Adding Media

Blog posts, photos, news articles, real estate properties, business listings, communities and comments are considered as Media (basically, everything that can be uploaded and displayed through a Content List is Media).
Media is dynamic, changing content versus status content which is uploaded to a particular spot on a certain page and provides general information. Media is changing regularly, like blog posts.

There are different functionalities and features that apply for the various media items.

Comments and users are not added by the website owner but the website visitors.

To upload photos, blog posts, real estate and other media items you use the Add/Edit Content Button. Here you will see a list of your content like Posts, Photos and any other media types which are active on your web site.  You also see a list of all your saved or published content.
Once your post is published it will be visible in that list, on the matching content lists on your page and on /posts. (The same applies for the other media items.)

Adding a new blog post

Go to Add/Edit Content, choose Add New Post and fill in the fields with your content. (To upload a new photo click Add New Photo etc. The following steps apply to all media.)

Choosing a title
The title is required since it is used to create a unique permanent link for each uploaded item. Type in a title that is representing your media. This title will be attached to the item and displayed wherever you choose to show the title.

Typing main description text
The main text or description of your media item goes into the Body section. Type your text into the box or copy and paste from a document.
You can use the edit tools at the top of the Body section to modify your text (works  like a Word document: change fond, size, alignments, numberings etc.). 

Excerpt
An excerpt is a passage or segment taken from the full blog post or news article and summarizes it. This text will appear in the Content List if it is set to display “description”.

Choosing the location
All media items on Lara (and the entire .geographical media network) are stored and can be displayed according to their geographical location.
When uploading a new media item, choose the location of the post/photo etc. (either where it is from/where it was written or the location it talks about, e.g. "Climate change in the Antarctica", the location would be "Antarctica" or "Women's conference in Nairobi", the location would be "Africa - Kenya - Nairobi").
Try to be as specific as possible and include countries, regions, cities and/or villages since this will increase specification and media items are findable even on village-levels (they are always visible on higher levels).
If you don’t choose a specific location, your content will automatically be saved under the default location which you can set in Settings > Regional.

Tags
Tags are very important on the .geographical media network and help your website and content to be more exposed and visible and increase the page views of your website.
Tags are descriptive words that summarize and describe a particular media item. A photo of two playing children at the beach, for instance, could be tagged with “children, people, beach, sand”. Those tags will appear in the “Related Topics” section next to the photo on the show media page. When clicking on one of those tags you will find more uploaded content with the same tags. If you e.g. click on “beach” you will see more uploaded content with the tag “beach” from all media items from that website. 
That photo with the playing kids could have links to posts about your latest family excursion to the beach, a news article about sun protection of children at the beach or others.

Users who are interested in one particular topic will find it easier to find related information.

Adding an image to media
All media items can be uploaded with one or several photos.
To upload an image with a blog post or a news article you have two options:

1. Through the edit screen (Add Attachment) which lets the image appear at a fixed spot when displaying the post or article (top left)
2. or right in the text through the library in the text edit box.

To do 1.) Upload your post/article as usual and click Add Attachment right below the Body area. You can then choose a photo from your media library. Please note that al photos that you wish to include in your posts/aricles etc. have to be uploaded to your File Library). To attach a photo to a post/article, just double click the photo or click once and then Select. Photos will be automatically cut and displayed in a fixed standard size.

To do 2.) Write your text in the Body section. Use the Library button in the same box (where you can edit your text) and upload your image through the library right into your text. You can then move the image within your text to position it. You can upload unlimited photos into a post/article (but check appearance).

Photos uploaded into the content section are uploaded in their original size so make sure they are not too big and fit well into the text.

Channels
Channels are used to set a media list correctly and to pull the associated articles/photos/posts into your content list. 

An article list about Health News, for instance, could have “health” as channel which means all uploaded articles channelled “health” are being displayed in the “Health News” article list.

With the channels system it is possible to upload a photo/post etc. into several content lists. Just click all relevant channels when uploading your media item.  An article called “New technology to reduce risk of cancer” could be uploaded to “Health”, “Technology”, “News” etc. by simply adding the relevant channels, e.g. health, technology, news.
Choose one or several channel(s) for your media. This will help to describe and display your post.

To add a channel type in the name in the empty field and click Add Channel. To delete a channel select it and then click Delete Selected.
Channels can still be edited once uploaded.

Publishing Status
When uploading a media item you have different options in terms of saving.
You can cancel the uploading process which will delete everything that you have so far done on that screen.

Save and Publish will save the media item and publish it according to your settings in Publishing Options.

You can also just Save your blog post before publishing it in order to continue working on it later. Your blog post will be on stored in Add/Edit Content - Posts where you can access, finish and then save and publish it to.