Writing for Digital Media

EMC 3060, Middle Tennessee State University

09/22/2014
by Todd O'Neill
0 comments

Embedding infogr.am infographics in a Post or Page

This is actually a cheat and not a true embed.

  1. Go to your infogr.am infographic.
  2. Hit the blue “Share” button at the top right of the screen.
  3. In the Publish dialog box that pops up hit the dark gray “View on web” button. You’ll see your infographic as others would see it.

Now the cheat part.

  1. Using a screen grab tool (Grab on the Mac) Select part of the info graphic and grab it. Save it with a name and to a location that you can find it. (I called mine “infographic”and saved it to the desktop.)
  2. Double click the image on your desktop. It should open in Preview.
  3. Select File / Save As in Preview and select PNG from the Format drop down. Hit Save.
  4. Back to your WordPress Post. Select the Add Media button above the top left of the editing box.
  5. Select Upload Files, find your info graphic file and upload the .png version.
  6. At the bottom left of the screen select the “Insert into Post” button. Your graphic will appear in your Post.
  7. Last step. Select the graphic in your post.
  8. In the top menu select the Link icon and paste the URL for your infogr.am infographic in the URL box. DONE!

See how mine looks.

infogr.am test

 

 

 

 

09/22/2014
by Todd O'Neill
0 comments

Embedding Prezi in a Post or Page

WordPress.com and Prezi do not play well together and it’s sort of WordPress’ fault.

WordPress.com limits the use of some HTML tags for security reasons. Not nice people can take advantage of these tags to do nasty things using the WordPress platform.

Two of the tags they restrict is and embed and iframe. Used together, these two tags will allow someone to place a web page inside a web page. That webpage could be designed to do bad things so you can see how the nasties could use this to nefarious ends.

There is a workaround!

The people who make the Prezi plugin for WordPress.org websites (self installed on your own server) have a method that is pretty easy.

  1. Go to your Prezi presentation (NOT in the Edit more.)
  2. Copy the URL.
  3. Go to http://wordprezi.appspot.com.
  4. Paste your Prezi URL in the box.
  5. I left the size selections alone and I chose the “Let viewers pan and zoom freely”
  6. Hit the “Get your WordPress short code” button.
  7. On the right side of the page copy the code in the gray box.
  8. Go back to your WordPress Post (or Page; it works the same.)
  9. Select the Text tab at the top right of the edit box.
  10. Locate where you want the Prezi to appear in your text and paste.
  11. Select the Visual tab at the top right of the page. You will see a gray box where your Prezi will appear. That’s OK.
  12. Hit the Preview button at the top right of the dashboard window. VĂłila! Your Prezi is on your page.

 

09/11/2014
by Todd O'Neill
0 comments

10 Tips for Writing and SEO

I love me some listicles!

Here’s one from Yoast, the makers of the WordPress SEO plugin. “10 tips for an awesome and SEO-friendly blog post“puts forth the following points:

  1. Think before you write!
  2. Write down the structure of your blog post.
  3. Use paragraphs.
  4. Use Headings.
  5. Use signal words.
  6. Let other people read your post.
  7. Write rather lengthy articles.
  8. Use headings.
  9. Use our WordPress SEO plugin. [Actually, you should. It’s good.]
  10. Add content regularly.

Bonus tip: Link to previous content

Couldn’t agree more.

10/09/2013
by Todd O'Neill
0 comments

Sites for free, copyright safe images

Here are some of the sites I found for images that you can use for your projects. The sites generally have images that are copyright free or have Creative Commons rights assigned to them.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1sm__EcZ5fs/Tm5rt7divPI/AAAAAAAAAD4/ej-IUwmo5mY/s1600/watermarked_image_sample_text_fits_page.pngIf an image has a watermark do not use it. That is a stock photo that is owned and requires payment for use, even in a project for education.

If you find other good resources leave a comment with a link.

10/08/2013
by Todd O'Neill
0 comments

How to Make a Floating Sidebar

I found the solution!

You will use a CSS <div> tag to wrap around the content you want to float on the right or left.

Here’s what you will do.

I’ll make this…

At “half seven” on a misty Saturday night in June, the elegant Grand Opera House in Belfast’s city center glimmered and glowed on its corner of Great Victoria Street. The theater enveloped a sellout crowd into its velveted, gilded interiors for a production of “Dial M for Murder.” Most big cities take nights like this for granted, but not Belfast. In Northern Ireland, a quiet evening at the theater has at times been an impossibility.

“We’re savoring the peace,” said one native Belfaster, settling in for the production. “We’re at the theater, aren’t we?”

On and off for decades, sectarian strife made going out at night a risky proposition. Bombings forced businesses and dramatic venues, including the Grand Opera House, to shut down. Cabbies designated “no-go” areas throughout the city. Hotels began frisking their guests.

Look like this:

At “half seven” on a misty Saturday night in June, the elegant Grand Opera House in Belfast’s city center glimmered and glowed on its corner of Great Victoria Street. The theater enveloped a sellout crowd into its velveted, gilded interiors for a production of “Dial M for Murder.” Most big cities take nights like this for granted, but not Belfast. In Northern Ireland, a quiet evening at the theater has at times been an impossibility.

“We’re savoring the peace,” said one native Belfaster, settling in for the production. “We’re at the theater, aren’t we?”

On and off for decades, sectarian strife made going out at night a risky proposition. Bombings forced businesses and dramatic venues, including the Grand Opera House, to shut down. Cabbies designated “no-go” areas throughout the city. Hotels began frisking their guests.

 

Here’s the code I used. You’ll need to add this code around your content (PUT YOUR CONTENT HERE.)  in the Text tab.

HINT: Switch back to the Visual tab to see the effect and then ALWAYS switch to the Text tab before you Save or Update it otherwise the effect might not take…affect. (It’s a WordPress thing.)

<div style="float: right; width: 33%; margin: 5px;">
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">PUT YOUR CONTENT HERE.</p>
</div>

If you want additional styling around the text look up “CSS styles for backgrounds”, etc.

Add a comment to this post if you find some interesting ways to style it.