DESIGN DETAILS

1) As many of you may have already guessed, that lovely Blog for Iowa graphic was designed for us courtesy of Demetrius (in Ohio) at People-Powered Graphics.  Some of you may recognize the Grant Wood "influence" in the banner.  Demetrius is a professional graphics designer who volunteers his talents to help the Dean/Democracy for America cause.  Thank you, Demetrius.  The banner is stunning.

2) I decided to go with the red/gold/orange template blog design because I’m am so very tired of pastel blue – even though it used to be my favorite color.  I figured most Iowans like either red or gold, and to me, the color orange is a way to honor all of those wonderful Stormers in the orange hats who came to Iowa to help our cause. 

HOW THE BLOG FUNCTIONS

3) In order to post a comment on Blog for Iowa, you need to first create a reader account.  Go to the Log In component on the left sidebar, and click on Create Reader Account.  Then, once you’ve confirmed your email address, you need to Log In on the main page.  THEN you’ll be able to post a comment.

The usernames have to be one word - no spaces. But you can choose a nickname which will be displayed when you post a comment, and the nickname can include spaces, like My Full Name.

4) We will not harvest your information after you create a reader account.  You are actually creating a reader account for the entire BlogHarbor system, our host company, and we have no access to the list.

5) We would, however, love to have your complete information!  You can sign up to join Democracy for Iowa by clicking the link at or near the top of the right sidebar.  Please ask your Dean-supporting Iowa friends to join, too.  We will eventually be scheduling conferences and such for our members – such as training through 21st Century Democrats – and you will need to be registered with Democracy for Iowa to participate.

ORGANIZATIONAL FEATURES

6) We want to use Blog for Iowa to help you organize your groups.  We have the ability to set up separate topics on separate pages.  For example, I just set up the topic Candidates.  Here you’ll find information about progressive candidates that DFIA members have turned into Blog for Iowa.  (By the way, the more information you can provide about a candidate, links included, the easier it will be for me to get the information up.)  Right now, we’re just making names of candidates available to you, and have not yet set up our screening process.

Also, in a day or two, check back for a topic called Dean Delegates.  Here you will find information on what to do at the next levels of participation.  We will also be setting up a page for DFIA Meet Up, and are thinking about changing the Meet Up night to Thursday since Wednesday does not work for many Iowans who wish to participate (that would not start before May).

If you would like me to set up a page for your group, let me know the details.  You will have to Create A Reader Account, and then I can set it up so that you can make posts to your group’s main page.  We also have the ability to set up Restricted pages, meaning that only your group members can visit that page.  First, they must Create A Reader Account, then you turn in their usernames to me (spelled exactly as they’ve entered them), and I will set it up for you.  (The username is the name you log in with, not the name that shows on your posts.)

Now, please do me a big favor and spread the word about Blog for Iowa to every Iowa Dean supporter you know.  Thank you!