However, we thought we could improve somewhat on their user documentation – so, courtesy of the rather brilliant Sue Waters here’s a complete guide to setting up and using SubScribe2… enjoy!

Setting up and configuring Subscribe2

Subscribe2 is used on UNNC staff blogs to provide the ability for readers to subscribe to email notifications of latest posts or a daily/weekly digest of posts. 

Email subscribers are automatically notified of new posts or information on the blog and don’t need to subscribe by RSS or regular visit the blog to check for new updates.

It can also be used by the blog administrator to:

• Send out emails to all confirmed subscribers.
• Subscribe or unsubscribe readers

All you need to do is:

1. Activate the Subscribe2 plugin
2. Activate the Subscribe2 widget and configure your settings on the Subscribe2 page — make sure you enable the Enable Subscribe2 Widget?
3. Add the Subscribe2 widget to your blog sidebar

1. Activating your Subscribe2 Plugin

1. Go to Plugins > Installed in your Dashboard
2. Click on Activate below the Subscribe2 plugin

2. Configuring your Subscribe2 Settings

Once Subscribe2 has been activated in your Plugins area you need to go to Settings > Subscribe2 to configure your settings and activate your Subscribe2 widget.

Subscribe2 has quite a few configuration options, so lets explain them one at a time:

Notification Settings

Restrict the number of recipients per email to

Used if a hosting provider imposes limits on out going emails (as a measure to limit spammers). By default, this is set to unlimited; no limit on the number of emails sent to recipients.

There is no need on an Edublogs Campus blog to edit this setting.

Send Admins notifications for new

This allows you to decide if you want to receive a notification when a person subscribes and/or unsubscribes. Change this to Neither if you don’t want to receive email notifications of subscription changes.

Include theme CSS stylesheet in HTML notifications

By default, include theme CSS stylesheet in HTML notifications is set to yes. There is no need to change this setting.

Send Emails for Pages

Change this to Yes if you want your email subscribers to be notified of new pages added to your site

Send Emails for Password Protected Posts

You normally use password protected posts on public blogs to restrict the access to viewing particular posts. In most situations you would leave this as No.

Send Emails for Private Posts

Private posts are only visible on the blog’s post page to logged in Editors and Administrators. In most situations you would leave this as No.

Send Email From

When the email is sent to your subscribers it adds an email address and username to the bottom of the email. The ‘Send Email from’ option provides you the ability to have it sent from the person who wrote the post (Post Author) or a specific user attached to the blog.

Send Emails

1. In most situations you would leave this as For Each Post. This means your subscribers will be sent an email each time a new post is added to your blog.
   Once Daily or Weekly are more likely to be used on blogs with high posting frequency i.e. several posts per day. With either of these options your subscribers will be sent Daily or Weekly Digest of your posts.
2. ‘Send Emails’ — used to control how frequently the email is sent to your subscribers.

Email Templates

There are four different automatic email sent from Subscribe2 to subscribers:

1. Subscribe confirmation email
2. Unsubscribe confirmation email
3. Reminder email for unconfirmed subscribers
4. Post or Digest email

The Subscribe confirmation, Unsubscribe confirmation and Reminder emails are only sent to public subscribers. These are readers who subscribe by adding their email address to the Subscribe2 widget in your blog sidebar. To complete their request they need to click on the link in the email.

The email templates control what information is sent in each of these emails. In most situations you wouldn’t make changes to any of these email templates.

Excluded Categories

Excluded categories are used if you don’t want emails sent for specific post categories. For example, the category All about Plugins in the screenshot below has been selected; this means readers won’t be notified of any post assigned to that category.

However you can choose to allow registered users to subscribe to excluded categories.

Registered Subscribers users that are logged into their campus account and who have subscribe to email updates by clicking on your profile link in ‘manage your subscription options from your profile’.

They have an additional option area under Users > Subscription in the dashboard of the blog they have subscribe to. This area allows them to choose which categories they would like to receive notifications about and also allows them to choose the email format.

Appearance

Set default Subscribe2 page as ID:

By default, Set default Subscribe2 page as ID is set to 0. There is no need to change this setting.

Set the number of Subscribers displayed per page:

You manage your Subscribe2 subscribers using Manage Subscribers page accessed using Tools > Subscribers.

On the Manage subscribers page you can:

1. Subscribe and unsubscribe readers
2. Check subscriber numbers
3. Search subscriber details
4. Alter which categories readers are subscribed to

The Set the number of Subscribers displayed per page is used to control how many subscribers are shown per page on your Manage Subscriber page. By default, this is set to 25. You can increase or decrease the number by clicking Edit and then Update.

Show a link to your subscription page in “meta”?

By default, Show a link to your subscription page in “meta”? is not selected. There is no need to change this setting.

Show the Subscribe2 button on the Write toolbar?

This adds a Subscribe2 button to the formatting toolbar in your write Post/Page area. This provides the ability to add a Subscribe2 form to any post or page; then your readers just need to enter their email address or click on manage profile to subscribe by email.

By default, the Show the Subscribe2 button on the Write toolbar? is selected. If you want the S2 button to display in your formatting toolbar you keep it selected.

Enable Subscribe2 Widget?

This adds a Subscribe2 Widget to Appearance > Widgets.

You use the Subscribe2 Widget to add a form to your sidebar for readers simply enter their email addres and then click on “Subscribe” or click manage profile. The readers then receive an email notifying when new posts are published on the blog.

Once enable you need to go to Appearance > Widgets and add the Subscribe2 Widget to the desired sidebar.

By default, the Enable Subscribe2 Widget? isn’t selected. If you want access to the Subscribe2 widget you need to change this setting by selecting it and clicking Submit.

Auto Subscribe

Subscribe new users registering with your blog

This option provides the ability to automatically subscribe all new users added to your blog to email notification by Subscribe.

When configured to automatically Subscribe new users registering with your blog any new users added to your blog using Users > Add New or Users > Add Users will also automatically also be added as Subscribe2 subscribers and will be listed on Tools > Subscribers.

By default, the Subscribe new users registering with your blog is No. To automatically add all new subscribers change this setting to Automatically and clicking Submit.

Auto-subscribe includes any excluded categories

By default, Auto-subscribe includes any excluded categories is not selected. There is no need to change this setting.

Registration Form option is checked by default

By default, Registration Form option is checked by default is not selected. There is no need to change this setting.

Auto-subscribe users to receive email as

There are two types of Subscribe2 subscribers:

1. Public subscribers – who subscribe by entering their email address
2. Registered subscribers – that are logged into their campus account and who have subscribe to email updates by clicking on your profile link in ‘manage your subscription options from your profile’.

Public subscribers receive an excerpt for each post made to the blog provided you have not published it to a category that you have defined as excluded in Settings > Subscribe2.

Registered subscribers can choose their preferred email type as either:

• Plain Text – Excerpt
• Plain Text – Full Post
• HTML – Full Post

The ‘Auto-subscribe users to receive email as’ option allows you to set what email format all automatically added subscribers receive. By default, auto-subscribers receive Plain Text – Except. All you need to do is change this to your preferred option and then click Submit.

Here are examples of the look of the different formats.

Registered Users have the option to auto-subscribe to new categories

By default, Registered Users have the option to auto-subscribe to new categories is Yes. There is no need to change this setting.

Option for Registered Users to auto-subscribe to new categories is checked by default

By default, Option for Registered Users to auto-subscribe to new categories is checked by default is Yes. There is no need to change this setting.

Barred Domains

This option is used if you want to prevent specific email domains from signing up as a public subscriber.

3. Adding the Subscribe2 widget to your blog sidebar

1. Go to Appearance > Widgets in your Dashboard
2. Click on the desired Sidebar to expand (so you can add the widgets) NOTE: In new blogs sidebars in your dashboard are empty and adding widgets automatically removes the default Edublogs widgets
3. To add the Subscribe2 widget, drag it from the Available Widgets or Inactive Widgets areas on the left into the Sidebar area on the right

Using Subscribe2

Subscribe2 is used on Edublogs Campus blogs so readers can subscribe to email notifications of latest posts .

It has lots of subscription management options for both readers and the blog owner. The purpose of this page is to explain all the management options available.

To set up on your blog start by first reading the Setting up Subscribe2 email notification instructions then read the information below.

How to Subscribe using Subscribe2

The appearance of the Subscribe2 widget depends on whether the person visiting your blog is or isn’t logged into their Edublogs Campus account. This influences how your subscribers sign up for email notifications.

Subscribing as a Logged in Visitor

Visitors who are logged into their campus account see the option to ‘manage your subscription options from your profile’.

They subscribe by clicking on the profile link.

Provided they are registered users of your blog this takes them to the Notifications Setting page in:

1. Profile > Subscriptions
2. or Users > Subscriptions –dependent on their user role on the blog

On the Notifications Setting page they can choose:

1. Their preferred email format – HTML or plain text
2. Whether the email contains excerpt only or the full post
3. Which categories they subscribe to

To subscribe to the blog they need to click on the Subcribe link next to the blog name.

Please Note:

1. Registered users are people who have been added as users to your blog; they are listed on your Authors & Users page (Users > Authors & Users).
2. Loggged in users, who aren’t registered users, will be taken to their dashboard and will need to click on Profile > Subscriptions to subscribe

Subscribing as a Public Visitor

Public visitors (those who aren’t logged in) see the option to enter their email address.

All they need to do is add their email address and click Subscribe. These types of subscribers are known as public subscribers.

Public subscribers don’t have additional email options; they can only receive plain text excerpts of your latest posts.

How to Unsubscribe from Subscribe2

You can unsubscribe from Subscribe2 as follows:

1. Registered Subscribers

There are three options for registered subscribers to unsubscribe from a blog:

1. If Subscribe2 plugin is activated on their own blog (Plugins > Installed)
   • Go to Users > Subscriptions
   • Click Unsubscribe next to the correct blog name
2. In the blog dashboard they want to unsubscribe from
   • Go to Profile > Subscriptions (or Users > Subscriptions — dependent on your user role on the blog)
   • Click Unsubscribe next to the correct blog name
3. Blog owner can unsubcribe a registered subscriber
   • Go to Tools > Subscriptions
   • Enter their email address
   • Click Unsubscribe
     

2. Public Subscribers

There are two options for public subscribers to unsubscribe from a blog:

1. Using the Subscribe2 Widget on the blog
   • Go to the blog
   • Enter their email address
   • Click unsubscribe
2. Blog owners can unsubcribe a registered subscriber
   • Go to Tools > Subscriptions
   • Enter their email address
   • Click Unsubscribe

Sending Emails to your subscribers

Subscribe 2 also provides the ability to send out your own emails to all confirmed subscribers.

It’s is as simple as:

1. Go to Posts > Mail Subscribers
2. Write your message
3. Choose your recipients
4. Click Send

Thanks all!

Chinatown with Chinese New Year decoration

Happy Spring Festival! Best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous Year of the Dog!

Introduction

Weblogs at the University of Nottingham Ningbo is provided by Information Services as a free service to all staff. All staff with an email address at Nottingham.edu.cn can sign up instantly and be blogging in minutes.

About Blog

A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favours, especially those that support a point being made on a post.

The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger. Many blogs syndicate their content to subscribers using RSS, a popular content distribution tool.

Get a Blog

Anyone can read our blogs. However, only staff of the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China are able to publish or ‘post’ on a blog. Use of these blogs requires authorisation from a relevant department / divisional representative.

If you would like to set up a blog on our server, please email a relevant department / divisional representative (usually your Head of Division) and ask them to email their authorization to IT-Services@nottingham.edu.cn if you already ARE  a head of Division you may send your request to the Head of Information Services.

Your use of blogs at UNNC is managed by the terms of the UNNC Code of Practice which is available on the UNNC IS Website.

Project Information

We use WordPress multi-user for running our blogs. It is often used for Universities, Blog networks, Newspapers and magazines as well as blog hosts, where it serves tens of millions of hits on hundreds of thousands of blogs each day.

With our recent installation of the latest version of WordPress MU, we have installed several dozen themes that support customizations through things like header image uploads, changing colours and fonts, and modifying sidebar widgets. We unfortunately do not have the ability to allow our users to securely write or modify their own themes, but we continue to look for solutions for this oft-requested feature.

Why Blog?

There are many reasons to have a Blog but the value in a teaching environment is that you can use a Blog to create an online resource that your students can access from anywhere and use that to link together lots of other resources in a simple and (relatively) intuitive way.

Examples of Academic based blogs can be viewed at:

http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/a.turner/personal/blog/

and

http://connect.educause.edu/blog

and

http://wordpress.com/tag/academic-research/

Just a small word of warning, not all experiences of Blogging are entirely positive. A good review of this is at: http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~fviegas/survey/blog/results.htm

Also you assume some responsibilities when blogging to respect others. A useful guide has been published by the Registrar of UON:

There are countless ways for Nottingham students to express their views about the University, their experiences and their friends. Many of these are helpful and productive aids for learning as well as for social networking.

However, you need to be aware that anything you post (however innocently intended) on your own blog, web page or on Facebook or similar sites, may be seen as potentially defamatory or libellous.

Any statement you publish may be legally actionable. Even comments which simply contain factual inaccuracies can potentially cause loss or damage to individuals or jeopardise their safety. You may be personally liable for the consequences. Also, you might want to think about how your web presence might look to a future employer.

You also need to remember that you remain subject to the University’s regulations covering acceptable standards of behaviour; IT facilities usage; harassment and bullying. In the event of a serious breach of these regulations, on Facebook or elsewhere, the University will not hesitate to take action which could lead amongst other things to withdrawal of your IT access, and to a fine or suspension (or even in the most extreme case to expulsion) under the University’s Code of Discipline for Students.

So, do think carefully before posting comments about others.

Dr Paul Greatrix
Registrar

These comments are obviously targeted at Student use but the general advice applies to all members of the university.

But contentious use aside, Weblogs offer a innovative and fun way to communicate with the world, enjoy!