SailBlogs FAQ

Getting Started: How Do I...

Create an account? Does it cost anything?

Main article: Registering & Creating A SailBlogs Account

It does not cost anything to register and use SailBlogs, and many features are available to members who have a free account.

Activate my account?

When you registered for membership in SailBlogs, you were required to use a valid email address. An activation link was sent to this address. This ensures that the person registering for the account actually owns the email address, and prevents account fraud.

Look for the registration email and link in this account. Check your spam box as sometimes automated messages get tagged as spam. If you still did not receive a registration key, contact support with the contact us form and we'll get you activated. Be sure to add sailblogs.com to your whitelist of approved domains allowed to send you email.

Add a post to my blog?

Main entry: Blog Posts

The main Blog Posts widow in the Blog Manager displays a list of the posts currently loaded into the blog, ordered by date with the most recent at the top of the list.

Use the Add New Log Entry link to open the Post Editor and add a new entry.

View my blog as a visitor would see it?

The URL for your blog was determined when you registered, based on the directory name you chose. That name is used to build your blog's address, and will always follow this format:

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/yourdirectoryname/

There is also a link you view your blog from the main welcome page of the SailBlogs Administration.

Update the title & description of my blog?

Using the form in the Properties tab of the Blog Manager, you can alter the title, description, email and home links, as well as change the directory name. WARNING: it is not recommended that you change the directory name after you start adding posts. Changing the directory name will change your URL and will affect any site that links to the blog.

See also: Directory name

Change the colors & template of my blog?

In the Blog Manager, choose the Theme & Colors tab, then choose the desired template. After choosing a template, use the Theme Settings to further customize your blog, turn blocks on and off, and other options. Not all options are available for all templates.

Turn on (or off) various side bar blocks of my blog?

In the Blog Manager, choose the Theme & Colors tab, then click on the Theme Settings button. Check boxes are available for the various side bar blocks that are enabled at your membership level.

Turn on the Gallery Links

There are two options available on the Theme Settings page. Go to the Blog Manager, then Theme & Colors tab, then Theme Settings. Look for the "Show Random Gallery Album Block" option and the "Show Gallery Link" options and check them.

Add posts with older dates?

The Post Editor will allow you to add posts with any date and will automatically sort the blog by date, not by the order the posts were added into the system. This makes it easy to backfill a blog with posts that have happened in the past while still keeping proper post order.

Remove a comment?

To remove a comment, first find the post in the main Blog Posts window. Next to the post title is the "talking balloon" icon . Click this icon to open the comments manager.

Next to each comment for that post is an on / off switch. To turn a comment off, click the off button. To turn it back on, click the on button.

Note: You cannot change a comment's text. However, you're not required to display something that you don't want appearing in your blog.

Link to another post within my blog?

If you put a link in a blog post, a new window will open when the user clicks on it. However, if you want to link to another post within your blog, this is kind of annoying. There is a code that will create a link to another post without opening anew window:

[%msgID*link text%b]

Using the above syntax, replace the "msgID" with the ID of the post you want to link to (this is usually seen in the URL or contents as xjMsgID=xxxx), and replace "link text" with what you'd like to see in the blog post. Leave the other parts as they are.

Update my Profile Picture or Information?

Main article: Public Profile

The small image and other profile information that appears on the blog is part of the Public Profile. This information is found in the Account Manager under the Public Profile tab.

Make sure my blog is listed in the Boat Name Listing?

In order for your blog to appear in the Boat Name Listing, you must have you boat's name added to your Public Profile. In addition, you must also have List on Members Page enabled in the blog Properties.

Retrieve a lost password?

If you've forgotten your username or password, access to your account can be reset for you. Use the Lost Password page to request new login credentials. Enter the email address you registered with, and the new login information will be sent to that address after confirming the request.

Send posts in via email?

To email a blog post instead of using the standard web administration, a Premium Membership is required.

After you've upgraded your account, you'll receive email with your subject key and the email address to send send your posts to. This information is also available to you on the Properties page of the Blog Manager.

Refer to Using SailBlogs Remote for additional information about posting via email.

Add HTML to a blog post?

Main entry: HTML in blog posts

Only a very limited set of formatting tags can be used in a blog post. Refer to the main article for specific tags allowed.

Notify my friends and family by email that I've added a new post?

Via Facebook (Main entry: Connecting SailBlogs to Facebook)

If you are a Facebook user, add the SailBlogsLink application to connect your sailblog to your Facebook account. New blog posts will automatically be added to your wall.

RSS Feed (Main entry: RSS Feed)

Premium members have the option (turned on by default) of creating an RSS feed of their blog. This RSS feed in turn can be subscribe to by blog visitors using a variety of readers or by email. Refer to the main entry for additional details.

Cancel My Automatic Renewal Payment

If you are a SailBlogs Premium member, your account will automatically renew at the end of the term and send payment from your Paypal account to SailBlogs. To cancel this process, follow these instructions:

• Log in to your PayPal account.
• Click Profile at the top of the page.
• Click My Money in the left column.
• Click Update in the My Preapproved Payments section.
• Click the webExpeditions, LLC link in the list to view the SailBlogs agreement.
• Click Cancel or Cancel automatic billing and follow the instructions.

More information is available at the Paypal Help Center

Image and Video

HELP! I can't add photos to my blog posts

If images will not post to your blog, but it will take the text and it "appears to work" when you submit the form, here are some possibilities:

• Make sure you have short file names (i.e. less than 70 characters).
• make sure the file name of the image does not have spacial characters - spaces, !@#$%^*&() , etc.
• Sometimes the internet provider prevents file uploads through web pages, esp if it is a public hotspot or internet cafe
• The local internet provider might be limiting the size of files that get uploaded, so maybe reducing the file prior to uploading will allow it to go though.
• JPG files will be scaled automatically by the server, GIF files will not. If it is a GIF file, it must be smaller than image size for your blog. This is listed in the Theme Settings page.
• Very large image files could 'time out' during upload, if you're loading very large images (i.e. more than 4MB), try scaling them down first (see pre-processing images for additional information).

If it is the local ISP that is blocking file uploads, most of the time you can still attach files to email posts and they'll go out. If you have a Premium Membership, you could email your post with the photo attached and have it appear on the blog.

Add a YouTube video

Main Entry: Adding a YouTube video to a Post

A YouTube video can be added to a post by using this special SailBlogs tag in your blog post:

[%youtube*z9CS2fspk-8%v]

Where z9CS2fspk-8 is the code of the video clip.

Adding a Quicktime (.mov) or AVI video clip

Direct uploading of video files is not supported. Instead, load your videos to YouTube or Vimeo and embed the video into the blog post from there.

Is there a file size limit?

Yes. Image uploads cannot exceed 4MB per file, video clips cannot exceed 6MB, and there is an 18MB limit to the total of all files uploaded together at one time (i.e. in the SailBlogs Gallery where multiple images can be uploaded together). However, SailBlogs will process any image down to proper web scale, so to improve performance and speed upload times it is recommended to pre-scale images before uploading.

Advanced Blog Usage

Adding Multiple Images Per Post

Main entry: Multiple Images Per Post

Additional images can be added to a post via standard HTML image syntax.

Q: Can the 'backup' of a blog be used to view the blog when off-line?

No. When you create an backup of your sailing blog using the backup tool, you are simply getting back everything that you've uploaded to the sailblogs server. The backup creates a single text file with all your blog posts, and compresses it into a zip file.

All the HTML and web pages for the blogs are created "on-the-fly" when someone views your blog. The actual data lives in a database.

Q: is it possible to have to posts go in forward order...

... i.e. oldest on top, rather than have the latest on top? We've finished our voyage and won't be adding new entries.

A: Not at this time. While (generally speaking) "blog" is usually synonomous with "journal", this is one place where a blog is different from a traditional journal. A blog is meant to be an on-going thing, a living site as opposed to an archive. In other words, visitors are hoping for (or expecting) new entries to be posted. So when they come to your page, they're looking to get the latest information on top.

This question comes up occasionally. In the past we have considered adding the option of allowing the journal owner to reverse the order of the journal entries. However, the "blog style" is becomming so commonly accepted that we've not felt the option to be truly necessary.

Q: is it possible to print a hard copy of my blog?

There is no direct method for creating a hard copy of a blog. Most blogs get too long for efficient printing, and usually printed documents are created in "forward order" (see above). In addition, the templates are not designed for printing, but rather on-screen viewing. If you'd like to manually build a document for printing, you can create a backup of the blog (in the admin: Blog Manager->Backup Tab), which puts all the text into a single text file. From there you can put it into a word processing or desktop publishing program and format it as you like.

Remote Posting: Blog via Email

Main Entry: Using SailBlogs Remote

Account Requirements

In order to submit blog entries and images via email a Premium Membership is required.

Email Address and Subject Key

Posts need to be submitted to a specific email address and have a specific subject key. When you upgraded your account, this information was emailed to the account holder. If you don't have this email, the information is also available on your blog properties page in the Blog Manager.

XPlot Mapping

HELP! My Map Is Showing The Wrong Position

If your map is showing the wrong position, the most likely cause is invalid or improperly formatted latitude & longitude data. Refer to Latitude & Longitude Format used by SailBlogs. Next, make sure the location you are expecting is, in fact, the current position. Refer to the Positions Tab in the XPlot Manager for a list of all enabled positions and their dates. The most recent position will show with the cross.

Advanced Configuration

How do I add a visit counter?

Main entry: visit counter

Premium members can add a visit counter via a custom side bar block or custom footer. Free members cannot add a counter.