Step-by-step instructions for posting to the UC Delivers Blog. When drafting your story, please be sure to follow the template, "How do I write a UC Delivers."
Register as a contributor
In order to post to the blog, you must be a "registered contributor." All ANR academics are automatically added as contributors. For now, all other ANR staff must be added manually. Please send an e-mail to the site's administrator, Jennifer Sedell, to request access.
Create the post
As a registered contributor, a section titled "Blog System" will appear in the center column of your ANR Portal.
Click "UC Delivers."
Click "Add a post" on the very top right-hand side of the page, next to the greeting "Hi, [Your first and last name]."
The system first asks you to write a title for your post. Enter a preliminary title in order to proceed. The title can be edited later, if you wish.
Click "Start post."
The top of the next pane says "Edit a post," but this is where you first write the post as well. If you have already written the post elsewhere, you can copy and paste it into the "post body" pane. Please be sure to follow the template for structuring your blog post, "How do I write a UC Delivers." A post should be approximately 500 words (and no more than 1000). Stories that exceed the character or word limit may be returned to authors or significantly edited by the blog manager.
Many of the text formatting tools are the same as you would find in most word processing programs.
Sometimes text will have hidden formatting that disrupts the flow of your copy. You can click the little icon that looks like a capital T with a underline and subscript x to remove formatting.
Add links to your story
Links in your story ensure that it won't be a "dead end" for someone who stumbled upon the information using a search engine. Plus, it tells readers about the source of the information and shows where to go for more details.
To add a link, copy the URL of the page you wish to link to into your clipboard. (Highlight the URL on the browser and click Ctrl-C on your computer keyboard.) Highlight the text you want to link in your post, then click the chain link icon on the far right side of the text box formatting tools in the top row.
Paste the URL in the field titled "Url." In "Text to display," you may edit the text you want to URL to be linked to. In "Title," add any optional help text you want to pop up when you move your cursor over the hyperlink. In "Target," select if you want the URL to open in a new window or not. Click "Ok."
To link an e-mail address, first copy the address in your clipboard, highlight the e-mail address in your copy, click on the chain link, then before pasting the e-mail address type "mailto:" (without the quotes.) Then paste in the address.
Add photos and video
It's always a good idea to add a photo or video with your post. Use a high quality local and relevant picture to go with the story. If you don't already have a photo, please refer to UC ANR communications tool kit for access to photo repositories, guidelines, and other resources. (Do not download a photo from the Internet unless you have permission from the photo's owner. When you get permission, keep a record of it.)
To add a photo or video, use the "adding files" pane, just underneath the blog body.
Click "browse" and find the photo or video on your computer. Click "edit" to the right of the file name. Here you can change the file name to an appropriate caption for the photo. Click the small square next to "caption" for the caption to appear on your post. Don't click the square if you don't want the caption to show.
The images will automatically appear at the end of the story. But you also have other options. On the edit pane you can also modify the size of the photo and indicate whether you want it lined up on the left or right side of your text, with the text wrapping. (We suggest that you post your story with pictures 650 px and centered. This makes them mobile friendly.)
After editing the photo, place the cursor in the text where you would like the photo to appear and click "insert image," which is just to the right of the photo thumbnail.
Embed YouTube video: If uploading a video as described above doesn't work, consider embedding a YouTube video instead. On YouTube, click SHARE and copy the "Embed" link. Paste the link where you'd like it to display in the Source Code (click on < > in the formatting tools) of the UC Delivers post.
Add Tags
Tags are used to organize information on the blog.
- Tag the UC ANR condition changes that the measured outcome/s in your blog post contributes toward.
- Tag your primary Strategic Initiative (SI) - you should only tag ONE SI.
- Tag all counties where this work happened.
- If there any other tags you would like to use, you can add more. When typing in your tags, type slowly and the system will autofill. If you select an autofill tag, you know it's a category that already exists. Whenever you can, please use existing categories.
- Don’t use a tag if you think it would very rarely or never again be mentioned in the blog.
- Avoid very generic tags, like “agriculture” or “UC.”
- Tag with the word, not the acronym. “Asian citrus psyllid,” rather than ACP.
- Tag with words that everybody would understand.
- Try to create categories. Instead of “school garden,” “school menu,” “school food,” “school nutrition,” “school project,” tag the post “school.”
- Don't use too many tags. Four seems about right.
Submit
After finishing your story, click "Save and Review." Reread the post, and click "re-edit this post" if you would like to make changes or corrections. When you are satisfied with the post, click "make this post live."
Revise and publish
This is a moderated blog, so all posts are reviewed by Program Planning and Evaluation team for content and formatting before it goes live. Contributors are notified when Program Planning and Evaluation has received the submission and given an estimated timeline for our review. Each submission is reviewed by two readers and then returned to the contributor(s) for any edits or revisions. Once you have made the revisions in the UC Delivers user interface, please notify the site administrator, Jennifer Sedell, that the post is ready. Sedell will then authorize the post for publication.
Share on social media
The blog system makes it easy to share your information on social media sites, like Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). (You will need to first set up accounts on the social media sites you wish to use.) Once the story is live on the blog, you will see a "share" icon on the upper right corner. Click the icon, select the social media site of your choice and follow the simple directions to add your post (or anyone's post that interests you) to your social media site. Use the social media summary at the top of your blog post when sharing.
