Logging In

To publish on Wordpress, go to theorangecouch.chicagolandwritingcenters.org and log in with the account provided to you by the Writing Center. To do so, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select the “Log in” button. After doing so, WordPress will redirect you to the log in page. Be sure to click “Log in with username and password, not “log in with WordPress.com”

On the site’s dashboard, refer to the menu on the left to access and edit different parts of the Orange Couch site:

Adding new authors as contributors

Everyone is an author so we can credit their work to them and link to all their posts. All authors are entered as "contributors.”

1. Go to Users > Add new
2. Username for authors should be Firstname Lastname with a space between them, as you would see written

Add New User.mp4

1. Enter a fake email address, ex. [email protected]
2. Enter the first and last names in the corresponding spaces
3. Enter a simple password like “writing” and check the “Confirm use of weak password” box
4. In the dropdown beneath that, choose “Contributor” for their role
5. Click “Add New User” to finish!

Publishing each piece—create new blog post

1. Add a new post using the + in the upper left hand corner or going to Posts > New post
2. Add the title of the piece in "Title" and copy and paste the text below
   • If the line spacing is off, backspace a line and then use Shift + Enter to make the spacing single instead of double

1. Add a divider: below the last line of the piece, hit Enter again and click on the little plus box that appears to the right

   1. Once you click on the little plus box, a small box with a search bar and element options will appear. From the element options, select “divider”—it should default to our chosen style. If divider doesn’t appear among the six element options, type “divider” into the search bar

      

   2. Below the divider, copy and paste in the author’s bio. For anything in the bio that could be linked to a website, such as a mention of Crook & Folly, find the website URL. Highlight the text and click the link icon that appears in the edit bar above. Copy and paste the URL in the box that appears and hit Enter

      1. Each bio should be in third person. If it is not, use the pronouns the writer included to adjust it to comply with third person.

   3. Highlight the full block of text and look to the right hand side of the screen, where the edit box should be. Toggle onto “Block,” then go down to Color settings, and choose the middle shade of gray (hex code: #6D6D6D) so the bio is differentiated from the rest of the post

      • Alternatively, select the underlined “A” that appears in the bar above the highlighted text, then choose the middle color option (the middle gray)

   

1. Toggle to "Post" in the right hand side bar

   1. Add author in author field from the dropdown list of names

   2. Template

      • Select “Cover Template”

   3. Categories

      • Categorize every entry at least twice
        1. volume
        2. genre
      • Possible genre categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, multimodal
      • To create a category, go to Dashboard > Posts > Categories > type in “Issue [x]” (or a new genre needed) into the Name field > “Add new category.”
      • Alternatively, when drafting a post, go to the side bar in the right hand side > Categories > “Add new category” > type in category name in “New Category Name” field > click the “Add new category” button. Done!

   4. Featured image

      • Click on “Set featured image,” then select “Media Library” to upload your chosen image
      • Make sure to include ALT TEXT and DESCRIPTION when uploading images
        • Refer to Image Etiquette for more details on how to include ALT TEXT and DESCRIPTIONS in addition to other resources and recommendations
      • Click on “Set featured image” to save the image to the respective piece

   5. Excerpt

      • As our current settings only allow for 120 characters, copy and paste a section from the writer’s reflection that you think most articulates the writer’s revision process.

      • See Image Etiquette for examples of how the reflection will appear on posts and on the issue page.

      • As grammar is not one of the main priorities when following up with writers for revisions on their reflections, during this drafting process, changes to punctuation (e.g., comma placement) or spelling errors are permissible without needing to indicate you made a change. However, if you’re altering their words for clarity (e.g., the writer refers to a tutor by name or pronoun without context), grammar (e.g., sentence-verb agreement), or conciseness, make sure to indicate so with brackets.

        

        

   6. Discussion

      • Uncheck both boxes

   7. Click "Publish"! Then view the finished post to make sure everything looks okay

   • If something looks wrong, you can always go back and update it!

For Posts that have a Nonstandard Formatting

• FOR POSTS (USUALLY POEMS) THAT HAVE LINE LENGTHS LONGER THAN THE DEFAULT MARGINS:
  • Highlight all of the text and select the paragraph symbol in the first box that appears in the editing bar
  • Click the “Columns/Container” option that appears from the drop-down list
  • Go to the container editing sidebar that appears on the right hand side of the page, and look under the “Content Width” option.
  • Select the second option under this section that says “Align Wide”
  • Toggle over to the “Block” section and expand the “Size & Spacing” section. From there, you’ll be able to adjust where the container lays on the page. Insert -50 for the top “Margins” option and 100 for the bottom “Paddings” option. Make all other values 0
    • If the you don’t have a bottom paddings option, make sure to click on the button to the right of the “px” symbol
  • Always make sure to hit “Save Draft” or “Update,” if applicable, and you’re done!
• FOR POEMS THAT NEED SINGLE SPACING
• FOR POSTS THAT NEED TABBING/INDENTING