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DDelTech MUNDocs

Writing a dispatch

The editor, autosave, cover images and formatting.

The Dispatch is the society's publication at /blog. If your account has the writer role, /write is your desk.

The article editor with a title, cover image and body text
The editor. Formatting appears when you select text; the insert menu appears on an empty line.

Starting an article

/write lists everything you have written with its current state. New article creates an empty draft and drops you straight into the editor.

The editor

PartNotes
TitleThe headline. Also used for the browser tab and link previews.
SubtitleOne line under the title. Optional but worth writing.
Cover imageUploaded from your machine. It is what appears on the Dispatch index and in link previews.
TagsFree-form. They show under the article.
BodyThe article itself.

Formatting

Select some text and a small toolbar appears over it: bold, italic, headings, links, quotes. On an empty line, an insert menu offers images and other blocks. There is no formatting toolbar pinned to the top, deliberately, so the writing surface stays clear.

Images inside the body are uploaded the same way as the cover.

Autosave

Your work saves automatically about a second and a half after you stop typing. There is no save button and you do not need one.

Note

Autosave never changes an article's review state. Editing a published article does not unpublish it, and editing a draft does not submit it. Only the submit button moves an article forward.

Reading time

Calculated from the body as you write and shown on the published article. It is not something you set.

Writing well for this publication

  • Put the point in the first paragraph. Readers arrive from a link, not from the index.
  • Use headings. They become the article's structure and help people scan.
  • Give images captions and meaningful alt text.
  • Check your links before you submit; the review queue will bounce broken ones back to you.

Next: submitting for review.