April 7, 2006
Why does my blog have a big space at the top before the entries?
This problem occurs when you are using Internet Explorer and have not resized the images.
As a result, images that are wider than 500 (aka, wider than the content) 'push' the screen size to the side, and down.
In order to fix this, you must resize your images before uploading them. We suggest the use of Picture Tray, a free, downloadable program that internet cafe owners should not object to you using.
If you know html code, you can also specify the size you want your image to display, but remember, it must be less than 500 wide and needs to be proportioned correctly.
This problem does not occur when you use the Mozilla Firefox browser.
Posted by at 11:59 AM
April 6, 2006
I can't create a blog with my BootsnAll username. Why?
If you have a BootsnAll username and you are unable to create a blog, chances are it is because the software does not recognize a funky character that you have in your name, such as commas, accents, apostrophes, quotation marks or other non-alpha characters.
If this is the case, e-mail Chris at BootsnAll dot com with your current name, email address you used when you registered and what you would like your blog to be called and he will fix it for you.
Posted by at 4:57 PM
How do I add links to my friend's blogs on my blog?
Go to the 'links' tab. Select 'add link' and under the 'basics' section, fill out the URL, the name you want to display, the description and the category.
To add a link category, pick 'link categories' under the 'link' tab and fill out the name. Click 'add category' at the bottom of the list and it will be added to your options.
Posted by at 4:51 PM
I got an email about moderating comments, how do I do that?
When the system suspects that a comment is spam, it sends you an email. You can either click on the link in the e-mail, or the next time you log in go to 'manage' and select 'awaiting moderation'.
Under 'awaiting moderation' you will see all the comments that need your approval. Decide the action you want to take by selecting the bubble next to the option (publish/delete/remain in queue/etc).
Posted by at 4:43 PM
What does the "Write" page do?
Click on the 'write' tab and you are able to add a new post to your blog. Create a title, your entry and upload any pictures that you wish. Don't forget to add travel tags!
There are three things you can do with your post after it is written: 'save and continue editing' allows you to save part-way through and will return you to the same screen (recommended if you are on a country with a dodgy dial-up connection!), 'save' allows you save the entry, and not have it appear on the site, and 'publish' both saves your entry and makes it public. Remember to hit 'publish' if you want readers to see your latest entry!
Along the right-hand side, there are a number of sub-categories. To expand the information below any of the sub-categories, click the right corner plus sign.
Under 'discussion', you can choose whether to allow people to add comments onto your entry or having it be 'read only'. Default setting is to allow for comments. Ignore the 'pings' option as it is not relevant to your blog.
Under 'password-protect post', you can establish a password that allows only people with the password to read what you have written. Remember, passwords limit your readers!
Under 'categories', you can assign your post to an easy-to-search place. Popular categories include by country/city, by mode of transport, by cultural info, etc. To add a category from the page, type it into the box and select add. You can assign a post to more than one category. Use of categories is strongly encouraged to allow your visitors quicker access to the information they are seeking.
Under 'post status', you can see the current status of the post and click to change it.
Under 'post timestamp, you are able to switch the default time and order in which your current post is displayed. Remember to select 'edit timestamp' or else it won't change it!
Under 'post author', you can select who is writing the post. This is only relevant if you have more than one author for your blog and wish to distinguish them!
Posted by at 4:25 PM
What is under the 'manage' tab?
The manage tab lets you keep track of everything that is going on in your blog after it is published.
The default subcategory 'posts' lists the most recent posts on the website. You can click into any of these entries, or change the posts that are displayed by doing a search, or changing the archive month. You can also select to see the posts in a certain category, the comments under a particular post, or view/edit/delete an entry.
The subcategory 'categories' allows more in-depth information on your categories. Here, you can see the number of posts in a category, edit the category name and/or its description that appears when people put their mouse over the link, or delete it.
Under 'comments', all of your blog comments are listed. Here you can e-mail addresses, URLs and IP addresses of your fans. Under view mode, you can see each comment and delete/edit if necessary, individually. You can power edit by selecting 'mass edit mode' and checking off the boxes next to each comment you wish to perform an action on.
'Awaiting moderation' is the last category. This section lists comments that have been flagged automatically by the system as potential spam, usually due to links. Here you can decide what is 'human' and what is not and edit, delete or approve the messages.
Posted by at 4:24 PM
What does the 'links' tab do?
Links enables you to add, edit and delete links that appear on the side of your blog.
Under 'manage links' you are able to see all the links you have added and their categories. You can edit the links or make them invisible by checking the boxes next to the link entry and, at the bottom, selecting 'toggle visibility'.
Select 'add link' to put another one of your favorites on the list. Ignore the link relationship and advanced options.
The 'link categories' option will allow you to add a new link category. If you are familiar with html coding you can change the width between categories, however, we suggest you leave it in the default order.
'Import links' is also an extra feature for those who are familiar with acronyms like OPML and wish to add in more links from another site.
Posted by at 4:24 PM
What is under the 'themes' tab?
The 'themes' tab allows you to customize the appearance of your website! We have a number of templates to choose from. Under 'themes' you can view and select the image you like the best!
There is an extended 'choose themes' option at the bottom of the page from WordPress, which provides an additional 5 or so options.
Posted by at 4:24 PM
Can you explain the 'profiles' tab?
The profiles tab lists all your basic info. You can change your password under this tab, as well as decide how you want to use code when writing your blog entry (if you like the what-you-see-is-what-you-get format, leave the visual rich editor checked).
Posted by at 4:23 PM
What's the 'moblogging' tab?
Mo-blogging stands for mobile blogging, and it allows you to send messages from areas besides your log-in screen. Read info under the moblogging tab for more.
Posted by at 4:23 PM
What can I find under the 'blog options' tab?
Blog options does all the basic stuff 'profiles' doesn't.
Here you an change the name of your blog, your subtitle, your time and date display and other basic info.
Posted by at 3:11 PM
What is My Blog URL?
If you are a BootsnAll member, you can find your blog URL by typing in http://blogs.bootsnall.com/DISPLAY NAME. If you have a space in your user name, enter in a plus sign (+) where it would be.
Members and non-members can locate it by going to http://blogs.bootsnall.com/tags/blogs and scouring the list.
If (and only if!) your display name contains characters and the system will not allow you to create a blog, email Chris at BootsnAll dot com and he will change it for you.
Posted by at 2:49 PM
Can my friends and family sign up for e-mail notification of when I post?
Your readers can subscribe to your RSS feed and they will be notified whenever you post a new entry. They will need an RSS reader of some kind - google, yahoo and most of the web-based email services have these built in to their users' personalized home pages.
If you look to the very top of your blog you'll see some links to "Add this blog to:". If your readers are members of any of those services they can subscribe with one click of those links. If they have their own RSS readers they prefer, they can use the link from the RSS icon.
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and basically it means you can receive updates whenever a favourite site of yours adds new content. This is helpful if you only want to visit a site when you know there is something new for you to look at.
To receive blog updates via RSS, you will need an RSS Reader, or Aggregator (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rss+reader&btnG=Google+Search). If you're new to RSS, it can be a daunting prospect sifting through all the different options and readers that are available. To get started, you might experiment with some simple readers that are bundled in with services you may already use, such as My Yahoo!, Google's personalized home page if you have a gmail account, bloglines.com, blo.gs, etc.
Once you have your reader, you need to give it your favourite blog's RSS feed URL. Click on the RSS box on the upper corner to get this link.
For a more complete list of RSS readers or a more in-depth explanation of RSS, try Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29
Posted by at 2:44 PM
March 21, 2006
Why are the Blog entries back to August?
Maybe you noticed that your blog is missing posts dating back to August 17th? Or that your blog ain't here anymore. Well, after doing this for 3+ years we have had a series of server errors and the database that was storing all the blog entries was wiped clean. The most recent back-up that we've been able to restore is from August 17th. All our daily back-ups between August 17th and now are missing for the moment.
We are still working on finding a more recent back-up. If we do not find it, I am not sure if there is anything we can do. We are truly sorry about this.
To look for your blog posts you can search google for them. Paste http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:blogs.bootsnall.com/XXXX/ into a web browser, where XXXX is your blogname. You should see most (if not all) of your entries listed and cached. You can copy and paste the text into a new entry and back-date it.
You can find more resources and ask for help on this message board thread.
Again, we are very sorry about this inconvenience - let us know if you need any help.
Going forward, we will be backing up every day in triples and in multiple places.
Stay tuned.
Posted by Sean at 6:27 PM
October 31, 2005
Post Entries Directly From Flickr
Post entries directly from www.flickr.com without logging in to WordPress! If you have an account with Flickr, log in on that site and go to "Your Account" and click on "Account Page". Select "Your Blogs" under "Blogging". Set up a new blog and choose WordPress for the supported software. Enter in your blog API endpoint (http://blogs.bootsnall.com/YOUR-BLOG/xmlrpc.php), username (admin) and password.
After you have linked up your blog, go to your pictures and click "blog this" at the top. Write what you want to say, hit publish and viola! You have your entry. Edit your entry or add more text by logging into your blog admin and editing that entry that has just been created for you.
Posted by at 3:56 PM
September 12, 2005
Tagging your Entry: Why do it?
We have made a tonne of improvements to the BootsnAll tagging pages in the past few weeks.
Make sure when you are writing up a new post, or if you have not tagged your previous posts, that you do it. Click on "Manage" from your dashboard to find your posts and you can go back to old posts to add tags.
What are tags? - check that old post out to learn.
Here are some reasons that you should tag your travelblog posts:
1) Easier for other BootsnAll members to find your old posts. Let's say you are in London and you have a bunch of tips or info to share about your trip to London. If you tag your entry(s) with London, your post will show up on our London Tag page.
2) More people/traffic to your travelblog
3) It's easier than making categories if you have some keywords that are appropriate for an article, but most likely not enuff posts to warrant it's own category.
4) It's fun to tag an entry with words that you associate with that post
5) It's dead easy.
Posted by Sean at 11:00 AM
May 9, 2005
Post Password: What is it?
Next to any new or old travelblog post under the "Write" tab, you'll see "post password" and a blank entry box.
The post password is only if you don't want the public to see a post. If you enter a post password you will have to hand out the password to the "select few" who you want to see your post.
Posted by Sean at 3:50 PM
Tags versus Categories: What is the difference?
BootsnAll Travel Tags are for the your blog and the public. All tags from all BootsnAll Travel Blogs will be collected and organized on this page.
Categories are strictly for your Travel Blog. No one else can post to your personal travel blog categories.
Posted by Sean at 3:40 PM
Dashboard: What is it?
The Dashboard is your first screen - aka your blogs' behind-the-scene main page. It contains Travel Blog Help information will be posted as well as some of the most common to do's like:
Post
Manage
Upload Photos
Posted by Sean at 3:37 PM
What are Travel Tags?
You can give your travel blog entries "travel tags", which is like a keyword or group label. Travel Tags help you find posts which have something in common. You can assign as many tags as five tags to each entry, separated by commas.
Posted by Chris at 2:42 PM
Adding images to your post
To add an image to your post: go to the post entry and scroll down to 'upload'. Choose your file, with a title and a description.
When you upload an image, you see a thumbnail version of the image display. Click on the thumbnail once and you will see a variety of options in a small pop-up window.
The first option is "Using thumbnail". You can click on that once and change it to "Using Original". This means your original-sized image will appear in your blog when you click "Send to editor". If you choose "Using thumbnail", you may wish to link to a larger version of your image so people can actually see it better. You can do this on the second line of the options: "Not Linked" means your thumbnail will not be linked to a larger image. "Linked to Image" means your thumbnail will be be a link that readers can click on and see a larger version of the image. "Linked to page" works the same way except the image will appear on a blog page. I recommend this option.
Once you have the options the way you want them, select "Send to editor" and your photo will appear in your blog entry and you can continue to write the blog post as normal.
Posted by Chris at 2:31 PM