Since my blog will soon be unattended (by me anyway; it will be overseen by a human minder) for several weeks, I wanted to know how easy it would be to automate a once-weekly post for my image-of-the-week (IOTW) feature. It turns out this is easier done than said—requiring only a few mouse clicks, a calendar, and a single sip of coffee.
Writing the post
This post was published by my server before I got up. I wrote the post as normal using ecto, an excellent offline editor compatible with many blogging systems including WordPress. This time the only difference was that I chose to send the post to the server as a Draft, rather than Publish.
Likewise, if you're not using an offline editor you can compose a post directly in WordPress and save it with Post Status set to Draft.
Managing the post
Login to the WordPress Admin panel and choose Manage then Posts. Your recently uploaded/ saved Draft should be visible there. Choose Edit to open the post and look for the Post Status and Post Timestamp controls.
Note that you can still choose View to privately confirm the appearance of the post at this stage; the URL is "live" but the post doesn't yet show up on your site or in your web feed. A very useful facility!
The Post Status control should initially reflect the draft status of your post, while the unedited timestamp will reflect the time of upload:
We now need to make changes to each of these controls. First, set the Post Status to Published, and then check the Edit timestamp box and enter a future date and time at which you wish the post to go "live" on your server (here, the following morning):
Visit your site or load your feed after this time and the new post will be visible, but until then it remains hidden even though it has "Published" status.
Using this method I can thus pre-create an IOTW post for each week that I'll be traveling, and my server will cooperate with WordPress to continue feeding my imaginary readers on a weekly basis. Hey, for all you know, I could have died in a car crash a year ago but had the foresight to future-date numerous posts so I could "live on" in cyberspace... although you might wonder how I was able to accurately anticipate Israeli atrocities in Lebanon, etc.
![[Photo of Bruce McKenzie]](data:image/jpeg;base64,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)
What an excellent share! Thanks for the tip. I plan on using this feature!
That's some very nice CSS you have there on the imedia site Scott; are you imedia then? I especially like the mouse-over highlights, but the whole design feels very well-integrated. I note you're using WP 2.1 alpha... how different is that from 2.x?
A great idea, and very simple at that! I will be using this one in the future.
I notice you also use ecto. A friend recommended it to me the other day and I have yet to try it!
Ian, I couldn't do without ecto. The WordPress editing tools don't work in Safari anyway, but ecto brings much more power to bear. For example, many times I have used Find & Replace to perform site-wide edits on my content. Are you on a Mac? If not I gather the Windows version is somewhat lacking in comparison.
Unfortunately I reside in the world of WindowsXP, but a Mac is definately on my wishlist once I have some spare cash.
Ecto sounds very useful, so I think I shall give it a spin tonight. I'm also considering trying Windows Live Writer, which despite being a Microsoft product, has had some rave reviews, even from Mac loyalists.
Incidentally you may be interested to know I am also a resident of Chesterfield. What are the chances?
Hi Bruce,
I know that this bug doesn't affect you, but might do so for some of your readers. Lorelle wrote an article about WP.com having future-posting issues at the end of July. I haven't seen an update from her saying all is well, so it might be worth looking into for users of WP.com before comitting to a future posting and finding the next month of entries prematurely out on show.
Just a thought.
Good luck with Project Koru!
Really useful! It's so simple and you don't need an external plugin!
Thank you!
Too right Napolux; I'm always pleased to avoid adding to my already long list of installed plugins ;-)
Wow, I have been looking for a Wordpress Extension for months which would let me schedule posts. Turns out it is THAT simple! Thanks man...
Hi, another Ecto user here. I just discovered that you could select "Publish" in Ecto and scheduled the blog post by setting time using the "Adjust Time" in Ecto. No need to login WP admin to set the scheduled time! :)
Dang! I should have thought of that; good tip LcF!
Thanks - what a help!
Great post! I was looking specifically how to do this and it was really easy thanks to you. Thanks again!
Thanks a lot for this tip! :)
wow thats nice tip.. thanks for sharing buddy