• If you have written a draft or have some notes for a story, copy and paste the first two sentences (or so) into the top window. These will be the first words a reader sees, so they must provide a quick snapshot of your story.

• Paste the rest into the bottom window. That is the rest of your story, and it will be linked from your opening to a “jump page,” as they say in newspapers.

• Add a headline in the title window. It can be tentative; you can change anything you write before finally saving it.

• In the pull-down menu above the editing window, choose a category for your story.

• You may edit your story using the options Joomla provides in the bar above the editing windows, or you may prepare story in a plain-text editor and copy and paste it into Joomla. (NOTE: Avoid using Microsoft Word, as it leaves visible code when your story is viewed in Internet Explorer.)
  

• This site encourages linking, so if you have words you want to be clickable, do this: Define the words to be linked, click on the link icon, and up pops a window that lets you insert a Web address for those words. There are a number of formatting options, so check them out.

• Below the lower editing window are three tabs – images, publishing, and metadata. For now, I’ll provide instructions for the last only. In the metadata tab, enter a brief description of your story. One sentence will do. Under keywords, insert what you believe are your story’s most important words, separated by commas. This info helps search engines – and surfers – find your story.

These are some of the basics – make them work for you …

If you have questions, e-mail the publisher at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .