Creating and formatting posts

Are you clear you wish to create a post rather than contribute to the forums?

Posts versus Forums

Posts are blog-type entries.  By convention on this site, posts are of a temporal nature – as time passes they become less relevant.  They are used for announcements of such matters as

  • Announcements of events, such as boat shows
  • Cruise plans
  • Introductions by new members

Sharing of information of a more enduring nature takes place in the forums.

You create a new post with the menubar items + New>Post.

For a simple post, you enter the post title and start writing where shown.

You are using the new (as of December 2018) block editor known as Gutenberg.  Each part of your post (including each paragraph) is placed in a separate block.  When you are in a block, or hovering over it, you will see a feint line marking its edges.  At the left edge of a block, you will see controls to move or drag the block up or down. This makes re-ordering your material very easy.

When you are editing a block, you will see a simple formatting menu at the top of the block, which, for text, allows you to embolden or italicise words, etc.  If you cannot see the block menu, tap inside the block or place your cursor in it. In the right-hand sidebar you will see settings for this block, such as font size, colour etc.

For other formatting needs, such as creating lists, specialised block types are available.  The first item in the block menu lets you convert the block to other types compatible with its content.

For more complex needs still, create a new block using the + symbol. This will allow you to choose from a library of block types.  The ones you are most likely to need are:

  • Lists – ordered or unordered, like this one
  • Quotes
  • Tables
  • Image – you can upload an image or link to an external one
  • Gallery – you can upload or link to a series of images.  In the side bar you can set the maximum number per row.  It is very good at re-sizing images to fit together.
  • Media & text – one image to the left or right with text alongside it.

It is good practice to indicate how your post should be abbreviated when displayed in email notifications or the post index.  You can indicate this by inserting the special More block, which you will find in the blocks menu. Your post will be truncated at this point in summaries. Alternatively, you can compose an excerpt to be used as a summary instead of your text. You can find the excerpt box in the Document tab of the settings panel on the right.

It is important to assign one or more Categories to your post. You can view and set these in the Document tab of the settings panel.

If this post is to be visible to logged-in members only, tick the All users box in the Access pane found in the Document tab.

Before publishing your post, run through the Good Writer Checkify checks at the foot of the page.  You will find document attributes such as categories in the Document tab of the sidebar.  You can use the Preview button to see what your post will look like before publishing it.

For other needs, consult the site support forum or raise a topic there.