Random Bytes...by Ross Rader :: Not Random Bytes

Thursday, June 5

[11:43PM EDT]

Rain isn't that exciting. At least not as exciting as the fact that I've uploaded this entire posted via w.bloggar. What's so exciting about that you say? Well, w.bloggar requires FTP access to post images to the remote webserver where the blog lives. But because Blogware is completely driven from a database it didn't make sense to provide FTP access to the file system. So we decided to let you FTP directly into the DB.

Which means that I can now post pictures via w.bloggar directly to my blog.

That sounds doubleplusgood to me. C | T (9) | #

Tuesday, June 3

[02:13PM EDT] I've changed the output of a few of the template variables - they should now render properly via RSS as well.

I think.

C | T (396) | #

[02:12PM EDT] I've changed the output of a few of the template variables - they should now render properly via RSS as well.

I think.
{{sys.sidesmiley}} C | T (4) | #

Saturday, May 31

[08:45AM EDT] I installed a new template series - "Spaghetti Western" - you're lookin' at it (if you're actually reading this at my blog and not via some RSS feed somewhere ;)

Guile did it.

You can access them via your control panel. Have fun, I'm going to get my bicycle tuned up. C | T (52) | #

Friday, May 30

[09:34AM EDT] At the request of a small, but growing, contingent of Wing Fans (me), I've created a new blogsticker system variable.

Simply add {{sys.wingfan}} to any post and the sticker will show up. C | T (72) | #

Monday, May 26

[11:36PM EDT] A blogroll is a list of links to blogs that you want your readers to visit for one reason or another (hopefully because you think that the links are worthy of sharing!)

Blogware makes it easy to include a list of links on your page - no HTML required!

A few easy steps.

Log into your Blogware control panel
Click on the "Blogrolls" link in the left hand navigation panel.
Click on "Add Blogroll" at the top of the page in the main content section (with the white background). It can be hard to see this link - we need to make it more eye-catching.
Choose a one-word, no special characters, name for your blogroll. You can use "blogroll" or "links" if you want. Try and choose something short and memorable. Type your choice into the form field labelled "Name".
Choose a name for your blogroll that you would like to use to describe your list of links to visitors to your blogware. This will be used as the header for your list of links. Type this choice into the "Label" field.
Choose a sort order for your links from the drop down list.
Enter in a description of your blogroll in the "Description" form field. "Hopefully you find these links useful" is appropriate - you can use as many or as few characters as you want. This is an optional step.
When you've completed this first set of steps, click on the "Create Blogroll" button.

Congrats - you've created an empty blogroll! Now you have to add some links for your visitors to click on!

You should now have a screen in front of you that includes the information that you just entered, as well as a new section labelled "URLS". This is where you add your links (we're almost done).

In the "Title" field, enter in the name of the site that you wish to link to. This is usually the name of the home page that you are linking to (i.e. "The Blogware Home Page"), or a colloquial name for a particular resource (i.e. "My Stuff")
In the URL field, enter in the complete web address (URL) that you wish to link to. You may cut and paste directly from your browser into this field. Note that if this is not a properly formatted address an error will occur.
The other two fields are optional. If you don't know what they mean, SKIP THEM!
Second last step - click the "Add Now" button to save your link.
Wash rinse and repeat until you have created all of the links that you want. When you are done, proceed to the last step.

LAST STEP!!!

This is the easiest one. Click on the "Blogrolls" link in the left hand navigation pane of your control panel and choose the Blogroll that you just created as your default Blogroll. Once you've picked one, click the "Update Now" button.

You're done!!!

When you next visit your Blogware, you should have a shiny new blogroll on your front page. If you don't just hit "Refresh" in your browser to update your cache. If it still doesn't work, drop me a note! C | T (31) | #

Sunday, May 25

[01:11PM EDT] I've uploaded a new template series made by Guile called "Elegance" and uploaded a fix to Steel Grey - All available from your Template Manager in the control panel.

Both of these were sent to me a few weeks back :( - I'll get my act together sooner or later. C | T (28) | #

[01:07PM EDT] I've added a few new Global Template Variables that you can toss anywhere in your blog posts or templates.

{{sys.ross}} -

{{sys.bwpv1}} -

{{sys.bwpv2}} -

{{sys.sidesmiley}} -

The Blogware stickers were made using a really cool button maker that is making the rounds.

The smiley is actually a QBullet - be sure to check their terms of use to make sure that you are using it properly.

I've sent the good folks at Matterhorn a message explaining to them what I want to use these for - if the response is positive, I will upload the entire collection as GTVs... C | T (318) | #

Saturday, May 24

[11:31PM EDT] With bubble control in the picture, readers will have to start dealing with a less than flat blog space - moving back to a much more hierarchical structure where everything *isn't* always on the main page.

I'm beginning to see some really great applications coming together that will really start to give Elliot's "Readers Movement" some more cred, muscle and capability within blogdom - much of it kickstarted or facilitated by blogware. Neat stuff. You'll definitely see some more on this at some point.

Vivent longtemps le mouvement de lecteurs!¹

¹Ummm...yeah, that was via babelfish... C (2) | T (88) | #

[11:38AM EDT] Lots of steps here - but only when you are starting from scratch. The results are worth it - especially if you take a lot of pictures and want to share them with your friends and family.

There are two broad steps for creating a photoblog. First is to create a photoalbum to hold your pictures, and the second is to actually upload and describe the pictures that you want to share.

Login to blogware - if you've forgotten, click here (but don't forget to come back and read the rest of instructions - or print them)
Click "Manage Categories" on the right hand side.
Click "Create new", also on the right hand side.
From the drop down menu, select "Photo Album"
In the "Name" field, type a short memorable word that the system will use to describe your new photo-album. This "Name" is for machines, so it shouldn't include any spaces, special characters like "#" or "_" and should look good in your URL.
In the "Label" field, type a short memorable public label for this category. This is for people to see and use, so it can include spaces, use more than one word and include special characters.
Click on "Save Changes".

You've just created a photoalbum (yay!).

Next steps is to put some pictures into your new photoblog.

These steps are going to get easier, but for now;

Click on "Manage Categories" in the right hand navigation panel.
Click on the name of the new photoalbum that you just created - also in the right hand navigation.
Click on the "Browse" button and select the picture that you wish to upload to your album.
In the "Save As" Field, give your photo a name and file extension. For instance "leaves.jpg" or "birthday.gif".
Click "Upload Now"
Wait for the file to completely upload - your screen will automatically reload once this happens. If you are uploading a large picture, this may take a few minutes - be patient and don't hit refresh or "Upload Now" multiple times. Its tempting, don't do it.
The new page will include a resized version of the picture that you just uploaded and a few fields that allow you to make comments about the picture using the same editor that you use for all of your blog posts.
Scroll down and enter a title for the photograph into the "Title" field.
In the "Body" field, enter in as many comments as you wish to make about the photo. Don't worry, you have lots of space - these comments will be used on a page of their own, so you won't fill up the screen with text and push the pictures off ;)
Make sure that the "Post Status" drop down menu is set to "Publish" and then click the "Publish/Save" button.

That's it! If you encountered no errors, you should be able to visit your blog, select the photoalbum that you create and view the pictures that you uploaded.

There are a ton of other options and features that we didn't touch on, like batch uploads, but these will become self-apparent to you as you use the system - and our documentation gets better.

In the meantime, drop me a note if you have any questions. C (4) | T (45) | #