For Students, Faculty, and Staff: MyU One Stop

How-to Guide for Students

Table of Contents

How to post to the blog

  1. Familiarize yourself with this article on the WordPress Editor: https://en.support.wordpress.com/wordpress-editor/
  2. Go to https://z.umn.edu/cehdthailand2022
  3. Log into the WordPress site using your U of M Internet ID and password – the same username and password you use to log into your U of M email account. If you are using a browser where you are already logged into your U of M email you will be logged into the WordPress site automatically.
  4. On the dashboard, select Posts and then Add New. See what this screen looks like.
  5. Title your post and then add content. See what this screen looks like. See following sections on formatting text and adding media.
  6. IMPORTANT: On the right of the screen, in the Categories box, select 2022 Thailand Learning Abroad, See what this screen looks like. Your post, when published, will now appear when “Students’ Blog” is chosen from the main site menu. Use the Standard format for your post. This looks best with our WordPress theme.
  7. You can also add keywords to your post using the Tag box. You can enter words individually or choose from the most used tags list. See the following section for a list of suggested tags (or keywords). Tags will help site visitors find your post and others that share similar topics.
  8. Select Save Draft, if you need more time and want to come back and finish your post later.
  9. If your post is complete, select the blue and white Publish button in the upper right.

Formatting Text

  1. Text in a post is added by using a Paragraph Block. Read more about formatting text: https://en.support.wordpress.com/wordpress-editor/blocks/paragraph-block/
  2. Hover over or select text you have entered to see the formatting tool bar. The paragraph toolbar has options to align text left, center, and right, and to format text as bold, italicize, hyperlinks, or strike through.

Adding Images or Files to a Post

Do not upload video files to the WordPress site. Use YouTube to embed videos into your posts (see following section on adding YouTube videos to your posts).

Note: WordPress uses a central Media Library to store images and files (e.g., PDF documents).

  1. Select the add block button (plus sign in a circle) in the upper left of the edit post screen.
  2. Select an Image block.
  3. Select Upload.
  4. Once the image is uploaded and added to the block, select the image to bring up the image block options toolbar. With this toolbar you can align the image within the block and edit the image details. Editing the image details allows you to add a title, caption, and alt-text to your image, see what this screen looks like.
  5. Image blocks can be resized, aligned with text, and moved up and down the page. Read this article to learn more about working with images and text. https://en.support.wordpress.com/wordpress-editor/blocks/image-block/
  6. Select Publish in the upper right when you are ready to share your post with the world

Adding YouTube Videos to your Posts

  1. Visit https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407?hl=en to learn more about uploading video.
  2. Go to YouTube and upload the video you want to post. Once you have uploaded your video to YouTube, go to the video’s YouTube page and copy the URL. It should looks something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqMrWbaa1Io
  3. Return to the WordPress site to add the video to your post.
  4. Select the add block button (plus sign in a circle) in the upper left of the edit post screen.
  5. Scroll down to Embeds and expand to see all options.
  6. Select an YouTube.
  7. Paste the URL of your YouTube video and select Embed.
  8. This block can be aligned and moved just like an image block (see above).
  9. Select Publish in the upper right when you are ready to share your post with the world.