Blopig has a wealth of knowledge, with everything from a Bayesian answer to the question “should ketchup be stored in the fridge?“* to the Nobel-Prize-Winner-approved analysis of AlphaFold2. Blopig runs on WordPress and uses blocks, components for adding different types of content to a post. These are blocks like paragraphs, headers, images, image galleries, and videos. Here are some hints and tips for getting the most out of WordPress.

One of the first blocks worth mentioning is the “Read More…” block…

…that reveals the rest of the post when clicked.

When you create new block, it is usually a “Paragraph” block by default:

If you hover over the first icon in the block’s menu, in this case a Paragraph block, you will get a popup that says what type the block is:

Clicking on the block’s first icon reveals a menu of other blocks you can change it into:

You won’t see a Paragraph block menu unless your block already has some text in it.

If you hover between two blocks, you will see a line appear with a “+” plus symbol in the middle:

If you click on the “+” symbol, you get a menu of suggested blocks to add, and a search box to find ones not listed:

Hints and Tips

Here are some blocks worth using:

1. More Blopiglets

To help display more posts on the landing page, and to giving more people and their recent posts more visibility, it’s good to insert a “More…” block near the top of the post, usually after the first two or three paragraphs.

2. Syntax Highlighting

If you’d like to include source code in your post, use the “<> Enlighter Sourcecode” block rather than a ‘Preformatted’ code block. If you choose the right language, you get syntax-aware color highlighting for free. Just paste your source code into an empty block. If you change the Paragraph into a Preformatted block, it looks like this:

def show_atom_numbers(mol, label):
  """See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53321453/rdkit-how-to-show-moleculars-atoms-number?answertab=active#tab-top"""
  for atom in mol.GetAtoms():
    atom.SetProp(label, str(atom.GetIdx()+1))
  return mol

Boring and unhelpful. But this is the same code using Enlighter, with the language set to “Python”:

def show_atom_numbers(mol, label):
  """See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53321453/rdkit-how-to-show-moleculars-atoms-number?answertab=active#tab-top"""
  for atom in mol.GetAtoms():
    atom.SetProp(label, str(atom.GetIdx()+1))
  return mol

Much better.

You can set the language for syntax highlighting by clicking on the icon that looks like a “T” on a clipboard:

It’s also a good idea to test your code before posting it… 😉

3. Link that Link

If you include a URL, don’t just give the URL as plain text: turn it into a link. Copy the URL, type <Ctrl>-K or <Cmd>-K, then paste the URL it should link to.

Not this: https://www.blopig.com/, this: https://www.blopig.com/.

4. Use More Descriptive Links

For accessibility, it’s even better to use descriptive text in the linked text. So: “you can access OPIG’s blog, Blopig here” is better than “you can access Blopig here“.

5. Descriptive Headings and Sub-Headings Are More Accessible

Use header blocks for headings: again, this helps improve the accessibility of your post. The first looks like a heading but it’s just a paragraph block with bold text, but the second is an actual header block (set to level H4) that would be detected by screen readers:

A Bad Heading is Just Bold Text in a Paragraph block

A Good Heading Uses the Heading Block

Organize your content using a hierarchy of headers, so using H1 for the main title of the page, then use H2 for the next level in the hierarchy: don’t skip levels, as a screen reader user will wonder if there is missing content.

6. Reduce Image File Sizes

If you upload pictures, make sure they are reasonably well compressed; avoiding large file sizes keeps down storage requirements, both hosting the site, and backups.

7. Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

When you insert an image into a block, the sidebar reveals a set of options including the ability to add alternative text to describe the image:

8. Uncheck “Uncategorized” and Choose Your Category

On the right hand side when you’re writing your post, you can click on “Post” at the top next to “Block”, and scroll down until you see “Categories”.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the categories and uncheck “Uncategorized”.
2. Scroll back and choose the appropriate categories.

You can also search for a category using the “SEARCH CATEGORIES”.

Note that you can also create your own “Tags”, in the “ADD NEW TAG” box below the “Categories” section.

*Empiricist’s answer: Yes. Method: (1) Find a bottle of ketchup. (2) Read the label. Results: I found a bottle of Heinz brand; the label reads, “After opening, refrigerate and eat within 8 weeks”.