Update 7/9/2022: Important updated links:
- Daily Kos Rules of the Road page contains the following:
- Site Purpose
- Community Guidelines (Dos and Don’ts)
- Recommending Stories and Comments (Dos and Don’ts)
- Daily Kos Help Desk articles page includes links to the following (among others):
- How to write a Daily Kos story: The basics
- Daily Kos features: Resources, tips, and tricks (includes the Editor Toolbar: Overview)
- Daily Kos Image Library: Opening the IL and uploading images
- Daily Kos Video How-Tos
- Recommendations and flags — what they mean and when to use them
Unfortunately, most of the materials linked in the original diary below are outdated or missing images because the site purged old images several years ago.
Update 2/8/2016: New Diarists tutorial for formatting drafts, adding tags, publishing options, and editing covers most of the basics:
- How to add links, blockquotes, story breaks, horizontal lines
- How to tag and publish your story
- How to edit your story after it has been published
Update 2/3/2016: Here are the new instructions for New Diarists: How to get feedback on your draft from us.
Update 11/9/2015: The instructions in most of these diaries were written for DK4, which is the previous version of Daily Kos. Also, these lists of resource diaries were presented using tables, which are no longer available in DK5. We will work on posting updated diaries as soon as we figure out this new version! Meanwhile, send a message to New Diarists or check out #DK5 or #CrankyUsers for assistance if nothing below helps.
[original diary below here]
As someone recently pointed out, figuring out how to do things at DKos can be confusing and time-consuming, even when one knows where to begin looking for instructions! So this diary updates last June's Resources for All post to include recent efforts showing how to use HTML and other tools that the site provides to enhance our diaries. We're hoping that this updated list of resources will come in handy for experienced as well as beginning diarists.
Diaries Explaining the New Diarists Group and Offering Advice for Writers
The diaries in this chart explain how the New Diarists group works and offer a variety of perspectives regarding writing issues. As you can see, many anxieties regarding writing and posting that beginning diarists experience are shared by other kossacks.
Resource Diaries for Formatting and Mechanics of the Site
This list is organized to feature basic tutorials first, then increasingly geeky tutorials, and finally comprehensive how-to diaries. (The categories represent my assessment of the difficulty levels - obviously, ymmv.) Please don't allow this list to overwhelm you! Beginning diarists will probably only need to know the skills in the first two diaries listed.
Diary Title |
Topic(s) |
Diarist |
New Diarists: After You Publish |
Basics: explains how to edit and update a diary after it has been published (as well as how to set up a custom tip jar before publishing)
|
belinda ridgewood
|
New Diarists: Links & Blockquotes |
Basics: explains how to create links & blockquotes to acknowledge source materials (edited to add: as well as how to make links automatically open in a new tab or window)
|
nomandates
|
New Diarists: Formatting Text with HTML Tags |
Baby Geek: explains how to use HTML tags to boldface, italicize, underline, and strikethrough text; to create headers, larger text, smaller text, superscript, subscript, teletype, and right-to-left text
|
nomandates
|
New Diarists: Using Special Characters |
Baby Geek: explains how to use ampersand codes to post a wide assortment of symbols (♥ © ™ ° ✲ ∞)
|
belinda ridgewood
|
New Diarists: Layout & Lists |
Geek: explains how to use HTML tags for layout (headers, centering, paragraph breaks, line breaks) and lists (ordered, unordered, dropdown menu)
|
nomandates
|
New Diarists: Lines & Color |
Geek: explains how to use HTML to create horizontal lines as well as how to judiciously choose HTML color codes
|
belinda ridgewood
|
New Diarists: Creating Boxes Using HTML Tags |
Geek: explains how to use HTML to create boxes with borders and/or colorful backgrounds
|
nomandates
|
New Diarists: Tables |
Advanced Geek: explains how to use HTML to create tables with multiple cells (rows and columns)
|
belinda ridgewood
|
New Diarists: Diary Layout Using Tables in Markos Markup Language ☺ |
Extra Geeky: explains how to create super tables using more advanced HTML to create grids and to align text and images (horizontally and/or vertically)
|
palantir
|
HTML Magic for Diarists - Image Mapping with Anchors or Links |
Extra Geeky: explains how to create an image map
|
GreyHawk
|
Diary Guide to Formatting, Linking, Images, Embedding, and Tables |
Comprehensive (brief instructions): explains how to format text, create headers, blockquote, create lists, create links, add images, embed videos, create tables
|
fiver
|
The Elements of Style: Tips, Tricks and Regrouping News |
Comprehensive (brief instructions): explains how to create headers, format images, format text, create tables
|
ePluribus Media
|
Resource Diaries for Posting Images
For those who may be stressing out over all of this, I always highly recommend reading BentLiberal's This is a Test Diary.
Advice regarding Working with Groups/Series and Interacting with Commenters
Every day, a number of community diaries are posted for groups and series, many of which actively recruit volunteer diarists. If you're interested in posting for one or more communities or series here, the following diaries offer some advice:
Helpful Groups and Series for New Diarists
If you have questions about posting diaries, feel free to ask them in this diary. As always, experienced kossacks are welcome to post advice for New Diarists as well.
UPDATE: The comment period for all of these diaries, including this one, has expired. If you have questions, please message New Diarists.
*New Diarists* is a safe place to practice diary writing skills with a mentor's guiding hand. *Experienced diarists* are invited to join and buddy up with new diarists, and *new diarists* are welcome to join and to ask for help. The group's Publication Manager provides a space where we can collaborate on diaries and help with everything from revising to formatting your diary before you publish it to the site.
Ready to play? Send a private message to nomandates for an invitation to join the group. And remember that you must follow us by clicking on the little ♥ next to New Diarists to get our diaries in your stream. |
Follow @NewDiarists