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Blogs

What is a Blog?

The term Blog is short for "web log". Originally, Blogs consisted of short posts where people would talk about their day, recent events, latest updates in their interests, or just how they were feeling at the moment. As Blogs developed the top Blogs were more organized, consistent in adding content, and usually had to a specific theme. In the ever changing world of the internet, Blogs have become a place and a way for people to share information. They are an easy way to get ideas and content out onto the web without the need of creating and maintaining an entire website. 

ANR Blogs

ANR has it's own Blog system, where the content is unique and specific the the goals of ANR. Each of these Blogs can also integrated into a Site Builder 3.0 website very easily via the Blog Asset. This enables your site to easily contain sections of content that are always changing and up-to-date without the need to constantly update the site.

Blogs Example
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The Blog Asset

The "Blog Asset" is a module that is used to display posts from the ANR Blogs in a specific section of a page in Site Builder 3.0. Above right is an example of the Blog Asset in action.

The Blog Asset is very flexible and allows any combination of ANR Blogs to be selected for display. It also provides a variety of ways to display the Posts. So you can display "have it your way".

Using the Blog Asset

Let's begin by adding a new Asset and from the "Asset Type" drop down select "Blog".

Creating a New Blog Asset
Creating a New Blog Asset


Once the asset is created you will see many options available in the asset. Here they are in order and what they do:

Asset Name


This is the name of the Asset and the title that will be displayed above the asset (if you have "Show Asset Title" set to "Yes").

Asset Type

Displays the Asset type. This can only be selected when creating a new asset.

Show Asset Title

The Yes / No selection allows you to show or hide the title of the asset.

Blogs

This is where you choose the blogs that you want to display in this asset.

The Blog List
The Blog List


Click "Edit Blog List" to edit the list of blogs to display.
Editing the Blog List
Editing the Blog List


When editing the blog list simply click on the name of the Blog from the right column to display the posts in this asset. The Blog name once clicked will move to the left column. To remove a blog from this asset click on the blog name from the left column. The blog will then be moved to the right column.

Display Style

Selects how the blog posts will be displayed on the page. There are 3 Display styles to choose from:

  • Text Only
  • Showcase - Displays the showcase style from the ANR Blog Roll page. View Blog Showcase
  • Compact - Displays main image and limited text
  • Full - Displays complete Post

When the asset is not full width (multiple columns) the "Full" option is unavailable.

The "Showcase" style automatically adjusts to the column width for pages with multiple columns. This is set to show 1,2, 3, or 4 columns depending on the column width. If the column is too narrow the style is switched to the Text style.

Note: All views have links to the full post.

Number of Characters to Display

Limits the number of characters displayed in each view. This does not apply in the "Full" display and "Showcase" display. Allows manual adjustment of the length of the text shown on the page. Text will "break" at the closest word.

Number of Posts to Display

Determines the number of Blog posts to display in the asset. Adjust this number when you want to list more Blog posts or list fewer posts on the page. The "Showcase" display will adjust the number of posts automatically to ensure that the last row is complete. 

Note: If you're concerned about the size of the asset on the page. The "Display Style", "Number of Characters to Display", and "Number of Posts to Display" will determine the total size needed for the asset. If you need the asset to fit in a small space then try reducing the number of posts displayed and number of characters as well as use the "Text Only" display style.

Show Icon

Displays the Blog posts main image as a small icon to the left of the Blog post text. This works with the "Text Only" display style. For all other display styles this setting is ignored.

Show Comments

Shows / Hides the comments link. This works with the "Compact" and "Full" display styles. For all other display styles this setting is ignored.

Show RSS

Shows / Hides the link to the RSS Feed. An RSS Feed is a summarized listing of all the posts. This list can be viewed by an RSS reader and some browsers.

Show Tags

Shows / Hides the tags. Each tag is a link with the tag specified which shows all the posts containing the current tag. This is only valid on the "Compact" and "Full" display styles. For all other display styles this setting is ignored.