"how-to" related exchange on Comment Wall brought here for wider discussion

[Skip Zilla]

At 5:14pm on January 27th, 2008, Anna Billings said…

Hi Skip,

Thanks for all your supportive comments and encouragements. I'm still navigating my way around this fascinating and enriching site. A few questions have popped up:

1. How do I reference books so that they link to book sites (such as Amazon) that give descripltive summaries and purchasing info?

2. How do I include a photo in posts if using Safari? I think I've figured out how to do this using Firefox for a blog post. Can one post a photo in comments and discussions also? If so, how?

3. How to post a link to a website? If I just type it in the body of the text will it become a link?

4. Is it possible to put a link to my blog (yet to be written) in a discussion that I initiate?

I see there is a group devoted to these techno questions also, but thought I'd start here.

Thanks,
Anna.


At 5:34pm on January 27th, 2008, Skip Zilla said…

Hi Anna,

First, thanks for your comment about my helpfulness at Fireside Learning; it feels good to be appreciated!

As to the how-to questions you asked, I think it might be a good idea to carry them over to a discussion at the "Helpful How-tos" group and to attempt to answer them there (with the possible contributions of others, too). If you have no objection, I'll transfer this matter from an two-person exchange on a "Comment Wall" to a wider discussion in which the whole community can participate.


At 5:54pm on January 27th, 2008, Anna Billings said…

Yes, thank you, Skip. I appreciate your doing that and look forward to the replies. Should I go ahead and join the group? Wasn't sure if joining means helping to answer questions (which I don't feel qualified to do) or just all of us interested in learning and developing our technology skills.

Thanks,
Anna

[Skip Zilla]

Anna, this is the control menu of a "Reply to This" textbox. It contains six icons in the menu bar across its top. From left to right, the first four of the six icons control the appearance of text you select within the body of your reply: Bold, Italic, Underscore, and Strikethrough. The two rightmost icons control the insertion of a link to another webpage, whether one of Fireside Learning's pages, or any other in cyberspace, and the insertion of an image, again, whether it's been uploaded to this site or is linked to its location on another site.

These last two controls are the ones you'll use to accomplish the actions for which you've asked for help. Let's proceed on in turn with the "how-tos" behind accomplishing what you want to accomplish. What you'll find below is how to insert a link to another webpage. The first example is a link to another Fireside Learning webpage. The second is a link to a page about a book offered for sale at Amazon.com.

1) Inserting a web link to another Fireside Learning page
Let's say you want to insert a link in a "Reply to This" textbox to your own profile page.
Follow these steps to accomplish the insertion of this kind of link:
a) Open the Fireside Learning page you want to link to--in this example, your own profile page.
b) Highlight with your cursor and copy the web address you see in your browser's address box.

c) Find the discussion you want to reply to and open the "Reply to This" box.
d) Click on the fifth icon from the left which looks like a chain link. This will open a box for inputting a web address.

e) Paste the address you copied in step b) and click the OK button.

f) The input box will close and you'll see the address added to the "Reply to This" box along with some extra code. Your cursor should be located automatically in between the two carets pointing at one another at the end of the inserted code.

g) With your cursor located between those two carets, type whatever text you want to appear in place of the web address in the link. In this example, I've typed in the text "my profile."

h) Being careful at this point not to disturb the code, address, or name in the link, build whatever other text you want around it. (Actually, you could just as easily have started with the text of the entire reply, then inserted links into it. Generally, you don't start with a blank box, but for the purpose of simplifying the tutorial, we started with a blank box.) Here's an example of text I built around the link:

i) When you've completely your entry of both text and link(s), merely click the "Add Your Reply" button below the "Reply to This" box. The reply will be displayed as it will appear for others.

2) Inserting a web link to another webpage located somewhere outside of the Fireside Learning site
Let's say you want to insert a link in a "Re

[Skip Zilla]

Unfortunately for me and you, the entire second half of this post was wiped out when I went in to edit a minor spelling error in the first half. Ugh! I will reconstruct AND SAVE the second half in a separate posting (and use a separate html page editor outside of a "Reply to This" Ning textbox! (In the old days, a mistake on my part like this would have cost me money, not merely time. I was more careful then about trusting the capabilities of a development tool! ;- ).

[Anna Billings]

Hi Skip,

Thank you sooo much for taking the time to spell all of this out for me (and I'm sure it will be helpful for others too). And with such great, tangible, visual aides. I look forward to the rest of the post. Sorry for the frustration in losing that big chunk of your attentive work. I confess it's actually a bit comforting to know that experts like yourself can sometimes experience these computer glitches. Somehow gives me patience to persist in trying to learn what seems like rather complex stuff to me. At the same time I'm continually impressed and appreciative of what computers can do.

thanks,
Anna

[Skip Zilla]

Here, Anna, is the second half of my original post about inserting weblinks into a "Reply to This" textbox.

2) Inserting a web link to another webpage located somewhere outside of the Fireside Learning site
Let's say you want to insert a link in a "Reply to This" textbox to a webpage on a site outside of Fireside Learning.
Follow these steps to accomplish the insertion of this kind of link:
a) Open the webpage of the external site you want to link to--in this example, a page at Amazon.com.
b) Highlight with your cursor and copy the web address you see in your browser's address box.

c) Go (back) to the Fireside Learning site and find the discussion you want to reply to and open the "Reply to This" box.
d) Click on the fifth icon from the left which looks like a chain link. This will open a box for inputting a web address.

e) Paste the address you copied in step b) and click the OK button.

f) The input box will close and you'll see the address added to the "Reply to This" box along with some extra code. Your cursor should be located automatically in between the two carets pointing at one another at the end of the inserted code.

g) In this example, however, you'll notice the code and address for the link were too long and the two carets at the end of the line were not visible within the confines of the textbox. In a case like this, move your cursor manually to the place between the two carets.

h) With your cursor located between those two carets, type whatever text you want to appear in place of the web address in the link. Then, being careful at this point not to disturb the code, address, or name in the link, build whatever other text you want around the link. In the screen image below, you won't be able to see entirely what I typed between the carets as the link's name, and because I've combined the step of entering the body text of this example reply, you'll see what the entire reply--body text and link--looks like just prior to publishing it as a post.in the discussion thread.

i) When you've completed your entry of both text and link(s) to your satisfaction, merely click the "Add Your Reply" button below the "Reply to This" box. The reply will be displayed as it will appear for others.

Again, I hope this little tutorial is helpful for you. Just remember, you'll gain proficiency by actually replying to discussions, and if you're unsatisfied with the results of a reply you've posted, edit it (to correct an entry error) or delete it entirely and start over. (As I did to get this second half of the original two-part tutorial to be posted. :-)

[Connie Weber]

HI Skip,
I think this is a marvelous way to show someone how to accomplish something very particular on the ning. Best I've seen. What a fantastic tutorial!

[Skip Zilla]

Thanks, Connie.
I still have to respond to two other of Anna's questions with little tutorials: how to enter an image into a "Reply to This" box and how to insert a link to a post at one's external (and internal?) blog. (I'll get to developing those tutorials later today when I have more time.)

[Connie Weber]

You are very kind to do this; it's a marvelous community service, Skip!

By the way, I've been getting from a number of new participants (unfamiliar with ning) that they just don't know how to start. So you're providing some VERY important instruction in the area. We want people to be comfortable joining in, and some of that entails actual use of the technology. Thank you, thank you.

[Anna Billings]

Hi Skip,

Wow! This is amazingly helpful — I really appreciate all the care and work (and time!) you put into this very thoughtful and clear response. I like the step by step visuals. I'm sure others will benefit greatly also. I'll try these fun things out very soon.

Thanks,
Anna