Web Guidelines: MIT Libraries

News Blog

Certain staff have permissions to post to the MIT Libraries News Blog and instructions for those staff are below. If you have questions or would like a story posted, please email spotlight-lib@mit.edu.

Email list of MIT Libs News bloggers: blog-lib[at]mit.edu

To become a News blogger, contact webmaster[at]libraries.mit.edu

Post | Edit | Delete | Link | Images | Writing Style

Post a News Story

1. Click on the Write tab.
2. Enter the title (see Writing Style)
3. Enter the text of the post.
4. Format if desired. All HTML tags will work, but you can use the Wordpress quicktags - highlight the text you want formatted, then click the tag you want:
   - str = bold
   - em = italics
   - link = will prompt you for the URL
   - b-quote = will indent the whole paragraph
   - ul = unordered list (bulleted list ) - highlight the whole list
   - ol= ordered list (numbered list) – highlight the whole list
   - li = needs to be wrapped around each list element
5. Select categories.
   - “All news” should always remain checked.
   - If a sub-category is checked, its larger category should also always be checked (ex: if “Book sales” is checked, then its larger category, “Events” should also be checked).
6. Save the post as a draft, make updates, then publish.
   - Save as Draft = come back to it later through Write or Manage tabs (drafts listed at top); you can then see preview at bottom of page and test links.
   - Save and Continue = will allow you to save and check your work so far, without leaving the editing screen; Save will save the work, but will bump you out of the editing screen (these options only appears after you have made a draft).
   - Publish = will make the post live; double-check your work.

Edit a Post

1. There should be an Edit link at the bottom of your own posts on the blog (sometimes this link does not appear right away); or
2. Go to Manage tab - find your post and click Edit.

Delete a Post

Go to Manage tab; find your post and click Delete.

To delete drafts, choose desired draft, then click delete button under Advanced.

Link to a Post

Click on the headline of the story, use the URL of the page that comes up.

Images

Uploading images:

1. To upload an image, use the box underneath the post you are writing. If you scroll down, you'll see a box that says "upload". You can click "browse" to browse to the file on your computer and upload it.
2. Be sure to give it a title. (because that becomes the "alt" tag in the HTML... so make it descriptive of what the image is for those using screen readers) It's OK to leave "description" blank.
3. Then you'll see some radio buttons for : thumbnail, full size, or title. Usually you will want "full size." There are more radio buttons for "link to: file, page, none." Usually you will want NONE. (because the image is usually just decorative in your post, not a link to anything)
4. Click the button that says "send to editor," and you'll see the image in your post preview. You can move it around from there. After we've uploaded some images in this new way, we'll be able to go into any old or new post (Manage or Write) and click on the little tab under the post that says "browse all." From there you can see previously uploaded images and re-use them, if you like.

Options for placing images in your post:

1. Simply insert the image, which will stand separate from the text.
   
   
2. Add an align attribute (align="left" or align="right") - this will make the text wrap around the image:
   
   <img align="left" src="http://mit-libraries.net/blog/wp-images/cupcakes10.JPG" width="150" height="126" alt="cake"  />
   
   But the text gets shoved up right against the image, which, if there is no extra white space in the image looks pretty bad.  Add "hspace" and/or "vspace" attributes to get around this - these essentially let you put a buffer (in pixels) around your image:
   
   <img align="left" src="http://mit-libraries.net/blog/wp-images/cupcakes10.JPG" width="150" height="126" alt="cake" hspace="10" />
   
   The vspace tag (for vertical buffer at top and bottom) is not always necessary and can even be too much - the normal line break is often sufficient to provide a buffer.
   
   
3. Use tables. Add HTML tags to put the image in one cell of a table and the text in another. However, if the text is longer than the image is tall, the text won't wrap around the image which can look odd.
   
   
4. Add a border. Sometimes the background of an image is an off-white, which looks funny against the pure white of the blog page.  Putting a border around the image will make it look better.
   
   <img align="left" src="http://mit-libraries.net/blog/wp-images/cupcakes10.JPG" width="150" height="126" alt="cake" hspace="10" border="1" />

Writing Style

Titles

• use caps for the first word, proper names and acronyms, all other words should be in lower case
• make titles meaningful and compelling since news readers may only display the title
• include date, day of the week and time for dated events

NO: Book(cart)mobile at Stata Center on June 30

YES: Pick up a book or music CD at the book(cart)mobile in the Stata Center, Thursday, 6/30, 11-2

Why would anyone care about a book(cart)mobile - whatever that is? The second example tells you why you want to come (to get stuff!) and is more specific about the date and time. I can't remember what day of the week the 30th is, but if I see it's Thursday, I might think - oh, I have a meeting/class over there right about that time, I'll be sure to stop by.

Body of Post

• create links to any libraries mentioned (only link once)
  
• make the words of any links match the title of the pages being linked to (don't say "click here")
  
• use "+" rather than "&"
  
• provide a contact for more information, if appropriate
  
• be brief, but don't omit words - see: Fragments
  
• use the House Style

For more information, consult: Writing for the Web