NUS Module Blogs is running on Community Server. This morning, CIT upgraded CS 2.0 to CS 2.1 Service Pack 2. You'll notice a few changes, some of which are very obvious, others more subtle.

Here are the differences you should note:

1. *IMPORTANT* Logging on & removal of public mirror
NUS Module Blogs now work more like regular blogs. Everyone - within and outside NUS - can read the blog from the same URL. Previously, the public could only access a public mirror of the blogs, which was, due to various technical circumstances, not well publicized.

Students and staff will now have to log in to comment and post. (Students still retain commenting rights only.) You can log in using your NUSNET User ID and password (without the NUSSTU/NUSSTF domain).

Note that with the removal of the public mirror, any previous links to the public mirror will not work. You might want to go through your previous posts to change this. Rest assured that as long as we use CS, the URL should not change.

2. Different RSS feed URLs
The RSS feeds - if any of you were using them - were based on the public mirror. If any user previously subscribed to the blogs or comments, you are advised to resubscribe using the new feed URL.

3. Name changes
A few things have been renamed in this version. Some are obvious, e.g. 'Create a New Post' is now 'Write a Blog Post' and 'My Settings' is now 'My Blog Dashboard'. Categories are now called Tags. They still have the same function. Incidentally, tags can be added directly at the bottom of each new post. The Tags text field is just below the blog entry text field in 'Write a Blog Post'.

4. Write a Blog Post changes
The text field has been tweaked. There are now fewer tabs: Write and Preview. If you want to see the other tabs, check Advanced Options on the top right.Since Tags is now on the Write tab, you only need to access the other tabs if you want to be specific about certain settings.

The WYSIWYG text editor has been streamlined and (as far as I can tell) works better in Firefox. Also, post saving and publishing options are clearly marked on the Write tab. Now, it is also clear when you are in the Control Panel  administrative section of the blogs.

5. Email Alerts
If you are subscribed to Email Alerts, you might want to resubscribe as they have been reset by default.

You'll also notice that you now have a few more blog skins to choose from.

P.S. I just noticed that the permalinks are now named after the post title instead of numerically. This is much 'cleaner' and give the blogs a better chance on turning up in search engines, especially if you are writing about niche topics.