WordPress 3.3 Upgrade

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WordPress has just released its newest version, WordPress 3.3 “Sonny”.  It is touted to be a more streamlined version of WordPress than the one we are running at this time.  The plan is to push the upgrade to our network on Thursday afternoon before break.  The server will be backed up prior to this upgrade.  There is a short video embedded into the post.  If you can’t see this video, then use the direct link to view the video created by the WordPress team.

Happy Blogging!

~blogs.henrico Admin Team

Direct Link

 

Create a Gravatar!

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Not happy with the generic HCPS avatar that has been assigned to you?  Gravatars are universally recognized avatars that will appear in blogs when you sign-in with a particular address.  We are now able to use the avatars on blogs.henrico.  You can visit Gravatar’s website to create yours.  Make sure you are using your picture with your HCPS email address (we want to see what you actually look like).  Once you make your account and assign it a picture, it will automatically be updated on all of your blogs.henrico sites.  Happy Blogging!

Adding Student Users

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Many of you are ready to get your students involved with blogs.henrico.  If you think you are ready, here are the steps for adding your students to your blog.  All students in grades 6 through 12 should be on the network.   If you have a student that has not been added, please contact your ITRT.

  • Log into the site that you would like to add students.
  • Click on “Users”, and then “Add User” directly below.
  • You can add students individually or in bulk.
  • All students are in the network with their SchoolSpace usernames. (hcps-********)  The students will log in with their SchoolSpace credentials.
  • Be sure to give them the role that you feel comfortable with.

  • Summary of Roles (Taken directly from WordPress Codex)

    • Super Admin – Someone with access to the blog network administration features controlling the entire network (See Create a Network).
    • Administrator – Somebody who has access to all the administration features
    • Editor – Somebody who can publish and manage posts and pages as well as manage other users’ posts, etc.
    • Author – Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts
    • Contributor – Somebody who can write and manage their posts but not publish them
    • Subscriber – Somebody who can only manage their profile

Happy Blogging!

 

Foreign Language Characters

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Over the summer months many World Languages teachers were exploring the use of blogs.henrico in their classrooms.  In order to be an authentic language tool blogs.henrico would have to have the ability to show the correct World Language punctuation.  Below are the steps for adding special characters into your posts and pages.  If this is not enough for you, we can turn your entire dashboard into the World Language of your choice.  If this is needed, email Frank Fitzpatrick (fjfitzpatrick@henrico.k12.va.us).

Here are the steps for adding special characters to your posts and pages:

1. Go to your post/page edit screen

2.  Click on the “Kitchen Sink” icon

3. Click on the “Custom Character” icon

4. Select the character you need.

Happy Blogging!

 

New Theme Updates

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The themes that are produced by “Elegant Themes” must be updated at this time.  We were notified of the steps that have to be followed in order to make sure the updates work correctly.  All of the themes by Elegant Themes will be removed, updated, and uploaded back to the server.  This should not effect your site drastically if you are using one of these themes.  If your site experiences issues, you can activate a different theme temporarily until the Elegant Themes are added to the server after being updated.  The “Twenty Eleven” and “Twenty Ten” are simple themes that will work as a temporary fix for you.  We apologize for any inconvience this may cause.

 

Happy Blogging!

~Blogs.Henrico Admin Team.

New Name?

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If you have recently changed your name and have a new email address, you will need to contact Frank Fitzpatrick (fjfitzpatrick@henrico.k12.va.us). Your old log in information will not work anymore. Be sure to include your old username, your new username, and a temporary password.

You will need to log into blogs.henrico at least once with your new username before you can connect your blogs to your new information.

Happy Blogging!
Frank

Enabling Comments- Updated 3/18

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We have discovered one real change with WordPress since we did the upgrade last week and that is the ability to enable comments for posts.  Initially it looks like that setting has disappeared.  It is just actually hidden to clean up the post/page editing window.  Here are the steps for enabling comments.  You will only need to do this once.

Start in a post/page edit window.

In your post/page edit window, click screen options.

Here is a screenshot of my preferences. Make sure to “check” discussion.

Add a check mark to allow comments.

 

Happy Blogging.

~Frank

 

WordPress Upgrade

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Our HCPS installation of WordPress will be upgraded this week. There will be some changes to your Dashboard. These changes should be minimal. If there are drastic changes look for information on the main site for information to help you through the new features. If your site starts to experience trouble this week, please contact your ITRT so they can report the problems to the site admins. Happy Blogging in WP 3.1.

~Frank

Theme Edits

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It has been brought to our attention that some of themes on blogs.henrico have encrypted portions.  We will be going through the themes and removing the code.  This may or may not effect the performance of your site.  If the performance of your site changes, please select a new theme and please email one of us below and let us know which theme needs to be removed from the site.  Thanks for your patience!

Frank Fitzpatrick- Elementary

Julie Franklin- Elementary

Kourtney Bostain- Middle

Jen Maddux- High

Longdale’s Library Page

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Longdale’s librarian, Nancy Hally, is working hard to get her students reading.  She is using her blog and a program called “The Premier Perusers Club” to get her students motivated.  The students, if they are the first to read a new book, record a review of the book and it gets posted on Nancy’s blog.  Other students can check out the review and comment on the video as well.  She is also using Glogster (make sure you create an EDU account) and is embedding examples into her blog.

Check out her blog at: http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/nwhally/

BuddyPress

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A BuddyPress site has been added to blogs.henrico.  BuddyPress is a social network built into our website.  It works like many of the social networks you are already familiar with.  You are already a member, now you just have to visit, http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/community/, to set up your profile, make a group, connect with colleagues, and view site-wide posts from all blogs.henrico users.  Happy Blogging!

Frank

CForms

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CForms allows you to embed forms into your posts and pages.  You can see an example of a “CForm” if you click “contact” at the top of the main Blogs.Henrico page.  The forms are highly customizable and very easy to use.  You can use CForms as contact forms or your visitors can even upload files to you directly.  It may take you a couple of tries to get the look and feel right, but it is worth the time.

Unfiltered MU

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Unfiltered MU allows you to embed html snippets into your blog.  These snippets can come from Google products, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.  If you do now activate this plugin, our WordPress server will strip your post of the embed codes and your objects will not appear.

Frank