Blog entries

From the dashboard or the side menu, click the New entry link in the Blog section.

The Title and Content fields are compulsory. The toolbar located above the input field allows you to enrich the page layout with links or media, to add attachments and specify key words.

Regardless of the input format you have chosen by default for your blog via the Blog settings page, you can redefine a particular entry thanks to the Text formating scrolling list in the menu which is on the right-hand side of the entry. The two text formats on offer are wiki or xHTML.

When blog entries are displayed as a list on the blog index, or when they are organized by category, for instance, the Excerpt field will be displayed for each entry followed by a “Continue” link - that is, if an excerpt has been defined.

If you had not specified an excerpt, the entire entry will be displayed.

In the entry's own page, the page will display the excerpt if it exists, followed by the entry's content.

You can insert an image in an entry by clicking the corresponding icon and choosing the image you want to insert, using the Media Manager.

You can also insert an attachment for any kind of media: see below.

You can attach a file to your entry by clicking the Add files link in the right-hand menu, and selecting the file to attach from the Media Manager. A link toward this file will appear at the bottom of the entry.

After having written the entry, or while writing if it is lengthy, click save. The entry is now saved in the database.

If you have the necessary user permissions, you will be able to choose from four possible entry statuses:

• pending : status not defined (default setting)
• scheduled : allows you to choose a date for the entry's publication.
• unpublished: this entry is kept offline.
• published: entry is online.

The Published on: field allows you to change the date and time of the entry, either by direct input in the field, or by selecting a date in the calendar. If the new date is posterior to the moment of the modification and the status of the entry is set for scheduled, the entry will only go online on the date and time specified.

By default, the author of the entry is the person who created it. To modify this info, select the entry from the list of entries and select the Change author item from the scroll menu located at the bottom of the list.

If you had created categories, the scrolling menu located at the top of the right-hand column will allow you to attribute the entry to a category.

You can associate a tag to an entry by typing them in, separated by commas, in the Tags section in the right-hand column. Or, if the tags have already been created, by following the Add a tag for this entry and Choose from list links.

The little cross next to each key word allows you delete it from the entry.

A button in the toolbar allows you to create a tag spontaneously while making a link towards this tag.

The Entry lang: field allows you to specify the language in which the entry is written, thus enabling you to sort entries according to this criteria. The value of the language is a 2 to 5 character code (ex: en, fr, fr-qc…)

This zone under the entry's input field is a non-public space for note-taking (or whatever you feel like putting in it!). Only the people with editing rights on this entry will have access to it.

An entry's deletion is done from the Entries page, accessible from the left-hand menu. Tick the box to the left of the entry you wish to delete, then select the delete item from the scrolling menu called Selected entries action below the entries list.

Setting the entry status to schedule and modifying the entry's date will result in the entry being published on a chosen time and date.

Ticking the Selected entry box in the right-hand column while editing or creating an entry will display the entry in the Selected entries section of the blog.

These boxes can be ticked or unticked depending on your blog's default settings. You can change the settings for a specific entry.

The Entry password field that you see in your article's edition page allows you to define a password restricting visitor access to a specific entry. Note that you can not protect the entire blog.

By default, Dotclear builds entry URLs following the http://the-blogs-url/post/date/title format. You can modify the part after post/ by unlocking the Basename field and specifying what you want it to be replaced by.

To be able to send a trackback towards another blog, the entry must be saved and published. Then choose the Ping blogs tab above the entry's Title field.

The panel then displayed is divided into three horizontal parts.

The first shows the content of your entry.

In the second, specify the URL for the recipient trackbacks section to which you are sending your trackback. This address should be found at the recipient entry, and is usually located visibly by the entry.

The third zone is for the excerpt to send to the recipient entry. By default, these will be your entry's first words. You can change this by copying and pasting another excerpt from the first zone, if you wish.

Finally, click Ping blogs, a message will notify you of the success or failure of the action.

You can manage a specific entry's comments from its editing interface by clicking the Comments tab.

A list of comments and trackbacks linked to the entry will be displayed. Besides visualizing the comments' content (and possible actions, as explained later), you will have access to two more infos: the commentator's email if he provided one (it is usually compulsory) and his IP address.

The little scroll menu below the comments list enables you to perform several actions: deleting it, marking it as junk, unpublishing it… From this page you can also edit a comment, for instance. With the exception of date, time and IP address, all fields can be modified.

Next to the Commments tab, the Add a comment tab enables you to write a comment without leaving the administration interface.

Click the link counting the number of entries on the dashboard, or click the Entries link in the left-hand administration menu. You'll then access a list of the blog's entries.

Entries are listed in anti chronological order (most recent on top).

Each line, preceded by a tickable box to select the entries you wish to act upon, provides several different informations: title (links to the entry's editing interface), publication date, category (links to the category editing interface), author, publication status (symbolized by an icon). If the entry was placed in the “Selected entries” section of the blog menu, this status is marked with a little yellow star on a blue background at the end of the line.

The at the very beginning of a line enables you to “deploy” the entry in order to read it while staying within the “Entries” panel.

The top part of the entry management panel is a zone which allows you to sort the entries displayed in the list.

The Filters link gives you access to different criteria, according to which you can display a selection of entries only. If you are unsure, contextual help is available by clicking the question marks located by each field.

You can perform certain operations on several entries at once if you first select them by clicking the box to the very left of each entry's line (or by clicking select all at the bottom-left part of the list), and then choose the action you wish to perform on these entries thanks to the bottom-right scrolling menu.

The following actions will or won't be available, depending on the user's rights:

• publish - publishing rights
• unpublish - publishing rights
• schedule - you will have to choose a new date in the calendar, or input this field manually. - publishing rights
• mark as pending - publishing rights
• change category - writer
• change author - careful, you will need to provide your login here, not the pseudonym or full name - blog administrator
• delete (for this choice, a confirmation window demanding confirmation will need to be validated) - blog administrator
• add tags - allows you to add one or several common tags to the pre-selected entries.