We’ll be putting a library of these videos up shortly as others are contributing with a wide variety of topics.

Thanks Spencer…

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR BLOG LAYOUT?
1) Log into your admin page (at www.worldkayakblogs.com/wp-admin).
2) Click on the Presentation link above in the light blue menu.
3) You will be brought to the ‘Themes’ page by default.  The current them you have is the first one you see at the top on its own.  Below that, you will see the 110+ themes we have available for you to use.
4) Click on the theme thumbnail and that theme will be instantly assigned to your blog after a few seconds of processing. 
5) Click View Site to see the final results.

Find your own…
For your added flexibility, for $25 we can add any compatible WordPress theme you find on the web.  Search Google etc. for “WordPress Themes” and you will find thousands of themes out there.  Keep in mind some won’t work, but most will.  Send the link to me at james @ worldkayak.com (take out spaces in this email) and I’ll put it up for you.

Enjoy, send us any and all comments. 

I’ll be adding a video tour of how to change your presentation shortly.

James.

In addition, Worldkayakblogs.com admin tools now include NextGen Photo Gallery tools.  This allows users to create as many galleries as they want, drop full galleries into posts and create a full gallery sections and organize photos into albums etc.  Bloggers can start this by accessing the Plugin’s section of their admin tool and clicking on the Activate link next to the NextGen photo tool.

With these two major feature improvements, the question remains… why user Blogger? 

Custom layout/design services
As a fundraising exercise, World Kayak also provides custom blog development services.  Our pricing ranges from $300 to $500 for the development of custom blogspots, addition of logos to full layout setups.

Call World Kayak at 613-256-0598 for more information.

Original post by Gary Wilson and software by Elliott Back

Coming soon:
New to this blogspot will be a bunch of key categorizing changes. The regional post and blogger management system will be upgraded to a more robust and automated system. The end result will be a more accurate way for us to categorize the bloggers to specific regions as well as posts. We will also be able to start ‘tagging’ subject matter, linking posts of similar topic like trip reports, event coverage, tips and tricks and much more. These tags and categories will allow us to bring your posts through to the www.worldkayak.com portal to specific regions so visitors there can get a teaser of the social interaction going on in each region, alongside the news and events. The mainscreen will then be transformed into sectors of discussion … alongside the traditional list of recent posts you will see lists of recent posts regarding certain subjects. You will have feature blogs and much more.

Widgets and plugins will be added for some cooool stuff. We will be allowing you to cross post to places like Facebook and Myspace. We’ll be allowing you to add a growing number of cool toys to your pages, games, neat info, friend lists etc.

Custom layouts!
At the end of November, you will have access to a growing number of web site layout options. Just like blogger and myspace, you will be able to choose from a variety of colors, layout themes, font styles etc. This will give you the power to manage your own identity and content to unlimited capacity.

Some cool stuff you already can do:
In the meantime, we have many things to work with now. Our list of plug ins is getting longer and they are all available to you to use on your own blogspots:

Plugins - go to the plug ins link in your administrator and you will see plug ins that we have made available to you. Activate those you want to use. Typically the new plugin will create a new admin function. Here are some cool ones available now:

Akismet and Bad Behavior - Anti-SPAMare both plug ins that help control spam, both emails you get as well as comment posts to your blog. Akismet involves a bit of a registration with the folks at Word Press, but it will help battle the spam… strongly recommended!

WP-Autoblog - This allows you to bring blog posts from another blogspot to this one… to eliminate double posting. Activate it, go to Options and the WP-autoblog tab. On the left you will see a field. Paste in your RSS feed address. To get the RSS feed address, go to your other blog, click on the Subscribe to link or the little RSS/XML link and you’ll get the page you want. Copy the web address and paste it in your wp-autoblog screen.

Widgets - presentation layout!
Widgets are items that you can place on your blogspot layout. Could be something as simple as a Text widget that simply creates a box of text on your screen, or a complex Widgetbox application. Go to the Presentation tab then click on the Sidebar Widget submenu. You will see a screen showing your 1 or 2 columns (you choose how many columns you want under Blog Presentation). Drag any of the widgets you see below onto either of your columns. If the widget has an icon on the right, click that and enter the detail or select the options you want. We have the following cool widgets as examples:

About me: creates a simple text box where you can throw up a description and photo of yourself.

Calendar - shows a calendar that will highlight the days on which you’ve posted.

Text widget - select how many text boxes you want on your layout below. If you choose 3, you will then see 3 text box widgets appear on your widget list at the bottom. Drag each text box onto your layout, click on the icon to the right and enter your title and text.

Widgetbox - This is a community widget development platform. IE. there are thousands of cool widgets that you can choose from. Best thing to do is drag it onto the layout, double-click on the icon to the right and watch the training video. Go to the site via the link they provide and you’ll see a ton of cool gimmicky things for your blog. All you’re really doing is copying a widget ID code into the widget and voila. This is a bit complex, but the video tells all!!!

More widgets and fun to come! Keep an eye on the site and tell your buddies!

Original post by support and software by Elliott Back

For the past month, we have simply been planning for the next phase.  That phase will be launched within a month, opening with the announcement of a formal team assigned the task of carrying this initiative forward on strategic and deliverable levels.  What this means is that we are working on this site as well as some exciting new programs that focus the same type of energy at other sectors of our sport.

What this means to this and the other sites?
We will be primarily focusing on bringing all three sites together more with shared news, blogs, photos and videos.  We will then be launching more member applications/activities via these sites… stuff that will see bloggers interacting more in support of their paddling regions etc.  This will also mean widgits and cool new bells and whistles… along with an increase in direct support for those new to this blogging and wiki society.  No fear, you will have a good bit of support for all this fun and we will ensure you all get to enjoy this community experience.

Our second principal focus will be taking us on a more Global journey.  A journey that will see the inclusion of as many paddling regions outside of North America as possible.  Again, this pilot phase has had to be one that allowed for the testing and implementation of the tools that will motor this project to success… test completed, let us iron out the kinks and off we go!

In the meantime, I’d like to thank all those spearheading and working on this.  EJ, Colin (Kemp) and the folks at Jackson Kayaks are why this place exists and are both the seed and water that allows this initiative to grow.  I would also like to thank the pioneers of these three sites, the 26 + ambassadors who are actively posting news, events, blogs, rivers etc to the various sites. 

From here on in, regular WK Initiative news will be posted here and on the worldkayak.com web site.  Within the next week or so, we start with some exciting announcements and details that will basically give you much of the scoop.

Till then, thanks for hanging with us.  Tell all your friends, get signed up… keep the momentum going!

cheers

James.

We will be implementing changes to avoid these intrusions early next week.

In the meantime, please forgive the intrusions that happen occasionally by these kind folk.\

James

We have added the ability to post in your address information.  Our current program is a kind donation of 300 AW memberships for the first bloggers we have.  We are at just under 300 now, so all of you reading this have won one.  So… er… I need to mail it somewhere. 

Please go to your My Profile page in the Admin and add your address.

We will also be launching into a bunch of activities that include awards programs from donating manufacturers etc.  Lots of stuff coming down the pipeline.

Please update your profile to be included.

Cheers

James

Just thought I would let you know that we have added a whole wack of new international regions to both the registration screen and the categories.  These are important as they will automatically post your blogs to the proper region and group us in distinct communities.  Makes it easier for visitors to simply click on a region’s name and get all bloggers and posts per that region.

Let me know if you feel I should add more regions… this is forever a work in progress…

 cheers,

 James.

Just noted that many of you are not assigning any categories to your posts.  When writing a blog post, you will see a Categories list on the right hand side.  These categories allow visitors to quickly find your blog posts under a wide variety of categories.  It also allows all of us to see what region you are from and/or blogging about. 

We have added some more international regions to the blog categories… if we are missing any you feel should be there, let us know or add your own.

Some categories to note:

- Your region:  keep checking off your region so that your blog is listed under it.

- News and Events:  Check these off to highlight events all should know about

- Photos and Videos:  If you have photos or videos in your post, let us know… many like to see video blogs and we will be linking to these two key categories from our www.worldkayak.com site.

Keep posting … we have nearly 500 blogging now… in just 4 days.

First off, congrats!  I like this community for this very reason. 

Secondly, all of you can get support from me via email.  Blogging is an exciting way to get your personality on the web for all to see.  Now we get to play the Web 2.0 games and bring the community front and center.  To do this, we start writing as a community, share blogs, point to other posts, start conversations and off we go.  On our side, we’ll start implementing some fun new blogging activities for you all to participate in together… blog rally’s, contests etc.  Let us know how we can help.

I will also be posting cool videos for you to watch on how to manage your own blog.  Some of them can be found at the How to Blog link… check it out… there are video walkthru’s of the blogging tools already there…

Keep up the excitement!

 James.