Weblogs

Post

Posting to Your Weblog

To add a post, click the Post tab for your weblog or use the Create a Post shortcut link for the weblog on your Weblogs tab. This opens the Compose a New Post page:

1 Enter your post

You can enter a title for your post by typing it into the Title text box (a Title is optional).

Enter your post by typing it into the Post Body text box. TypePad supports WYSIWYG (rich text editing). For help with posting using WYSIWYG, see Rich Text Editing. If your post is long, set the Posting Status to “Draft” and save your post periodically while composing. Like in a word processor, it is best to get in the habit of saving frequently. The Draft status allows you to do this without your unfinished post showing up on your weblog before you are ready.

2 Set the posting status

When you are finished entering your post, set the Posting Status as “Publish Now”. Note that the date and time for the post are set the first time you save it; if you save it as a Draft and then continue editing it later, you may wish to Change the Date or Time of the post to the current date and time before you publish it.

3 Press “Save”

Press the button and your new post will be published immediately to your weblog.

Click the View Weblog link to open your weblog in a new window to view your update, refreshing the page in your browser if necessary.

Basic Post Fields

Each post has additional information that can be assigned to it. There are fields that you can fill in when you enter a new post:

Title

The title for this post. A title is not required, but it will help to keep posts organized.

The first 15 characters of the post title forms the individual archive file name, if individual archives are used. If a title is not provided when the post is created then the individual archive file name will be created from the first 15 characters of the post body.

Using a basic template, you can configure your weblog template to display the post title or not by Setting Your Template Content.

Category

Categories are useful for grouping weblog posts that have similar topics. A post can be assigned to a single category or multiple categories.

When composing or editing a post, pull down the category drop-down menu to choose the category or categories. Assign the post to a single category by selecting the category and saving the post.

Assign the post to more than one category by choosing “Assign Multiple Categories” from the drop-down. This will open the category list where you can select the multiple categories. Press the Set button after choosing the categories and save the changes to the post.

You can also add a custom category from the Category menu. From the menu, select “Add a new Category”. A popup will appear where you can type the name of the new category and press the Add button. The category will be saved, and your post will be assigned to the category.

See Using Categories With Your Weblog for tips on configuring categories and displaying them on your weblog.

Post Body

This is the main body of your post. TypePad supports WYSIWYG (rich text editing). For help with posting using WYSIWYG, see Rich Text Editing.

Posting Status

This sets the status of the post.

Draft: Used while composing the post. A post on draft does not display in the post listings on your weblog.
Publish On...: Used when Scheduling a Post for Display.
Publish Now: Used to publish the post to your weblog.

Editing or Deleting a Post

Click the Edit Posts shortcut link for the weblog on your Weblogs tab to access the List All Posts page used for Managing Your Existing Posts.

To edit a post, select the post by clicking on the post Title. This opens the Edit a Post page where you can make changes to your post and save.

To delete the post, you can use the Delete Post button in the button bar on the Edit Post page.

A confirmation popup window opens asking you to confirm that you would actually like to delete the post(s). Select “Yes, Delete” or “No, Cancel”. There is no undo, and the post will be permanently removed from the weblog, so make sure to delete carefully.

Delete batches of posts from your weblog by Managing Your Existing Posts.

Changing the Date or Time of a Post

After a post has been created, you can change the date or time of the post. On the Edit Post page, locate the Posting Status area:

1 Click the clock icon:

This opens the Set Date and Time popup.

2 Edit the time and/or date of the post

Enter the time in AM/PM format and click the calendar to set the date of the post. Use the arrows on the calendar to navigate previous and next through the months.

3 Press “Set Time” and save the post

The Set Date and Time popup closes when you set the time and the post is updated on the Edit Post page with the new date and time of the post.

Save the post to update your weblog pages with the new date and time of the post.

Scheduling a Post for Display

(Post scheduling is available with Plus and Pro membership.)

Use post scheduling to publish to your weblog automatically at a specific date and time. On the Compose a New Post/Edit a Post page for a post, locate the Posting Status area:

1 Set the Posting Status

Use the drop-down menu to select “Publish on...” and this opens the Set Date and Time popup.

2 Set the time and date to publish the post

Enter the time and select the date on which you would like to publish the post to your weblog.

3 Press “Set Time” and save the post

The Set Date and Time popup closes when you set the time and the post is updated on the Edit Post page with the scheduled date and time of the post.

Save the post to schedule the post and your post be published at that date and time.

Automatic Publishing

Scheduled posts are published every 15 minutes, so if your post is scheduled to be published at 1:05 PM, for example, it will not actually appear on your site until 1:15 PM, but the date and time on the post will read 1:05 PM as you intended.

If you’ve scheduled the post to be published in the past, it will be published immediately, and the date on your weblog will reflect the date and time you selected.

Inserting an Image in a Post

Adding images to your weblog posts is a fun and easy way to add extra personality to your site.

You would first have the image saved to your computer. From there, you will transfer the image to your TypePad account for display online.

Start by clicking the Create a Post link on your Weblogs tab to open the new post page. Directly above the post text area you will see the Insert Image icon:

Insert Image

There are two upload icons: Insert Image for images and Insert File for other types of files. Images should be in gif, jpg, or png format.

If you are using extended posts (in Plus and Pro) there is also an Insert Image icon for the Post Continuation text area.

Uploading an Image

On the post page, click the Insert Image icon to pop open the image upload window:

Upload

Press "Choose File" to browse for the image file on your computer. After selecting the image, the name of the image will display in step one. You can leave it on "Use Default Settings" for the image options in step two and press the button that says "Insert Image".

This will then upload the image to your TypePad account and create the code for displaying the image in your post. When finished, the code will display automatically in your post text area.

Save the post and click View Weblog to see the image displayed in the post on your site. (Press refresh in your browser, if needed, to see the update.)

Image Options

In the image upload window you can also click "Use Custom Settings" after selecting the image to upload and this will open additional image options for displaying the image in your post.

Select "Use Custom Settings" to open the image options:

Custom Settings

Checking or unchecking the different boxes will give you different image display effects:

Wrap Text - This setting floats the image over to either side of the post, and the text of the post will wrap around the image. See the option setting icons in the screenshot above for an idea of what this looks like.
Create Thumbnail - This setting automatically creates a thumbnail (a smaller version of the image) for display in the post. You can set the size for the thumbnail, and clicking the thumbnail opens the larger version of the image.
Popup Window - This setting makes a special popup window for the image display. If you're creating a thumbnail, clicking the thumbnail will open the popup with the larger image displayed. Without a thumbnail image, a "View this photo" text link will open the popup with the image displayed.

You can also check the box to Save Settings as Default and this will remember your image settings the next time you upload an image to the weblog.

Additional Image Tips

Images uploaded to a weblog post are stored in a special photo album. If an image is wider than 640 pixels, the image is scaled to 640 pixels wide when uploaded. This album does not display as a photo album with the regular photo albums but these images display in weblog posts and are used for images in Mixed Media Templates.

An uploaded image has a relationship with the post it was uploaded into. The image belongs to that post, so when a post is removed that contains a image that only appeared in that one post, the image is removed along with the post.

When displayed in a weblog using basic template set, images uploaded to a post are styled to fit the width of the content area. Mixed media and fluid layouts display images at a width of 300 pixels. For the fixed width classic layouts, the image is displayed at 30 pixels smaller in width than the content area, to account for the content area padding.

Additionally, you can use the File Manager in your Control Panel > Files to upload images. With the file manager, the image will not be resized and it will not create the post-image relationship. It also won't have the additional automatic options available for displaying the image, so using Insert Image on the post page is generally a better method for easily adding an image to a post.

Inserting a File in a Post

Click the Insert File icon to open the file upload popup window.

Browse your computer for the file you would like to upload and click the “Upload File” button.

Insert File

The file will be uploaded and the code inserted into your post area. Save the post to see the file link displayed on your site.

Enabling Comments on Your Posts

Comments are enabled on a per-post basis. For example, you might wish to allow comments on a post where you’re asking for the opinions of visitors to your site, but not allow comments on a post stating what you did over the weekend.

Configure the Comments setting for a post using the Comments drop-down menu on the Compose a New Post/Edit a Post page. Use the drop-down menu to change the Comments setting and save the post. Choices for the Comments setting are:

None: Comments are not allowed on the post, and older comments (if any) will not be displayed.
Open: Visitors can leave comments on the post and comments will be displayed.
Closed: Visitors can no longer leave comments on the post, but older comments will still be displayed.

Specify the default Comments setting for new posts with the “Allow Comments default” option by Setting Your Weblog Comment Options.

Comments Form

The comments form is on the individual archive page for the post so you need to be using individual archives if you are using comments. Set this by Configuring Your Weblog Archives and checking the box for Individual Archives.

Save the setting and publish your weblog when prompted after making this change and your individual archives will then be enabled.

Deleting Comments on Your Posts

If the comment you would like to delete is a recent comment, access it by clicking the name of the weblog from your Weblogs tab. On the Weblog Overview page, the five most recent comments are listed.

Click the commenter’s name to open the Edit Comment page for that comment. Here the IP Address of the commenter is shown along with the information they entered into the comment form (Author, Email Address, URL, Comment) and you can delete the comment from this page. You can also use the “View all comments by...” links to view all comments on that entry, or by that person, IP or email.

Or, you do not need to open the comment if you simply wish to delete it. From the Weblog Overview page, click the red trash icon next to the comment you want to remove. You will receive a popup window asking you to confirm that you would like to delete the comment. Click “Yes, Delete”.

If the comment is not a recent comment, use the List all comments link by the recent comments. This will open the List Comments page, where you can filter the comments for view and check the boxes to delete comments.

If you are going to ban a commenter, use the Edit Comment page to get the commenter’s IP Address before you delete the comment. See Banning a Commenter.

What is TrackBack?

In a nutshell, TrackBack was designed to provide a method of notification between websites: it is a method of person A saying to person B, “This is something you may be interested in.” To do that, person A sends a TrackBack ping to person B.

TrackBack History

TrackBack was first released as an open specification in August 2002. It was released as both a protocol and as a feature of Movable Type 2.2, which contained the first implementation of TrackBack. Since the true value of TrackBack only comes when many sites support it, TrackBack was always planned as an open system: a system that could be easily implemented in other weblogging tools.

Accepting TrackBacks

Accepting TrackBacks is set on a per-post basis. Set a post to accept TrackBacks or not by using the Accept TrackBacks check box on the Compose a New Post/Edit Post page for that post.

Check or uncheck the box and save the post to apply it to your weblog:

Checked: This post is open for TrackBacks to be sent to it.
Unchecked: TrackBacks can not be sent to this post.

Specify the default TrackBack setting for new posts with the “Allow TrackBack Pings on by default” option by Setting Your Weblog TrackBack Options.

Sending a TrackBack

When you send a TrackBack ping, a link to your post and an excerpt of the post is displayed in the TrackBack section of the receiving site. This directs readers to visit your site to read more.

There are a few different ways to send a TrackBack ping:

Sending a TrackBack ping using QuickPost

First, configure the QuickPost bookmarklet by Setting Up TypePad QuickPost if you haven’t yet already. Select the TrackBack items for display on your QuickPost entry form.

Then, follow the steps for Using the QuickPost Bookmarklet to create a new post using QuickPost.

When composing your post, at the bottom of the QuickPost entry form, you will have a pull-down menu to “Select an entry to send a TrackBack ping to”. Use this menu to choose the post you would like to ping.

The TrackBack ping will send when you save the post.

TrackBack Auto-Discovery

With auto-discovery, TypePad will look for any links in your weblog post and determine if those links are TrackBack-enabled. If they are, TypePad will automatically send TrackBack pings to those sites.

TrackBack auto-discovery will be added to TypePad in a future update.

Sending a TrackBack from the Post Page

First, set the “TrackBack URLs to Ping” box to display on your post page by Customizing the Post Page Display.

Now, find the TrackBack URL on the page you would like to ping. Note: The TrackBack Ping URL is not the permalink for an entry, it is the special TrackBack URL for the entry.

Paste the TrackBack URL into the “Send a TrackBack to these addresses” field on your post page. You can paste more than one URL, separated by carriage returns.

The TrackBack ping will send when you save the post.

Customizing the Post Page Display

(Customizing the post page is available with Plus and Pro membership.)

With the Advanced Post Fields, you can set which fields you would like to display on your Compose a New Post/Edit Post page.

Click Create a Post from your Weblogs tab to open a new post. Under the button bar with the Preview, Save, and Delete buttons for the post, you will find the link to customize the display of the post page:

1 Click the “Customize the display of this page” link

The Post Screen Configuration opens in a popup window when you click this link.

2 Select the fields to display

Choose the fields for your post page by selecting the display:

Basic Display: displays the Title, Category, Post Body, Comments, Accept TrackBacks, Posting Status
Advanced Display: displays the Title, Category, Post Introduction, Post Continuation, Comments, Accept TrackBacks, Posting Status, Excerpt, TrackBack URLs to Ping, Text Formatting
Custom Display: displays the Title, Category, Post Body, Comments, Accept TrackBacks, Posting Status, and then choose which of these to show: Post Continuation, Excerpt, Keywords, TrackBack URLs to Ping, Text Formatting

Button Bar Position: The Button Bar is the bar that holds the Preview, Save, and Delete buttons for the post. You can choose to display this at the top of the post page or at the bottom of the page.

3 Press “Save”

Your post page will update with your new custom display. This will reload the page, so any unsaved data will be lost. For this reason, it is recommended to make this change before you begin typing a new post, or after you have saved it. Using the advanced post fields is optional.

Advanced Post Fields

Set the advanced post fields to display on your post page by Customizing the Post Page Display.

Post Continuation (Extended Post)

The Post Continuation is a second text box for typing your post. This allows you to display an introduction for the post on the main page of your weblog and show the longer part of the post on the individual page for the post.

When typing the text for the post, the portion that you wish to appear on your main page would be typed into the Post Introduction field, and the longer part would be typed into the Post Continuation.

Excerpt

An excerpt is a short excerpt of the post, or a short summary of the contents of the post. If you do not write an excerpt yourself, one will be generated automatically from the first 40 words of the post, or whatever you set for “Number of words in excerpt” when Setting Your Weblog Post Options.

The excerpt for a post is used when Sending a TrackBack and in your feed if you are Syndicating Your Weblog and have selected to provide excerpts.

Keywords

This field is an additional text box to attach another piece of data to a post. Use it to enter more information about the post that can be used when Searching and Replacing Text.

The keywords field (and the above advanced items) can also be displayed using an advanced template set. See: What are Advanced Template Sets?

Text Formatting

The Text Formatting is the formatting that will be applied to your post for display on the page. Use the drop-down menu to set the formatting for a post:

None: No text formatting will be applied to this post.
Convert Line Breaks: Your paragraphs are automatically enclosed in <p> and </p> tags, and line breaks are converted to <br /> tags. The end of a paragraph is signified by a blank line in your post, and a line break is when you hit the Return (Enter) key on your keyboard.

Set the default Text Formatting for new posts by Setting Your Weblog Post Options.

Send a TrackBack to these addresses (TrackBack URLs to Ping)

This field is used for Sending a TrackBack from the post page.

View Previously Sent TrackBacks

Use this link to open a window that displays the previous TrackBacks sent from this post.

General Posting Tips

Adding an Image to a Post

You can add an image to a post by Uploading a File to Your Weblog.

Making a Link in a Post

If your browser supports it, you can use WYSIWYG (rich text editing). For help with posting using WYSIWYG, see Rich Text Editing.

Otherwise, you can post a link by using HTML code like the following:

<a href="http://www.example.com">link</a>

Accented Characters

If you are having a problem with accented characters or non-European characters when you post, make sure that your web browser is not set to override the Character Encoding (or Text Encoding) on web pages.

TypePad uses UTF-8 on all pages (unless otherwise set in your Language preferences). Any modern web browser should have no problem detecting the UTF-8 encoding and sending your posts correctly to the TypePad web server, unless you’ve explicitly set a different encoding in your web browser.

Using the QuickPost Bookmarklet

First, configure the QuickPost bookmarklet by Setting Up TypePad QuickPost if you haven’t yet already.

1 Click TypePad QuickPost

When viewing a page that you would like to post about, click the TypePad QuickPost bookmarklet in your browser menu. The QuickPost window will pop up with the posting options that you configured when building your bookmarklet.

2 Enter your post data into the QuickPost form

If you have more than one weblog, select which weblog the post will be published to. The post title is automatically filled in with the title of the page you are on, you can leave this or edit it.

The link for the post or site you’re writing about has been automatically generated in the Post Body. If you highlighted text before clicking the QuickPost bookmarklet, that text has been automatically placed in the post body. You can also set any optional items that you have displaying on your QuickPost.

If you are Sending a TrackBack, use the pull-down menu at the bottom of the form to “Select an entry to send a TrackBack ping to”. The posts that are available for TrackBack will automatically appear in the menu for selection.

2 Press “Save this Post”

The post will be saved to your weblog, and if you are sending a TrackBack it is sent.

You can also use QuickPost for Adding a New Item to a TypeList.

Everything TypePad: Setting up the QuickPost bookmarklet

TypePad and Desktop Clients

Desktop clients offer different environments for posting to your weblog. Choosing one is dependent on what operating system you use. Some tools for OS X are ecto and NetNewsWire. For the PC, try Zempt or w.bloggar:

ecto: http://www.kung-foo.tv/ecto/
NetNewsWire: http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
Zempt: http://www.zempt.com/
w.bloggar: http://w.bloggar.com/

TypePad supports both the blogger and metaWeblog XML-RPC APIs, along with the extensions supported by Movable Type.

If your tool supports RSD (“Really Simple Discoverability”), you can simply enter your weblog URL, and your TypePad username and password.

If your tool does not support RSD, you should use the following XML-RPC endpoint:

http://www.typepad.com/t/api

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