LexBlog

While mobile devices such as the iPad are usually quite accurate at viewing blogs in a functional manner, there can be difficultly posting and editing blogs on our platform using Mobile Safari, the browser on the iPhone and iPad. If you'd like to post to your blog or edit posts from one of these devices, we suggest using BlogPress, an inexpensive ($3) blogging app avaliable in the app store.

BlogPress offers support for most major blog platforms, including our platform, Movable Type. With BlogPress, you can include multiple pictures in posts, adjust image size and orientation, add multiple categories, and store drafts to publish later.

Follow these instructions to get your blog up and running in BlogPress. This tutorial will contain screenshots from the iPad version of the app, but the iPhone one should be more or less the same.

Inital Setup

The first step is to set your Web Services Password on the backend of your blog.

1. Log in to the backend as normal at yourblog.com/admin, and click on your name at the top left-hand corner of the screen.
   
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2. Scroll down the account settings page to the Password section, and look for the field called Web Services Password.
   
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3. Either click Reveal to view your current password, or type the one you'd like to use into the box and hit Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Write down this password, you will need to recall it later.

Next, we'll download and set up BlogPress.

1. Download the BlogPress app in the app store.
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2. Open BlogPress by touching its icon on your home screen.
3. The first time you launch BlogPress, it will ask you to set up your first blog. Hit OK.
4. On the Select Provider screen, tap Movable Type.
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5. You will now see the Account Information page. Enter your username the same as you would to log in to your blog, the Web Services password you wrote down in the first steps, and the following information in the mt.cgi URL field: http://www.yourblog.com/admin/mt.cgi.
   
   • For example, if I were going to log in to Kevin O'Keefe's "Real Lawyers Have Blogs," I would put in http://www.kevin.lexblog.com/admin/mt.cgi.
   • NOTE: You MUST put the full "http://www." before your blog's URL, or else BlogPress will not be able to create a connection to your blog.
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6. Hit Save once you have filled in this information and you should be ready to post!
   • If you have multiple blogs you'd like to post from, click the Preferences button (), then click Add Another Blog and repeat this process.

Posting and Editing with BlogPress

1. Make sure you see the blog you'd wish to post on is listed in the Blogs field in the upper left-hand corner of the app. If you want to change the blog you're posting on, simply tap the name of the blog that's displayed and you will see a list of the blogs you've set up. Tap the one you'd like to post on.
2. Tap the Compose button () on the lower left-hand part of the screen to start creating your post.
3. You'll see the Write area displayed, which allows you to give your post a Title as well as enter the body of the post as usual.
   • NOTE: BlogPress does not contain text formatting tools. It is meant to be a simple way to post, but lacks options like bold, italics, and lists. If you'd like to have those in your post, you'll need to post from a full computer, or post from the iPad and then edit that post on a full computer.
   • To give your post tags and put it in a category as well as change other options, tap the round "i" button to the right of the Title field.
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     • Tap each field to see a list of the tags and categories you currenty have on your blog for selection, or just type them in to the field. You can also save a draft or schedule the post to be published at a future date.
   • NOTE: To insert an image into your post, you first need to get that image on to your iPad. The easiest way to do this is to simply E-Mail it to yourself and save the image to the device from the Mail app. You can also save images directly from Safari by holding your finger on the image for a few seconds and then selecting Save Image.
   • To insert the image in a post once it's on your iPad, tap the Add Image button () in the post editor, tap the image you'd like to insert, and the image will appear in the post editor alongside your text.
     
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     • You can tap the image again once it's in the post to change alignment, size, and other options.
   • Once you're done with your blog post, click Save and your post will be published.
4. If you'd like to edit an existing post, simply tap the name of the post in the Posts menu on the left-hand side of the screen.