Pillowfort 101
Jul. 25th, 2018 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dephigravityOkay, so you were one of the lucky few who snagged one of the Pillowfort Beta tester accounts, but now you are just staring at an empty blog with no clue what to do, or even how to go about doing it. I am here to help with some of the basics— again BETA TESTING, so none of us are experts yet. Feel free to add anything you’ve learned or any tips you’ve discovered so far!
•Starter TIP: The browser back button doesn’t always seem to take you where you need to go, so to get back to your Home Feed page, either click the Pillowfort or P icons (depending on where you are) on the top of the page.
Basic Settings
Okay, this is still early on in the Beta Testing, so the settings and customization options are very limited. You are basically allowed one avatar pic, a bio, and the ability to change some of the colors on your own blog. First up: Basic settings!
On your Home Feed (Default Page) click the Settings button. From this page you can change your username, your email, password, upload a profile pic, set your time zone, write a bio, choose who can direct message you, change your new follower/new message email notifications (still kinda buggy and hopefully they integrate notifications directly into the main menu window as well), and deactivate or delete your blog.
Uploading your Avatar is easy! Click the Choose File button and upload pretty much any image up to 100KB saved to your computer. It will have you crop any non-square images. LJ userpics work perfectly!
The bio field is basically a dumbed down post box. You have to either highlight text then hit B for Bold and I for Italic, or just hit those first and then turn them off where you want. To include a link, click the chain link button then fill in or copy/paste in the URL and link text. (This will also be used in the actual post windows as well, as they don’t use html codes in them.)
The rest of the basic settings are fairly self-explanatory.
How to Customize Your Blog
To get to the Style options window, you have to first go to your specific Pillowfort blog page. In the lower left hand corner, you will see the Style button. The Style window is mostly self-explanatory, but I added a cheatsheet just in case:
Also, I’m not sure if it is just a bug with my blog or not, but as much as I have tried, I can’t seem to see any differences in thePost Background Color or Post Font Color fields. I know what they should change, but regardless of the change I get white background and black text. Hopefully they fix this soon. If you have color codes in mind, you can type or copy/paste into the applicable box, or you can just slide the pointer around the color field until you find a good color.
*Note:this only changes the look of your blog page, not your Home Feed page.
How to Find and Follow Friends
This seems to be the most confusing part of Pillowfort so far, but it’s pretty straightforward if you notice the dropdown box on the search screen.
At the bottom of the menu on your Home Feed screen, lies the Search tab. Fill in the search box and hit your friendly neighborhood magnifying glass. Unfortunately, this will most likely yield no results. Pillowfort defaults to searching for post tags, so look for the drop down box and choose either users or communities.
Tada! You found that special someone, but now how to add them? Click on their username to take you to their blog page. In the left hand corner, hit the + button to friend them. You have officially made a friend! You can also message, report, or block from here.
***Here have a FRIENDING MEME while we are at it!***
How to Find, Follow, and Create Communities
Finding Communities that you know the names of is fairly similar, except that the Community home page has a menu bar at the top. From here you can join, leave, browse other members of (handy for finding friends), post directly to (more on this later), or flag a community.
To find other communities you may not know exist, click the Communities tab on the Menu on your Home Feed page.
From here you can see your followed/created communities, browse existing communities, or create new communities. To start, click Browse.
To browse, you can once again type a name in the search box or you can use the drop down menu to look by relevance, number of members, or date created. From there, just follow the steps listed above.
Creating new comms is really simple! From the Communities page, just hit Create and fill out the name and a quick community summary and hit submit! *Note: the summary field has limited characters, so you may consider doing a separate rules post in the community itself. Once you have created your community, you can add admins, change a member's status, ban users, etc.
How to Post Image Posts
From your Home Feed Menu, click Make A New Post-- the default option posts directly to your blog. Click on Picture. There two options here: Add Image by URL and Upload Image.
•Image Tip: Full disclosure, as of now Pillowfort does not have the resources to host a lot of images directly, therefor their size limit is a measly 1 MB. I don’t know about you, but my art tends to be way over that, even when I resize it for LJ or tumblr. So unless you want to resize to ~550 pixels, your best bet is to go ahead and use the url from whatever image hosting site you use (Personally, I use LJ’s Scrapbook and tumblr and have had no problems.) Here's hoping they can increase the image size limit in the future.
For uploading, simply click and select the file from your computer. For URL, click and then copy/paste in the url of the image you want to upload. For multiple pictures, just keep clicking on the + boxes, and follow the same steps. Note: you can format them for the post (ie full size or half size/side by side) but forewarning: this is still a little temperamental and buggy and may take you some experimenting to get it right.
•Posting Tip: You don’t have to enter in a title in the Title field, but it may make it easier to access the url if you ever need it later. More on this later.
Okay, so we are to the text portion and this is where Pillowfort differs vastly from LiveJournal and tumblr! You do not use html in this field, ever! If you do, it will show the coding in the post as typed. Instead, you highlight the words you want altered, and alter them using the above buttons (Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, etc.). To add in links, click the chain link icon and enter in the url and the desired text for the hyperlink.
•Posting Tip: If you are lazy like me, and choose to copy and paste your header info from LiveJournal, it will keep all your images and hyperlinks in place when you paste! Handy for if you have a link to a collaborator’s post or if you have a crosspost link (ie my LJ posts include a link to my tumblr posts). You can delete or alter by clicking on the individual items.
Tagging works the same as LJ and tumblr, use commas to separate the tags.
Tagging Tip: Though this is just as a suggestion, I would strongly urge you not go about using the long storied tumblr-esque commenting via tags technique when reblogging. The point of Pillowfort is to restore some of that sense of community and personal touch that LiveJournal possessed that tumblr failed at. While, Pillowfort has a like and a reblog option, I personally think that restoring the LiveJournal commenting culture would also further its community goals. So by all means, leave comments, glorious comments!=but in the comments section, not the tags.
Finally, you can choose who is able to view the post with the drop down menu, and then you can use the sliders to turn on/off Reblogs, Comments, and to flag your post as NSFW. Hit Submit and that is that!
How to Post Text Posts
Follow the above steps, but ignore the uploading image part. Just remember about the html part. Hopefully they address the issue; in fact, I also submitted a suggestion for it. For now, I would copy and paste the posted version of you fics via AO3, LJ, what have you, so that it picks up any of you bolded/italicized words.
How to Add a Hidden Text Cut
The [...] button is your Read More button, aka good ol' LJ cut. Be careful though; if you try to highlight text and then click it as you can with Bold/Italic/Underline, it will in fact erase the text and replace it with [READ-MORE][/READ-MORE]. Instead place the cursor where you want to start your cut, hit the button, and then cut and paste the [/READ-MORE] tag where you want the cut to end. Or you can place the cut first and then type in between them. This is kind of annoying, and LiveJournal and tumblr both work properly, so hopefully this gets fixed.
How to Crosspost/Post Directly to Communities
Okay, this is by far my favorite feature of Pillowfort. You know how on LiveJournal, you had to create your main post, and then post again to each community linking back to your main post ad nauseam? NOT HERE!
As I mentioned in the posting section, the default option is to post directly to your blog, but you can also choose to post directly to any community you are a member of using the drop down menu of the posting screen. This works great for when you are posting a question to the community and the like.
But-- and this is where I get excited about Pillowfort-- if you have already made a post, you can reblog that post to the community using the drop down options on the reblog screen! It is that easy!
•Reblog Tip: Pillowfort’s reblog process is similar to tumblr’s but for one major distinction. On tumblr when you reblog a post, you are actually creating a duplicate of that post as it is from where you are reblogging from. This is why if someone adds to the post and then someone reblogs after that addition, the addition is always included from then on. It is also why you can find different versions of the same post floating around and why reblog posts still exist from deactivated accounts. On Pillowfort, you are simply sharing the original poster’s post. This means that anytime the original post is altered, all the reblogs of that post are also altered! This is a godsend for people that notice a typo or an artistic error, let me tell you...
How to View Likes/Reblogs/Comments
Okay, this is not as straightforward as it could be. On LiveJournal, you can click on the title of your post and it will bring up your post and any comments. Here, not so much. As of yet, the title is just for show, so in order to get to the comments you have to do one of two things:
If someone has left a reply/comment on your post, it will show up on your Replies tab on the Home Feed Menu. These are chronological and not nested by specific posts. From there you can click View Comment, this will take you to the post and allow you to view/reply to any comments on that post.
The other option is to click on the Comment (word bubble) button on your post. This will take you to your post and allow you to view comments/reblogs/ likes on your post. The downside is that it defaults to thinking you are leaving a comment, but that is a minor annoyance.
And this concludes your Pillowfort 101 tutorial. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Again, I’m not an expert by any means, but I will do my best or at least point you to someone that can help.
•Starter TIP: The browser back button doesn’t always seem to take you where you need to go, so to get back to your Home Feed page, either click the Pillowfort or P icons (depending on where you are) on the top of the page.
Basic Settings
Okay, this is still early on in the Beta Testing, so the settings and customization options are very limited. You are basically allowed one avatar pic, a bio, and the ability to change some of the colors on your own blog. First up: Basic settings!
On your Home Feed (Default Page) click the Settings button. From this page you can change your username, your email, password, upload a profile pic, set your time zone, write a bio, choose who can direct message you, change your new follower/new message email notifications (still kinda buggy and hopefully they integrate notifications directly into the main menu window as well), and deactivate or delete your blog.
Uploading your Avatar is easy! Click the Choose File button and upload pretty much any image up to 100KB saved to your computer. It will have you crop any non-square images. LJ userpics work perfectly!
The bio field is basically a dumbed down post box. You have to either highlight text then hit B for Bold and I for Italic, or just hit those first and then turn them off where you want. To include a link, click the chain link button then fill in or copy/paste in the URL and link text. (This will also be used in the actual post windows as well, as they don’t use html codes in them.)
The rest of the basic settings are fairly self-explanatory.
How to Customize Your Blog
To get to the Style options window, you have to first go to your specific Pillowfort blog page. In the lower left hand corner, you will see the Style button. The Style window is mostly self-explanatory, but I added a cheatsheet just in case:
Also, I’m not sure if it is just a bug with my blog or not, but as much as I have tried, I can’t seem to see any differences in thePost Background Color or Post Font Color fields. I know what they should change, but regardless of the change I get white background and black text. Hopefully they fix this soon. If you have color codes in mind, you can type or copy/paste into the applicable box, or you can just slide the pointer around the color field until you find a good color.
*Note:this only changes the look of your blog page, not your Home Feed page.
How to Find and Follow Friends
This seems to be the most confusing part of Pillowfort so far, but it’s pretty straightforward if you notice the dropdown box on the search screen.
At the bottom of the menu on your Home Feed screen, lies the Search tab. Fill in the search box and hit your friendly neighborhood magnifying glass. Unfortunately, this will most likely yield no results. Pillowfort defaults to searching for post tags, so look for the drop down box and choose either users or communities.
Tada! You found that special someone, but now how to add them? Click on their username to take you to their blog page. In the left hand corner, hit the + button to friend them. You have officially made a friend! You can also message, report, or block from here.
***Here have a FRIENDING MEME while we are at it!***
How to Find, Follow, and Create Communities
Finding Communities that you know the names of is fairly similar, except that the Community home page has a menu bar at the top. From here you can join, leave, browse other members of (handy for finding friends), post directly to (more on this later), or flag a community.
To find other communities you may not know exist, click the Communities tab on the Menu on your Home Feed page.
From here you can see your followed/created communities, browse existing communities, or create new communities. To start, click Browse.
To browse, you can once again type a name in the search box or you can use the drop down menu to look by relevance, number of members, or date created. From there, just follow the steps listed above.
Creating new comms is really simple! From the Communities page, just hit Create and fill out the name and a quick community summary and hit submit! *Note: the summary field has limited characters, so you may consider doing a separate rules post in the community itself. Once you have created your community, you can add admins, change a member's status, ban users, etc.
How to Post Image Posts
From your Home Feed Menu, click Make A New Post-- the default option posts directly to your blog. Click on Picture. There two options here: Add Image by URL and Upload Image.
•Image Tip: Full disclosure, as of now Pillowfort does not have the resources to host a lot of images directly, therefor their size limit is a measly 1 MB. I don’t know about you, but my art tends to be way over that, even when I resize it for LJ or tumblr. So unless you want to resize to ~550 pixels, your best bet is to go ahead and use the url from whatever image hosting site you use (Personally, I use LJ’s Scrapbook and tumblr and have had no problems.) Here's hoping they can increase the image size limit in the future.
For uploading, simply click and select the file from your computer. For URL, click and then copy/paste in the url of the image you want to upload. For multiple pictures, just keep clicking on the + boxes, and follow the same steps. Note: you can format them for the post (ie full size or half size/side by side) but forewarning: this is still a little temperamental and buggy and may take you some experimenting to get it right.
•Posting Tip: You don’t have to enter in a title in the Title field, but it may make it easier to access the url if you ever need it later. More on this later.
Okay, so we are to the text portion and this is where Pillowfort differs vastly from LiveJournal and tumblr! You do not use html in this field, ever! If you do, it will show the coding in the post as typed. Instead, you highlight the words you want altered, and alter them using the above buttons (Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, etc.). To add in links, click the chain link icon and enter in the url and the desired text for the hyperlink.
•Posting Tip: If you are lazy like me, and choose to copy and paste your header info from LiveJournal, it will keep all your images and hyperlinks in place when you paste! Handy for if you have a link to a collaborator’s post or if you have a crosspost link (ie my LJ posts include a link to my tumblr posts). You can delete or alter by clicking on the individual items.
Tagging works the same as LJ and tumblr, use commas to separate the tags.
Tagging Tip: Though this is just as a suggestion, I would strongly urge you not go about using the long storied tumblr-esque commenting via tags technique when reblogging. The point of Pillowfort is to restore some of that sense of community and personal touch that LiveJournal possessed that tumblr failed at. While, Pillowfort has a like and a reblog option, I personally think that restoring the LiveJournal commenting culture would also further its community goals. So by all means, leave comments, glorious comments!=but in the comments section, not the tags.
Finally, you can choose who is able to view the post with the drop down menu, and then you can use the sliders to turn on/off Reblogs, Comments, and to flag your post as NSFW. Hit Submit and that is that!
How to Post Text Posts
Follow the above steps, but ignore the uploading image part. Just remember about the html part. Hopefully they address the issue; in fact, I also submitted a suggestion for it. For now, I would copy and paste the posted version of you fics via AO3, LJ, what have you, so that it picks up any of you bolded/italicized words.
How to Add a Hidden Text Cut
The [...] button is your Read More button, aka good ol' LJ cut. Be careful though; if you try to highlight text and then click it as you can with Bold/Italic/Underline, it will in fact erase the text and replace it with [READ-MORE][/READ-MORE]. Instead place the cursor where you want to start your cut, hit the button, and then cut and paste the [/READ-MORE] tag where you want the cut to end. Or you can place the cut first and then type in between them. This is kind of annoying, and LiveJournal and tumblr both work properly, so hopefully this gets fixed.
How to Crosspost/Post Directly to Communities
Okay, this is by far my favorite feature of Pillowfort. You know how on LiveJournal, you had to create your main post, and then post again to each community linking back to your main post ad nauseam? NOT HERE!
As I mentioned in the posting section, the default option is to post directly to your blog, but you can also choose to post directly to any community you are a member of using the drop down menu of the posting screen. This works great for when you are posting a question to the community and the like.
But-- and this is where I get excited about Pillowfort-- if you have already made a post, you can reblog that post to the community using the drop down options on the reblog screen! It is that easy!
•Reblog Tip: Pillowfort’s reblog process is similar to tumblr’s but for one major distinction. On tumblr when you reblog a post, you are actually creating a duplicate of that post as it is from where you are reblogging from. This is why if someone adds to the post and then someone reblogs after that addition, the addition is always included from then on. It is also why you can find different versions of the same post floating around and why reblog posts still exist from deactivated accounts. On Pillowfort, you are simply sharing the original poster’s post. This means that anytime the original post is altered, all the reblogs of that post are also altered! This is a godsend for people that notice a typo or an artistic error, let me tell you...
How to View Likes/Reblogs/Comments
Okay, this is not as straightforward as it could be. On LiveJournal, you can click on the title of your post and it will bring up your post and any comments. Here, not so much. As of yet, the title is just for show, so in order to get to the comments you have to do one of two things:
If someone has left a reply/comment on your post, it will show up on your Replies tab on the Home Feed Menu. These are chronological and not nested by specific posts. From there you can click View Comment, this will take you to the post and allow you to view/reply to any comments on that post.
The other option is to click on the Comment (word bubble) button on your post. This will take you to your post and allow you to view comments/reblogs/ likes on your post. The downside is that it defaults to thinking you are leaving a comment, but that is a minor annoyance.
And this concludes your Pillowfort 101 tutorial. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Again, I’m not an expert by any means, but I will do my best or at least point you to someone that can help.
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