Categories
Blogging Other

A Beginner’s Guide to Google Wave



Logging into Google Wave for the first time is a baffling experience. It is almost impossible to work out what to do without the help of others, so I thought I’d create a really simple, step-by-step guide to get you started.

Step 1: Find some Friends

The first thing you need to do is to find some people to connect with. The problem is that not many people are signed up yet and even if they are, you probably don’t know their google wave address.

If you are lucky enough to know their google wave address (mine is farmlanebooks (at) goooglewave (dot) com) then you can add the person using the little + button next to the words manage contacts in the bottom left of the screen.

If you’d like to find some book bloggers then I’ve created this wave:

[wave id=”googlewave.com!w+kNwYIiY_C” height=”200px” server=”https://wave.google.com/wave/”]

Just log in and add yourself to it, then click on the avatar of anyone you recognise and add them to your contacts. Once you are following this wave it will be easy for me (or others) to add you to the other book blogging waves.

Step 2: Find Some Waves

The next thing you need to do is find a few waves to read, so that you can start to join in. The best place to start is probably with waves which are open for everyone to see.

To find public waves, type with:public into your search box and then click on the magnifying glass. This will bring up all waves which are viewable by everyone. You can refine this search by including keywords, after the word public, for example with:public FAQ will bring up waves with frequently asked questions, or with:public books will produce a list of waves in which books are mentioned.

withpublic

Once you know some-one’s google wave address you can search for waves in which they’re participating  in a similar way – for example with:farmlanebooks will bring up all waves which I am currently following.

Step 3: Create a Wave

When you are ready to start a discussion, just click on the New Wave button at the top of the centre panel. Type your message in the box in the right-hand column, then add people you’d like to share your conversation with using the + button next to your avatar. You can make the wave public by adding public@a.googlewave.com as a participant. (you’ll need to add public@a.googlewave.com to your contact list before you do this)

Step 4: Enjoy Google Wave!

Hopefully, this post will provide enough information to get you started, but if there is anything you’d like to know, then just ask and I’ll do my best to find out the answer for you.

Are you managing to wave successfully now?

Do you have any hints for new users?


Categories
Blog Improvement Project Other

How to put boxes around your text – an idiot’s guide!

I have spent the afternoon learning how to put boxes around text in wordpress. It has taken me a while, because all the guides out there seem to require a basic understanding of html – which I don’t have!

So I thought I’d share my new found knowledge with you.

This is called ‘inline CSS’ so you add this html code into your post (the alternative is external CSS, but I haven’t worked this out yet!).

If you copy the following html and paste it into your text editor you will get a black box around your text:

<p style=”padding:6px; color: grey; background-color: white; border: black 2px solid”>Text</p>

Text

Changing the number after the padding changes the distance between the text and the box, for example changing it to 10px makes the box further from the text.

 <p style=”padding: 10px; color: grey; background-color: white; border: black 2px solid”>Text</p>

Text

The word color refers to the text. As far as I can tell you can just write the colour of text you want, and it works. For example I have now changed it to red.

 <p style=”padding: 10px; color: red; background-color: white; border: black 2px solid”>Text</p>

Text

The blackground-colour is the colour of the filled in box. I have now changed it to blue:

 <p style=”padding: 10px; color: red; background-color: blue; border: black 2px solid”>Text</p>

Text

The border is the colour of the border, so here I’ve changed it to green.

 <p style=”padding: 10px; color: red; background-color: blue; border: green 2px solid”>Text</p>

Text

The number after the border colour is the thickness of the border. Increasing the number increases the width of the border. Here I’ve increased it to 5px.

 <p style=”padding: 10px; color: red; background-color: blue; border: green 5px solid”>Text</p>

Text

And of course you can change the text to anything you like!

<p style=”padding: 10px; color: red; background-color: blue; border: green 5px solid”>anything you like!</p>

anything you like!

I’m not sure all colour changes are improvements, but it gives you an idea of how it works!

I look forward to seeing lots of brightly coloured boxes on your blogs in the future!