1/ BEFORE YOU BEGIN

NOTE: This manual was created for version 1. While most of the general information is still true for version 2, data entry and page set up have been greatly simplified in the new version, so some instructions may not be applicable.
Beta Blogger is an "intuitive" application, requiring no expertise to install and set up. This user manual is provided as a reference guide to assist you if you get stuck. Below are some basic requirements you should be aware of before beginning to work with Beta Blogger:
a) Make sure you've activated ADVANCED DESIGN FEATURES under "Site actions" on the Page Manager page of your account. Some features may not work without it.
b) You MUST be logged in with the owner/primary account Live id to install the .olp file. "Users" can't be granted the necessary permission to install or manage the application until after installation. After installation, any user can be granted reader/editor/admin access to the application under account management/users and permissions.
c) If this is a new site, check to make sure the site width and navigation are set how you want them to be in "design site" - "options" and "modify navigation".
d) We recommend you do a site back up before installation. Under "Site actions" click "Back up or restore" and follow the instructions.
TIP:
If your site is too big to do a full back up, use the "Package a solution" option found under "Design site". This will allow you to back up the components of your site separately.
e)Much of the blog formatting is done by the browser as the page is rendered, and can't be seen when a page is viewed in the page editor-so DON'T BE ALARMED IF THE PAGES LOOK A MESS IN THE PAGE EDITOR!
If the pages don't look right when you view them in a browser, please avoid the temptation to "fix" them yourself unless you're sure you know what you're doing. The pages are carefully constructed (though they may not look it in the editor) so changing or deleting any of the modules other than the "USER CONTENT" modules can result in the blog not looking or working right. If you do inadvertently delete or change something, or are unsure of something, please contact us and we'll try to advise you.

Blog structure and common pitfalls

Keep in mind the following:

• The blog is set up to open with the recent posts page:recent.aspx.
• This page will always show your 5 most recent posts.
• All other pages are designated as "children" (sub pages) of recent.aspx
• The recent.aspx page is the only page that will appear in your site's navigation
• This is the recommended structure-you can of course change it anyway you wish.
• Once open, the blog can be navigated with the integrated blog navigation, so the other pages are hidden from the site's navigation
• Because they are child pages, the recent or "Blog" page will still show as "open" in site nav so visitors know where they are in your site.
• The blog page addresses (cat1.aspx, month1.aspx etc) are fixed, so links to them should reflect those addresses. When you're setting up your categories/months, it may seem more logical to change the links to "mysite.com/January2011.aspx" etc, but they won't work if you do.
• You only have to enter the "category or month link" on the FIRST POST IN THE CATEGORY/MONTH. If you see for example "recent" repeated in the category index in the right hand column, it's because you entered the category link twice. To fix, simply go back to the 2nd post in the category and change the link to "none".
• The blog elements are set at a fixed width. If you add say an image that is wider than that width to a post or to the side columns, you'll see the layout is corrupted. To fix, just make the image narrower.
• If you're using a left or top/left nav configuration, long page titles may widen the left nav element and throw the layout off. If you can't abbreviate the titles, contact us and we'll show you how to either wrap the text, or use a smaller font size.
• The rss feed link on the modules can also cause layout problems-so it's important it's unchecked in the module properties box.

  Now, let's get started!

  Questions?

  Contact us

2/ INSTALLATION

a) Download BB zip file
b) Extract files to convenient location
c) Log in to OLSB account with the owner/primary id.
d) Under "Design site", click "Install solution"
e) Navigate to the "BetaBloggerv1.3.olp" file [OR DOWNLOADED VERSION] and click ok
f) The application, pages and 4+ files will install

THE APPLICATION

You'll find the application in BUSINESS APPLICATIONS, named Beta Blogger.

THE PAGES

25 pages will be added to your PAGE MANAGER-

recent.aspx

archive.aspx

earlierentries.aspx

12 monthly pages [month#.aspx]

10 category pages [cat#.aspx]

THE FILES

The following will install in your documents gallery:

functions4.js

postarray1.js

bb_ie6.css

1 or more .xsl files

ADDITIONAL FILES

g) Navigate to the "arrays17.js" file and upload to documents gallery
h) Upload ONE of the css files:

olblog3col780_neutral.css for a 780px width site

olblog3col980_neutral.css for a 980px width site
NOTE:
DON'T UPLOAD BOTH CSS FILES!
INSTALLATION IS COMPLETE!

Questions?

Contact us

3/ SET UP

a) Click the Business Applications link in the "More" drop down menu in your OL account
b) Click "Beta Blogger" in the left menu
You'll see 4 tabs:

BB INTRO:helpful links and a quick set up guide

POST:this is where you'll enter posts

MONTHS:define months you'll be using here

CATEGORIES:define your categories here

Months and categories

c) Step 1:Configure months and categories
NOTE: Unless you're comfortable with coding in html, we recommend you use IE to create your blog. The rich text editor lets you more easily add images. tables and other formatting and may not be available with other browsers.

USING IE/RICH TEXT EDITOR:Copy/paste examples must be pasted in the "EDIT HTML SOURCE" box

USING NON-IE/NO RICH TEXT EDITOR:Copy/paste examples can be pasted directly into the form box.
c1) In business applications/beta blogger-click the month/category tabs
c2) You'll see a bewildering list of 10 categories & 12 months you can define.
DON'T WORRY-IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE SOON!
c3) Hover over the predefined "month/category id" numbers-click "edit item"
c4) Follow the instructions to define your blog's months and categories
Start with a few of each-they can be changed later if needed.
DON'T change the "id" number
IMPORTANT!
3 default categories are predefined:Archive [a], Recent [b] and Earlier Entries [c].
Just update the "Category link" with your site name to activate these categories.

Pages

d) Step 2:Configure pages
d1) Open the "Recent", "Archive" and "Earlier entries" pages in the page manager
d2) For each, right click all the modules and click "properties"
d3) Uncheck the RSS feed box and click "OK" in the dialog box that opens.
d4) Repeat for any month/category pages you defined in step 1.
Take a look at one of the pages and you should see the basic skeleton of your blog:category heading on the left with the recent, archive and category navigation indices on the right.
By default, only the "recent" page will be added to your site's navigation so visitors can access your blog.
You can of course add other pages to the site navigation, by clicking the page's "properties" and checking the "add to navigation" box.

BLOG!

e) Step 3:Blog!
e1) Click the "Post" tab in the application
You'll see a list of "example" posts added to get you started in the default "preview" mode. Preview allows you to see an overview of all your posts and quickly access them for editing. To change this view, click the "view" link and select whichever view you prefer. For example "all items" will show all the posts with their content.
The items with the id's "a", "b" and "c" ensure the archive, recent and earlier entries categories appear in the category index and SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED!
e2) Hover over the post id number and click "edit item"
e3) Follow the line by line instructions, noting the following:

"Post number":unique, sequential post id # starting with "1"

"Subject":enter your site url and replace #? with your unique post number

"Author":copy/paste the example into the "EDIT HTML SOURCE" box [IE only] & replace # with post #

"Date":defaults to today's date-change if desired

"Post":Use the rich text editor to add your post, images, formatting [IE only].

"Comments ID":copy/paste example into the "EDIT HTML SOURCE" box [IE only] & replace # with your post #

"Month/category":refer to names/numbers if needed in the link field
Click "OK" to save and publish your post.
e4) To add a new post, click "New", then "New item" and repeat instructions in item e3.
TIP:
There's a reference example under the id# "EXAMPLE". Click "edit item" to access it if needed.

To edit / delete / restore a post:
Click the "Post" tab and hover over the desired post id.
Click "edit" or "delete" in the drop down menu.
To restore a deleted item, click "Beta Blogger" in the left hand menu
Click the "settings" link and scroll down to "Recycle/restore".
Click "Deleted items", check the desired line item and click the "Restore" link.

A note on styling

The styling we include with Beta Blogger is designed to be as "style neutral" as possible, so your blog inherits the style of the host site. But because each site is different, there may be conflicts between the styling we include and the styling already in place. As a result the blog pages may not look right. If this is the case, or if you run into ANY other problems, please contact us.
We'd love to hear from you.
SET UP IS COMPLETE!

Questions?

Contact us

4-5/ SPECIAL FEATURES

Comments | User content areas for ads etc

4/ COMMENTING FEATURE

A comments box is automatically added below each of your posts
It opens when the "Comments" link is clicked
Your visitors can leave or read comments
The comments feature automatically filters out profanity
If you want the ability to delete comments, let us know and we'll assign a unique Google id that will allow you to log in and manage comments left.
The id can be any Google id.

To manage comments:
a) Contact us to request your id
b) When set up, right click - the small "admin" icon and select "open in a new window".
c) Log in with your assigned id/password on the Google log in page
d) When you're redirected to the comment box, close the window.
e) Return to your site-refresh the page
f) Click - the red icon next to the comments you want to delete.
TIP:
To review all comments left on your site in one place, right click the RSS symbol, open in new window and subscribe to the link in your RSS reader. You can get the Google reader free with a Google account.

5/ USER CONTENT AREAS

Each page includes 2 modules where you can easily add your own text, links, images or ads in a left column or on the right below the blog navigation.
TIP:
The "recent" page already includes content so you can see how it's positioned on a page.
Take a look at the modules on this page if you want to see an example of how code is added.

a)To add your own content:
In the page editor, locate the modules for the page you want to change.
They are custom footer modules-look for for the last 2 blue bordered boxes in the 2 zones.
Right click and select "properties". You can enter content between the "ENTER CONTENT/END CONTENT" tags.

b) To add text: simply write your text. You can use these or other html tags*:

line break:<br /> bold: <b>hello</b> italic: <i>hello</i>
c) To add links use this html:

<a href="http://targetsite.com"> your text</a>
d) To add images use this html:

<img src="urlofimage" width="???"/>
Adjust "width" to fit.
*Unsure about what html can be used? Check this html guide
e) To add ads: paste your affiliate code between the "ENTER/END CONTENT" tags
EXAMPLE:


TIP:
The column widths are optimized to fit the most popular ad widths:
LEFT COL/780px site=120px LEFT COL/980px site=160px RIGHT COL=160PX.
You'll get the best results if you stick to those widths for images and ads.
CONTACT US IF YOU NEED HELP FORMATTING THE USER CONTENT AREAS!

Questions?

Contact us