Power Tip: Post via Email

Did you know that I.ph puts the power of mobile blogging right in the palm of your hands?

The post via Email feature turns any mobile device with WAP, GPRS or WIFI access into a blog publishing tool. Simply login to your I.ph control panel and click the post via Email link to set-up this neat feature.

Now you can blog right off your Mobile Phone or PDA by:

1. Creating a new email message. The subject line will be posted as the title of the entry. Photos/videos may also be included in the email as attachments.

2. Addressing the email to <secretcode>.<category>@<blogname>.<yourdomain>i.ph.

e.g.
its3am.bookreviews@news.i.ph or
its3am.poetry@myblog.news.i.ph

(If the "blogname" is not specified, the entry will be posted on the default blog. If the "category" does not exist, the entry will be posted under the "General" category.)

3. And Sending the email.

For more detailed instructions on how you can take advantage of the Post Via Email feature, check out the Knowledge Base. 

Hyperlinking = Better blogging

Bloggers love to be linked to, especially if you’re citing
content that’s originally theirs.  And when you’re quoting or
writing about articles from other publications, it’s always wise to
make the proper citation and it’s even better if you can provide a link.

After all, blogs amount to a big, world-wide conversation.  And it’s great if you can keep everyone in the loop.

What’s a hyperlink, you ask?  And how does one go about hyperlinking when making an i.PH blog post?

Click here to read the i.PH knowledge base article about hyperlinks.

Title text with multiple lines

Ever find the need for more control over the appearance of your
blog’s title text?  Aside from various new fancy fonts we have
made available thru the Calliope Design Editor in i.Blog
(which are also applicable with the entry and sidebar headers), you can
now force breaks in between lines.  Take for example this very
blog, http://news.i.ph.  This author divided the title after “i.PH”.

How to do it.  When editing your blog’s title in Design Editor,
simply insert a line break (by pressing the “enter” key) where you
would like to divide your title lines, and then click “Apply Changes.” 
It’s that easy.  Check out the screenshot below:

All about you - customizing “about me”

Blog readers love to learn more about the person on the other
side of the keyboard (i.e. the blog authors).  And what’s a better
way to make your public aware of who exactly you are than publishing
your own profile?

Check out the following knowledge base articles on customizing your profile:

• Managing the “about me” portion in your sidebar
• Managing your profile page (what users see when they click “More” under “About me”

Is your template up-to-date?

Ever wonder what this icon
flashing next to your “Change Design” link in i.Panel is trying to tell you?  It means
there’s new version of the template you’re currently using.

Refer to this knowledge base article to check on your template version or this one for help on how to change your design template.

We recommended that you keep your blog’s design template version
up-to-date. The newest versions usually include new SideBar Features
and are further optimized for faster loading.

Turning off comment moderation

If you’re like Atty. JJ Disini or me,
you’d prefer to let your readers leave comments freely without modereation.  With this feature, comments
automatically appear on your blog, without ever needing your approval.

You may now turn off comment moderation by logging in to your i.panel, clicking on “Management” under i.Blog and then “Manage Comments.”  Simply select “no” for “Moderate Comments,” click on “save,” and you’re all set.

Of course, for the privacy and security-conscious, there’s always a way to control content already published in your blog/s.

You can delete or even modify comments through the same “Manage Comments” window (as
well as identify the originating I.P. address or host of the comment
poster).  You can also ban I.P. addresses of errant comment-posters, such as spammers and trollers.

Smilies in your blog post

Ever wonder where the smilies, a.k.a. emoticons went?

It used to be that you can easily insert these:
with a few clicks of the mouse.  But now, that feature is nowhere
to be found.

Well, not exactly nowhere.  We upgraded our text editor to a
“lighter” one for a better posting experience.  The new text editor loads faster and has more easily-accessible
formatting features.  We are in the process of moving the smiley
button back into the editor, but for the meantime, you can always use
the old-fashioned colon and closed-parenthesis method of making smileys.

Some examples:

: and ) together make
; + ) =
: + ( =
: + D =
: + P =
8 + ) =

New WYSIWIG Editor

In case you haven’t noticed yet, we have installed a new WYSIWIG
(what you see is what you get) Rich Text Editor for creating or editing
posts.  The new editor features a cleaner, faster, and more
feature-packed interface than the older one.

Users have the option of using the following:

• No WYSIWIG - for the purists who prefer composing entries in HTML code;
• Basic Editor - for those who don’t need advanced formatting options such as colors and insertion of images and links;
• Advanced Editor
  - for the whole nine yards: for one-click insertion of images and
  links, and changing of colors, font size, alignment, and highlighting.

We recommend using Advanced Editor.  Remember, this is a Rich Text Editor, so you can use the usual Word Processor shortcuts such as Ctrl-B for Bold, Ctrl-I for Italicize, and Ctrl-U for Underline.  You can also choose among different colors and styles such as strikethrough, ^superscript, _subscript, citation, and many more.

In case your editor is not set to advanced, simply follow these procedures:

• Sign in to i.Panel and under i.Blog, click “Advanced Blog Options”
• Or can also use the http://yourblogname.i.ph/blog/ shortcut
• Click the “Settings” tab
• Then switch to the appropriate editor under “Options for WYSIWYG_RTE”

Here’s how the Advanced Editor should look:

(click for a larger image)

Another cool feature from i.PH.

Need help? Use the i.PH Knowledge Base

Have you had the chance to explore the full
potential of your i.PH account? In case you haven’t noticed yet, we
have a compilation of various informative articles, step-by-step
instructions, and other materials that may be helpful in your everyday
use of your blog.

Click here to go to the iPH Knowledge Base (KB). Or you may also click “Support” in the top navigation bar of the i.PH homepage and look for the link to the KB.