“Blog-this”+fix

Flickr is a really great service for storing and sharing your photos online.  It also works GREAT for any photos you want to display on your blog.   I love WordPress, but I find that its handling of images is a bit clunky and hard to use.  It is MUCH easier to upload photos in Flickr, and then to actually create the blog post in Flickr.

Also, if you use Flickr to host your blog photos, you will find it MUCH easier to move your blog to a different domain or blog host in the future.  Otherwise, moving blogs or domains can be a big pain if you have a lot of images.

There is a trick, though, to getting Flickr to work with your self-hosted WordPress blog.

How to use Flickr with your WordPress Blog:

1. Create Flickr account
2. Set up the link between your Flickr account and your blog. Flickr –> You tab (on Flickr main menu) –> Your Account –> Extending Flickr –> Your blogs –> Configure your Flickr-to-blog setting –> “Set up your blog”
3. From the drop-down, select the type of blog you have. If you have a WordPress blog that is self-hosted/installed or on WordPress.com, select “WordPress Blog”
4. On the next screen, enter the login details for your WordPress account:
   • API Endpoint: http://<YOUR.BLOG.ADDRESS.COM>/xmlrpc.php   (obviously replace <YOUR.BLOG.ADDRESS.COM> with your blog’s address.
   • Login:  the login name that you use to login to your WordPress blog to create posts.  This might be a different login name than the “admin” account you use to configure WordPress.
   • Password:   self-explanatory, no?
     Then the NEXT button.
5. If you get a “The username and password you entered were not valid.” message, then you have to do some configuration in WordPress.  Open a NEW web browser window (leave Flickr open in another window).
   • Login to your WordPress admin console:  http://<YOUR.BLOG.ADDRESS.COM>/wp-admin
   • Settings –> Writing –> Remote Publishing
   • Under XML-RPC, check the box for “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing”
   • Click “Save Changes”
   • In your web browser, switch back to the Flickr “add a weblog” window and try submitting again.
6. In Flickr, a “Confirm your details” screen appears.  Make any necessary corrections and make sure the “store your password” box is checked.  Then click the “All Done” button.
7. NOW, select a photo that you want to put on your blog:
   • In Flickr, select the photo.
   • When the photo displays by itself in Flickr, along the top margin of the photo there are several icons.  Click on the “Blog This”
   • From the drop-down list, select the name of your blog.
   • A “create blog entry” screen appears in Flickr.  Enter a title for the post and the content.  Note that you will not be able to do much fancy formatting here.  If you want that, you can do it later by logging into WordPress and editing the blog post.
   • Click “Post This”.
8. Visit your blog. You should see a new post that displays your photo from Flickr.

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