Inspect Element

This is what happens when you put in a link with smart quotes instead of straight quotes.

Here's my link!It has smart quotes.


Here's a correctly coded link.It has straight quotes.

Checking Your Work

These links all look the same on the Compose/Visual screen.

Wayfair

Wayfair

Wayfair

But they look different on the HTML/Text screen.

On that side they look like this:

<a href="http://www.wayfair.com/">Wayfair</a>

<a href="http://www.wayfair.com/" target="_blank">Wayfair</a>

<a href="http://www.wayfair.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wayfair</a>

So how do I tell the difference? I use the Inspect Element tool to see the page source code.

Smart Quotes

But smart quotes? What's the deal with smart quotes?

Smart quotes are when quotation marks look one way at the beginning and another at the end, or when they go at an angle instead of straight down.

"These are straight quotes" 
They look the same at the beginning and the end.

“These are smart quotes.”
See how they're curvy?

If you use smart quotes in your code, bad things happen. Because smart quotes aren’t recognized as quotes.

So instead of this: rel="nofollow"

You get this: rel="”nofollow”"

The code added an extra set of quotes because it didn't detect a set of quotes there. But it also has no idea what ”nofollow” means so it doesn't work.

Collage Tools

Part of my job is to learn about what bloggers who work with Wayfair are doing. The home decor and design blogosphere is ALL about collages. So I've been getting to know some of the tools they use, including Photoshop, Picmonkey, Canva, and Polyvore.

I've been using Picmonkey for ages, it's where I design my business cards and how I made my social media icons on my blog.

Photoshop is something I'm still working on and I definitely want to take a class.

Canva is a new place for me to play. I'm a huge fan already, though. I made a pinnable image for one of our articles with it.

I had to take Polyvore for a spin to see how it worked with Wayfair's items. So I decided to build a room, something my bloggers do in their sleep. Not as easy as it looks. Probably because I have no clue what my style is. But back on track...

I started with a painting (we have some great art on the site) and decided to build a room around it. I wanted a mix of traditional decor in homage to the painting without being too literal.

Sargent Room by jessicaesquire featuring framed wall art

I'm pretty pleased with it. And feeling comfortable with my nice little Polyvore collage. It makes it so easy to add items and move them all around.