Open Help Thread #001 : Ask Your Questions, Get Some Answers

There are a number of articles that may be of help with the HTML aspect of writing articles (and even seeding):

• Richard G has posted HTML for Viners - Also see the comment thread there for additional info regarding how Newsvine uses a subset of XHTML, and a way to force the edit window to display a WYSIWYG editing function (which we're told is soon to be integrated into the site).
• Corey Spring has posted Pimp My Newsvine - This goes into the intricacies of XHTML that is used at Newsvine.
• Brian Ford has posted A Newsvine Primer - Also a helpful article about using XHTML at Newsvine.

If you're using firefox as your browser, there is an extension called Xinha Here! that may be of help; it gives you a WYSIWYG interface for any text area on a page that you might encounter. One of the reasons we don't currently have a WYSIWYG editor available in all text area interfaces is that the Newsvine developers feel that people need to have the impetus to learn how to do things on their own, and I would say that learning HTML and XHTML is one of those things that authors/columnists should learn to use, not only for the sake of their Newsvine column, but also for the sake of whatever content they create on the Web, whether it is on other sites, or in their own independent blogs.

A hint about what would be useful to learn in regards to your content at Newsvine can also be found just above the comment box where it says: (XHTML tags allowed - a, b, blockquote, br, code, dd, dl, dt, del, em, h2, h3, h4, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, q, strong, ul). One of the best places on the Web to begin learning XHTML is at the W3 Schools web site.

Apparently there have been intermittent problems with the image upload feature.

One of the things I do is upload the image, then save the article, then re-edit, then when I save it the second time, the image I uploaded appears in the article. I'm using the same O/S and browser that you are.

You can't attach a photo to a seed, only to an original article. There's a photo upload section near the bottom of the Write Article screen. It uses Flash to upload your image, and you won't see the image on your post until after you've Saved it.

I'd send in a bug report on that (link is to the right at the top of the page, in the header). Tell them what's happening and your operating system and browser. It might be that newsvine is not entirely Safari-compatible (just guessing).

That is Vineacity. If you see a little vine, just click on it for an explanation of what each branch represents. You can also look at the image with the explanation that appears in that pop-up window here.

And a little more explanation may be found in the Help documentation...

What Is 'Vineacity', and how do I improve mine?

"Vineacity" is a measure of one's overall level of contribution to Newsvine. Since users come in all forms and levels of interactivity, we've come up with a simple, yet powerful way to convey – at a glance – the relative productivity and credibility of Newsvine Users. By using Newsvine regularly and judiciously, your Vineacity should increase over time naturally.

You're welcome. The two votes I've given you on your comments also help towards your Vineacity. You should also vote on things here. Here's why:

What is "voting" and how do I do it?

One of the many ways Newsvine measures the "interestingness" of content is by keeping track of how many people vote for different articles, seeds, and comments around the site. If you see an article that is interesting or important to you, simply click the little grey upward-facing arrow with the number next to it in the "article toolbar". The article toolbar is the little horizontal box that appears with each article. Additionally, if you see a particularly insightful comment on an article, you can cast a vote for that as well. Votes help determine the placement of content around Newsvine as well as user reputations so vote with both your head and your heart.

Ok. This may seem like an obvious, but... did you remember to click "Save Changes" at the very bottom of the About page after you uploaded the avatar?

If yes, then you may wish to report the non-sticking av as a bug, and see if the developers can figure out why it's not sticking (could be on their end, we've had that problem here before).

At what point is it doing that? On the upload popup itself, or after that on the main window?

Ok, I think the upload function uses Flash, so if you don't have Flash installed or you have some sort of Flash blocker extension or setting turned on, that could be why it's coming up blank.

Yeah, you might get some complaints. Full text reposting is, however, permitted if it is your own original content.

Just click on her name, it's a link.

1. It is normal to vote for your own items. If the Newsvine developers didn't want us to do that, they wouldn't have made it possible for us to do that. There have been numerous threads and articles on this very topic, and the consensus among Newsviners is that it's okay.

Which is the preferred style for book, movies, etc- italics or quotes?

2. When you Seed a link into Newsvine, if you highlight some of the text (up to a max of about 3 paragraphs) before you click the 'Seed Newsvine' button, the popup window will automagically fill with your text already blockquoted for you (like the quote above).

In your original writings, it's best not to use italics for your regular text, although you're certainly free to style text in any way you like within the constraints of the XHTML tags that are available for use at Newsvine (XHTML tags allowed - a, b, blockquote, br, code, dd, dl, dt, del, em, h2, h3, h4, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, q, strong, ul).

I'm just suggesting you use normal text for your regular writing to be considerate towards those people who may have readability / vision handicaps.

I went to your column and I see this is your first article/seed at Newsvine. You're probably still in the Greenhouse, and there are some restrictions of features for "new" Newsviners which go away after you've been here for a while and posted more content, comments, made some friends, joined some Groups, and done some voting. The restrictions are there as an anti-spammer measure.

It's possible your "new" status isn't giving you the image attachment option. Or that option was broken when you tried. Or that you overlooked the attachment option that is down near the bottom of the Edit Article page (no attaching images to Seeds, only Articles).

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I haven't been here much lately and have opted to contribute content to my own blog for now.

No pending members in the group.

If the request for group membership is no longer in the Pending Requests part of the admin console for the group, I can't approve or reject it. All you can do is contact Newsvine and report it as a bug (see the upper right corner of any page where it says Report Bug in the little black box up there). This isn't something either you or I can fix, as far as I know.

Well, I wasn't mistaken because when I went there on 10 Feb, there were no pending requests.

However, I just came from there and approved a whole slew of requests that were sitting there tonight... so, I don't know if it was a database or a display issue, but I can assure you that on the 10th, there were no pending requests being displayed on my screen in the Help group.

All pending requests there tonight have been approved.

I don't get paid to offer support... this is voluntary on my part. More than once the suggestion has been made to hire me for this, and not by me but by other users. Newsvine isn't set up to allow telecommuting, though, so that puts a damper on the prospect of me working here for pay.

I stopped voting when I noticed I wasn't getting votes (and no, I don't mean just in this thread). I've voted here now.

If you're using Easy Mode in the comment box, a carriage return is seen as a new paragraph, and that's why it looks double-spaced. You can switch to use XHTML Mode instead, which should bring back the single-spacing.

You'll find the switch for both modes just above where you type text into the box, in bold-faced type.