Blogging - how to get going

[Thomas W-P]

Mike suggested that I set up blogging functionality on the forum - where you can record your thoughts on life/training etc.

This is now up and running.

UPDATED 1st May 2007

History
Initially I wanted the blogs to match the look and feel of the Free Spirits site so I spent a while creating a beautiful look and feel that integrated perfectly with the Free Spirits site. Setting up blogs then meant that I had to do a fair bit of work for people. It was not easy for them and it was not easy for me!

When JanetS completely ignored my design guidelines (thanks Janet!) I realised that my idea of a conforming set of blogs was very flawed. We are Free Spirits after all! All we need is to have a blog with a link BACK to the blogs page since I know that many people like to read one blog after another.


If you want a blog - steps to set up
1) Set up your blog. Anywhere on the internet will do! blogger (owned by google) is pretty easy but there are loads more.

2) Make sure that somewhere at the top of the page you include this code - which is a link back to the Free Spirits blog pages like this:

Code: Select all

<a href="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/index.php?page=blogs" title="Hear what the Free Spirits rowers have to say about life"><img src="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/uploads/images/fs_blogs.png" height="76"  width="125"/></a>

(I use a blogger "Page Element" and stick that code in. Easy.)

3) PM me (Thomas W-P) and post here with the URL of your blog and I will add it to the list on the blog page.

Happy blogging

[alistairkbs]

Yes I think it would add another dimension.

Just discovered the log card so now can pore over lots and lots of data and I think the training diary approach might well work.

Alistair

[Thomas W-P]

Have been thinking about this. Here is the solution:

Use http://www.blogger.com for your blogs and I will write a custom template that mimics our look and feel.

Then, I can manually maintain a list of the blogs and put a link to it in the header.

This gives us the best of both worlds - little work for us and very good functionality. I think blogger even lets them be private if they are hosted.

If needed can even let freespiritsrowing.com host it if we need to by giving people individual ftp ids and paths for the site (don't worry if that means nothing to you).

Anyway, 30 minutes later and I have a working prototype.

http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/blogs/thomaswp/

[ptruz]

you guys are incredible

[Thomas W-P]

P.S. This now works. Anyone who wants a blog please PM me and I will sort them out.

[ptruz]

uUUHHHH.....what is blogging? I have heard about blogs......kind of like fake news.....right?

[MaxDev]

uUUHHHH.....what is blogging? I have heard about blogs......kind of like fake news.....right?

Well, not exactly. Blog = 'web log'. It's one person's personal thought's on life or whatever takes their fancy, open to the internet public, and generally with the facility for said public to make comments.

Some people use them simply as a form of online diary. Others focus on specific subjects of particular interest to them.

I've never done one, but a blog for commenting on my training and erging (probably mostly excuses why I've had a day off!) sounds like a cool idea. Blog me up please, Thomas!

Max

[Thomas W-P]

PM'ing Max...

[MaxDev]

My blog can now be found here.

Thomas' template is very nice, and integrates well with the rest of the FS site, as you'd expect (though it does need a forum link Thomas, at the expense of one of the other buttons if necessary!)

For anyone else who wants to try this, I'd say that Blogger is slightly flaky (e.g. I couldn't get their context sensitive help links ( s ) to work at all), but can be got to work with Thomas' instructions and a little patience.

Happy erging, and now blogging!

Max

Edit: post 9954 - closing in!

[Thomas W-P]

That missing forum link is a bit of an oversight I MUST say!

Now we have two blogs I have enabled the blog menu and updated the template.

You should just re copy the template.txt file in to your blog.

Not sure about your problems with blogger. Works fine for me!

N.B. You should be able to enable email blogging which is fantastic. You choose a random email address and when you send an email to it it goes on to your blog in seconds.

[webberg]

Thomas, could I join this please?

[Thomas W-P]

PM'ing Graham and SimonG has expressed an interest too.

[Mike Channin]

Quick question - who are these visible to? I'm happy to put up my thoughts and training details for other FS members, but don't necessarily want them out there at the mercy of google.

[Stan]

Hi Thomas,
could you sign me up for this too please.

[Thomas W-P]

They are open to the WORLD at the moment. I could put an .htaccess file on your blog if that helped and you could post the username/password under the panel?

[Mike Channin]

Well, I want to let the team know how things are progressing, but I don't want it available to the world (and google). If you think that's the best solution then that's good enough for me. Hope people have the patience to bother logging in then though...

[Tom Barrick]

Well, I want to let the team know how things are progressing, but I don't want it available to the world (and google). If you think that's the best solution then that's good enough for me. Hope people have the patience to bother logging in then though...

If it's worth it to them, they will. They'll log in.

[big dave k]

ive currently got a blog on the concept2 site where i write up training and whatever general bollocks i care to put down on the day. is there anyway of linking to it as well? or does it have to be a 'blogger' blog?

if there is a way to link to it, the address is:

http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/weblog.php?w=319

[extremeclimber]

Hey, Thomas,
I love the idea of a blog - it is a great way to track long term progress and events!

Please sign me up with a blog!
Thanks,
Paul

[JanetS]

Hi Thomas - could you set one up for me please?

Ta v m!

[ptruz]

a JAnet Blog....that's one that I'll read.

How qare the boys doing? My daughter went 1 and 1 in a tri-match.....# seats behind Deerfield and 3 boats ahead of Berkshire.

Not bad considering they had 2 days on the water prior to that.

[JanetS]

Have Blog! Not visible in the blog index yet - but 'live' nevertheless....
Here it is: Janet's jumbled jottings

[Thomas W-P]

Have Blog! Not visible in the blog index yet - but 'live' nevertheless....
Here it is: Janet's jumbled jottings

Was it you that selected that green theme or did I fail to set the "standard" theme up?

I have been thinking about this - there is no reason to have a standardised theme is there! But I think that we should at least have a rule that you put a link to the Free Spirits blogs page on your blog template. Is that OK?

i.e. this code somewhere near the top of the blog:

Code: Select all

<a href="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/index.php?page=blogs"><img src="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/uploads/images/spiritlogo.gif" width="236" height="72"></a>

(Off to change my theme now!)

[JanetS]

My choice of template! I liked the colours!
I have Free Spirits as a link in the link list - but I'll footle around & add the code into my template as well......

[Thomas W-P]

My thinking on this is developing.

Why does thiis site need to host blogs? Why not just

1) Set up your own blog on blogger

2) Include this code at the top of your template:

Code: Select all

<a href="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/index.php?page=blogs"><img
src="http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/content/uploads/images/spiritlogo.gif"
width="236" height="72"/></a>

This can be added as a "Page Element" if you move to blogspot hosting.

3) PM me the location of your blog and I can simply set a link to it up on the blogs page!

I have now done this. I have moved my blog to the blogger.com servers which have extended functionality (like the ability to limit readers). Being somewhat concerned about my privacy - film of me in class has appeared on youtube (hastily removed) - I may switch this on in time.

N.B. You do have to put up with the blogger "navbar" but I can live with that for the extended functionality. (And it appears to be switched off on my blog at the moment!)