Your friendly guide to using FTI blogs (public read only)

DRAFT ONLY! – AND PURELY FOR FTI MEMBERS

All FTI members do NOT have the rights to modify all FTI documents and Blogs. Only members of FTI GB (General Body) have access rights to create/modify Blog posts and moderate Blog comments. They are expected, though, to keep a record of the changes through good document management and sharing information on the changes with others. All other members are considered initial FTI members and they have a read-only access to FTI Blogs.

BACKGROUND (can be skipped unless you are into technical matters)

See also 'FTI's blog management policy'

Why we use a Blog and not Wiki

Blogs typically use a "top-down" publishing model, meaning that a small number of people create/manage content while the site users read and comment on the content. Wikis, on the other hand, have a "bottom-up" publishing model, where their site users also create and manage all of the content. We don't want "bottom-up" model on our site since our visitors (non members) are not going to create and manage our content, they can only post comments and that too will be moderated, filtered and approved by our editor board.

How version control is built into the FTI blog

This feature is built-in to WordPress BLOG we're using. To determine past revisions, do the following:

– Go into "Edit Post"

– There is "Post Revisions" section beneath the WYSIWYG editor that has a list of each and every change that includes user who changed it and date-time stamp of the change.

– Click on any change and see the changes made in that revision.

– There is an impressive "Compare Version" feature that allows you to compare 2 different versions of that post.

– There is a "Restore" feature that allows you to restore a previous version and make it the current one.

UPDATING YOUR PROFILE

Please scroll down to Your Profile and update the data (including uploading a photo). This must be kept current.

MAKING A BLOG POST

Please do not start blog posts on your own without prior discussion. In particular, the policy re: individual blog posts has not yet been finalised.

Go to Edit and 'Add New'. You can now start a new blog. Please ensure that you use 'FTI Board' as author and accord relevant permissions to your posts. Using your personal username as author is only recommended for your personal blog.

It is useful to categorise your post appropriately and to provide relevant tags as well for ease of searching.

Copying from a MS Word document to the blog

While copying from MS Word use the W symbol ("paste from word") in the bottom row (6th icon from left) which is a WYSIWYG editor.  Paste the whole document into the blog. It will eliminate unnecessary HTML code.

You must simultaneously track changes on Word documents!

The version tracking feature of WordPress outlined above is insufficient to track all changes. Therefore, when we publish Word documents on the BLOG we must retain the tracked changes version by uploading that document on the blog.

That way the blog will have the latest Word version along with blog contents.  Comments can outline the reasons why the changes were made. Earlier versions should remain linked in a sequence at the bottom of the blog.

How Word (or other files) can be uploaded on an FTI blog

1. Log-on to FTI BLOG using your username/passwd – it will take you to user control panel called "site admin"
2. On the left hand menu there is a sub-menu "Downloads".
3. Click on "Downloads" – it will open all options under that section
4. Click on "Add File" option.
5. A form will open on your main panel.
6. Most of the fields are self explanatory (please ensure appropriate permissions as outlined below).
7. To upload a new file, check radio button "Upload File" and click on "Browse" button to locate the file on your PC.
8. Give a meaning full name to your file and description (optional).
9. Choose category as "Public" or "Member Only" as per the case.
10. Choose "allowed to download" drop-down as "Everyone" or "Registered Members Only" as the case may be.
11. Click on "Add File" to complete the process.
12. Click on "Manage Downloads" option under "Downloads" section to make sure your new file is listed on main panel.

Uploading large (>20 MB) files

Even thought the "Add File"  form in the  "Downloads" section states that "Maximum file size is 20.0 MiB" (20 MB), however, the configuration variables of FTI's blogs have been changed in the php script to allow upload up to 1GB.

How does the uploaded file show up as a link in the blog?

1. Go to 'manage' files and sort by date (descending).
2. Make a note of ID of your uploaded files.
3. Now go to "Posts". Either create a new post or select Edit of an existing post.
4. In the "Edit Post" there is a post editor with lots of small tool icons. On the very first row on extreme right there is a square shape icon with floppy drive sign. Click on than icon, it will ask for File ID. Enter ID noted in step # 1.
5. Complete rest of the post if necessary and finally click on "Publish Post" (if new) or "Update Post" (if existing).

How does one ensure that a blog post shows up on the FTI Home page as well as in the News?

For a post to appear on home page it has to be authored by 'Board FTI' and to appear in the news section its got to have a tag 'FTI News' 

USING FTI BLOGS WITH GMAIL

Creating labels on gmail will avoid WordPress emails going to your main inbox.

Gmail allows users to create email filters to organize their email. Labels allow you to keep track of emails based on how you label them. You can label emails from certain people, on certain topics, etc.

Each Blog comment on any post authored by "FTI Board" i.e. user admin will result in email from: wordpress@freedomteam.in to the member's FTI Google Group email id through freedom-team-of-india@googlegroups.com.

To keep your Inbox clean and keep all the Blog comment emails separate from your regular FTI group emails please follow the steps outlined below.

1. Log on to your Gmail account
2. Click on "Settings" link (on top right corner of your screen)
3. Click on "Filters" tab under Settings section
4. Click on "Create a new filter" link
5. On the crate filter form enter "wordpress@freedomteam.in" in the "From" text field
6. Click on "Next Step >" button
7. Check "Skip the Inbox (Archive it)" check box
8. Check "Apply the label:" check box and then from the drop-down list next to it choose "New label…". When asked to enter new label name enter "FTI Blog Comments" (optionally you can choose to apply this filter to existing messages in your Inbox).
   
9. Finally click on button "Create Filter" to complete this process.
10. You will find a new label "FTI Blog Comments" under your Labels section on the left hand side of your Gmail page.

USING OPEN-ID LOG IN

If you wish to use the "Or login using an OpenID" option on Blog login page, please follow the following steps.

But first, what is Open ID: OpenID is an open standard that lets you sign in to various web sites on the Internet using a single identity without need of entering site specific user id and password.  You may not know but 99% chances are that you already have an Open ID. If you have any of top web accounts like AOL, Yahoo, WordPress, MSN etc then you have a true working OpenID. Here is the list of Open Id Providers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OpenID_providers

How to use your Google account to sign in to FTI Blog: Google has finally decided to jump on OpenID bandwagon recently. It can now be used on our FTI web site. Here are the steps to do that: (one time setup only)

1. Sign-in to your Google account (such as Gmail or Google groups)
2. First sign-in to FTI Blog http://fti.sabhlokcity.com/wp-admin/ using your regular Blog user id & password. (this is the last time you will need to use this)
3. Click on "Your OpenIDs" link on left hand side menu bar.
4. Enter text https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id in "Add OpenID" text box. Google may ask for your permission to use your Google credential on FTI site, just say 'yes'.
5. Log Out of the FTI Blog.
6. Now on FTI Blog Sign-in page check the box on called 'Google'.
7. Magically you are taken to the FTI Blog Dashboard without entering password.

Now in future every time you need to log in to FTI Blog, first log into your gmail account, and then (in a separate window) check the 'Google'  box on the FTI blog login page. You will be then able to sign in without entering any password.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR PROFILE

If you have established OpenID in your user profile you may encounter this error while trying to update your user profile's Website field:

For security reasons, your profile URL must be one of your claimed OpenIDs:
* https://www.google.com/accounts/blahblah

If that happens, please go through these steps:

a) Do you have "OpenID Delegation" field filled in your member profile. If yes please remove it.

b) If you still get the error click on "Your OpenIDs" menu item on the left hand menu and delete the offending OpenID https://www.google.com/accounts/blahblah from the list. And then try to update your profile.

c) Once you update your profile, you'll need to re-establish your openID by following the process outlined above.

CONCLUSION

It is hoped you have a pleasant experience using FTI blogs. These are a valuable tool to streamline discussions on FTI, and to bring some order to the many things we need to do. If you have suggestions, please provide comments below, or (as suggested earlier) directly change this blog post to reflect your recommended change! Enjoy!!