Blogging Help @ UVM

One of the benefits to having a blog is that you can use it to publish media content whis is automatically downloaded to your audience's computers and portable devices. This process is often referred to as a podcast. To create a podcast, a special "web feed" needs to be generated from your blog that people can subscribe to. There are a few ways to go about this. Here is an easy way - all you need to know is the url for your blog.

1. Go to your blog home page, and copy the URL out of the address bar (i.e. http://your.blog.uvm.edu/).
2. Go to feedburner.com, and paste in the link below where it says "Type Your Blog or Feed Address Here to Get Started"
3. Check the box next to "I am a podcaster!", and click the "Next>>" button.
4. On the next screen, you don't need to change anything, so click on the "Next>>" button.
5. Edit the feed information as you'd like it to appear when you send it to people, and fill out the account information to create a new account. When you've filled out all of the fields, click the "Activate Feed>>" button.

That's it! The link you are provided with is the one you can send to people, and subscribe to in your favorite feed reader, or audio program.

Now when you upload a media item and link to it in a blog post, it's automatically included in this podcast feed. You can even log back into your feedburner account and see how many people are subscribed to your feed, and more.

Posted by Justin at 2:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The release of MT 3.2 brought with it a new plugin that let's you easily choose and apply various themes to your blog. Here's how to set it up and use it.

Configuring StyleCatcher

Before we begin, we need to configure StyleCatcher to use the appropriate paths when it downloads and displays themes. To do this:

1. Log into your blog admin space. After logging in, click on the "Plugins" link from the menu on the right.
2. to the right of where the "StyleCatcher" plugin is described, click the "Show Settings" link.
3. Set the Theme Root URL to /mt/mt-static/themes/
4. Click "Save Changes".

The plugin should now be ready. Next we need to go set up your blog.

"Freshening" up your template files

If you got your blog before January of this year or have modified your template files, then you may need to reset your templates. This isn't necessarily a requirement, but I've found during my tests that things go smoothly with clean templates. Your mileage may vary.

Doing this makes backup copies of your templates and replaces the current files with the default files that come with MT 3.2. So if there are customizations that you would like to preserve, you'll have to go back in after and re-edit your templates.

To refresh your templates:

1. Log into your blog's admin space and proceed to the blog you are refreshing.
2. Click on the "Templates" button from the menu on the left.
3. Select all the Templates by checking the box next to "Template Name" at the top of the list of template files.
4. From the dropdown box labeled "More actions..." (located above and to the right of the list of template files), select "Refresh Templates", and hit "Go".

Using the plugin

Now it's time for the fun part.

1. If you're not already there, log into your blog's administrative interface, and proceed to the templates area of the blog you would like to style.
2. Scroll down to below the list of templates, and click on the "Select a Design using StyleCatcher" link.
3. Click on the "Find Style" button to browse the style library.
4. Pick a design by clicking on one of the squares.
5. Click the "Choose This Design" button.
6. Return to the templates area and rebuild your blog.

Now when you go look at your blog (remember to reload your browser if it looks odd or hasn't seemed to change), you should see the style you picked out.

Posted by Justin at 3:52 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)