Ning: Formatting a Ning Blog Post

Going from left to right, here are the things you can do with the new Ning blog post editor:

There are two main rows of editor controls. The top menu option has buttons to insert a link, an image, a video, and paste as plain text. Here are specific instructions for how to use those different options:

• Adding Links
• Adding Images and/or Video
• Paste as Plain Text

Below those buttons, you will find the standard set of options for editing your text. NOTE: There is not a spellcheck or word count feature, so you either need to use GoogleDocs to type your text first with its built-in spellcheck and word count, or else use other options to do the spellcheck and word count.

• Font style and size size.  Highlight a chunk of text, and then click on the font size you want to use.
• Font color. The default font color is black but you can choose to use a different color if you want.
• Bold-Italics-Strike-Underline. Highlight the text, and then click on the formatting you want to use.
• Left-Center-Right. You can highlight text and/or images and use these controls to place them left, right or center.
• Strike-Thru. You can use this command to display text with a line running through it (it's not likely you will use this option, although it might come in handy for something).
• Blockquote (Indent). Be careful with this button: make sure you have typed some text already below the paragraph you want to indent. Then, highlight the paragraph you want to indent and click this button.
• Bulleted / Numbered Lists. Again, these are probably not features you will need for this class, but you can easily create bulleted or numbered lists using these controls.
• Remove Formatting. You can use the eraser tool to remove formatting; if things have just gotten totally out of control in your post, highlight the problematic chunk of text (or highlight the whole post) and use the eraser to remove all formatting. (Note: this only works for formatting you have added with the Ning editor; if are cutting and pasting from another source and want to remove formatting, using the Paste as Plain Text button instead.)