Welcome to HCPS Blogs!

Featured

Posted on August 13, 2012 by J. McDonald

This site is the gateway to 21st century communication through blogging at Henrico County Public Schools. Please use the links above to access instructional materials to help you begin blogging. You may contact your school’s ITRT for assistance or you may use the blog support link above to request assistance as well.

Happy Blogging!

HCPS Blogs updated to WordPress v3.5

Posted on December 19, 2012 by J. McDonald

Welcome to WordPress 3.5!

Thank you for updating to the latest version! WordPress 3.5 is more polished and enjoyable than ever before. We hope you like it.

New Media Manager

Beautiful Interface

Adding media has been streamlined with an all-new experience, making it a breeze to upload files and place them into your posts.

Picturesque Galleries

Creating image galleries is faster with drag and drop reordering, inline caption editing, and simplified controls for layout.

New Default Theme

Introducing Twenty Twelve

The newest default theme for WordPress is simple, flexible, and elegant.

What makes it really shine are the design details, like the gorgeous Open Sans typeface and a fully responsive design that looks great on any device.

Naturally, Twenty Twelve supports all the theme features you’ve come to know and love, but it is also designed to be as great for a website as it is for a blog.

Retina Ready

So Sharp You Can’t See the Pixels

The WordPress dashboard now looks beautiful on high-resolution screens like those found on the iPad, Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 10, and MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Icons and other visual elements are crystal clear and full of detail.

Smoother Experience

Better Accessibility

WordPress supports more usage modes than ever before. Screenreaders, touch devices, and mouseless workflows all have improved ease of use and accessibility.

More Polish

A number of screens and controls have been refined. For example, a new color picker makes it easier for you to choose that perfect shade of blue.

Under the Hood

Meta Query Additions

The WP_Comment_Query and WP_User_Queryclasses now support meta queries just likeWP_Query. Meta queries now support querying for objects without a particular meta key.

Post Objects

Post objects are now instances of a WP_Postclass, which improves performance by loading selected properties on demand.

Image Editing API

The WP_Image_Editor class abstracts image editing functionality such as cropping and scaling, and uses ImageMagick when available.

Multisite Improvements

switch_to_blog() is now significantly faster and more reliable.

XML-RPC API

The WordPress API is now always enabled, and supports fetching users, editing profiles, managing post revisions, and searching posts.

External Libraries

WordPress now includes the Underscore andBackbone JavaScript libraries. TinyMCE, jQuery, jQuery UI, and SimplePie have all been updated to the latest versions.

Using Picasaweb to Embed Pictures & Slideshows

Posted on October 26, 2012 by sswhitlo

Attached are the directions for using Picasaweb for embedding pictures and slideshows to your Henrico blog. Picasaweb Directions

Collect Data with Form Plugins

Posted on October 17, 2012 by J. McDonald

Blog administrators can create powerful data collection tools using forms plugins, such as Gravity forms and cForms. If you would like assistance implementing blog forms, contact your schools ITRT.

To create your own cForm:

Download directions or:
From the Dashboard, Select Plugins
Select Activate, under cForms.
Select cForms, using the right hand navigation bar.
Under cForms select Help!
Use the directions outlined to craft your form.
To enable email notifications for new form entries:
1. Under the cForms section of the right hand navigation bar, select Global Settings.
2. Select Mail Server Settings
3. Check the box to Enable external SMTP server.
4. Enter mail.henrico as the SMTP server address.
5. Enter 587 for the port.

To create your own Gravity Form:

Download directions or:
From the Dashboard, select Plugins
Select Activate, under Gravity Forms.
Select Forms, using the right hand navigation bar.
Under Forms, select Help!
Use the directions outlined to craft your form, or use this direct link.
To enable email notifications for new form entries:
1. Select Mail Server Settings
2. Check the box to Enable external SMTP server.
3. Enter mail.henrico as the SMTP server address.
4. Enter 587 for the port.

WordPress 3.3 Upgrade

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Adding Student Users

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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. Most 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!

Third Grade Getting Ready to Blog

Posted on October 31, 2011 by ajfavale

Third grade is getting ready for some blogging. They have decided that this will make a great tool for communicating with the students and parents.

Foreign Language Characters

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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?

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Create a Gravatar!

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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!

Wireless is a GO!

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

All of our wireless access issues have been fixed. Students and teachers should have access to blogs.henrico from school and home at this time. Happy blogging!

Frank

Wireless Use of Blogs.Henrico 9/22

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

We are aware that there are issues with accessing the blogs wirelessly on HCPS Wireless. The problem has been noted and a solution is being worked on. This is an important issue that will be fixed as quickly as possible. Thanks for you patience.

Frank

The Harvie Heroes

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

Harvie Elementary’s main blog page is using the “Twenty-Ten” theme. This theme makes it really easy to create a custom header. You can use an image that you have created(like the one on the page), or a picture that you have taken yourself. You can also changed the background on this theme as well. Check out the site at: http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/harvieheroes/

GAHS Library

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

Check out Glen Allen High School’s library page! They are using the Revolution Code Blue theme. They are also using HTML snippets to embed Google Forms. Great page!

Check out the site at: http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/gahslibrary/

CForms

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

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

New themes being added

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

We are going to be adding themes throughout the year. If you find a theme or you need a specific theme, please use the contact link at the top of the page.

Frank

HCPS blogs are up and running!

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Frank Fitzpatrick

All HCPS teachers will have access to WordPress blogs. We are looking forward to seeing how blogging can be used with your students to promote 21st Century Skills.

Frank

New Media Manager

Beautiful Interface

Picturesque Galleries

New Default Theme

Introducing Twenty Twelve

Retina Ready

So Sharp You Can’t See the Pixels

Smoother Experience

Better Accessibility

More Polish

Under the Hood

Meta Query Additions

Post Objects

Image Editing API

Multisite Improvements

XML-RPC API

External Libraries

To create your own cForm:

To create your own Gravity Form:

Summary of Roles (Taken directly from WordPress Codex)

Start in a post/page edit window.