Writing and scheduling posts
This page is for individuals who write their own blog posts and want some of them to appear while they are busy or away. General writing advice is in Writing for your own site.
Contents
- The fields of a post
- Writing a post
- Scheduling: what is possible
- Publishing later
- Taking a post down at a date
- A pace you can keep
- Checklist per post
The fields of a post
| Field | Identifier | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Title | title | What the post is about; becomes the address |
| Body | body | The text, with headings, lists, links and images |
| Publication date | publication_date | The date shown on the post |
| Unpublish date | unpublish_date | Optional: when the post should be taken down |
| Tags | tags | Topics (Tags and categories) |
| Enable comments | enable_comments | Checkbox (Comments on your blog) |
| Metadata | metadata | Search engine title and description |
Source: class-blog_post.xml in the sevenx_classes package.
Writing a post
- Go to your Blog and Create here > Blog post.
- Write the title and the body. Use Store draft often; a draft is private.
- Add tags and decide on comments.
- Preview to see it as readers will.
- Publish. It appears at the top of the blog and in the feed.
Changing a published post creates a new version; the old one stays and can be restored (Publishing and versions, Drafts, versions and undo).
Scheduling: what is possible
| You want | What does it | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| A post that appears on a date | The Wait until date workflow event | Set up once by the administrator; cron |
| A post that disappears on a date | The unpublish.php cronjob with the unpublish_date field | Enabled in settings/content.ini [UnpublishSettings]; cron |
| A post that is hidden on a date | The hide.php cronjob | settings/content.ini [HideSettings]; cron |
| A date shown on the post | The publication_date field | Nothing; it is only displayed |
Source and detail: Scheduled publishing.
Note
Filling in publication_date alone does not hold a post back: the field is shown on the post, but publishing
still happens when you press Publish. Holding back needs the workflow.
Publishing later
On a site you run yourself, you are the administrator:
- Set up a workflow with the Wait until date event for the Blog post class and connect it to the "before publishing" trigger (Workflows).
- Make sure cron runs the
frequentpart, which includes the workflow cronjob (Cronjobs). - Write the post, set the date, and press Publish. The version waits; it is published at the first cron run after the date.
Test it with a post dated ten minutes ahead before you rely on it for a holiday.
Taking a post down at a date
Useful for a call for entries, an event announcement or a temporary offer. Fill in the unpublish_date; the
unpublish.php cronjob moves the post to the trash after the date, from where it can be restored. It must be
enabled for the class in settings/content.ini [UnpublishSettings].
A pace you can keep
- Decide a rhythm (weekly, every other week) and write it in a content calendar.
- Keep two or three posts as drafts or scheduled, so a busy week does not break the rhythm.
- Batch the work: write two posts on a quiet evening, schedule one.
- A late post is better than a rushed one; an honest "back in two weeks" post is better than silence.
Checklist per post
- To do: A title that says what the post is about.
- To do: A first paragraph that works alone (it is what feeds and search results show).
- To do: Headings and short paragraphs.
- To do: Alternative text for every image.
- To do: Existing tags, not new spellings of old ones.
- To do: Comments on or off, deliberately.
- To do: Preview checked; if scheduled, the date is right and cron runs.
Related pages
- Blogs
- Scheduled publishing
- Writing for your own site
- The writing assistant
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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