Next, click the “add video” icon (above the edit box on your “add a post” page). Select the option called “from URL” and enter the web address of the video you want to publish.

Click “insert into post” and then publish. Go check out your new video! Then enjoy one of my favourite Patty Griffin songs…

1. Click the “add image” button
2. Select an image from your computer to upload
3. Decide on the settings (the size of image, and what position it should take on the page)
4. Click “insert into page”
5. Laugh gleefully about your beautiful post.

Here are some examples.

Tonight I ended up working late at the library, and I was in a rush to get to this class. I had to buy my dinner from a coffee shop and eat it in the car. Unfortunately when I opened the pasta salad I’d bought and took a bite, I discovered that it was mouldy. Disgusting!

If I weren’t in a big hurry tonight, and I had lots of time to decide what I wanted to eat, I’d make a delicious meal of green beans, roast chicken, tarragon sauce and rice. Then, for dessert, I would make a pear upside down cake baked in a cast iron skillet. Yum!

Photo courtesy of food network

This is one of my favourite dinners, though it is more suited to an early autumn meal, than a spring one. I love green beans fresh from the garden when they are still very crisp and tasty. I like to lightly steam them and dress with lemon juice.

As for roast chicken, how can you go wrong? Just salt, pepper, a bit of butter on the outside and maybe toss a lemon and an onion inside while it roasts. Just don’t overdo it, or you’ll be eating dry stringy meat.

Serve the chicken over rice and dress with a cream sauce made with fresh tarragon.

Roast chicken with lemon

For dessert, especially in the fall, I like to get fresh ripe pears and roast them with almonds and a cake batter to make an upside down cake. The trick to doing this properly is to use a heavy cast iron pan, and to heat the oven really hot. This is an easy and impressive dessert to make for a dinner party – people love it.

• Link to a webpage within your post
• Refer to another blog post (this triggers the ping/trackback feature

• Privacy settings
• Moderating comments
• Biographical information
• Changing your user ID (the “posted by Annie” feature…)
• Choosing and applying templates
• Adding widgets
• Customizing template headers

Again, feel free to suggest topics you’d like us to cover if have outstanding questions!

For example, if I wanted to “ping” Ruby’s post, I would create a link to her post within my own post. It would automatically create a link back to my new post within the comments section of her post.

For example: I really enjoyed reading Ruby’s post on “off days.”

I am very open to feedback, so please let me know if you’d like me to slow down or speed up, or if you want to suggest topics for us to cover. At the moment, we are planning to cover:

• Registering for a wordpress account
• Setting up a new blog
• Editing the “about” page
• Creating a new page
• Writing a post
• Using formatting in posts
• Linking to other pages
• Commenting on other people’s blogs

Next week, we’ll cover even more! We’ll be looking at templates, changing colour schemes and adding photos… stay tuned!

• Introductions
• Did an overview of basic blog structure
• Talked about the big question – what is blogging good for? Personal stories, teams, knowledge sharing, citizen journalism, marketing and fun…
• Looked at examples of successful blogs

After the break, we got hands-on, and:

• Signed up for a WordPress account
• Each of you created your first blog
• Created an “about this blog” page
• Wrote your first post

Please feel free to add suggestions and questions in the comments field! The course content can go faster or slower, depending on the needs of the group.