One of the most popular of the blogging tools currently being used is the Windows Live Writer. In order to configure the Windows Live Writer to work with your blog on the Blogs Module of BeyondRelational.com, you only need to follow the following very simple steps. If you don’t have your own blog space, and would like to have one, please refer Appendix A for details on how BeyondRelational.com can help you.

Launch Windows Live Writer and choose to add a new blog account. (Note: If you are using Windows Live Writer on the concerned workstation for the first time, it would directly ask you to Add a blog account. All other steps are same as those described below).

When asked for the type of Blog Service to use, choose “Other”

Next, supply the following information: 1. Your Blog Home page URL (Refer Appendix B to learn how to identify your blog’s home page URL) 2. Your login User Name 3. Your login Password

Next, select the following: 1. Blog type: Metaweblog API 2. Posting URL: http://apis.beyondrelational.com/Metaweblogapi.ashx (NOTE: The blog type and posting URL remain constant for all bloggers throughout the Beyondrelational.com website)

The system will now attempt to detect your blog editor settings

Allow Live Writer to create a temporary post in order to download the blog editing theme. Downloading the blog editing into Windows Live Writer theme allows you to preview your blog as it would appear when published on your blog.

Finally, a confirmation message is displayed confirming that the blog setup with Windows Live Writer is ready for use!

Click “Finish” and that’s it. Windows Live Writer is now configured to post to your blog on BeyondRelational.com.

Important note: The blog stream on the website is a cached page. If your blog is not visible on the stream straightaway, please check back after some time (30 minutes worked for me)

All you need to do now is to start writing! Happy Blogging!

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.

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Appendix A: Creating your own blog space on BeyondRelational.com

Creating a blog space on BeyondRelational.com is super easy! Become a member of the BeyondRelational.com community and follow the steps mentioned below to create a new blog:

Under the “Modules” section, navigate to the “Blogs” module and click on “Add New Blog”

Fill in the Title and brief summary for your blog. After you accept to the BeyondRelational.com terms & conditions, you can either choose to publish your blog immediately, or save as a draft for future review.

That’s it! Your blog is now created.

IMPORTANT:

Before you can use this blog space, though, please note the following:

1. Once you choose to “Publish” your blog, the blog is sent to the administrator for approval
2. Once the administrator has approved the blog space request, please allow at least 24 hours for the blog to show up on your profile and become “live”

If you have questions around the BeyondRelational.com terms & conditions of usage or around BeyondRelational.com’s privacy policy, please refer the following links:

• Terms of Usage: http://beyondrelational.com/modules/23/pages/362/posts/7156/terms-of-usage-beyondrelationalcom.aspx
• Privacy Policy: http://beyondrelational.com/modules/23/pages/362/posts/7157/privacy-policy-beyondrelationalcom.aspx

Appendix B: Knowing your Blog’s Home Page URL

When your blog was created, the administrator would have sent across the home page URL for your blog. In case you lost it, or would need to confirm, here are the steps that you can follow:

Go to the “Modules” section of the BeyondRelational.com website. Next, click on “Blogs” to navigate to the Blogs module

Click on the “Bloggers” stream and navigate to your blog space.

Either hover over the blog link or click on it to navigate to your blog’s home page. The highlighted link in the status bar in the image above is the URL for your blog’s home page.

Per the example used in the screenshot, the home page for my blog is: http://beyondrelational.com/modules/2/blogs/77/nakuls-blog.aspx