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Content Creation

Auto Populate Page name from Subject - Check Autopopulate to have the system use your subject as the name of your blog post. For example, naming a post This is My Test Page will result in a link to that page named "This-is-my-Test-Page?open"

Append .htm - If you want the page above in the autopopulate area to end in a traditional .htm, you check this box. It would make the above link be "This-is-my-Test-Page.htm"

Allow HTML in Rich Text - If you say yes to this, you can add HTML tags directly to your rich text blog posts and the system will try to render any HTML you have placed in the post. Leaving this unchecked will render the tags as is.

Strip font tags from Rich Text - Clicking the Strip Font checkbox will render all text in your post in the default fonts in your blog's CSS.

Underline tags in Rich Text - You can Leave the tags, Remove them, or Replace with your CSS style. By default, it tries to use your style settings, but if you want underlines, you can choose Leave.

Auto-create links from Link List - You can set up a list of Links on your site to other blogs. Checking this setting will look at your blog text and if you post the text of a particular link, it will convert it to an active link. For example, if I have John's Blog set up in my link list, the system will convert it to a link in a blog post if I type John's Blog.

XHTML output? - This setting forces the blog to export it's data in XHTML standard output. It adheres to standards much more strictly.

Launch external links - You can choose the behavior for links in your site. You can choose to open links in a New Window or have them open up in your Current Window.

Show HTML/Text field ahead of Rich Text - When you make a blog post, your default entry area is Rich Text. Setting this to yes will also allow you to enter info into the Text/HTML section of your post. That info will render before the Rich Text portion of the post. Saying No means that the stuff in the Text/HTML section will not show up on a post.

Delete attachments when Document deleted - In the IBM blog template, you create attachments separately and then reference them from your post. Setting this to No will delete nothing but your blog post, All will delete all attachments associated with a post and Autolaunch will only delete special attachments that were set to auto launch.

Draft Mode Documents Secured to Author - This will lock any Draft blog entry to only allow editing to the person that created it.

Additional Access for Secured Draft Documents - If you wish to allow certain users access to view draft documents, you can add the proper users here. Once added they will be able to see Draft entries.

Disable Category Inherited Security/Exclusions - Clicking Disable will not institute security based on categories of your blog entries.

Don't be overwhelmed

Those three tabs, General, Advanced and Content Creation are where you will make most of your initial tweaks and settings in the database. If you drill down into all of the other tabs in the configuration document, you will see a dizzying array of choices, and far too many to point out in this article.

Don't be overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Many of these choices are of the set-it-and-forget-it type. You'll make your choice once and never have to go back to it. So, you have choice. You can go through the initial wizard and get working immediately out of the box, or you can dig deeper and tweak to your hearts content. Place the database on a development server and play around with the settings and see how they affect your blog. Spend a few hours getting familiar with the settings, and you'll have your blog set up to your liking in no time.

Where to find help?

If you need help on the IBM Lotus blogging template, there are a few places you can turn to. The first is the IBM Lotus support site. Search for the term blog and you will get tons of hits on your questions with official support documentation. You can also access the Notes/Domino 6/7 forum on Lotus Developerworks to ask questions of other forum goers. If you've downloaded Notes 8 Beta 2, there is some blog documentation in the help files, and lastly, you can visit the website of the IBM Blogging template's creator, http://www.stevecastledine.com/ Steve Castledine. Steve is the IBM engineer who created and now supports the template. For blog posts pertaining directly to the template, click the 7.0.2 Domino Blog template entries link on the right side of his blog.

With the last several months focused on blogging on Domino, I hope I've given you a base to build upon, and proven to you that Domino is indeed a viable blogging platform. IBM has proven their commitment with their blogging template and announcements of blogging components in the upcoming Quickr and Connections products. Add to that the support of the open-source community with Blogpshere V3 and you have multiple options to choose from.

You also no longer have an excuse. Happy Blogging.

About this Series

This series of articles on intranet solutions with IBM Lotus Notes/Domino is intended to help readers understand the fundamental methodology and capabilities of the product and how to utilize it to deliver a feature-rich, secure, and functional corporate intranet solution. It will include implementation strategies, case studies, industry-tested tips and tricks, and, with your input, true value to the administrator or developer who wants to utilize IBM Lotus Notes/Domino technologies to deliver winning intranet solutions.

If you have any questions on the series, Lotus Notes/Domino, or if there's something you'd like to see addressed, visit the Intranet Journal Discussion Forum.

About the Author

John Roling is the Senior Groupware Administrator for a North American trade-show exhibit company and a certified Lotus Notes Administrator, Developer and all-around geek. You can keep up with him at his http://www.greyhawk68.com/ blog or drop him an e-mail at jroling@gmail.com.

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