First steps for Lyceum end-users

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A Lyceum powered blog eliminates the need for you, the end-user, to worry about setting up such things as databases and access permissions. There are a few things, however, that you need to know and do to make your blog your own.

This short guide is designed merely to get a beginning user working on the system. There are, obviously, MANY things not covered in this document.

Everything in this guide will reference aspects of the admin portal. Log into the admin portal for your blog by: a) clicking "log in" on the domain homepage; or b) clicking "log in" at the lower right part of your blog. From this admin portal, you have access to the features of your blog, some of which you will be adjusting now.

Contents

Blog title

Blog title is what is displayed at the top of your actual blog pages. When you create a new blog on Lyceum (as of .33) the slug you select as part of the URL (web address) becomes your default title. (i.e. http://icecream.lyceum.com or http://www.lyceum.com/icecream both exhibit the slug "icecream") Even though your slug is icecream, maybe your title should be "I actually hate ice cream."

To change your blog title, click on the Options tab in the admin panel. Under the General tab, you should see a line that says "Weblog title." Edit. Click the "update options" button at the bottom of the screen.

Blog tagline

The tagline is the line of text appearing under your blog title on every page of your blog. In a default Lyceum installation, this automatically reads "just another Lyceum weblog." So, if you've changed your blog title to "I actually hate ice cream," your slugline might need to change a little to reflect this. Maybe "dealing with adult-onset lactose intollerance" is an appropriate tagline to let your readers know what your blog is really about.

To change your blog tagline, click on the Options tab in the admin panel. Under the General tab, you should see a line that says "Tagline." Edit. Click the "update options" button at the bottom of the screen.

Fill in your "About" page

Here's another spot that the system has pre-filled for you. It is a web page (not a blog post) that always has a link showing on the side of your blog. If you look on your blog, there is a link under the heading Pages called About. So, continuing with the lactose intolerance example, this is where you would tell people that you discovered you were lactose intollerant at 36 and want to educate others.

To edit your about page, click on Manage in the admin panel. Then click on Pages. Click the Edit button that is toward the right-hand side. This is your first introduction to the Lyceum text editor. Think of it as an online word processor. Type, edit, etc. Then click the save button. Your About page is instantly updated on the server.

Before you write your first post...

Delete the default post. This is a quick and painless process. No one wants to visit your blog and read the auto-generated "Hello world!" entry. They are visiting to hear about how you hate ice cream.

To delete the default post (and any posts in the future), click the Manage tab in the admin panel. You should see a line right in the middle of the screen with the title "Hello world!" in it. Toward the far right side, there is a link that says "Delete." Click it. When the box pops up asking for confirmation, click "ok."

Write a first post

Now it is time to start blogging (thank goodness). Click write. The Lyceum editor opens up -- oh this isn't new to you anymore. Insert title. Type type type. Click publish. Voila. Now you are officially blogging.

Extra credit for the first post

Adopt good habits early! When starting a new post, it is much better if you first assign a category. Before you click "publish" (or you can go back in and edit the post), click the plus sign (+) on the blue bar labeled "Categories". Make up a new category for the post (since it is your first one). Next time, you can put another post into this category or create even more categories.

Categories help your visitors know what type of content is on your site.

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