UK Tester Forums

If you are a Quarterly Forum Facilitator, we want you to publicise your session by creating a blog page on the website.

The purpose of the blog page is threefold:

1. The posting explains the purpose and scope fo the session, presents the challenge and some questions or points for discussion so members can see what the session will be about.
2. The posting can include links to your own site, whitepapers, announcement, news items so viewers can refer to your background, company, products, services etc.
3. By posting a blog entry, the Forum site automatically notifies thousands of other blogs and aggregators. People around the world will hear of your session within minutes.

As/when you create a blog post, let Paul know.

If you need some assistance, again - let Paul know.

Formatting your Text

You can type in a plain text entry if you want. Carriage returns in the text will be converted to line breaks in the version people see on the website.

However, you have a range of HTML Tags at your disposal to refine the formatting and make your blog more attractive or better structured.

Click here for some guidance on how to use these features.

We recommend the following in particular:

<img src='image ref to your site'>

to display an image or logo on the site. The src reference must be a full URL including the

http://domain...

part of course.

If you want to add a link to your site, use the following:

<a href='http://mysite.com...' target= 'newwindow'>My link text here...</a>

This would display a link like My link text here...

Uploading Files

You may also upload files for your blog entry. Follow the 'File Attachments' link on the page. You need to locate the files to upload one by one using the 'Browse' button. When the file is uploaded, you may change the description entry for the file (the uploaded file will retain it's original file name).

Previewing your Post

Before your post is committed to the website, you may preview the entry as many times as you like. The preview gives you a chance to check that the formatting, spelling etc. is OK before you commit the post. Try and correct any typos, bad links or formatting before you post. Blog aggregators tend to visit the site only once to pick up new postings so typically, they upload only the first version.

Content of Your Post - Recommendations

• Give your post a catchy title to attract interest in your community.
• Provide a 2-3 sentence summary and use the 'split at cursor' option to separate the summary from the body (the site will automatically split your post at an arbitrary point otherwise).
• Announce that you are facilitating a session at the Forum on ..date..
• Post some questions or challenging (controversial, but not offensive) statements and invite comment.
• If your post is a response to someone else's work, reference that in your blog and be respectful - even if you vehemently disagree with it.

Happy blogging!