Documentation

Below are a few pointers to make editing your new site quick and easy. Please do let me know if you have any questions.

I hope you enjoy your new website as much as I enjoyed creating it.

— Nick

Basic posting is pretty much unchanged from your usual WordPress experience. The biggest change you'll notice is that the text in the post area is formatted nearly identically to the way it will be presented when published (aside from images, captions, and block quotes).

Adding images and captions to a post is relatively straightforward:

1. Click the Add Media buttom on the top-left of the writing area.

2. Drag your image(s) into the popup area.

3. Select the first image you want to insert. Give it a meaningful title (for those using screen readers, for example). Optionally, add a caption in the Caption box.

4. Set the Alignment field to none, and the Link To field to none — that is, unless you wish to link the image to something specific, like a webpage.

5. Choose the Large option for Size.

6. Click Insert into post.

7. Don't worry about the immediate appearance of the image and caption; it will be formatted correctly when published.

Tips for Best Results

1. Use a photo with dimensions of at least 700 × 700 pixels. Landscape-oriented photos (as opposed to portrait) tend to work best, but both will be formatted correctly.

2. Be sure to add the caption using the method above. Using, for example, another paragraph within the standard posting area to add a caption will not look correct.

Add a Post to an Existing Collection

1. On the New Post page, simply check the box beside the Collection you wish to add the post to in the Categories panel on the right-hand side.

Creating a New Collection

In order to meet the requirements of showing the posts from oldest to newest while retaining layout flexibility, the technical implementation of Collections is a little bit finicky.

1. In the WordPress administration panel, hover over Posts on the left, and select Categories.

2. Enter the name of the Collection, which will appear in the sidebar and Collections page as the title.

   Add a URL slug. Though the slug is not user-facing, it's best to keep it meaningful (i.e. a title of "New Category" begets a "new-category" slug).

   Add a description. This will appear in the sidebar and on the Collections index page as a description of the category. A short paragraph is a good length.

   In the Parent dropdown, select "Collections".

   Click Add New Category

3. Write your first article for this Collection. On the right-hand side in the "Categories" panel, check the box beside one Collection in which the post will appear. Click Publish.

4. Important note: a Collection will not be visible in either the sidebar or Collections index page unless both of the following conditions are met:

   • The Collection's parent category must be "Collections".

   • The Collection must have at least one post.

5. One more important note: the Collections index page (under Pages → Collections) is designed to appear empty when editing it. It will automatically fill with content.

As Going Long is now running a post-3.7 version of WordPress, the core software should automatically update when new security or maintenence releases are available.

I have installed Advanced Automatic Updates, a plugin that will automatically update all site plugins. You will receive an email any time WordPress or a plugin is updated.

I built a couple of custom plugins for this site. I don't anticipate updating these unless a major issue is discovered with them. Please feel free to email me if you suspect one of my plugins is broken, and I'll take a look.