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What I call "toolbox drafts" are great logistical tools for producing better comments, diaries, and other stuff here at the Great Orange Satan. A toolbox draft differs from a regular diary draft in that a toolbox draft is not intended to be published--ever. Instead it is a kind of scratch paper. I use three toolbox drafts myself all the time, and I call them
Scratch Paper, Widgets, and Future Blues.
There's more below the double gnocchi.
I've been hanging out at Daily Kos off and on since March 9, 2008. I still think of myself as a n00b when I see people with single digit UIDs running around, but because I write diaries fairly regularly and because I'm heavily involved in both Top Comments and J Town, I have learned a few logistical tricks of the trade.
I am an English teacher and not a computer geek so I'm sure my thoughts will be primitive to those with real skillz, but maybe some of you who are n00bier than I am can pick up an idea or two.
In order to keep from royally screwing up the stuff I publish here, I use toolbox drafts a lot. They give me a chance to look at what I plan to publish before I post it and to park it for awhile if I need to.
Here's a screen shot of what I saw when I clicked my "drafts" button after I put this diary in the New Diarists queue (obviously I am editing this while it is in the queue--yes, you can still edit your work after it has been queued!):
You can see that I had five diary drafts. The first one was a Top Comments diary that I was working on at the time. It was actually published on 12/25/2011. The second is this diary, which I had written and then queued to the New Diarists group. The last three are my toolbox drafts.
Let's walk through the steps to create and use a toolbox draft before I talk more about how I organize my toolboxes. If you already know how to create and use a toolbox draft, you can skip this section.
Steps to create a toolbox draft
1. In order to create a toolbox draft, look on the upper right hand corner of the page, and underneath where it says, "Welcome Back" followed by your User Name, you will see it says "Diaries" and offers two choices: "New" and "Drafts." The first time you want to create a toolbox draft, click "New." This will open a draft page. You must enter a title in order to be able to save the draft. So title it Scratch Paper (or whatever you wish--you can change it anytime). You can now save it, even if you don't put anything in it right away. (Try it: Open Daily Kos in a new tab. In that tab, create and name your toolbox draft. Click "Save and Preview," and once it has saved, refresh your page. Click the back arrow to return to the home page. Then come back to this tab.)
2. The next time you want to open your toolbox draft, instead of clicking "New," click "Drafts." You'll get a screen like the one above. Just click on the title of the draft you wish to open. (Go to the other tab and try it and come back!)
3. In order to write in your saved toolbox draft, you must click "Edit Diary" so you can go in and write in the spaces provided ("Intro" and "Extended"). DO NOT put tags in a diary you do not plan to publish. This will keep you from accidentally publishing a toolbox diary. Put whatever you want in the "Intro" and "Extended" boxes, and then click "Save & Preview." (Don't leave yet; keep reading.)
4. Any time you hit "Save & Preview," once it saves, refresh the page. This makes the changes you just made the new default version of the draft. If you're confused, just trust me: Every time you "Save & Preview," be sure to refresh. (Now, go back and try step three. Click "Edit Diary," type some copy in the "Intro" and/or "Extended" box(es) and click "Save & Preview" and then refresh the page. Now admire your handiwork! Then come back and keep reading.)
5. In order to copy and paste something from your draft, click "Edit Diary", go to what you want in the "Intro" or "Extended" section, and copy it by highlighting it and pressing "control" + "c." To paste, go to where you want to paste (into a comment or another diary in another tab), and press "control" + "v" and the copy should appear. (You can try this now by going back to your diary, clicking "Edit Diary," copying something (control + c), and coming back here. Click "Post a comment" below, enter a subject line like "Step 5 Test" and then paste (control + v) in the comment body. Click "Preview." Does your comment look like you thought it would? Press "Post" if you'd like to see it here forever or click "Cancel" and then "Yes" if you do not want to see it ever again. Then come back and keep reading.)
6. When you go back to your toolbox draft in the other tab, you can do whatever you wish with what's there -- save it or erase it or change it. Or, if you don't want to change anything, just close the tab. (Since it's scratch paper, unless you want to change, erase, or save something in yours, you can just close the tab. When you open it next, you will see what was there the last time you saved it.)
As you become more advanced, you can save all kinds of things in your toolbox diaries: typed copy, pictures, YouTubes, color boxes, and more!
Now on to how I use these. You may elect not to use any of them or you may use all of them. It depends on how active you are here and how you operate.
Scratch Paper
Scratch Paper is my daily working space. I park and test the stuff I'm working on. For me, that would be formatting a comment to email to Top Comments, preparing one of my daily comments for J Town (which are sort of mini-diaries), or dropping off a link I might need later or any other short term need. I can also click "post a comment", put text in, and preview it to see how it fits in that format1.
1A word of caution: DO NOT click "post" on your test comment. Even if the draft is never published, the comment WILL publish and it will never be erased. It will not be attached to a diary, but if you or others click on your "comments" list, it will appear on your list. So, when you're finished looking at the comment, just click the "cancel" button and "yes," or hit "save and preview" on the toolbox draft and then "refresh" the page. Either way, the unposted comment will disappear.
One good use of scratch paper is to create an attractive commercial to promote a diary you are publishing. You'll want to have that copy handy so you can post it in a number of (appropriate) places. JekyllnHyde is a master of this. He uses the community diaries (Top Comments, J Town, Open Threads, etc.) to promote his most excellent diaries. Check out this commercial. I'll bet you JekyllnHyde is using something like a Scratch Paper diary for that. He knows exactly how his commercial is going to be seen. The content in my Scratch Paper usually gets written over daily or several times daily. I don't need to save anything in Scratch Paper for more than 24 hours.
Widgets
Widgets is where I keep items that I use repeatedly and fairly frequently. For me that includes the Top Comments Spinning Top in several forms, the J Town Babbling Brook picture/comment that I post when I republish a diary to J Town, sneck hooks for J Town (here's an explanation by JanF), my "approved" stamp, and anything else I use long term. I use some of these items almost daily, and it's silly to look them up and format them every time. (I am currently considering dividing Widgets in two (like an amoeba) -- one for Top Comments and one for J Town.)
Future Blues
Future Blues is the place where I keep things I will need more than a day in the future. For example, back on Dec. 10, I read in a thread that blue jersey mom had a birthday on Dec. 22. I like to "bake cakes" for J Townies and bjm is a frequent visitor, so I made note of the date and stored the picture/comment, which I made days ahead, in Future Blues. I put the cake in the freezer, so to speak. And when her birthday came around, I just copied and pasted. I also use Future Blues to jot down ideas for diaries and anything else that is not of immediate use but will/might be down the road.
So those are my working spaces. I do a separate draft when I am working on a diary that I plan to publish, like my weekly contribution to Top Comments. Sometimes I may have more than one draft that I am actually working on (as you saw in the screenshot). I'll bet there are some Kossacks who have a dozen of those going. I rarely have more than two real diaries in the works. Also, if you are involved in a special project (as I was awhile back when we helped out a Kossack in need), these tools become even more indispensable.
Well, that's it. Those are my tricks. If you're new and unsure of yourself, try stuff out in a scratch paper draft, and as you settle into groups and adopt causes, develop a widgets draft. And when the thunderbolt strikes and you have a great idea you can't work on right now, jot it down in your future blues draft.
And, ask for help if you need it, n00bs! The comment section of this diary is a good place for those questions. Your questions can be about anything concerning diaries, not just toolbox drafts. We'll answer them all.