Blog Feature

The blog feature for AEM Communities has transformed from an authoring activity to a true community activity that takes place in the publish environment.

The blog feature supports providing community information in a journaling format.  Blog entries are made in the publish environment by authorized members (registered, signed-in users).

The blog feature provides :

• Publish-side creation of blog articles and comments
• Rich text editing
• Inline images (with support for drag and drop)
• Embedded social networking content (oEmbed support)
• Draft mode
• Scheduled publishing
• Compose on-behalf (a privileged member can create content on behalf of a different communty member)
• In-context and bulk moderation of blog articles and comments

This section of the documentation describes

• adding the blog feature to an AEM site
• configuration settings for blog components

If it is desired to add a blog to a page in author mode, use the component browser to locate 

• Communities / Blog
• Communities / Blog Sidebar

and drag them into place on a page where the blog should appear.

For necessary information, visit Communities Components Basics.

When the required client-side libraries are included, this is how the Blog component will appear :

And how the Blog Sidebar will appear :

Select the placed Blog component to access and select the Configure icon which opens the edit dialog.

Under the Settings tab, specify the basic features of the blog :

• Journal Title
  The blog title to display on the page.
• Journal Description
  The blog description.
• Topics Per Page
  Defines the number of blog entries/comments shown per page.  Default is 10.
• Moderated
  If checked, posting of blog entries and comments must be approved before they will appear on a publish site.  Default is unchecked.
• Closed
  If checked, the blog is closed to new blog entries and comments.  Default is unchecked.
• Rich Text Editor
  If checked, blog entries and comments may be entered with markup.  Default is checked.
• Allow Tagging
  If checked, allow members to add tag labels to their post (see Tag field tab).  Default is unchecked.
• Allow File Uploads
  If checked, allow file attachments to be added to a blog entry or comment.  Default is unchecked.
• Max File Size
  Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked.  This field will limit the size (in bytes) of an uploaded file.  Default is 104857600 (10 Mb).
• Allowed File Types
  Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked.  A comma separated list of file extensions with the "dot" separater.  For example : .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .doc, .docx, .pdf.  If any file types are specifed, then those not specified will not be allowed to be uploaded.  Default is none specified such that all file types are allowed.
• Max Attach Image File Size
  Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked.  Maximum number of bytes an uploaded image file may have.  Default is 2097152 (2 Mb).
• Allow Replies
  If checked, allow replies to comments posted to the blog entry.  Default is unchecked.
• Allow Users to Delete Comments and Topics
  If checked, allow members to delete the comments and blog entries they posted.  Default is unchecked.
• Allow Following
  If checked, include the following feature for blog articles, which allows members to be notified of new posts.  Default is unchecked.
• Allow Email Subscriptions
  If checked, allow members to be notified of new posts by email (subscription). Requires Allow Following to be checked and email configured.  Default is unchecked.
• Allow Voting
  If checked, include the Voting feature with a blog entry.  Default is unchecked.
• Display Badges
  If checked, display earned and assigned badges with a member's blog entry.  Default is unchecked.
• Allow Featured Content
  if checked, the idea is able to be identified as featured content. Default is unchecked.

Under the User Moderation tab, specify the moderation settings :

• Deny Posts
  If checked, trusted member moderators will be allowed to deny posts and prevent the post from appearing on the public forum.  Default is unchecked.
  
• Close / Reopen Topics
  If checked, trusted member moderators may close a topic to further edits and comments, and may also reopen a topic.  Default is unchecked.
  
• Flag Posts
  If checked, allow members to flag others' topics or comments as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.
  
• Flag Reason List
  If checked, allow members to choose, from a drop-down list, their reason for flagging a topic or comment as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.
  
• Custom Flag Reason
  If checked, allow members to enter their own reason for flagging a topic or comment as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.
  
• Moderation Threshold
  Enter the number of times a topic or comment has to be flagged by members before moderators are notified. Default is 1 ( one time).
• Flagging Limit
  Enter the number of times a topic or comment has to be flagged before it is hidden from public view.  If set to -1, the flagged topic or comment is never hidden from public view.  Else, this number must be greater than or equal to the Moderation Threshold.  Default is 5.

Under the Tag field tab, specify the which tags may be applied if Allow Tagging is check on the Settings tab :

• Allowed Namespaces
  Relevant if Allow Tagging is checked under the Settings tab.  The tags which may be applied are limited to those within the namespace categories checked.  The list of namespaces includes "Standard Tags" (the default namespace)  as well as "Include All Tags".  Default is none checked, which means all namespaces are allowed.
• Suggestion Limit
  Enter the number of tags to be displayed as a suggestion to the member posting to the forum. A value of -1 means no limits.  Default is 0.

When you double-click the Blog Sidebar component, an edit dialog opens up.

Under the Journal Sidebar Settings tab, specify the date format for archives and what type of entries to display in the sidebar :

• Date format
  The format used to display for archives of blog entries. The format uses placeholders following the Java convention.
  • yyyy : full year, like '2015'
  • yy : short year, like '15'
  • MMMMM : full month, like June
  • MMM : short month, like Jun
  • MM : month number, like 06
  Default is "yyyy MMMMM" which would display, for example, "2015 June"
• View Type
  The Title and type of blog entries to display in the sidebar. The choice is between
  • Authors
  • Categories
  • Archives
• Journal Component Path
  (Optional) The location of the blog resource from which blog articles are to be listed. If left blank, will use the component of resourceType social/journal/components/hbs/journal that appears on the same page.
  • for example, /content/sites/engage/en/blog/jcr:content/content/primary/blog
• Suggestion Limit
  The number of blog articles to be displayed. A value of -1 means no limit. Default is -1.

In the publish environment, the blog feature will display the most recent blog article followed by older blog articles in descending order of creation.  Blog sidebars allow site visitors to apply filters to limit the selection of blog articles shown.

The blog article is followed by a link to post or view comments.

When a blog article is selected, the blog article and comments are displayed (if enabled).

Other abilities depend on whether the site visitor is a moderator, administrator, community member, privileged member or anonymous.

When creating a new blog article, there is the choice to

1. Publish Immediately
2. Publish a Draft
3. Publish at a Scheduled date and time

The blog articles will appear under the appropriate tab (Published, Drafts or Scheduled) to members able to author on publish.

When the signed in user has moderator or administrator privileges, they are able to perform moderation tasks (as permitted by the configuration of the component) on all blog articles and comments posted to a blog.

When the  signed in user is a community member or privileged member (depending on configuration), they are able to select New Article to create and post a new blog article.

Specifically, they may

• create a new blog article
• post a new blog article on behalf of another member
• post a comment to a blog article
• edit their own blog article or comment
• delete their own blog article or comment
• flag others' blog articles or comments

Site visitors who are not signed in may only read posted blog articles and comments, translate them if supported, but may not add a blog article or comment nor flag others' articles or comments.

More information may be found on the Blog Essentials page for developers.

For moderation of blog entries and comments, see Moderating User Generated Content.

For tagging blog entries and comments, see Tagging User Generated Content.

For translation of blog entries and comments, see Translating User Generated Content.