Boldfacing, Italics and Underlining

Although boldfacing, italics and underlining are common ways to format text, underlining is usually not used in blogs because that indicates to the reader that there is a link to another web page. 

To use any of these formatting tools, type the text first, then press the B, I or U button in the toolbar to apply the formatting.

Notice that when boldfaced text is highlighted, the B button is clicked. When italics text is selected, the I button is clicked, and when underlined text is selected, the U button is clicked. To get rid of boldfacing, italics or underlining, simply select the text and click the appropriate button.

Instead of clicking on the toolbar, you can press Control (Command on the Mac) + B/I/U to format text.

Linking to Other Web Pages

The ability to create a link to another Web page has been one of the most important features of the Internet since the beginning of time (or at least the beginning of the world wide web).

When creating a link, it's important to remember that there are two parts: the text you see, and the URL (the address) of the page you want to link to.

The method for creating a hyperlink in a blog entry is similar to boldfacing. First you create the text for the link, then you highlight the link text and press the hyperlink button in the toolbar. With a hyperlink there is one additional step: adding the URL.

Let's go through these steps with an example. We'll create a hyperlink to the COLA page for becoming a member. Let's see. For the text part, we want something informative, so we'll use "become a COLA member". The URL is: www.coladog.org/getinvolved.

Steps for Creating a Hyperlink

1. Type the link text

• become a COLA member

2. Highlight the text 

3. Click the hyperlink button in the toolbar

4. A screen pops up. In the URL field, paste in the URL. 

• www.coladog.org/getinvolved

It is always a good idea to paste in the URL, not type it in. URLs are really easy to type incorrectly, so the best method is to go to your target page and copy the URL, then come back and paste into the pop-up window. Another tip: Always check to make sure the first and last characters are pasted correctly.

5. Click OK.

Your blog entry is now linked!

When you preview your entry (before saving), it's a good idea to check the hyperlinks to make sure they work correctly. (Why all this fuss about checking the hyperlinks? Because just one character makes them unusable and because it's really easy to make a mistake with them.)

If you've successfully created a hyperlink, congratulations! And there's one more major part to making fun blog entries: including photos. That process is quite a bit more complicated, but becomes second nature after a few times. Check out the next entry on images for more information!

Of the off-leash areas in Seattle, the Dr. Jose Rizal OLA has the most picturesque views.

The view of SODO and Elliot Bay from Dr. Jose Rizal OLA » READ MORE »

Have you seen the PAWSwalk posters at the off-leash areas? PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) is having a three-mile walking event to raise money to help dogs! The event will be held September 11 at Magunson Park, an off-leash area whose maintenance is provided by the Magnuson Professional Dog Walkers' Association and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

When informed of this exciting news, basset hound park user Gershwin said he had been wondering if they were going to do it again this year.

Gershwin reads the content of the PAWSwalk poster at the Woodland OLA

  » READ MORE »

With the heat set to roar into the 90s, canines throughout Seattle were busy prompting their owners into action as early as possible before the full brunt of the sun bore down on Seattle. Most of them, anyway.

Others, like Alexi (short for Alexei), Harriet and Kota were having none of it.

Alexi takes a breather while considering where to run next

  » READ MORE »

 On the first Saturday of even-numbered months, the Woodland OLA holds a work party from 11 to 1 to maintain the park. Yesterday was the August work party, and we had a nice turnout despite all the Seafair and other events around the city.

In addition to picking up, the main tasks for August were to fill in holes and shovel gravel. Because of the extremely hilly terrain at Woodland, volunteers constantly work to slow erosion and move gravel back to the top of the hill.

Given the hard work, the cooler weather made working more pleasant than a normal August day would have been.

Two large holes dug around tree roots are filled in	Volunteers shovel dirt to fill holes with
Maintaining the gravel is a lot of work! The humans are working hard, too	Sweeping the stairs is also an important part of keeping the Woodland OLA a pleasant place to  visit

In the middle of July, a tree came down at Golden Gardens, causing damage to the fence, including the dual-fence entrance. The Parks Department came out and fixed the fence as well as clearing some of the brambles, making the GG OLA a safe place to play at again!

Amani inspects the flora around the fence reconstruction

Although somewhat camera-shy, park user Amani let out a gasp when asked about the fence being restored. "That's right! You know, it looks so good now, I forgot about that whole episode. Some of us were talking and there was a rumor that the border collies were going to herd us out of the park. Where to? Gosh, I don't know, but no worries now. Everything's safely fenced in."

After two false starts—one cancellation due to heavy rainfall and the other due to a Parks emergency—the Parks came to the Woodland Off-Leash Area on Tuesday and cut down two trees, one inside and one just outside the OLA. The tree inside the OLA was dead and the one outside had a widow-maker waiting to fall. 

Pasco approaches some tree lengths. The stump of the tree cut inside the park is to his right, and the widow-maker tree is beyond the fence line

  » READ MORE »

To provide updates and information about the wonderful off-leash areas in Seattle, COLA has created this blogspace.

It is an exciting development in COLA's pursuit of great recreation spaces for canines and their human owners to enjoy.