’t have to worry about losing your post midway. But if you like, you can press Save Draft to save or Preview to have a look at your post.

This is the tutorial on using WordPress. You may find your panel different from the free WordPress.com because they are using different version.

So, you want to add big fonts, small fonts, red fonts, blue fonts….They are all there on your little tiny boxes.

b = bold your font,
i = italic (for these, you just highlight, i.e. right click and choose the part of the thing you want bolded or italic-ize.)

The blue link word with underline is where you add link. Or if you are in Visual mode, it is the chain like symbol.

Say you want to write Malaysiakini and you want to link it, you just highlight, click link/chain button and a tiny window will pop up. Just enter the URL of the site you want to link to.

b-quote is to block quote of what you quoted from somewhere.

YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS VISUAL AND WHAT IS HTML. Do you notice the word Visual and HTML on the right side of the box where you write?

For beginners, you can use Visual because it shows exactly what will be shown. But if you are copying some video clips from Youtube where they have all those codes and tags, you must use HTML to copy or the codes will turn into words.

Also, when you click Visual, there are lots of other buttons for you to play with. See the tiny chequered box on the far end of the right side? Hover over it and it says the Kitchen Sink. Click that and it gives you even more buttons to play around.

HOW TO ADD PHOTOS?

Notice the Add Media word on the top left of your Write Post box? Those tiny boxes, music and stars are where you upload your files.

To upload photos, just click the first box, it will lead you to a pop-up ‘Add Image’ new page. Just choose the photo from your computer, click add and it goes to your blog. See the ‘Insert Photo to Post’, click that and the codes will go to your post.

Normally the photo sizes should be around 500 pixel width. Height is ok but if too wide your photo will ‘run’ into your sidebar. So, do use that size or you can re-size from your WordPress panel. Just click the photo in Visual mode and there is one tiny blue box and a red circle. Click the tiny blue box and you can choose to reduce your photo or enlarge in percentage, like 50% less or 110% more etc.

More on next post on how to change your blog theme, add links and explanation on what is Widgets. Widget is a useful thing to add to your blog sidebar.

……you are most welcome, Jimmy!