OutlineBlogger tool for Radio UserLand

I have enjoyed using the outliner in Radio UserLand for writing and organizing information. I wrote a Radio UserLand tool (DirectoryTool) to create directories for Radio UserLand weblogs from outlines. When I saw Dave Winer's OPML Editor, I began to think about how to use the Radio UserLand outliner to make weblog posts. The result is the OutlineBlogger Tool for Radio UserLand.

Installation

1. Click here to download the OutlineBlogger Tool and save the download file to the Tools folder or directory within your Radio UserLand program folder or directory.

2. An entry for OutlineBlogger should show up in a minute in the Tools menu within the Radio UserLand application. If it does not show up, quit Radio UserLand and restart, and the entry should appear.

3. Go to this prefs page while Radio UserLand is running, uncheck the check box for enabling the WYSIWYG editing tool, and click on the Submit Button. After this step is complete, you are ready to start using the OutlineBlogger tool.

Making a post

1. Create a weblog post in an outline

Bring the Radio Userland application to the foreground. From the Tools menu, select the OutlineBlogger entry, then select the "Open weblog post outline" sub-menu entry. A window will open with the default outline to be edited. When you first edit the outline, it will not contain any text. You can add text by clicking on a line and typing. To start a new line, press Return. When you have finished editing the outline, close the window by clicking on the window close box or button. If you want to edit the outline again, select the "open weblog post outline" command again, and the text you entered before will appear again.

To learn more about how to edit outlines, you can read this overview of using the outliner in Radio Userland. There is also an overview of the Outline menu and HTML menu commands. A description of how to add links and make text bold will be given later in this post.

2. Render the outline as HTML and put the text in the edit window on the Desktop Website Home Page

After you have completed editing the outline and closed the outline window, you need to send the outline text to the Desktop Website Home Page for posting. Bring the Radio Userland application to the foreground, if it is not the foreground application. From the Tools menu, select the OutlineBlogger entry, then select the "Send weblog post to home page" sub-menu entry. The OutlineBlogger Tool will load the Desktop Website Home Page in the active web browser window and insert the outline text as HTML into the edit window. Note that the button that appears at the bottom of the weblog post editing window says "Post Changes" instead of "Post to Weblog" (for one-button publishing option). If you have title/link enabled, you can enter those at this time. Also, if you have categories selected, you can choose the categories or category to publish the weblog post.

3. Post the HTML text to your weblog

To post the HTML text to your weblog, click on the "Post Changes" button on the Desktop Web Site home page.

Getting help on the OutlineBlogger tool

To get more information on using OutlineBlogger, go to the Tools menu, select the OutlineBlogger entry, then select the "Help" sub entry. This will load the tool website in the active web browser window.

How to add HTML to your outline

To add a link to text in your outline:

1. Bring up the web page you wish to link to in a web browser and copy the URL.

2. Go to the outline and select the link text.

3. From the HTML menu in Radio UserLand, select the "Add link..." menu entry. You will see the link text change color from black to blue.

To make text within an outline bold:

1. Go to the outline and select the link text.

2. From the HTML menu in Radio UserLand, select the "Style" menu entry, then the "Bold" sub-menu entry. You will see the link text change from normal text to bold text.

For more information on HTML menu commands, consult the HTML menu overview.

OutlineBlogger Tool advantages

Edit a weblog post using the built-in outliner in Radio UserLand

Publish the contents of that post within the existing Radio UserLand content management system

OutlineBlogger Tool drawbacks

Only the previous weblog post outline is saved (in the Tool database)

No support for saving weblog posts as OPML files

Cannot use WYSIWYG editing mode in Radio UserLand editor (although editing in an outline is nice!)

If you want to edit the post again after publishing, you cannot edit it as an outline, you have to use the Desktop Website home page edit window

Summary

The OutlineBlogger Tool gives Radio UserLand users the ability to create weblog posts using outlines. This initial release has the basic capabilities to support outline blogging, but there is always room for improvement. Feel free to comment on this post with feature requests or feedback (I don't have the comment counter set up correctly to provide a count, but comments are working). I will also monitor the Radio UserLand discussion group and answer questions there as well.

Let's hear from you!

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