Help - Exports - We Build Planes

What is "Exporting posts" and how do I use it?

How

In the site menu under "My Builds", you'll find a link to "Export posts". Clicking this will allow you to export all of your site's posts. A link to a zip file will be emailed to you.

NOTE: By default it will only export posts you haven't previously exported, so be sure to save the zip file in a safe place.

Why

The purpose of the export page is to allow you to get your data out of We Build Planes in commonly-used formats, so that you can publish it elsewhere. i.e. We don't want you to feel locked into this platform. It's your data, take it and use it how you'd like.

How is the zip file arranged?

The format of the zip file looks something like this:


1314
    post_1314_snippet.html
    post_1314_full.html
    post_1314.json
    15da87c76095459c908d4422ecbeed23_xl.jpg
    15da87c76095459c908d4422ecbeed23_md.jpg
    0deb3912194b403cb8fe14dc0609fc00_xl.jpg
    0deb3912194b403cb8fe14dc0609fc00_md.jpg
1315
    post_1315_snippet.html
    post_1315_full.html
    post_1315.json
    62c9cdf905ba4140939238a0773af2d3_xl.jpg
    62c9cdf905ba4140939238a0773af2d3_md.jpg
    4dc3293f5d154031a25ce5ac44593bb1_xl.jpg
    4dc3293f5d154031a25ce5ac44593bb1_md.jpg
    47ae42176c2a4999bac2770916669b56_xl.jpg
    47ae42176c2a4999bac2770916669b56_md.jpg
1316
    post_1316_snippet.html
    post_1316_full.html
    post_1316.json

That is to say, the zip file contains a folder (directory) for each post, named with the post's ID number. In each of these directories is:

post_[ID]_snippet.html
post_[ID]_full.html
post_[ID].json
Every image in the post, saved to 2 different sizes

How do I use these files?

Simplest: "Full" HTML

The "full" version of the HTML file contains a complete HTML document that any browser can render. You can host it on almost any web server and most cloud providers (e.g. Amazon S3)

Unzip all your zip files into the same root folder and you'll have a sub-folder for each of your posts.

Tech tip: By default these posts are very bare-bones and ugly, so you may want to consider using a custom stylesheet. Each post_[ID]_full.html includes a link for ../styles.css, and the posts use plenty of classnames to make this easier. Create one "style.css" file in the root folder and it will style all of your posts automatically.

"Snippet" HTML for use on other platforms

Most blogging and web hosting platforms will have a default "header" and "footer" for your page. You simply supply the content to go between it.

For platforms like this, simply use the post_[ID]_snippet.html file.

JSON - for advanced usage

The JSON file contains structured data that can be easily read by software. This is a very common file format used by software developers, and will make it very easy for a developer to do anything you want with your data.

Knowledge base: Exporting posts