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Create a feature rich blog with ease using RapidWeaver's built-in Blog page
Last updated
Create a feature rich blog with ease using RapidWeaver's built-in Blog page
Last updated
The Blog page allows you to create and manage a collection of blog entries; recording events, thoughts, ideas and more that are important to you (and your readers). Audio and video files can also be added to blog entries to create Podcasts – all of which can be syndicated using RSS feeds.
To add a new blog entry, click the [+] button in the edit window. When you create a new post, the list at the top of the edit window will show the new entry, and the editor beneath will allow you to create your post. Your full blog post should be written in the "Body" tab.
You have the option to create a summary of your blog post in the "Summary" tab. If you include a summary, this is what will appear on your main blog page (the page listing all your articles). A "Read more" link will be automatically added at the end of the summary which your reader can click on to view your full blog article.
It's a good idea to include a summary for your blog articles in the "Summary" tab in order to keep your main blog page clean and concise. If nothing is added to the "Summary" tab, your full blog post will be displayed on the main blog page.
The main content editor area for each blog entry is a regular Styled Text area, as found elsewhere in RapidWeaver, allowing you to easily write and add images, videos, links and HTML. Formatting options are available at the bottom of the edit window.
The Post Settings area is shown on the right of the main edit window. Here you can edit a post’s Title, Category or Tags. The date and time for each post is set automatically to the time the entry was created (using your Mac's system time). The date and time of a post can also be edited manually. Pressing the refresh button next to the Date field will reset it to the current time.
Note: RapidWeaver’s Blog page does not schedule posts - any post that is checked in the post list will be published, with your chosen date applied.
A Permalink is a permanent link to a specific blog entry so that visitors may return to it even if it has been archived and moved off the main Blog page. When enabled in the General tab of the Blog’s Setup area (Option-Command-6), RapidWeaver will automatically create a Permalink for each blog entry using the blog entry's Title. If you’d prefer to create a custom Permalink for a specific blog entry, enter it into the Permalink field.
When RapidWeaver publishes your blog page, the blog post will be shown in a file with the permalink name.
RapidWeaver's blog editor area allows you to add images to your blog posts via drag and drop. You can also add images from Mac's Photo App, from the Unsplash image sharing service, and from RapidWeaver's resources folder, all from within RapidWeaver's Resources panel (Command-4).
Images you drag and drop into your blog are automatically added to RapidWeaver's resources folder, which can be viewed from RapidWeaver's Resources panel (Command-4).
Photos: Add photos to your Blog entries from your Mac's Photos app.
Unsplash: Add photos to your Blog entries from the Unsplash image sharing service.
resources: Add photos to your Blog entries from your resources folder in RapidWeaver.
Below are some examples of how you can add images to your blog posts via drag and drop:
You can edit your blog images and give them some effects directly in RapidWeaver. Simply double-click the image you'd like to edit to pull up the settings window. Adjust the settings per your preference.
Filename: The filename for your image. For better SEO your image filename should be descriptive and relate to the image.
Alt Tag: Give your image an Alt description. This can be the same as the image filename, or you can give it an alternative description. Again this is good for SEO.
Scale: Select if you want RapidWeaver to scale your image, or if you'd prefer to set a fixed width and height.
Rotation: Select if you want to rotate your image, and the degree to which you'd like to rotate it.
Flip Horizontally / Flip Vertically: Select if you want to flip your image horizontally or vertically.
Shadow: Select if you'd like to give your image a shadow effect.
Border: Select if you'd like to give your image a border.
Your blog images can be aligned to the left or right of your text with ease. Simply click on the image to highlight it, click the [<>] icon in the formatting toolbar at the bottom of the blog's editor window, and select either Align Image Left or Align Image Right.
RapidWeaver allows you to easily add Podcasts to your blog entries.
Podcasting is a standard that allows audio or video files (most commonly in MP3 or MP4 formats) to be published online in a way that allows Podcast-capable applications (such as Apple's Podcasts App) to automatically subscribe to them and download the media for playback at the listener’s convenience.
When you add a Podcast to your blog entry by clicking the Add Podcast... button, RapidWeaver presents a Podcast pane that allows you to drag-and-drop your Podcast media-file into your blog entry. The file needs to be in a QuickTime compatible format such as MP3 (audio) or MP4 (video and audio).
To submit a podcast to Apple you must have an Apple Podcasts Connect account.
For full details of Apple’s podcast specifications, visit Audio Requirements, Artwork Requirements, Podcast RSS Feed Requirements, and Video Podcast Requirements.
Once the media file is dragged in, you can specify custom tags to help compatible Podcasts Apps to correctly categorize your podcast. The custom tags are applied on an episode-by-episode basis using the iTunes Tags tab.
Category
This is the category which Apple Podcasts should categorize the podcast under. It should be just a single category, such as Comedy or Technology.
Keywords
This allows you to be more specific than a category. Think of them as tags, allowing you to refine the description of the episode so perhaps Mac, macOS Sonoma, and RapidWeaver Classic would be considered Keywords of a Technology-centric show. Keywords should be comma and space separated.
Author
Enter your name, or the company name you wish to associate with the show. It will appear in the Apple Podcasts source list and over-ride the email address defined in the blog’s RSS setup.
Subtitle
If you’re looking to add some extra details about the episode, a subtitle may be useful.
Summary
If you want to add more in-depth show notes, perhaps detailing the entire content of the show (such as topics covered, guest appearances, etc), you can enter them here.
Block
If you want your podcast episode to not be visible in Apple Podcasts check the Block box. This is how you are able to simply make your episode 'private', meaning that Apple will not make your show visible in their public catalogue. This also works to block your podcast episode from Google Podcast's public catalogue as well.
Explicit
Apple Podcasts allows you to flag any content that may contain any explicit content (such as profanity). Checking the ‘Explicit’ box will ensure that Apple Podcasts is made aware of the content. You should always ensure your episodes are flagged if they contain any explicit content, as Apple Podcasts may remove any incorrectly-labelled podcasts.
Item Image
Drag and drop an image relating to your podcast episode.
Once you’re finished editing the details for your podcast episode, click OK. When you next publish your site, RapidWeaver will attach the chosen files to your blog post, and generate the necessary code that ensures podcast clients can download the episode from the server.
If you'd like to add or edit default tags for your entire podcast series, perhaps to write a general summary describing what your whole podcast series is about, or add a custom Channel Image which will be displayed in Apple Podcasts as your show's album art, go to Inspector > Blog (Option-Command-6) > Advanced tab > iTunes tab and add your default tags in their respective fields.
Using External Audio Files in your Podcast
If you'd like to link to existing online content, do not drag in any media to the initial podcast drop- box. Instead go to the Custom RSS Tags tab and check the ‘Override default Podcast settings’ box. Simply enter the full URL to the media (e.g. https://realmacsoftware.com/podcast.mp3).
Be sure to enter the full data for the size in bytes in the size box and specify the correct MIME type. You can get the full size, in bytes, by using the Finder’s Get Info on your audio file. Podcast ‘enclosures’ can be in the following formats:
.mp3 (audio/mpeg)
.mp4 (audio/mp4 or video/mp4)
.m4a (audio/mp4)
.m4v (video/mp4)
.mov (video/quicktime)
.pdf (application/pdf)
RapidWeaver comes with ample settings to customize your blog just the way you like it. To pull up the Blog's settings panel, go to Inspector > Blog (Option-Command-6).
The top section of the General tab contains the archiving options for your blog in which you can customize the archive behavior, if used. By default, archiving is active (we strongly recommend leaving it enabled). Disabling it will cause RapidWeaver to keep all of your blog’s posts on the same page, growing longer with each blog entry you add. If enabled, archiving will move all your old posts to separate pages, keeping only the current week’s or month’s posts on the main page, as selected in the "Archive by" popup menu. You can also set the minimum number of posts that must appear on the main blog page before older posts are archived in the "Keep" field, and whether or not to show gaps in the list of available archives by checking the "Show gaps" checkbox. Finally, the Blog plugin supports 8 different smiley emotions when "Smileys" is enabled . For example, entering :-) in your blog, RapidWeaver will convert it into the appropriate graphic.
The middle section of the General tab allows you to enable Permalinks in your blog and to set the Permalink’s link title. If you use summaries in your blog entries, you may choose whether the Permalink points to the summary rather than the blog entry itself by clicking the "Include Summary" checkbox. When published, the Permalink will point to the summary, which will include a "Read more..." link to the full blog entry. You may also change the phrase used for "Read more..." links. Finally, we recommend leaving the "Display inline comments" box unchecked.
The bottom section of the General tab allows you to add a commenting system to your blog or not. RapidWeaver integrates with the Disqus commenting platform. Once you have registered for a Disqus account and added your site to their system you will need to enter your Disqus 'Site Shortname' into the "Short Name" field in order for your comments section to show under your blog posts.
Categories are automatically enabled for each blog you create, allowing you to set a category for your blog entries. If you’d rather not use categories, you can disable them by unchecking the "Enable" checkbox. When categories are enabled, you can also choose to display the number of blog entries that are in each category within the sidebar by checking the "Show Post Count" checkbox. If you'd like for your categories to be listed alphabetically in your blog's main page sidebar check the "List alphabetically in sidebar" checkbox.
You can create additional categories for your blog by clicking the (+) button at the bottom of the categories list and typing the name of the new category. To remove a category, click on its name and click the (-) button. You can also arrange the categories in the list by clicking and dragging them into a new position. At the bottom of the Category Settings, you will find "Title" and "Separator" fields. RapidWeaver uses these fields to display your blog article's category(s) and they are located directly under your blog entry's title (next to the blog entry's date). You can modify these fields per your preference.
Tags can be considered as sub-categories, describing more accurately a blog post’s content. To enable tags for blog posts, check the "Enable" checkbox in the Tag Settings. If you would like to display a Tag Cloud on your blog's main page sidebar, check the "Display tag cloud" checkbox. The Tag List keeps track of how many times you've used a specific tag for a blog entry under the "Count" column.
A blog post's tags are displayed below the summary and full blog entry (as in the above screenshot). If you'd like to change the "Tags:" text to something else, you can do so in the "Title" field in the Tag Settings panel. Finally your blog entry's tags are separated by a comma followed by a space by default. If you'd like to change the separator to something else you can do so in the "Separator:" field.
To help increase the audience for your blog, RapidWeaver can generate what’s known as an RSS feed. This is a file that contains the posts from your blog, along with a link to view the article. Visitors to your site can subscribe to this feed in apps like Reeder or News Explorer and read your blog articles from their preferred app. RapidWeaver includes a link to the RSS feed in your website’s source code so that apps can automatically detect it! While RSS use has declined in recent years, we strongly recommend that you offer it for your readers for those that prefer it!
Before you can syndicate your blog or broadcast your podcasts, you must first configure your blog to use RSS feeds. Check the "Enable" checkbox from the RSS Feed Settings panel and complete the fields.
Title - The title for your RSS feed.
Description - A description of what your blog is about.
Creator - Your or your company's name.
Copyright - Add a copyright notice to your RSS feed.
Language - Select the language your blog is written in.
RSS Link Name - This is the text link that will appear in your blog's sidebar.
RSS File Name - We recommend leaving this as the default "feed.xml".
Use Custom Feed - Enable this if you are using a third party RSS service to host your RSS feed (e.g. FeedPress). Generally it's easier to let RapidWeaver handle your RSS feed so only enable this if you need advanced RSS Feed features or analytics.
RSS URL - Enter the URL to your custom feed from your third party RSS service mentioned above if you are using one.
Some sites truncate their RSS feeds in order to drive visitors to read the original on their website. While we typically wouldn’t recommend you do this, you can specify how many words from each of your blog entries should be included in your RSS feed (from one to fifty words) by selecting the checkbox labelled "Summarize entries in RSS feed" and then moving the slider to select how many words you'd like to be included in the RSS feed.
You can customize the way the date and time are shown by selecting the "Date Format" sub-tab.
In this tab, you can specify how the date and time are displayed, including separators. As you make changes to the settings, an example is displayed next to the "Sample" field in the settings.
You can create default values for your Podcast tags and any custom RSS channel tags used in your Podcasts. The values entered here will become the default tags for all of your Podcasts, but you can override these values in any Podcast episode if desired by using the iTunes Tags and the Custom RSS Tags tabs in the Add Podcast pane as outlined in the Podcasting tutorial section.
To set the default Podcasts tags to be added to your Podcasts, click the "Enable" checkbox next to "Custom Tags" and fill in the succeeding fields.
Use the Channel sub-tab to add any custom RSS channel tags not addressed using the iTunes sub-tab, or to add any new Channel tags that may be added to Apple Podcasts in the future. As a rule, this should be unnecessary, but the ability to add custom RSS Channel tags remains available if needed.
Enabling the dynamic PHP sidebar improves the sidebar navigation on blogs with a large number of tags and categories, and substantially reduces the number of files that require updating when the number of tags and categories changes. We strongly recommend enabling the "Dynamic PHP Sidebar" checkbox when first starting with the blog page, and leaving it enabled, however you can also enable this option if you've already been blogging with RapidWeaver's blog for awhile.
If you've been blogging with RapidWeaver's built-in blog page for awhile and your blog pages currently have an .html extension, enabling the Dynamic PHP Sidebar will require RapidWeaver to create new blog pages (and permalink article pages) with a .php extension.
After enabling this option, you should consider connecting to your server through your web hosting provider's control panel or an FTP client such as Cyberduck, and remove your site completely. Then, use the File > Re-Publish All Files option in RapidWeaver to ensure the new PHP-based blog pages are uploaded.
