To login, simply enter your username and password and click the Log In button. You will then be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Find the blog you want to add an entry to (you should see only one) and click the New Entry link that is highlighted below the name of the blog. When you click on New Entry you will be taken to a screen that looks like this:

You can now create your entry by either typing it into the Entry Body box or cutting and pasting it from somewhere else (your word processor, a web page, etc.).

Be sure to give your entry a Title by typing one in the Title box above the Entry Body box.

Be sure to assign your entry to a Primary Category using the pull-down menu at the upper right of the screen. Your Primary Category is either your name or one of the class topics. Assigning a category is very important, because it allows other users to quickly search postings in the blog's archives using the categories.

Once you have your entry the way you want it, scroll to the bottom of the screen and change the Draft pull down menu to Publish (see arrow below). If you don't change this pull-down to Publish, MovableType will simply save your entry as a draft and will not publish it to the live blog page. You won't see your entry and will wonder what you did wrong.

Once you have changed the pull-down to Publish, then click on the Save button and your entry will be published to the class blog. You can then click the View Site button at the bottom of the left-hand menu buttons and see how it looks:

What happens if you find a mistake in one of your entries, or you just want to change something you have written? If you are not logged in, you will need to log in once again. If you are still logged in, return to the Menu screen and click the Edit Entries button in the left-hand menu. Once you click that button, you will get a screen that looks like this:

You will see a list of your entries and can then either click on the individual entry's link and edit it, or you can check the box in the far right column of the list and then click on the Delete button if you want to delete an entry. Beware! Once you delete your entry, it is gone and cannot be recovered, so only delete those entries you truly wish to delete forever!

Once you have edited your entry to your satisfaction, repeat the steps described above to publish your entry. It must be saved and re-published or it will not be changed.

One of the great features of a weblog is the ability of visitors to add comments to the entries they read. In our class we will be using the comment feature extensively as a way of creating an online dialogue between members of the class.

To add a comment to an entry, simply click on the Comment link at the end of the entry and you will see a screen that looks like this:

Enter your name, your email address (and the URL of your website if you have one), then type in the comment you wish to leave. You may not post anonymous comments in our weblog. If your comment does not show up when you return to the main blog screen, refresh your page. It will show up then.

MovableType allows you to use basic html formatting in your postings. So, to add a link to the Center for History and New Media as a hot link, you would type it as:

<a href="http://chnm.gmu.edu">Center for History and New Media</a>

In this example, the URL between the quotation marks is where you want the reader to be able to go and the text between the > and < marks is what the link will say in your posting. Be sure to include the </a> tag or all text following the first tag will be linked.

Other common html tags you might want to use are:

<b>bold</b>
<i>italic</i>

Instead of typing out the words "bold" or "italic", put your text between these tags.

MovableType allows you to upload images to our weblog. Before you do, though, remember that images come in various file sizes! Do not upload any image larger than 75k to the blog (the software prevents huge images from being uploaded), because it will slow the blog down tremendously. If I find an over-large image, I'll probably delete it. A better course of action for large images is to add a link to the page where the image lives (see above advice on links).

To upload an image, first choose the Upload File link in the menu on the left side of your screen. When you do, you will be sent to a window that looks like this:

In this window, you can either type in the name of the file you want to upload from your computer or you can use the browse button to search for it on your computer. Do not choose a path (the second set of boxes). When you click on the Upload button, you will be taken to a screen that looks like this:

You can choose to include your image as either a pop-up or an embedded image. Click on whichever button you prefer. Then you will be directed to a screen that looks like this:

See all that fancy html code that has been placed in the Entry Body box? That is the code that will place your image in the blog posting you publish. Type your text either before or after this html code, depending on where you want the image to appear in your posting, but do not alter the code!

Now, repeat the steps described above for saving and publishing your posting to the blog. When you do, you will be able to view the blog. In the example used above, it will now look like this: