It's been a month and a half since I originally made this guide to help you guys with writing FanPosts, posting FanShots and commenting. I've seen a great improvement in those areas since writing that post, but now we have more new users who have never seen that post. To them, I highly recommend you read that first guide post and then come back to read this second one.
This one came about as a request from Clip Show. I'll be showing you how to inset pictures and videos into your FanPosts, how to link to other sites and how to use the quote boxes. These will be valuable tools for those writing FanPosts as well as those who like to comment. If anyone has any other questions, they can ask me to make a guide post or simply e-mail me for the answer.
Linking: This one I find to be especially important. Bolts From The Blue has a small staff that writes in their free time. We have a few connections with the team, but most of them still frown when we use the word "blog". What I'm getting at is, San Diego Chargers news gets broken and things happen all over the internet. Linking to it on BFTB makes this an even better website for our users, a "one-stop shop" type website.The ways in which you can link to something else on the internet are nearly endless. You can use a FanShot if it's something that doesn't require your input. If you're intending on linking to back up a point you're making in a FanPost or in the comments, it's just as easy. Let's go step-by-step.
I've decided to leave this comment in response to a good post. It's in reference to Rivers losing in a QB skills competition against a high school QB last week. But what if somebody doesn't know about that story? My comment will just seem odd. I should link to that story for anyone who doesn't understand the joke.
First I highlight the text that I want to turn into a link. Right above the comment box you'll notice there are 6 buttons. The second one from the right is two chains LINKED together. Get it? Once you've highlighted your text, click those chain links.
This is what you'll see as soon as the chain link button is clicked. A box will show up in the middle of the screen, asking for the address of whatever you're linking to. The rest of the site will dim into the background. Put in the site you wish to link to and hit "Submit".
The commenting tool does the coding for you. You can add something else to your comment before posting or simply post to see your handiwork.
Ta-Da! How easy was that?
What about linking in a FanPost? It works the exact same way. Check it out.
See the chain link button? It's just barely above the highlighted text and over to the left just a bit. Two down from the Spellchecker button. Now that I have my text highlighted, I'm going to click it.
Same as with the comments, the rest of the site fades into the background and a white box appears in the center of the screen asking for the address of the link. Fill it in and hit Submit.
The link shows up red to show you that it's there and working. But here's a question: What if you don't want that link there anymore? Say you found a better story or the information you linked to has been proven to be false somehow. In the comments section you have to backspace through the code and start over, but in a FanPost it's much easier. You'll notice next to the chain link button is one that looks like a broken chain, but it's faded so you can't click on it.
Once I click on the link, that box is now click-able. Clicking on it removes or "breaks" the link. If you want to re-do the link to point somewhere else, just "break" the link and start over fresh.
Pictures: We're going to work backwards from the linking into the pictures. Let's start with a fanpost. You'll notice on the wide shots of the FanPost dashboard, there is a section to the right of the text box for "Media & Assets". It works just as easy as everything else here as SB Nation.
Let's assume that instead of linking to a picture of a crazy Raiders fan, I want the picture to show up on the post itself. That's easy enough. The most-left button under Media & Assets is for inserting images. I'll click it.
Just like with the links, the rest of the site dims and a large box appears. You'll notice within this box that there are three tabs: Import, Find and Upload. The box will always open in Find, which allows you to search through image files that have previously be loaded onto our servers (by you, me or anyone else). If there's an image in there that you like, click the green "Add" button to the right of it and it will be added to your story. Clicking the blue file name next to the picture will give you a larger version of the image to look at.
If you have an image on your computer that you'd like to use, Upload is the one for you. Make a title for your image (so you can "Find" it later), browse for the file and upload it. The systems will automatically put the image in your story.
Import is the simplest one, and the one I use most often. I found a picture of a crazy Raiders fan from The Black Hole that I want to put in the story. I right-clicked on the image and clicked "Copy Image Location", then I pasted it into the box under the Import tab. Once I click the "Import" button, the image is put into my story.
Take it from someone who does a lot of posting on the internet, both for fun and for my real job, this system is as easy and user-friendly as it gets. Inserting other media, such as YouTube videos or an audio clip, is just as easy. Simply click the corresponding button and follow the simple instructions.
What about inserting a picture into comments? It's even easier, but you only have the option of importing the image from somewhere else on the internet.
I have my subject. Once I click down into the message box, all I have to do is click the image button (the one on the right with the tree).
Once I click that tree, this box pops up. This may look different on your computer if you're not using a Macintosh, but it'll be generally the same. Just enter the address of the picture you want to link to and click OK.
The coding is done for you.
I add a line afterwords to get my point across, and I'm ready to post.
There we go. Without having any idea what the coding is for inserting an image, or a link, you can jazz up your comments or back up your arguments quite easily.
Quotes: Quote boxes are awesome. They're used on forums all over the internet, so they shouldn't be difficult to pick up. The way they can be used on SB Nation is just easier and quicker than what I've seen before. Since the quote boxes are exactly the same in comments and in FanPosts, I'm just going to show you one.
I copied this text from gman87's story, but you could copy the test from another article (link to the article somewhere if you do this) or even another comment. Highlight the text once you've pasted it, and click the "quotes" button next to the chain link button.
It's a simply piece of code that you always just type in yourself, but this makes it even easier for you.
You can see I put my own text after the quote as a response to it.
Here's what the comment looks like once it's been posted. Since mostly everyone is familiar with the quotebox, they'll know that it's something you've copied from somewhere else. If they're down in the comments, they should know that it's a quote that's been copied from the story so that you could respond to it specifically. The quotebox works the same in a FanPost, with one minor difference. Just like with the links and images, in the FanPost you can actually see the result before posting instead of simply seeing the code. So when you highlight some text and then click the quotes button in a FanPost, you'll immediately see that text put into a quotebox.
So there you have it. The ins-and-outs of linking, adding media and using quote boxes. I hope that I've been able to answer all of your questions. What I'd like from you guys is to test these things out in the comments below. Post pictures, link to things and go crazy with quote boxes. Use it as your testing ground to get comfortable with these things. Also, any questions you have about these features or anything else can be put in the comments or e-mailed to me directly.
Do you have any thoughts about Bolts From The Blue? Any tips you want to send our way? Whenever you have something to say, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly.