How To Post To HEROES
by Jason Kenney - July 29, 2002
Hey, everyone. This here is my attempt to explain how to use Blogger to update the front page of HEROES. I'm trying to keep everything looking nice so I need everyone to post in the same fashion, which I'll explain here.
For starters, you need to be a member of the HEROES blog at Blogger. If you are not already a member, please contact HEROES with your name, your e-mail address and the group you will be posting the updates for.
Using Blogger is easy as hell, really. I highly suggest you all start playing with it for your own personal use as it offers a quick and easy way to publish and update websites. They'll even host your site for you! Neat, eh? I use the service for HEROES as well as my personal page, J's Notes and other projects around the web. Very useful.
Perhaps the best thing about Blogger is it's ease of use. You don't have to be an expert web programmer to publish a webpage. Just pick a template, type your entry, hit post and publish and you're set, simple. Blogger will automatically add paragraph breaks and enters as you type them so you don't have to know the HTML for them. How cool is that?
You're going to need to know a little bit of HTML to post to HEROES but I'll explain everything you need right here. What is detailed below is the HTML used in Blogger for the updates. Because Blogger does some of the work for you, the HTML is incomplete for general webpage use, but it works here.
Please make group announcements no more than twice a week. The HEROES front page will only show the 15 latest updates. Please lump all new issues and other announcements into one day (you can go back and edit or even delete posts if you have more stuff later in the day).
Regular group announcements can be made in whatever manner you feel necessary. HEROES can be used to announce new writers, new series, even help wanted. But, please, keep it short, civil, and, if possible, professional. A large "HELP US!!!!!" is not a good post, where as "Group X Is Looking for Some Fresh Blood" is a good start.
Always start every post with the group name and a link to the site like so:
<b>Group Name</b> - <a href="http://url">http://url</a>
Begin announcements here.
So it will look like this on HEROES:
Pretty spiffy, eh?
Posting new issue announcements is something you'll probably do more often than any other announcements. Well, ideally it's something you'll be doing often.
There are a few ways of posting new issue announcements. One is a straight listing of new issues, another is listing with a summary and another is listing with a snip from the story.
The easiest way to post your updates, the Straight Listing is exactly that, a list of all new issues. This is the fastest way to post an update, but it doesn't do much to pull a visitor in. You can use it but you'll probably get more hits if you went with either a Summary Listing or a Snip Listing.
The correct HTML format for a Straight Listing is:
<b>Group Name</b> - <a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<b>Title #1</b>
<i>by author</i>
<b>Title #2</b>
<i>by author</i>
Which, when posted, will look like this on the HEROES page:
So, to see that in action, on Feburary 11th, Avengers 2000 had a site update with two new issues out, Network: Andromeda #1 by David Wheatley and Nocturnes #9 by Mike Franzoni. Here's the HTML for the update:
<b>Avengers 2000</b> - <a href="http://ironrod.dingojunction.com/avengers2000"> http://ironrod.dingojunction.com/avengers2000</a>
<b>Network: Andromeda #1</b>
<i>by David Wheatley</i>
<b>Nocturnes #9</b>
<i>by Mike Franzoni</i>
And on the HEROES page it looked like this:
| Monday, February 11, 2002 |
Pretty, ain't it? Now, there are slight variations to the Straight Listing.
Say you want to include the title of the issue, you'd put it under the series name like this:
<b>Title #2</b>
"issue title here"
<i>by author</i>
Title #2
"issue title here"
by author
If you wanted to include a direct link to the issue, you'd put it under the author's name like this:
<b>Title #2</b>
<i>by author</i>
<a href="http://url">http://url</a>
Title #2
by author
http://url
So that's the Straight Listing.
The Summary Listing is a good way to get a visitor interested in your book. Tease them a bit, reel them in. I know, I know, summaries kinda suck, I myself hate doing them, but they're useful for promotion. If you don't want to do a Summary but you still want to real them in, there's always the Snip Listing below. It's just like the Straight Listing format, only you have one extra line for the titles:
<b>Group Name</b> - <a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<b>Title #1</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You would type out your summary here.
<i>by author</i>
<b>Title #2</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You would type out your summary here.
<i>by author</i>
Which, when posted, will look like this on the HEROES page:
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Group Name - http://url
Title #1
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You would type out your summary here.
by author
Title #2
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You would type out your summary here.
by author
posted by Jason Kenney Monday, July 29, 2002
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Faux DC had an update using this format back on Feburary 4th:
<b>FauxDC</b> - <a href="http://www.FauxDC.com">http://www.FauxDC.com</a>
<b>AZRAEL #3</b>
"Diminished Capacity"
Jean Paul Valley forges a pact with an order of monks with a score to settle against the Order of St. Dumas. Can their wisdom and Jean Paul's spirit break down the System and allow Azrael to be reborn?
<i>by Karl Volmer</i>
<b>FIRESTORM #12</b>
"True Power"
The end of the Dr. Zero epic! Firestorm has been beaten and imprisoned, and waits helpless while his adversaries plan his death! Is this curtains for the Nuclear Man? It's the curtain call for Ralph Angelo, who ends his run with this issue - and he's not going quietly!
<i>by Ralph "Cosmic Macadoo" Angelo</i>
Which looked just like this:
| Monday, February 04, 2002 |
FauxDC - www.FauxDC.com
AZRAEL #3
"Diminished Capacity"
Jean Paul Valley forges a pact with an order of monks with a score to settle against the Order of St. Dumas. Can their wisdom and Jean Paul's spirit break down the System and allow Azrael to be reborn?
by Karl Volmer
FIRESTORM #12
"True Power"
The end of the Dr. Zero epic! Firestorm has been beaten and imprisoned, and waits helpless while his adversaries plan his death! Is this curtains for the Nuclear Man? It's the curtain call for Ralph Angelo, who ends his run with this issue - and he's not going quietly!
by Ralph "Cosmic Macadoo" Angelo
posted by Jason Kenney Monday, February 04, 2002
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So that's the Summary Listing.
The Snip Listing is a lot like the Summary Listing only, instead of a summary, you're taking part of the story and presenting it for all to see. Again, like summary, you're only adding one new section to a posting but this one plays with different HTML:
<b>Group Name</b> - <a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<b>Title #1</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
<i>by author</i>
<blockquote>The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it.
So let's end this here.</blockquote><b>Title #2</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
<i>by author</i>
<blockquote>The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it.
So let's end this here.</blockquote>
NOTE: Look at the closing blockquote tag (</blockquote>) for title one and notice how Title #2 is right up with it where as before you would have put spaces. That is because "blockquote" automatically puts a space before it's opening tag and after it's closing tag. Because Blogger reads each enter and puts in a space automatically, if you didn't put the Title 2 next to the closing blockquote tag, you'd have a lot more space than you really want.
Also, anything in blockquotes is automatically converted to italics by the CSS used for HEROES, so you don't freak out when it looks different than how you entered it.
When posted through Blogger, the above HTML would look like this:
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Group Name - http://url
Title #1
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
by author
The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it. So let's end this here.
Title #2
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
by author
The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it. So let's end this here.
posted by Jason Kenney Monday, July 29, 2002
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So, when Marvel Future Shock posted an update on Feburary 11th:
<b>Marvel Future Shock</b> - <a href="http://www.digitallymystic.com/sites/fiction/mfs/"> http://www.digitallymystic.com/sites/fiction/mfs/</a>
<b>PHOENIX: MFS</b>
"Freedom Be My Name"
<i>by Jim Stovall</i>
<blockquote>October 5
My baby, I sure can't wait to meet you. Every day I feel you kicking and tumbling in my belly, and I know you can hear me when I sing to you.
I think you like the song that Papa taught me. It is a nice song about freedom and I think flying. It's called freefallin and when I sing the words I'm free, freefallin you start jumping and kicking. I think I might name you Freedom.</blockquote><b>MYSTERIO: MFS</b>
"Overkill #1 (of 3)"
<i>by Alex Cook</i>
<blockquote>How did he move so fast? The guard thought as he felt the boy's fingers around his throat. Looking down the man saw anything but a boy weighing nothing more than a hundred pounds wet.
Green fingers curled around the mans larynx as passersby began to scream. Pixels of a high res hologram shifted and melted away, the being underneath revealed. Green from head to toe, a raggedy clock swung from its shoulders. Gender was meaningless to the guard as the oxygen deprivation began to take its effect. With spots in his vision and eyes bulging, he continued to gasp for breath.
All the man could do was stare back at his reflection in the dome glass helmet concealing the attackers identity underneath its surface.
"Aren't you going to welcome me to Montreal sir?"</blockquote>
| Monday, February 11, 2002 |
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Marvel Future Shock - http://www.digitallymystic.com/sites/fiction/mfs/
PHOENIX: MFS
"Freedom Be My Name"
by Jim Stovall
October 5
My baby, I sure can't wait to meet you. Every day I feel you kicking and tumbling in my belly, and I know you can hear me when I sing to you.
I think you like the song that Papa taught me. It is a nice song about freedom and I think flying. It's called freefallin and when I sing the words I'm free, freefallin you start jumping and kicking. I think I might name you Freedom.
MYSTERIO: MFS
Overkill #1 (of 3)
by Alex Cook
How did he move so fast? The guard thought as he felt the boy's fingers around his throat. Looking down the man saw anything but a boy weighing nothing more than a hundred pounds wet.
Green fingers curled around the mans larynx as passersby began to scream. Pixels of a high res hologram shifted and melted away, the being underneath revealed. Green from head to toe, a raggedy clock swung from its shoulders. Gender was meaningless to the guard as the oxygen deprivation began to take its effect. With spots in his vision and eyes bulging, he continued to gasp for breath.
All the man could do was stare back at his reflection in the dome glass helmet concealing the attackers identity underneath its surface.
"Aren't you going to welcome me to Montreal sir?"
posted by Jason Kenney Monday, February 11, 2002
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And there you have it. That's pretty much it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact HEROES. I highly recomend you get your own blog and play around with Blogger's settings before you start using HEROES a lot, that way you can get a feel for how the system works.
And below is a layout of all the different features and all that good stuff just for reference.
<b>Group Name</b> - <a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<b>Title #1</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You could put a summary here if you wanted to.
<i>by author</i>
<a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<blockquote>The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it.
So let's end this here.</blockquote><b>Title #2</b>
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You could put a summary here if you wanted to.
<i>by author</i>
<a href="http://url">http://url</a>
<blockquote>The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it.
So let's end this here.</blockquote>
Will all look like:
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Group Name - http://url
Title #1
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You could put a summary here if you wanted to.
by author
http://url
The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it. So let's end this here. Title #2
"Issue Title (if you wanted)"
You could put a summary here if you wanted to.
by author
http://url
The story would go here. It's a good story, full of stuff and things like that.
If you wanted spaces in the snip, you would not use the paragraph tags (<p>) but simply hit enter and leave a space like I did here. Blogger will read it. So let's end this here.
posted by Jason Kenney Monday, July 29, 2002
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