Be sure to open the blog post to access FAQ links... FAQ items preceded by MD relate exclusively to the Markdown editor. Those preceded with WYSI relate only to the WYSIWYG (or word processor) editor. Items in bold font reflect the most recent additions to the FAQ list.

Also, check out our modest but growing FAQ video library here.

• MD:How do I add links and change the style of my text?
• MD:How do I embed Youtube/Vimeo videos?
• MD:How do I embed image and add links?
• How do I change the cover photo for my blog posts?
• What size does my cover photo need to be for my blog posts?
• How do I edit or delete posts that I've already published?
• How can I add a different author to a post?
• What are the rights of a collaborator?
• MD:Why isn't my code snippet showing syntax highlighting?
• How do I add a custom domain?
• How do I enable Disqus comments for my posts?
• Why isn't Google analytics showing any data?
• How do I delete my account?
• How do I add tags to my articles?
• Why is my article title different than my url address?
• How is my subscription and payment information handled?
• MD:How can I embed a Github gist into my article?
• MD:How can I embed JSFiddle code into my article?
• What photos does the Facebook sharing feature post on Facebook?
• MD:How can I embed HTML, Twitter and Keyboard Symbols?
• How can I upload pdf documents into my article?
• How can I create footnotes in my articles?
• How do I set up my social media accounts?

MD:How do I add links and images and change the style of my text?

Silvrback uses Markdown for layout and styling. This allows the interface to be clean and not riddled with editor buttons. For an easy cheat sheet of Markdown styling, just click the "Markdown Style Guide" link in your editor. The cheat sheet is also displayed below:

MD:How do I embed youtube/vimeo videos?

Adding a video is easy. Just click "share" on the YouTube video page. Then "Embed." Then copy the iframe embed code that youtube gives you:

Then simply paste this code into the Silvrback editor, on its own line (with empty lines between it and the rest of your text). Click on "Preview" and your video will be there.

For Vimeo videos, the embed code may need to be stripped of code that is unreadable in Markdown. The two sections of code below are comprised of the code before it is stripped of excess code, while the second piece of code is what remains and will render properly in Silvrback.

As described above, click "Preview" and the video should be there.

MD:How do I embed images and add links to images?

When you are on the page writing/editing your blog, published or unpublished, there is a light gray image-icon in the upper right-hand corner of the blog page.

1) Click that icon and it will prompt you to upload an image.
2) Once the image is uploaded, a pop up opens with the image, and the code you need to embed the image is located to the right of the image. There are also instructions as to how to paste the image.
3) Copy code from the text box and paste in the blog-page location desired. You can make certain edits to the image code as described in the instructions contained in the image pop up.

Key rules:

1) There should be no space between the code and the left-hand side of page or it won't render. That is, the code must fit up against the left side of the page.
2) The code must be on a separate line by itself. You can wrap text around code once properly installed, if you'd like, by following the instructions in the image pop-up window.

Linking an Image
When you have the image code properly embedded in your blog, insert the link markdown code immediately after the image code on the same line as the image embed code.

In the example below, the image code is in square brackets [ ] and the link code in parenthesis brackets ( ) follows the image code.

How do I change the cover photo (or the background color) for my blog posts?

In top right of your editor, look for the little icon that looks like the screenshot on the left. To change the background color of your cover area, just click on the arrow icons. If you want to upload a custom pic for you background, click the picture icon in the middle.

What size do my photos need to be for my blog homepage and page headers?

Homepage Image
Here's how Silvrback handles an image. The image is scaled down to 1280px x 800px. This doesn't mean the pic will be these dimensions though. It is scaled down until the first of these dimensions is reached, then the other dimension scaled equally based on aspect ratio. Also the pic is stretched to the footer, so the part that shows up in the top of the blog post is the top part of the image.

From this, you can see that a high-resolution image is a must to start with and not only in a pixel sense. That is, a high-pixel but poor image may not look better when it is manipulated to fit the page. The image in this blog -
https://kwkuehn.silvrback.com/ - is a hazy daytime image taken off Ecuador's coast. There are few hard, clean lines in the image. However, it's a 3600 x 2700 pixel image and so it being reduced or stretched to fit the page will likely look just fine.

We have tested images all the way down to 1100 x 700 and they've looked acceptable when uploaded, but again, it varies from image to image as to how well it will actually render.

Article Header Image
For header images on your individual article pages, we recommend a minimum image size of 1280px x 600px.

How do I edit or delete posts that I've already published?

On your main articles dashboard, click "Toggle to publications" which is located in the header section of the page. Then click on whichever publication you want to edit. To delete this post, click on the cog icon at the bottom of the editor and it will give you the option to delete it. This is also where you can change the publication date and add a different author.

How can I add a different author to a post?

At the bottom of your editor page, look for the little grey cog icon. This is the advanced post settings area. It will give you the option to add a guest author to the post.

What are the rights of a collaborator?

The collaborator function is located under the Account link in your user console. You can add or delete collaborators from your account from there.

At this time, collaborators have limited rights on your account. They can create a draft article, edit articles and preview revisions, but they cannot post them or delete them. As the scheduling function leads to publication, they cannot schedule articles either. Collaborators can change their passwords and delete themselves from your account.

MD:Why isn't my code snippet showing syntax highlighting?

1. Make sure your code block has empty line breaks between it and the rest of your text.
2. You can either add a language after your opening "```" to tell the highlighter which language you are using, or you can leave it blank and let it guess the language. Silvrback uses Pygments for highlighting. To look up the shortname of the language you want to highlight, you can go here: Pygments Lexers

Here is an example of a correctly formatted code block:

How do I add a custom domain?

In basic blog settings, click the "custom domain" field. Instructions will pop up for you on how to change your domain settings with your registrar to point it to Silvrback. There are more specific instructions for godaddy and namecheap in this area as well. Screenshot below:

How do I enable Disqus comments for my posts?

1. Sign up for a Disqus account here: https://disqus.com/admin/signup/
2. Create a sitename (you will be directed here after signing up for Disqus). The sitename can be anything. Then click "Finish Registration."
3. On the "Choose your platform" page, just select "Tumblr." Ignore number 1 in the Tumblr instructions screen. Just copy the shortname it gives you in number 2 and paste this shortname into the Silvrback Disqus field in basic blog settings. Save your Silvrback settings and you are all done! The comments will show up at the bottom of your individual post pages. (comment icon)

Why isn't Google analytics showing any data?

Make sure you have added your Google Analytics ID to Silvrback in "basic blog settings." Once you have done this, it sometimes takes Google 24 hours to start showing your data.

How do I delete my account?

If you delete all of your posts, this is essentially the same as deleting your account as your data will be gone. If you are really paranoid about having anything left on a server anywhere, you can email us at admin@silvrback.com and we can completely delete everything for you.

How do I add tags to my articles?

In your editor, click on advanced post settings (the little cog at the bottom right of the editor page). Here you will see the field for adding new tags. While you are typing, it will search for previously saved tags you have already added to past articles. Click on "Save Post Settings" and you are good to go.

Your tag categories will show up at the bottom of your blog homepage. Only tags which are attached to published articles will show up.

Why is my article title different than my url address?

The article's URL is set when you first title the post. Changing the title of the article does not change the URL address. You can reset the URL by going to the article in your account (where you can edit it). At the bottom right-hand side of the page of your article, you will find a grey cog icon. Clicking this reveals the URL set for the article, which you can change. Care should be taken in changing this address, however, as not properly structuring the revision will break the link to the article. You can also add a guest or joint author to an article and tags from this screen in your page.

How is my subscription and payment information handled?

Silvrback does not process or maintain your payment information but uses a reputable third-party payment processor to provide secure transaction services for our subscribers. Currently, Stripe provides these credit card services for us.

When you subscribe to Silvrback, your sign up date is your renewal date. This date, along with the credit card information, is securely stored in your Stripe payment-processor account. The subscription is automatically set as an autorenewal account with your credit card recharged on the renewal date. You will receive an email receipt from Stripe that your card has been charged for the annual subscription renewal.

If the renewal charge fails due to invalid payment information (ie. expired credit card), a series of renewal notices are sent to you from Stripe urging you to update payment information. Three messages will be sent over a period of seven (7) days. The account is auto-canceled if payment is not received within this notification period.

We hope this automated process supports your worry-free blogging experience.

MD:How can I embed a Github gist into my article?

Place the gist embed id number inside the double brackets illustrated below. Place this code on a separate line in your article.

In the following URL - https://gist.github.com/NomadDevs/33d8cf662465f73b49b9, for example, the code to use is 33d8cf662465f73b49b9. Place this code inside the double brackets and it should render like so -

MD:How can I embed JSFiddle code into my article?

1. Create a new fiddle here.

2. Save your code.

3. Click Share/Embed link in top menu.
   

4. Copy the iframe option from “Embed on your page (embed options)”.
   

5. Paste the iframe into your Markdown article page.
   

6. A preview of your JSFiddle embed should render like the image below.
   

Publish when ready.

What photos does the Facebook sharing tool post on Facebook?

The Facebook sharing tool allows users to post notifications to their Facebook accounts directly from Silvrback. Currently, this sharing feature will select the first image in an article to post to Facebook. Failing to find an image in the article, it will default to your profile image or no image. Which article to be posted is revealed when you click on the sharing icon.

Of course, if you wish to have more options for sharing on Facebook, you can always use Facebook's app by copying and pasting your article url directly into your Facebook page and the image options will appear before you post to Facebook.

MD:How can I embed HTML, Twitter and Keyboard Symbols?

HTML Short Code

Markdown editor does not support html code or tags. However, you can write html tag/code into your Markdown editor by using a short code syntax. Short code syntax starts and ends with brackets [ ], like so: [tag_name text=”your text here” attributes].

The following is an example of HTML code readied to render in Markdown:

Keyboard Symbol Embed

You can also render keyboard symbols in Markdown using this format. For example:

Twitter Embed

You can embed your Twitter code into your Markdown editor.

1. Copy your twitter embed code from your twitter account. The full Twitter embed code will look like the following:

2. Convert embed code to short code syntax by first removing script section from the Twitter embed code (highlighted in red above in the original code). The remaining code will look like the following:

3. Convert it to short code syntax by making the following changes to the remaining code:

4. Place this short code in the location you want to render the Twitter embed.

How can I upload pdf documents into my article?

You can upload pdf files in both the Markdown and wordprocessor editors and link them in your blog in much the same way you upload images. This feature will create a link in your article from which your readers can download the pdf document.

For Markdown users, take the following action sequence:

1. Click the image/file upload link from the article page (upper right-hand corner of your page).

2. Click 'Select a file to upload' and select the pdf file from its source.

3. Modify the link label in the code popup as you would like it to read in the article (the default label is 'attachment').

4. Copy the code into the location you want the link to appear in your article page. Remember, as in the case of images and video uploads, this code needs to be embedded on its own, dedicated line.

For those using the WYSIWYG/wordprocessor editor, do the following:

1. Select the location you want the pdf link to appear in the article (where your cursor is located on the page).

2. Click the pdf image button on the tool bar.

3. After you click the button, a pop up reveals two action requirements. The first action is to click the camera icon to select the pdf document to be uploaded from its source.

4. After you've selected the pdf document to be uploaded, create the label you want for the document link in your article page by typing the label into the Upload Title field. Examples might be "Business Plan PDF" or "Click this link to view conference program."

5. Click "OK" to execute the upload. Preview the article to view and test the download function.

How can I create footnotes in my articles?

Conventional footnotes can be rendered in Markdown syntax. To create a footnote, use the following coding format:[^label]. That is, within square brackets a caret (^) precedes the footnote label (a number, letter, or word). For example,the first footnote designated in the text might be coded [^1].

The footnote itself would be coded with the matching label (or number 1 in this case) as indicated in the following example. The colon below is required to render the footnote properly, as well as a space between that colon and the content of the footnote.

[^1]: Footnote itself.

Which then would render at the bottom of the document as follows:

1. Footnote itself.

In the WYSIWYG/wordprocessor, footnotes can be imitated through a combination of superscripts and font formatting to create a footnote affect. Currently, no specific feature in this editor will serve this function .

How do I set up my social media accounts?

Connecting your social media accounts to Silvrback is done through the blog setup screens accessed from your account controls menu. The setup steps are as follows:

1. From your account controls, click Blog Setup; then click Basic Blog Settings.

2. Scroll down to the Social Media Usernames and click in the field you wish to set up. From a separate tab or screen, go to your social media site and locate the account username in the URL. Highlight, cut and then paste into the relevant Silvrback field. Do this for each social media account you wish to display.
   

3. Select for each social media account you have loaded the display choice you would like to use by clicking on the respective option boxes.

4. Save your settings and go to Visit Blog from your control menu to test set up on your live page.