Ashford v2.0 started supporting post formats. Right now I only support asides. The remaining post formats—gallery, link, image, quote, status, video, audio and chat—will be supported in the future. Post Formats gives you a standardized list of formats for your posts which allows you the ability to build your site like Tumblr.
Asides are short content (often without a title) that can be used much like a Tweet. My implementation still includes a title with permalink (you can see them here).
- Dashboard > Posts > Add new post
- Enter title (required)
- Enter your body text. You can add media and other stuff, but I find that confusing.
- Find the “Format” panel on the right sidebar and select “Aside”
- Add a featured image ~ this is clunky as implemented now. In a future release — this will not be necessary as by default it will show a nice “aside” icon if no featured image is added.
- Enter you other meta data (categories, tags, etc)
- Publish
Asides are enabled by the default “excerpt” layout (if you are using Pro). If you choose I different layout, no unique Aside format is applied. I do see a Tumblr like Ashford theme in the future where all these formats will be enabled.
How Asides can improve Tweeting
I started a
regimen for Ashford. I love Twitter but I also hate it. Most of the content posted there is “lost” to the moment scrolling easily off most people’s timeline. Since there is no archive so I also lose any long-tail Google juice. For most organizations, posting to Twitter only is a lost opportunity.
Since Asides are basically the same content that I’d Tweet – why not post an Aside then Tweet about it. Here is my new Twitter regimen:
- Write and publish an Aside (something I’d maybe Tweet)
- View the permalink for the Aside
- Copy the “shortlink” from the Admin Bar
- Open Twitter — compose a Tweet with different but similar copy and link to short-link





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