Hoaxes Aside, Real Risks to Blogging in Syria

In the wake of "Amina" hoax, in which the popular blog of a Syrian woman turned out to be a fictional work by an American man named Tom MacMaster, it has been all too easy to gloss over the real tragedies on the ground in Syria.

For years, the Syrian regime has censored the Internet pervasively, with heavy focus on political content, as well as social media. In 2010, the relatively unfettered mobile networks became subject to filtering as well, what had been an alternative means of access to an uncensored Internet. Circumvention tools have long been used within the country, and are often made accessible by cybercafe owners. But most tools lack protection against technological surveillance, and Tor--which provides anonymity as well as circumvention--has been blocked on some Syrian ISPs in recent months.

In February of this year, Syria unblocked Facebook, Blogspot and YouTube for the first time since 2007, but as we’ve previously reported, that decision was less about placating citizens and more about making it easier for the regime to spy on and conduct attacks against them.

And while ‘Amina’ was fake, Syria has arrested or jailed scores of real bloggers and social media users over the years, including Tal Al-Mallouhi, thought to be one of the world’s youngest prisoners of conscience. More recently, Amjad Baiazy, a Syrian activist who worked with Doctors without Borders and other organizations and who is active on social media, including Twitter, was detained upon trying to leave Syria for his home in the UK.

While hoaxes such as that perpetuated by MacMaster should encourage us to investigate sources, they should not cause us to ignore the myriad Syrian bloggers who are taking real risks to inform the world of the situation on the ground. Nor should the concerns around the use of anonymous sources in stories about “Amina” stop us from safeguarding the right to anonymity for users who need it most.

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Blogging with an iPad: Choosing a web browser, setting up your theme and adding widgets

My iPad is a significant part of my life.  It goes almost everywhere with me and is the one device I can’t live without for both work and leisure.

With more educators looking at iPads as a replacement for student laptops and netbooks, we’re regularly being asked for blogging tips using iPads.

So I’ve decided the best way to provide advice is build a new blog using just my iPad and post about it as I go!

Web browsers on the iPad

Lets start by talking about web browsers since you’ll need to use one as you’re setting up your blog.

While Safari is the default web browser on an iPad there are apps that provide considerably better browsing with greater functionality than Safari.

Alternative web browsers for iPads include:

• Atomic Web – US$1.19


• iCab mobile -  US$2.49


• iChromy – free


• Skyfire- US$2.99

I’ve decided to use iCab mobile because:

1. It has the richest feature set


2. It supports tab browsing so you don’t have to keep zooming in and out of your browser to move pages


3. I’m able to access more blog features inside my dashboard than any of the other browsers

You can choose to use Safari rather than purchase an app like iCab mobile however support of tab browsers makes the process considerably easier and quicker.

Here’s a quick comparison of the main differences between these browsers:

Tip:

• The iPad’s dock at the bottom of the screen where you can ’stick’ icons of your favorite apps so they remain accessible from all other Home screens can hold up to six different apps.


• To add more icons to the iPad dock, or replace existing apps, just touch and hold any Home screen icon until the icons begin to wiggle.


• Now drag the app you want to add from the Home screen into your dock.  When complete, press the Home button to save.

The most annoying aspect is Safari is the default browser and, unlike a computer, you can’t change this on an iPad.  So instead I’ve added iCab Mobile to my iPad dock to make it easier to access.

Creating the blog

Now it’s time for me to create the blog.

I’m creating it via the Edublogs sign up page using  iCab mobile however:

1. If you’re new to blogging start by reading these things to consider before creating your blog


2. If you’re setting the student blogs follow these instructions

Tip:  A handy shortcut is to doubletap on your home button. This brings up a toolbar which makes it easy to navigate around your iPad apps.

Setting up the theme

Now my blog is created it’s time to give it my personal touch by choosing a new theme.  Last thing I want is it to look like all the other newly created blogs!

Changing the theme was simple.

All I needed to do was:

1. Log into my blog dashboard using iCab mobile (or you can use Safari)


2. Go to Appearance > Themes


3. Click Activate below the theme I wanted to use

If you’re struggling to decide on a theme it’s best to activate a theme you want to check out and then view your blog in another tab, than to use Preview — it’s less time consuming.

Here’s where you’ll find more information to help you choose your theme:

1. What to consider when choosing your blog theme


2. The 137 Edublogs Themes Separated Into Categories To Make Choosing Your Next Theme Easier

I’ve decided to use PrimePress because it’s a nice clean theme that suits my purpose.

Uploading the custom image header

While changing the theme was simple, uploading a custom image header wasn’t. It’s definitely something that’s considerably less painful using a computer.

But it can be done and here’s what you need to know:

• The easiest option is to use a free image header that is close to the image header size you need to upload


• You need to use iCab Mobile as most iPad web browsers won’t let you locate images on your iPad to upload


• You need to make sure the image is exactly the size recommended on the Appearance > Custom Header page because you can’t crop images in the dashboard on an iPad

Here’s how I did it:

1.  Downloaded a free image header from FreeWebPageHeaders

• Images from FreeWebPageHeaders are a standard size of 800 pixels wide by 200 high which means for most themes you’ll need to resize and crop.

2.  Resized the image to 920 pixels wide using iResizer (Us$1.19).

• There’s lots of image resizers you can choose from.


• I just found this app the easiest of the ones I already have and it’s handy to have a good image resizer.

3.  Opened up the resized image in PhotoGene (US$2.49):

• cropped to 920 pixels wide and 150 pixels high (size required for uploading)


• Added text


• Saved the image

There’s lots of image editors you can choose from.  This app is easy to use and is handy for cool image editing.

4.  Then reopened my new custom image header in iResizer to check:

• it was definitely 920 pixels by 150 pixels


• otherwise I wouldn’t be able to upload.

5.   Next I logged into my blog dashboard using iCab mobile

6.  Went to Appearance > Custom Header

7.  Clicked Select File, selected image from Camera Roll and clicked Upload image.

Presto!

My new image header is now on my blog!

You can check out the progress of my blog building on an iPad here!

Changing the tagline

The concept behind a blog tagline is to create a memorable phrase that sums up the tone and premise of a blog.

Changing the tagline was simple.

All I needed to do was:

1. Log into my blog dashboard using iCab mobile (or you can use Safari)


2. Go to Settings > General


3. Add my new tagline and click Save Changes.

Changing Widgets

You can’t drag and drop widgets on an iPad.

You can, however, still add widgets with relative ease using the following steps:

1.  Select ’screen options’ from the tab at the top.

2. Enable accessibility mode

3.  Click add on the widget you want to add

4.  Add the information

• In my situation I need to add an attribution for the image I’ve used

5.  Then decide where it goes

6.  Click Save Widget

You can learn more about working with widgets here!

Final thoughts

My blog is now set up ready for me to start adding content.  You can see how the blog is going here (if you can bear it’s current messy state!)

The next post in this series is all about creating and editing posts and pages using an iPad.

Please let us know:

1. What have I missed?


2. What other advice would you give?


3. Or are there any other questions you would like answered?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

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Blogging with an iPad: Writing posts using apps and via the dashboard in a web browser

The most important thing you do when blogging is write posts.

For an iPad to be a suitable replacement for student laptops and netbooks writing posts needs to be as easy or similar to using a computer.

So now I’ve created my blog, set up the theme and added widgets entirely using an iPad it’s time to see how easily I can write posts using just my iPad.

The iPad keyboard

But first we need to discuss the iPad keyboard.  My poor index finger still hurts remembering a week of intensive iPad use while travelling without a keyboard.

The onscreen keyboard is fine for occasional typing but you can’t sustain the same quantity or comfort achievable using a laptop or netbook.

And to be honest 99.9% of the time I never use an external keyboard because the sheer size, portability and convenience are what I love the most about the iPad.

But for serious typing on an iPad you’ll want a real, physical keyboard.

Options include:

1. Apple Wireless keyboard (US $69) – connects via Bluetooth


2. Apple iPad Keyboard Dock (English) (US $69)


3. Wireless Folding Keyboard (US $99.95)


4. Logitech Keyboard Case (US $99.95)

I use the Apple Wireless keyboard because it’s small, is a fully functional keyboard and I can still laze on my couch while typing.

Would love try the Logitech Keyboard Case as a comparison.

The Visual Editor on the iPad

Unfortunately the visual editor used by WordPress, which powers Edublogs, doesn’t work on an iPad.   This means if you write posts within your dashboard you need to be comfortable with writing the HTML code directly into your editor.

The blogging apps on iPads face the same type of issue.  Each of them use a different method to tackle the problem.

The more sophisticated apps include simple formatting toolbars for easily adding HTML code to the post while others you’ll need to know how to write the code if you want to apply more formatting like bold, italics, text alignment, links.

Blogging Apps Review

So now it’s time to write posts!

But I still need to decide with app to use?  And like with almost anything on the iPad there’s too many to choose from!

Or do I need the app?  I could always use the dashboard in iCabmobile (or Safari).

Let’s start with a review of the blogging apps and we’ll discuss the dashboard option in a web browser later in the post.

• If students are sharing iPads writing within the dashboard is the better option than using a blogging app.

Blogging apps for iPads include:

• Blogsy (US $4.99)


• BlogPress (US $3.99)


• BloggerPlus (US $1.99)


• BlogWriter (US $2.49)


• WordPress (free)

Here’s a quick comparison of the main differences between blogging apps:

There’s considerable variation between the apps in terms of the features they provide, their ease of use and how they work

Which would I recommend?  The pressure

And perhaps that’s the answer?  On a computer it’s easy.  Often you’ll find software provides the entire solution.  While on an iPad it’s more common to use several similar types of apps for slightly different purposes.

But here’s what I’m thinking as the purposes of these posts is to give advice:

Blogsy

Blogsy is ideal for educators, or more skilled students, who are wanting most features including the more advanced formatting options and functionality, and who aren’t concerned that it’ll take longer to learn how to use well.

You’re able to do the most with Blogsy including easily drag & drop of images, YouTube videos and links but it does have a steeper learning curve.

This is the app I would use if I was only blogged from an iPad even though the first time I opened it I did run away hiding for a few days.

BlogPress

BlogPress is ideal for educators and students who are looking for easy to use app that works well and makes applying simple formatting, adding images, videos and links easy.

WordPress

Personally I didn’t like the WordPress app.

To use well you’ll need to know how to write your own HTML code.  However, it’s the only app that allows you to manage comments and write/edit pages.

It’s worth considering if you want an app for those situations where you need it for these types of purposes.

Using a Blogging apps

To be able to use any blogging app XML-RPC first needs to be enable.

XML-RPC is automatically enabled on Edublogs.org blogs if you are using an Edublogs Pro blog or a blog which has had extra features enabled using an Edublogs Pro blog.

If you are using an Edublogs Campus blog you’ll need to enable XML-RPC within your blog dashboard in Settings > Writing.

You aren’t able to enable XML-RPC on free Edublogs.org blogs.

When adding your blog to any app you need to select the Self hosted WordPress blog option.

Tips for blogging with Blogsy

Blogsy is a bit overwhelming the first time you open up the app because it looks very different from all the other blogging apps.

Below’s a quick overview of the main parts of the Blogsy to help.

Best place to start is to click on the Settings icon to check out their comprehensive  ’How to”  videos and guide.

Tips for blogging with BlogPress

BlogPress is considerably easier to use but there’s a few things you need to know.

First it’s important to make sure you’ve set up the correct timezone inside your blog dashboard.   I managed to revert a post to a scheduled post when I edited a published post due to the difference between the timezone on my iPad compared my blog setting.  Possibly an issue with all blogging apps?

I’m normally too lazy to worry with my timezone but it’s a good idea in this situation!

All you need to do is go to Settings > General and select the timezone for your location.

It wasn’t obvious when I first used BlogPress that you could add categories and tags.

However, they’re easily added by clicking on the ‘i‘ to the right of the title.

To format text you just need to select the text you want to format and then click on the HTML tab.  This automatically adds the HTML needed to apply that formatting to your post.

Writing posts in your dashboard using a web browser

You don’t have to use a blogging app to write posts on an iPad.  You can choose to write posts directly within your blog dashboard.

On an iPad you have access to anything that you have available to you in the WordPress dashboard.  For the most part everything works pretty well.

Biggest pain is you can only write using the HTML editing mode; the visual editor isn’t supported by an iPad.

This means if you write posts within your dashboard you need to be comfortable with writing the HTML code directly into your editor.

• If students are sharing iPads writing within the dashboard is the better option than using a blogging app.

The other pain is most of the iPad web browser won’t let you locate images on your iPad to upload.  This is easily solved by using iCab mobile which does support this feature.

However, there’s still a trick to inserting images using iCab mobile

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Click on the ‘Add Image’ icon


2. Select and upload your image


3. Click on Show next to the image you uploaded


4. Copy the Link URL


5. Click back in the web browser toolbar to return to your post


6. Click on ‘img’ and paste your Link URL

Final thoughts

You can check out my posts written with the different blogging apps and within my blog dashboard on my iPad here (it’s messy as I did a lot of troubleshooting while reviewing the different apps).

Here’s where you’ll find the first post from my iPad series – “Blogging with an iPad: Choosing a web browser, setting up your theme and adding widgets”

Stay tune for the next post in this series!

Please let us know:

1. What have I missed?


2. What’s your favorite blogging app and why?


3. What other advice would you give?


4. Or are there any other questions you would like answered?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

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