Bloggers! Ride to Graphics in a Giphy! #FridayRecommends

It’s the first of the month, so there’s a new Hot Flash on my Hot Flashes page. Hot Flashes are tiny little stories.

I’ve been in Instagram for a long time, but I haven’t used it. I’ve been spending most of my Social Media time on Facebook. Now that I’ve stopped using Facebook (except to feed this blog to my pro page), I decided to look into Instagram again.

But my Instagram profile needs work. So I found this helpful article on Magnet4Blogging, and I’ll be jazzing it up Real Soon Now.

Speaking of Real Soon Now, I’m all kindsa interested in PodRide. It’s a proposed vehicle, supposedly under development, that I’ve fantasized about and now see is (maybe) real. I think Meeka pointed me to this, but maybe not. it’s an enclosed bicycle, like a Flintstones pedicar with pedals (I put one in my science fiction humor novel, FORCE OF HABIT, which will be re-released … Real Soon Now). It was supposed to be available in 2017, BUT NOOOO-OOO-OOO. ~sigh~

Ally Bean suggested I look at Canva again for graphics, so I did. LOVE IT! I made this graphic in about two minutes. It would have been quicker, but I’m still getting used to this dang new laptop keyboard.

Gonna share that baby on Instagram.

So I’ll tell you what else: I am LOVING this new “blocks” thing on WordPress. I don’t know if they use this on other blogging platforms, so unless you have a blog on WordPress, I guess you can skip this recommend. If you DO have a blog on WordPress, I recommend switching over to the Gutenberg blocks. Takes a little getting used to, but it’s really coolio. You treat every “paragraph” as a block. If all you do is text, you just write and forget there’s a difference. If you add graphics and, you know, stuff, you can select the type of block you want and get “granular” with it, as they say these days. (Or do people still say that?)

Like, I want to end this post with a GIF. Why? Because we just got a new GIF block. I just choose the GIF block and enter a search term, and I get a row of recommended GIFs. If I don’t like them, I can go to GIPHY and choose my own. But I liked this one.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: What are you or your main character planning to do Real Soon Now?

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Bloggers! Ride to Graphics in a Giphy! #FridayRecommends

  1. Mitchell Allen

    March 1, 2019 at 8:36am

    I’m not keen on Gutenberg. As someone who has been burnt by online editors once too many times, I now compose all of my posts in my little desktop text editor. I throw in HTML tags by hand, including hyperlinks and images (same thing, really, LOL.)

    Gutenberg messes with my way of getting posts into WordPress. Truthfully, the results aren’t terrible, I just have to work harder to get the blocks to behave.

    As for all the other coolness in your round-up, I like!

    Cheers,

    Mitch

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 1, 2019 at 9:15am

      I got used to using the WordPress online editor a long time ago, so I usually just do use it. Since it’s easy to switch between Visual and HTML editing, I can always pop into HTML and, for example, add blockquote to a heading. Online editors screw up my imported font size tags, anyway, so I might as well use theirs. I’m not as savvy as the pros; I just know enough to be dangerous.

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  2. Mitchell Allen

    March 1, 2019 at 9:32am

    I’m the same way with my text editor. Actually, I used to compose in MS Word, but the text editor is quicker because I always leave it open.

    Dangerous is good. That means you’re not afraid to experiment! 🙂

    Cheers,

    Mitch

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Ally Bean

    March 1, 2019 at 10:15am

    I don’t do FB at all and am sort of a vague entity on IG. I see that there are lots of ways to zhoosh up your Instagram account but I have yet to try them. I’m pleased that you like canva and look forward to many more images as you go along.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 1, 2019 at 11:09am

      I’ll certainly be using Canva now. Thank you for the recommendation!

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  4. Dan antion

    March 1, 2019 at 11:28am

    I have tried Gutenberg, even done some small posts in it. I still can’t get it to do mosaic of photos where the captions don’t show and where the sizes are well balanced.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 1, 2019 at 3:04pm

      Whaaaaat? Do you have self-hosted WordPress, or do you use their free version? I can’t speak for the balance, but I don’t think the captions show on mine, unless you click the picture.

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  5. Tammy

    March 2, 2019 at 9:40am

    I lurk and like on Insta.I will have to find you and follow.
    I like the graphics but it seems to take so long compared to words. I have played with CANVA too. Some of the graphics on my blog are there.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 2, 2019 at 10:15am

      Graphics grab eyeballs on social media. I don’t think it makes any difference to my blog/books, though. Nothing helps me. Good thing I love what I do. 😀

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  6. Jen Wiss-Carline

    March 5, 2019 at 6:58pm

    I cannot get used to the blocks 🙁 Tried so hard with them and ended up installing the Classic Editor plugin to override.
    But I love Canva! It absolutely rocks for doing really nice custom featured images for the top of posts which make posts look super-amazing when shared.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 6, 2019 at 8:39am

      Since WordPress said they would eventually transfer entirely to blocks, I decided to challenge myself to get used to them. It wasn’t as difficult as it seemed at first, and there’s a wealth of how-to articles and videos out already on how to use the blocks.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  7. Aan Web

    March 6, 2019 at 9:31pm

    I have never used Gutenberg. I’m used to wordpress, about 70% of my blogs use this platform. although I also have blogs from other platforms. I think wordpress is easier to manage. Soon I will try Gutenberg as you suggest. Thanks.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      March 7, 2019 at 9:04am

      I hope you like it. We might as well get used to it, if we want to go on using WordPress.

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  8. Lukas

    April 23, 2019 at 8:10am

    I am using Gutenberg and I got used to it pretty fast. I think its a nice editor if you dont have any special requirements.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 23, 2019 at 8:58am

      I like it well enough, but I do wish the picture gallery worked like the Classic one. I suppose I can live with it, as long as I can use a Classic block for my gallery. 🙂

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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