Member Articles

Members Guide Video

Working with the new IPA.Org Website

The Basics

If you have read all three of the articles about publishing on IMPress, you are ready to see some of the differences in working on our new site with the latest version of WordPress and this member’s guide.  

The basics are the same, but each theme and or plug-in we have added to this site require a slightly different way for you to publish your articles.

You will notice that the formatting menu on the new site is quite different than the one we pictured on the IMPress Authors Guide, yet both work the same in many respects.

WordPress Is Updated Continually

WordPress is constantly updating its core functions and our theme for this site.  Therefore many plug-ins we have installed are also updated too. We will continue to update this Members Guide

You may notice that some of our instructions or screenshots may no longer match what you are seeing when you are posting on the site. That may be due to those updates.

We try to update these articles as well, but alas, it is a fool’s mission of sorts.  Because changes occur so frequently, we try to keep all of our pages updated too.  Further information is available by doing a simple Google search or visiting the WordPress site for more information.

Creating A New Post

It is easy to create a new post. On WordPress, a post is what we refer to as an article. A page is a static page that stays on the site, like our member registration page or payment page.  So you will be creating posts.

Follow the information in our videos and other articles it will take you through the steps.  As I said there will be a few things different here. Once you select New Post, you will be presented with a blank post to work on.

Featured Image

Remember to upload your featured image. On the lower right corner of the page, you will see the link or use this one if you prefer Set featured image too this is the image that will show on the top of your article. 

The Featured Image In this site it should be approximately 540 pixels by 230 pixels.  Go to our  Member Articles Page to get an idea of how they will look.  

They must be horizontal images to work properly on this theme.  You may have to crop a vertical to a horizontal format if that is all you have.

 Articles Page Display

For Publication On IMPress

If you are publishing a post on IMPress, you won’t need to be too concerned with the Featured Image size, because it will take the standard horizontal image (or vertical) and resize it to fit.  I like to upload an image that is about 700-800 pixels wide if it is a vertical image,

I would not upload anything with a height larger than 600 pixels. When uploading images to the media gallery, be sure they are edited, color is perfect, brightness and contrast are right and of course, you crop the image properly.

Adding Images

You will find adding images is easier than ever before.  You can simply drag the image from your desktop or file directly into the post.

You can also use the conventional method, click on the Add Media button on the top left of your post and upload the image from the computer by searching for the image on your hard drive and uploading it from there.

If you are not getting the proper text wrap for the image, try reducing the size until it wraps properly.

You can only determine this in the View Post mode to see how it actually will look. In the edit mode, you will get an idea, but it will not show how it will actually appear in the post. You may have to play with it until you get it to where you want it.

Inserting a Video Into Your Article

It is also quite easy to include a video you have uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo by simply clicking on the videos Share tab, copy the URL and insert it into your post. I prefer to do it another way so I can control the size of the video displayed.

How to Embed your video files

In the Text Mode, it becomes a bit of a problem trying to locate the exact spot you want the video to appear because it has a lot of code there.  I usually skip a few lines and put in this text so I can find it in the Text Mode…INSERT VIDEO HERE. 

A little trick to help me locate the exact spot I want to insert the video code. Remember, if you don’t have the ability to do your own video and can locate one on YouTube or Vimeo you can use those to illustrate your articles.

You can use them without any copyright issues because the copyright owner has set it for sharing.  They will receive the views on their video because that video is on the YouTube website and you have a link to that video. 

This is a great way to add some excitement to your articles as well. So even if you didn’t get any good photos for your article or you want to do a How-To article, grab a video from YouTube or Vimeo and place it into your article.

Photo Galleries – Justified Image Grid – For Advanced Users Only

We have a video on how to create a photo gallery in your post. With our new feature, we suggest you put up your best shots for the article, no matter how many…even 20 would be OK or more if you really have exceptional shots that are not similar to each other.

Justified Image Grid

This plugin can take the default gallery you created in your post and covert it into a beautiful new gallery.  The gallery loads very fast as your reader scrolls down the page and opens it into a full-size image.  when clicked on and offers the viewer a slide show option or then can view them one at a time.

Justified Image Grid Display

When Image Is Clicked

See Video on How To Create Justified Image Grid Gallery

How the code looks In the text view

Justified Image Grid

For advanced users only.  This plugin has a number of presets and shortcodes you can use and by changing the number in the Shortcode, you can select which style you want to use.  You can see the selection and now they look on this page.

Watch this video tutorial that will explain how to insert and use the shortcodes.  

To simplify this, once you have created a gallery in WP and inserted it into your article, you have now duplicated the Gallery and included the JIG code, justified_image_grid.  Now you may want to take it one step further and change the preset style.

Your code with the style you want to use will now begin with Various Presets for JIG[/caption]

Writing Your Article

Now some like to write their article in a note pad or word app.  They will then copy and paste it into the post.

I like to work directly in the post, so I can add images as I go along. This way I know how to position my images in the text. Centered, Left, Right alignments and also the size I need.

The image you will upload could be up to 800 pixels wide and when you place it into your article you can grab the corners and resize to 600 pixels on a horizontal image.

The reason is that you can click on that image and see it in the full size if you want.

In some cases, you don’t need a large image.  If you have a smaller image you can have text wrap around it by selecting Left or Right alignment.  For the larger images select Center like the image below.

Venice-Night- Click Image To View Full Size

Here is a sample of a smaller image with ALIGN LEFT.  This is a large image that I inserted and resized it to the size I wanted.  Remember you only have to drag one of the corners of the photo to resize then align.

Save Your Draft

Remember to save your draft and don’t publish it until you have checked it, added the categories and tags and included your own handwritten description of the article. This is called the Excerpt.

You will see it below the post as you scroll down the page. This is actually what the search engines will display when they show the search results for your post. 

So make it descriptive and compelling so people will click on it to see your article.

This is going to be it for now. You have enough to play with for now. I would suggest opening one browser window with the Authors Guide articles open, then the other window on the side of that one to follow the steps one at a time.

Once you understand how the WordPress Blog works, I can then begin to show you how to work with some of the Plug-Ins we have. Most are for the Admin to use, but some offer you some additional options.

Watch Our Videos For Instructions

Click here to see all of our instructional videos

We have created select instructional videos that will help you post your articles, images and photo galleries on our international press .org website.

Your Posts (articles) will display on our Articles page initially, then will be accessed through our site map on the bottom of that page. You should send those you want to see the article the URL to that article.

 Publishing On IMPress – By Invitation Only

Many of these videos will also help you post to IMPress as well. A staff member at IMPress should know how to do this already.  

We will select only those members that have successfully posted quality articles and images on the IPA site.  By doing this we can be assured that all articles on IMPress will be perfect.