Everyone knows what makes each authors and editors joyful: a smooth, streamlined publication process where the trail from draft to published article is quick and painless.
We also know that a lot of our contributors—old-timers and latest ones alike—won’t have numerous experience working with WordPress, the software powering our independent publication, and specifically with its block editor. We put together this guide to give you concrete pointers, and to deal with among the common questions authors have asked us. You possibly can read this post from top to bottom (especially if you’ve got zero block-editor experience), or jump ahead to the sections which can be relevant to your current needs.
What’s the block editor?
The publishing tool on the core of our website is the block editor. You could find ample resources on its various components and features on the WordPress documentation site; for those who’ve never used it before, a superb place to begin is this page, which explains the essential actions you’ll be able to take when using the editor and offers a transparent legend for the numerous buttons and symbols you see around (and inside) your content.
Bear in mind that for those who’ve already used the block editor previously as a site admin or editor, the view you’ll see as a TDS creator goes to be a bit different. We desired to offer you a focused drafting environment with minimal distractions, so only the tools and options you’ll have to format your articles will likely be visible.
How do I start a brand new draft?
Every time you land in your creator dashboard on our Contributor Portal, you’ll be able to start a brand new draft by clicking on Posts → Add Recent Post:
For those who have already got a number of drafts on our site in various states of completion, clicking on this link will take you on to an inventory of your articles; just select the one you’d wish to work on.
What are the essential elements that each one TDS articles will need to have?
As you almost certainly know by now, TDS may be very flexible when it comes to article formats, perspectives, and writing tone. But every article will need to have the next components in place before we will publish it.
Title
An attractive, descriptive, concise title is important. Type it into the highest text field above your article’s content, and also you’re all set:
Bonus points: be certain that your title is written in title case — for instance, “My Title Is Irresistible and Succinct, but Not Clickbait-y,” fairly than “My title is irresistible and succinct, but not clickbait-y.” (The latter is sentence case, which we reserve in your subtitle.)
Subtitle
Speaking of subtitles: you wish one! Brevity is great — the thought is so as to add only a bit more context to your title and improve the chances that potential readers resolve to click in your article.
Within the block editor, the subtitle is named a subheading, and also you add it directly into — you guessed it — the subheading field, which you’ll find within the post settings sidebar, simply to the suitable of the article’s content:
For those who’re feeling somewhat bit more adventurous, copy and paste your subtitle (sorry, subheading) into the Post Excerpt field, which is near the highest of the exact same post settings sidebar. (For those who’re not feeling that adventurous, no worries — our editors will maintain that one for you.)
Featured image
Every article needs one! Whether you discover yours online (copyright-free, after all), create it yourself, or generate one with an AI tool, it’s an important visual element in your article, so it’s value spending a number of minutes on this selection. (Listed below are some ideas and guidance for those who’re unsure how one can go about it.)
When you’re ready, upload your image to its designated Featured image slot, into the body of your article. Just click on the Set featured image button within the post settings sidebar.
To bring true tears of joy to your editors’ eyes, once the image is uploaded, don’t forget so as to add a caption with the crucial sourcing details:
Tags and Categories
Be happy so as to add one category and as much as five tags to your articles. While that is a vital element, it’s one we’re joyful to maintain for you — so for those who’re unsure which of them to decide on, just leave these to us.
Note: we truly consider within the top-notch quality of the articles we publish on TDS, but we ask that you simply don’t add our featured tags (like Deep Dives or Editors’ Pick) yourself. Our team considers every article, and we then add these tags on our end to a handful of articles every day.
Probably the most common blocks you’ll use (and how one can use them)
Paragraph
That is where the text of your article goes — which is why the Paragraph block is probably going going to be the one you utilize most often. Place your cursor anywhere within the paragraph to make the choices menu visible, and highlight any words to which you’d wish to add specific styles like daring, , and inline code, amongst others.
Heading
Creating a transparent structural hierarchy inside your article helps each readers and search engines like google navigate your content. Add a brand new heading every time you begin a brand new section, and select the suitable one depending on its position inside your article.
H1 headings must be reserved in your article’s title, so don’t add any more of those within the body of your post. H2 headings are for brand new sections, and in case your larger sections contain shorter subsections, you should use H3 or H4 headings as needed.
Image
Use the Image block so as to add most visual media to your article —charts, screenshots, animations, etc. An important thing to recollect is that you simply shouldn’t copy-and-paste images into the block editor — you have to upload every media file on to our site’s Media Library.
Once uploaded, nonetheless, you’ll be able to re-use the identical image multiple times throughout the same article or across several articles.
Don’t forget so as to add a picture caption to your images — that’s where you provide readers (and your TDS editors) with the crucial details about your image source and licensing status.
For those who could use a fast refresher on our image guidelines, we’ve got you covered.
Quote
Quote blocks are a visible way for highlighting specific points or ideas, or for quoting longer passages from external sources.
Using them sparingly will be very effective, but don’t overdo it — similar to daring or italicized text, Quote blocks can quickly grow to be distracting.
List
Whether in your…
- table of contents,
- key takeaways,
- or every other element in your article that may profit from a neat, bulleted arrangement…
…the List block must be your go-to. The block editor will routinely detect for those who’re creating numbered or unordered lists when you type in the primary item.
So as to add a nested list inside your list, just start a brand new item and click on your tab button.
Separator
Sometimes, a heading might feel insufficient for making a visual break between or inside sections.
In those cases, use the Separator block — just be certain that you choose the Dotted style, which is the one we selected as our default on TDS:
Prismatic (for code blocks)
Many (!) of our articles feature code, and a number of it, so we desired to be certain that it looks neat, clear, and skilled. To do this, we’ve enabled the Prismatic block, which must be your default selection for embedding longer code blocks into your article. (One essential exception: for those who resolve to use GitHub Gists as a substitute, which we also welcome.)
Be happy to type in your code or to copy-and-paste it from an IDE. The one crucial thing you have to remember, nonetheless, is to select the block’s programming language — otherwise, your code won’t display properly on the TDS frontend. Fortunately, choosing the suitable language is a breeze, and you’ll be able to do it straight out of your block settings sidebar:
With dozens of programming languages to select from, you’re almost certain to search out the one you wish. On the off likelihood you don’t, select one which’s close enough, syntax-wise, to the exotic, up-and-coming language you’re coding in. (For those who ever just need to present plaintext inside a code block, your best bet is to go along with HTML.)
Shortcode (for LaTeX notations)
In case your article includes numerous formulas (or , for those who insist), equations, and other math notations, you’ll be able to ensure they appear great on TDS by inserting your LaTeX markup right into a Shortcode block. There are a pair of various approaches for doing that, and we strongly recommend reading the documentation by MathJax-LaTeX, which is the WordPress plugin powering LaTeX on our site.
In case your needs aren’t as elaborate, it’s also possible to…
- Directly add a smattering of ≠, π, or ∑ (to call a number of examples) using handy keyboard shortcuts.
- Create your fancy equations on the external tool of your selection, and take a screenshot — which you’ll then upload into an Image block.
Table
Great for comparing experiment results, product features, and more, the Table block makes creating sleek tables very easy — just resolve what number of columns and rows you wish and also you’re just about able to go.
You possibly can further customize your table using the block settings sidebar (to decide on fixed-width cells, add a header section, etc.).
Embeds
We’ve enabled several often used embed types for authors, allowing you to seamlessly integrate content from other platforms into your articles.
GitHub Gists
Sharing your code via Gists is common amongst data and ML professionals, and this block makes it possible to increase this practice into your TDS articles. It requires two easy steps:
- On GitHub, copy the embed link out of your GitHub Gist:
2. Add a GitHub Gist Embed block to your article, and, within the block settings sidebar, paste the embed link. You need to immediately see a preview of your Gist.
You possibly can add as many Gists as you’d like, and their formatting will stay the identical on our site.
Media embeds
For those who’d wish to embed tweets, YouTube videos, and other embeddable media from external platforms, click the + symbol within the block editor, type embed, and also you’ll see the varied options at your disposal.
Then, paste within the URL of the media you’d wish to embed into the block, and let the editor do the remaining. Note that for some platforms, you would possibly need a special embed link.
For those who’d wish to embed other media but should not sure if it’s possible or how one can go about it, just reach out — we’ll do our greatest to search out an answer for you.
How can I ask for help with my draft?
We’re glad you asked! For those who ever run into any issue through the review process, while drafting your article, and even after your post is published, you’ll be able to at all times reach out directly from the block editor. Just highlight any word, click on the brand new comment symbol, and kind in your query, note, or concern.
Two essential things to recollect:
- For the fastest response time, tag considered one of our team members once you enter your comment — typing the @ symbol will show you an inventory of the editors you’ll be able to ping.
- At all times save your draft after you post a comment. This ensures your comment doesn’t disappear into thin air for those who make changes to your draft, and sends a notification to the editor you pinged.
My draft is nice to go! What’s next?
Congrats! You’re almost done. Listed below are two belongings you do before submitting your article for review — and one thing you for us to truly review it.
- Giving your article a final proofread is rarely a nasty idea (we will’t overstate the advantages of sending us a clean first draft).
- We also recommend you try your draft preview — it’s fun to see how your article would look once it’s published, and it also offers you a likelihood to double-check the whole lot is formatted and displayed as you’d intended. To preview your article, click on the laptop symbol (we expect it’s a laptop symbol?) near the highest of the editor screen.
- Finally, please don’t forget to submit your article for review — which you’ll be able to do by clicking on the (drumroll, please) Submit for Review button on the top-right corner of the block editor.
When you click on the button, your article enters our review queue; you’ll be able to still make changes to it, nevertheless it’s best to maintain these to a minimum when you receive a notification that it’s in review.
For those who still have any questions or run into any issues while drafting and formatting your article, feel to achieve out via email or by pinging us directly out of your article.
