Follow

* Write.freely blog - a guide for new users *

@angedestenebres made a nice and illustrated guide for new users of Write.freely blogs, but it's all in French.

Goal is to help people interested in using the write.freely instance at TeDomum.net — which has been my blog's home. This morning I took some time and translated her guide to English.

Now the page is on my blog: write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-fr

[ Repost of Release announcement, December 2019. ]

worthy

* Guia de Usuarios en Español para Write.freely *

Ange hizo una guía agradable e ilustrada para los nuevos usuarios de los blogs Write.freely, pero todo está en francés.

El objetivo es ayudar a las personas interesadas en usar la instancia write.freely en TeDomum.net, que ha sido el hogar de mi blog. Esta mañana me tomé un tiempo y traduje su guía al Español.

Ahora la página está en mi blog: write.tedomum.net/rgx/guia-de-

Prefires el Inglés ? See it on : write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-fr

Show thread

@design_RG maravillosa pagina no tiene desperdicio lo que no capte si tiene para registrarse y no perderse ningun tutorial

@design_RG @angedestenebres
Thanks to both of you for this work. I was looking for such help to make the most of my blog...
So happy 😀!

Merci à vous 2 pour ce travail.
Je cherchais une aide de ce type pour tirer le meilleur de mon blog.
Super contente 😀 !

@globcoco

Ah, thank you so much, Coralie. The work is mostly Ange's -- she created a full and logical Guide which is sorely missing for Write.Freely.

I just posted at their own Mastodon server today, hopefully it will be seen and used. I am glad you liked it, I loved it too.

I could make another translation, to Portuguese, fairly easily as I am fluent in the language (and now I have the text from Ange's Wiki cleaned up and easily manipulated and copied to Translation software.)

Merci a vous. 😺

@angedestenebres

@design_RG @angedestenebres
Yes she did a great job!
I'm searching for ways to make the most of it and i posted a toot on it to @DavidBlue who does an amazing job on his blog. I think I'd need to learn more on CSS and JS to make my blog look great.
Of course the content is king and I do have major work to do on it for sure!!!

You are very welcome. 🐸

@globcoco

I just went and visited your profile here, and saw the link and followed to the Blog.

Will tell you one thing, and this is personal option, of course -- but I haven't touched the CSS controls or looked at the suggested pages they offer.

I find there's so much to do, with the provided framework and format, right off the box.

Always work on my PCs and laptops, and try to make it work really well - and then I was surprised by how nice the pages (default theme untouched) look on mobile device.

They look lovely, use the screen appropriately and I am afraid of touching something and breaking it. You need to make sure the finished pages look good in both PCs and mobiles, as so many people use mobile those days.

Things that were and are important to me :

* to have a functional and efficient tool set to work with, so it flows nicely. Got it, and I plan to write a guide for new users sometime, explaining those (text editor, image editor, image host and uploading tool, etc).

* to have a good working knowledge of MarkDown, which I absolutely love. I learned it just as I started my very first blog in December 2019.

Used the wonderful tutorial at markdowntutorial.com/ -- which is interactive, so you learn the concept, and type the code to see if you can match the example.

I have worked in Education for many years and this tutorial is Top Notch ,an amazing tool. Kudos!

* and then -- what to write, we need inspiration.

I am currently back on the Groove, after a dry spell, and publishing pretty frequently. I did also start a totally different, themed blog -- as my main one is heavily Tech and Fediverse oriented, and people would be confused if I started blending in other themed posts.

So -- a new one, focused, and whoever visits is there for that theme.

My personal goal is to create one page per day, doable, but for my Long Form style, that means hours of work, research and preparing to get it done.

Then, we have to spread the word -- in Fediverse, on Twitter, or any other network you find useful.

But you know what -- it's SO fulfilling, when I see and read my pages, I like and am proud of them. I am very picky and demanding of my own work (INTJ, no surprise). LOL...

Nice talking to you and to Devid.

Suggestion -- really consider finding a mastodon instance that allows more than 500 characters maximum. My post here is at about 2,400 atm, but our instance allows 65,500 max.

Writers like space... 😛

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
I was going to ask you how in the hell you were able to write as much as you do and... you answered it right at the end😋

@globcoco @angedestenebres @DavidBlue

LOL.... 😛 It is a personal Crusade of mine. I cant's stand the 500 chars limit and avoid instances that insist on it.

Check out my snapshot of this post, as I started...

I have 65,500 here at Qoto, 5,000 at Munsterland.social, and other places with at least 1 thousand. 500, nope, not for me. Find a better home.

@globcoco

Plus -- did you notice the size of that Reply Editor ? 😃

I have a custom desktop layout that is really good for Writers and Readers. Lots of room and no wasted space.

I am preparing a proposal, and it shows screnshots and explains it. Here : discourse.qoto.org/t/mastodon-
@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
YES I DID!
I have a small one that is in my left down corner.
You know I thought everybody had the same constraints... That reminds me of me 10 years ago when i used windows. U thought it was normal to have a slow computer🤣

@globcoco

I use Windows, have done so for many years and taught Tech, so my systems are stable and fast. 😃

Stay with it so far since Linux pushed me down to newbie territory, and I find the loss of productivity unnaceptable.

Although I do know Unix is the best, maybe I will try again. Have lots of spare systems.

The default client in Mastodon is pretty poor in terms of screen usage, so I found a better layout with some tweaking and a Firefox Addon -- the screens you see in that Forum post.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
"the screens you see in that Forum post" → the one that showed the huge reply editor?

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
You are absolutely right about custom desktop layout. It feels better the way you conceive it.
I wanted to show you how it looks on my computer but it seems that my "Impcr Syst" doesn't want to work today 😩.

@globcoco
I am glad you like that layout -- I think it is so much better.

There's also the Pinafore client, which is simple, will not do double panes ever (I asked, declined) but is so light and FAST. A delight really. Pinafore is for me an essential tool, and a very enjoyable way to use the Fediverse.

If you are used to the standard Mastodon Web client, you will feel at home very quick, I think -- and certainly appreciate the fluidity and speed as you get to know its features. It's really nice.

Not much documentation for it (a project for me, in my list of ideas) but you can get a first look with this article : nolanlawson.com/2019/06/02/one

And ask any questions, I love to talk about things that I am interested in. 😃

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue You seem so passionate AND your pedagogy is really beautiful. It is a joy to see that! Thank U

@globcoco
Thank you, Coralie. I was a great teacher, and retiring from active work does not stop the love of doing it. 😄

Appreciate your comment, quite gentle, thank you.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
That is because it is your mode "by default" which is DEFINITELY NOT a default. It is like your essence expressing itself. Love it!

@globcoco
Thank you. I find that participating in the Fediverse, and even linking it with other networks is a great way to expand our minds, do creative work, there's interesting people and many ideas and resources to be found.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
I do agree. I have found here very deep and chilled out chat. It d=feels like home to me.

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue

You may be right.
But if you look at what David did, he was able to implement nice things (pdfs, social network tabs, lines in the posts and down under, centering titles...)
But maybe I should apply permaculture principles and do more with what I have already.
Thanks for your kind advices.
And I will definitely look at other instances😉

@globcoco
You are very welcome, and I will look at David's blog if I have a chance.

Thing is, I am stretched pretty thin and writing is a priority. If I started developing new layouts it would take time and experimentation -- likely on a separate blog, so I don't mess up a nice going one. I have an account at wordsmith.social, and they allow up to 10 different blogs per user.

That is ideal for testing and posting things in separate streams, which I plan to do.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
You made me think about joining another instance. I hope I won't lose the nice chats I have with all mastodonters (new word?).
I didn't know about wordsmith.social. Now I do 😊

@globcoco
Oh, that is a good thing. 😃 We can use more than one account, and then you have a chance to use the better parts of one of another.

It will become easier as you get accustomed, and you can keep them both (or any others that you want to use) open in tabs on a web browser simultaneously.

To try one out, you don't need to move your current life completely there, but just start using it, and if you think it's nice, eventually start moving house. Your Following list can be exported from one place, and imported into another, and once you imported it, contacting all the people you know will be easier.

Just give it some time, learn as you go, but we should not get stuck in to a limited instance, just because it was your first home. (keeping the older account and exploring a bit for nice ones is a good idea)

Regarding wordsmith.social, I am glad you found out, I noticed your blog is at Write.as, but their free offer is very limited. They are a business, and it's understandable; luckily there's alternatives. 👍

If you were interested, Qoto, where I am writing from this message, is a good instance. Ange's home at TeDomum is a French speaking instance mainly, so maybe it could be interesting.

I would definitely suggest trying to find a Glitch-Social based instance -- I have accounts of 3 of them now, one of them becoming my new publishing home, and the full support there is such a difference. I really suffer when I am back to plain text here at Qoto, although the admin knows I need and will move for it. 😉

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

Long post 

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
Yes maybe it is a good idea to have a look elsewhere before moving out (if I feel like it). I'm just afraid that people who follows don't find me if i'm scattered all over...
Sorry for my ignorance but what is a Glitch-Social based instance?

@globcoco

Nothing to be sorry for, Coralie -- I was a teacher for many years, and it might show. I love helping people and presenting information, lol.

Glitch-Social is a project that broke out of the Mastodon development project because they wanted to add more features and enhancements. And it's difficult on the main Mastodon branch, which is run pretty tightly under one lead developer control.

They got tired, packed up and left -- and created a 'fork' or a new project derived from the old one.

Glitch-Social is Mastodon, but it has added features, which they have developed, it's the Cutting Edge, the fancy kid on the block. Very nice features in comparison.

The docs for GS give you an idea of the features - glitch-soc.github.io/docs/

And if you want to consider one or two, I could recommend koyu.space/ and kafuka.me/

Koyu is larger, and has a lot of customizations added to it. Kafuka is a small intance, about 30 users, but well maintained and with nice features too.

Both run Glitch, so you could try it out to see.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

Long post 

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
I also like (in Pinafore) the focus mode it allows not showing more toot i can chew on. I can decide the time I see it on not.
Really great app!

@globcoco

Ah, you are a quick learner -- caught on really fast! There's lots you can do, and it works so well. A gem really.

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
I will definitely have a look.
My cat is saying that it is time for me to feed her and go to bed.
So I have to listen to her ❤️ .

Bonne nuit 🌜

@globcoco
Bonne nuit, I am back to digging the garden, was a nice break. Loved talking to you. 😺

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@globcoco

No, not yet. I was working there and breaking up the soil, it hasn't been dug for some years and it was clumpy in places. This morning there's some light rain and will help to break some of those, I cut into them with a spade to help. Didn't go deep, but the first 15 to 20 cm or so really needed a bit of work and aeration.

@angedestenebres @DavidBlue

@design_RG @angedestenebres @DavidBlue
Another thing is maybe you know of some permaculture principles. Aeration could be made by the plants itself.
permaculture.com.au/the-living

@globcoco
Thank you, I have heard about Permaculture but don;t know much yet, maybe it's time to start reading. 😺

I took off Ange's tag since she might not be interested in our chat. She's a nice lady and admin at TeDomum.

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @DavidBlue
Yes good idea. She is a cat lover! Of course she is nice!😍

@design_RG @DavidBlue
If you're interested I could give you some links and books to get into...
Funny though I've always been attracted to it (since my trip of 5 years down under) but never had a garden. I Time to change that!

@globcoco

I think the links would be a good start, I love books and have lots of them, but haven't been reading much of them since I am so active online.

It also changes our attention span, it becomes harder to tune out and lay down for hours ti enjoy a book, unfortunately. But it's one of life's pleasures, and I am quite happy when I get into one and it takes me away from some stressful moment, there's so many sad news lately.

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @DavidBlue
I feel the same way but people who create - design and align themselves to who they are and the environment around them gives me some hope.

@globcoco
It is good and bad, at the same time, it's part of living in a society with such abundance of inputs and info that we need to find ways to keep focus, or to cut off and work offline sometimes if that helps.

I like to have some clipboards around, and jot down ideas on paper, little notes.

And when I am too agitated, finding a good book is really good, takes our minds away and into a quieter inner world; then we can appreciate and enjoy a good book better.

Managing our attention and time is important, and many people get distracted and absorbed by unimportant, commercialized networks, etc.

There are a lot of positives, but we have to work and try to find our paths and what is good and what to ignore, stay away from.

I will give you an article here for reference -- read it when you have a chance. I keep referring to it. 😃

Pass it on to someone when you talk about those ideas above.

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi

By the way, it's wonderful to be chatting with you. 😉

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @DavidBlue I'm going to read it (oooohhh so much to get into😜).

You might be interested in this:
matthewbcrawford.com/new-page-

@globcoco

Thanks for the link, will open a Tab (another one, maybe 70 open at a time here; for reference, etc).

True that it's difficult to manage, to omuch info, so we need to select and get down into one thing. Done? what next ? 😃

Would be ideal to complete one project a day - a new blog, or an important new issue discussion we push forward. I try to do that, plus I also have lots of pen pal letters from all over the world (another subject we can talk later if you are interested).

Have a great day!

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @DavidBlue Funny, that is already a longish article and I find myself fidgeting.
Wonder if the problem is also linked to the blue screen being bad for your eyes...
Ok let's get back to it.

@globcoco
The Atlantic articles are always extensive, deep, and take a dedicated effort, but are so rich.

@DavidBlue

@design_RG @DavidBlue I used to subscribe on it but there were to much repetitive newsletters so I unsubscribed...

Show more

@design_RG Maybe the way we sit can affect our thinking also and ability to delve deeper into a book. With our constant sitting (which is definitely a thing we have been doing enormously these last decades - maybe at the same time than computers came in our lives) we have changed the way we use our bodies and the way it gets nourished or not in some way.
There is a great woman called Katy Bowman (biomechanic) nutritiousmovement.com whose focus is on this problem of not moving. Also Movnat

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.