How do I...

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In this book, you will find answers to several of your 'How do I ..' questions.

How do I Format text

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How do I format text

You can format your text using the built in TinyMCE text editor. Below every text editing box you will see a link 'enable rich text' that when clicked should make your text window look like a word editor. You can use this like your word editor (MS-Word etc) to format text the way you want. Remember to change the Input Method to 'Rich Text' so that the format is preserved in your post.

Note that inserting a map or a Flickr photo wont work with Rich text mode. If you want to insert them, stick to Filtered HTML input mode with Rich text disabled.

How do I create a Blog

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How do I create a blog

In order to maintain the qulity of content at a consistent level, praja.in currently does not allow all the users to have their own blogs. You can still comment on the blogs and create new topics on the forums. However, if you want to join us as a blogger, we always welcome you. See here for details.

How do I insert a Picture

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How do I insert a picture

There are several ways to insert a picture into your post.  First two methods mentioned below require you to upload pictures on other sites, and then embed them in your post/comment on Praja. Third method can be used to upload pictures directly on Praja.

1. Through Flickr

Probably the easiest is to put your picture on Flickr and then link it here.

  • Go to the place where you want to insert the picture (Blog, comment forum etc)
  • Insert the photo id in the format [flickr-photo:id=4591347446,size=s] or [flickr-photoset:id=72157613788778620,size=m]
  • Use the first one ("photo:id") if you want to insert a single photo or the second one ("photoset:id") for the whole photo set.
  • You can see the photo or photoset id on your flickr webpage at the URL box.
  • Write the remainder of your text as usual
  • Press "Preview" to check if the flickr picture is showing up in your comment/post, and then submit.

2. Through other sites

The other way to insert images is to upload them to a place that provides links to individual photo files and then insert them. Typically you can get links to your photos if you have your own website. Shared webspace like geocities also enable users to link photos directly. Once you have an URL of the photo you want to insert,

  • Enable "rich text editor" on the post/comment box (if it isn't already)
  • In the editor toolbar, find a button titled "insert/edit Image". Its a small yellow colored button, with a mountain/sun graphic on it
  • Once you click on this button, a dialog box will pop up
  • In here, enter the URL of your photo, and then set its properties etc. Remember to reduce to width to 500px or less
  • Continue typing as usual
  • Preview, and then submit your post/comment

3. Through Praja.in - upload your pictures here

This one works similar to option 2 above but with the extra step to upload the photo to Praja.in website itself. All images uploaded using this method are automatically resized to width of 540px to make them fit in praja posts and comments, and also to reduce the size of image files. Each Praja user has a storage limit of 5 MB (all pictures combined). Here are the instructions:

  • Enable "rich text editor" on the post/comment box
  • In the editor toolbar, find a button titled "insert/edit Image". Its a small yellow colored button, with a mountain/sun graphic on it
  • Once you click on this button, a dialog box will pop up
  • In this dialog box, find a button called "Browse Server", and click on it
  • You will now be shown a list of all images that you have uploaded so far on Praja
  • On the top left corner of this image listing, find an "Upload" button
  • Click on the upload button to upload an image file from your PC. Remember that if the file is large, it will be resized to 540px width
  • Once you upload the image, select it, and click on "Insert File" button on top to place the image in the post/comment that you are editing.

Yep, uploading a picture is not the most intuitive or user-friendly thing right now, we are working on an easier solution for uploading images on Praja.

How do I insert a link

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How do I link a webpage
If you want to insert a link to an external webpage or another page in Praja.in, you can just paste it in the text window. If you want to link to appear as something else other than the whole link (for example 'see here' instead of 'see http://google.com') you can use the 'Rich text' mode to enter the link by clicking the 'link' button in the toolbar.

Unfortunately Rich text mode conflicts with insertion of Google Maps and Flickr Images so you might want to insert a link the hard way (i.e. <a href="http://google.com">here</a>)

How do I subscribe to a feed

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How do I subscribe to a feed

You can subscribe to a feed from Praja using what is called a Feedreader. Our favourite feedreader is google reader. If you are using a browser like Safari, Firefox or Opera which have a built in feedreader, you should automatically be subscribed to the feed when you click on any feed icon [  ] on our Subscriptions page.

To subscribe to the feed in your google reader, you can just click on  icon next to the feed. Follow steps from google from there.

If you are really a nerd  and fond of  ways based on 'first principles', then follow the steps below.

A. Right-click on the link of content you want to subscribe to on the subscription page. Select 'copy link' or 'copy link location' or similar option (depending on your browser). You would have now copied the address of the feed you want to subscribe to.

B. Now go to your google reader (or your favorite reader). You can log in with your google/gmail id or create one if you dont have one. On the left side menu click on 'Add subscription' and in the text box that appears paste the link address you copied in the previous step.

C. Click 'Add'

After you click 'Add' you should see recent posts of your interest appearing on the main area.  As easy as that. Now on you will see all the new content added on Praja whenever you log into your google reader.

The video on this page shows how to subscribe to any feed using google reader after explaining what is a feed. After you are at Praja's subscriptions page, just follow the instructions in the video.

How to I create a Map

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How do I create a Map

The best way to create a map is by going to Create->Map [Take me there] menu item on the right hand side. You should see an interactive map which you can pan, zoom etc. Every time you click on a location on the map, the site will insert a marker for you. Once you are happy with your map and markers, copy the code that appears near the bottom of the page. It should look something like

Javascript is required to view this map.


Now proceed to the place you want to have this map on. It can be a blog post, comment, forum entry, story etc. Just paste this code you just copied into the text area. Make sure that you are not using rich text editor and are using 'Filtered HTML' as input format. You should be able to see these options below the text box where you are typing. Write the remainder of your text as usual keeping the Input format as Filtered HTML and press Preview and submit. You are done! Its as easy as that.

Note that currently the functionality for Lines and Circles is limited due to the development state of software we use to run this site. We are working on getting them right, but the solution depends on factors beyond our direct control.