In the most recent versions of WordPress, the code that aligns images with text in your blog posts has changed. While your posts look fine on your blog, they probably loose their formatting when being sent out on your RSS feed. It’s very likely that the image sits in its own paragraph, isolated from the associated text, which usually appears below the image instead of beside it.

There is a workaround for this problem. It’s not exactly a kosher fix, but it does resolve the problem for most feeds. A WordPress plugin has been designed by Janis Elsts called Align RSS Images.

It scans your RSS feed and ensures that every image has the correct alignment and margin settings. Basically, it appends the WordPress generated code with HTML elements that most all readers can use without error.

So, get the plugin and make your feed look as good as your post. Your followers will be delighted.

Both the post and page editors allow you to enter content by using either the Visual mode or HTML mode. Using the HTML view mode only allows you to create a simple link. This is also the case when you use Quick Edit or make updates via your phone.

Using the Visual view mode allows you to select from advanced settings, and that’s what we’ll cover here.

Once you highlight a word or phrase in your post and click the link icon, the window shown to the right appears.

The first line is for the URL of the link. This is the only information you can enter while in the HTML viewing mode.

The Target option is the key to keeping your site available to your readers when they click on the link.

When you click the drop-down arrow you will be given two choices of what happens when the viewer clicks the link (shown right).

The first option is for the link to open in the same window. This is the default when no target is set. What this means is that when a viewer clicks on the link, the page they are currently viewing will be replaced by the linked page.

That may be fine if you are redirecting viewers to another page on your site. But, if the link goes to a related site, you’ll want to choose the option for opening the link in a new window. Most browsers now support multiple windows open. Using this option means that your site will remain available to the viewer without them having to click their browser’s Back button to see it again.

You can also give your link a Title, which helps with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.

The Class option allows you to further format the link by choosing where it will be aligned on the page, adding a caption, link to a remote Gallery of pictures, or embed rich text media such as a video. The last two options are available on WordPress versions 2.9 and above.

Behind the text you see while creating a Word document is a set of code that contains all of the formatting information to correctly display that text. Many times when you copy and paste from Word to an online posting source, that formatting gets carried along with it. At that point, you have two choices. You can either manually remove all the Word formatting, or start the habit of saving all of your Word documents as plain .txt files.

There’s an easier way.

All blog platforms give you a text editor with two ways to enter the information.

• In Blogger, the two views are Edit HTML and Compose.
• In WordPress, they are Visual and HTML.

Pasting the contents from Word to the HTML view strips it of all formatting leaving you with a clean copy. You can simply return to the Compose or Visual mode to easily re-create any special formatting, such as words in bold or colored text or links.

One of the other tricks I’ve found helpful is to include the full URL of a link in the Word draft. That way, it will be easily available after pasting in my blog editor. It will usually look something like this:

Visit Just the FAQs (http://www.JustTheFAQs.net) for more helpful resources on blogs and websites. Be aware that on WordPress, entering a link in the HTML mode has less options than in Visual mode. Look for another blog post on that soon.

Using the HTML mode for copying lets you save your drafts as a Word document without having to create a second plain text version or manually having to remove extraneous formatting.

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Clicking the title of any of the pages in the list will redirect you to the Edit Page page that displays a full text editor and the contents of the page.

The key to remembering which one is which is the “s” at the end. The Edit Pages page is plural, indicating that it shows many pages. The Edit Page page is singular, indicating that it shows only one page for editing.

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Clicking the title of any of the posts in the list will redirect you to the Edit Post page that displays a full text editor and the contents of the post.

The key to remembering which one is which is the “s” at the end. The Edit Posts page is plural, indicating that it shows many posts. The Edit Post page is singular, indicating that it shows only one post for editing.

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We’ll talk about why blogging is such an important promotional tool and how to do it effectively. We’ll also discuss choosing the right blogging platform and domain name, what to blog about, how to use blogging as a social marketing tool, how to increase your readership, and more.

This podcast will also include a link to a special resource page
with freebies and goodies mentioned during the show!

If you’re an author, artist, musician, wanting to share your passion with the world, or an entrepreneur or small business owner wanting to increase your Web presence, this is the show for you!

Visit Just the FAQs Podcast for links to the show.

Want to let your friends know about this show? Click the Share button below to post it to Twitter and Facebook.

You even have a handy link to take you directly to the forum. Across the bottom of the Dashboard page is another navigation and information bar.

The left side of the bar contains three links, which are:

• WordPress – Redirects you to the main WordPress.org site.
• Documentation – Redirects you to the Codex page on WordPress.org.
• Feedback – Redirects you to the Forum page on WordPress.org.

The right side of the bottom bar displays the current version of software you are using.

Just click the Feedback link and you will land on the Forum home page. Instead of looking through the entire list to find the topic that interests you, look in the top right corner of the page. You’ll find a search field.

Type in your search word or phrase and click Go. You’ll be redirected to a page showing all of the forum posts on that topic. There will be another search field on the left side of the page where you can refine your search and choose which sections of the WordPress forum to search.

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The Other WordPress News module on the Dashboard page displays news and information from the Planet.WordPress.org site. It’s the quickest and easiest way to get the latest news about what’s happening on WordPress.

If you don’t see the Other WordPress News module on your Dashboard page, click the Screen Options tab that is in the top right of the page, just below the black bar links. Check the box next to the module name and it will now display on your Dashboard page.

You can collapse the module so it doesn’t take up much room on your page by hovering your mouse over the title bar. That causes a down arrow to appear in the right corner. Clicking the arrow minimizes the module.

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Hovering your mouse over the title bar results in two actions. A down arrow appears in the right corner. Clicking the arrow minimizes the module. A Configure link also appears on hover. Clicking it allows you to choose the URL that provides this information. By default it is set to a blog search feed from Google. You can choose other search feeds, but it’s likely that Google will offer you the best results.

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WP.com is a free blogging platform hosted by the creators of the software. It has several limitations and restrictions, which are:

- No ads. You can’t monetize the site in any way meaning that you cannot sell your product or offer affiliate links to other products. The Terms of Service on WP.com about this are very fuzzy, which leaves users confused about the policy. Some users have decided to take a chance and run ads or place purchase buttons on their site. By doing so they run the risk of having their site permanently removed at the sole discretion of the host.

- Permanent deletion. Once a site is deleted, whether by the host or the user, the site/user name can never be reused. So, if you create a WP.com blog using your name, if you ever delete it, you cannot use your name as the site name again.

- No third-party plugins. WP.com offers several useful plugins, which are small applications that offer additional features to your site. Many of them cause information to appear in your sidebar such as a blogroll or a list of archived posts. A few of them are site management tools, such as stat counters and spam filters. Although there are thousands of WP plugins available, you can only use the ones provided by WP.com. Third-party plugins can only be used on WP.org sites.

- Space limitations. WP.com offers 3GB of storage space for free. If you want more space, you’ll need to purchase it. For the most part, blog posts are small text files that don’t take up much space. However, media files such as graphics, as well as video and audio clips are large files and require more space. One way bloggers have gotten around this space limitation while still displaying the media is to simply link to the files stored on other hosts, such as YouTube and Flickr.

WP.com is a great blogging platform for personal use. However, if you are running a business or promoting your own wares, using the WP.org platform would likely suit your needs better. The software is still free to download, but it will be hosted with the service provider of your choice without any of the restrictions listed above.

Get more information on the difference in blogging platforms.

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