Basic instructions for using LJ once registered

Friends Page

Your LJ friends page will not look like the one shown below but it gives you the basic idea. To look at a friend's profile page, click on the little head (or if it is a community, the little red and white thing that looks like its made of three triangles. To look at the journal page of the friend or community then click on the name of it next to the tiny head/triangle thing. It is usually in bold. See below:

Updating LJ

The update page

Below is what the update page for LJ looks like. To choose what to update to (your journal or a community) choose from the list of places you are entitled to post to using the list in the first drop down box Post to:. To choose the icon (should you have any uploaded), choose from the list in the second drop down box Userpic:

To choose whether to update in Rich Text (sort of like using word to update your journal) or HTML (where you write the code to format your entry yourself) choose one of the two tabs on the top right of the update box. The one in bold will be the one you are working with.

Updating in Rich Text

Below is an example of what the Rich Text editor for LJ looks like. Here I have chosen the left hand of the two choices presented in the upper right hand of the update box, and Rich Text is shown in bold showing that it is currently selected choice. The toolbar here is what you use to insert code and it works more or less like MSWord. Note how the B button is hilighted and the text has come out bold. Do not write any code yourself using this mode, or it will come out as written, which will be very frustrating for you!

Updating in HTML

Below is an example of what the HTML editor for LJ looks like. Here I have chosen the right hand of the two choices presented in the upper right hand of the update box, and HTML is shown in bold showing that it is currently selected choice. You do not get a toolbar here and have to insert all code, even lj specific code, such as the lj-cut tags yourself. To make text bold as in the other example you do not press a button, you manually surround the text with the correct command. The effect will not be seen until you have finished updating and clicked either "update" or "preview".