WIP: CKA Blogs!

I have talked in the past about offering blogs on the site, I wasn't sure if I would, I went back and forth about it, tried some things. The site has always had the journal system www.canadaka.net/journal but was not used much, because it isn't really promoted or linked in many spots. Plus the journal does not have the standard blog things like trackbacks, rss feeds ext.

Well today I ramdomly decided I was going to work on CKA Blogs and actualy do it!

The first crude version is done, people can start making blogs now!

There is still much to do, but the basic functions are there. Its mostly cosmetic things to do and intigrating more into the rest of the site.

You will see a new menu item on the top forum menu "Blogs" which has a dropdown to different blog options. To start your own blog click the "Blog Control" link and follow the steps from there.

I have my own blog started for testing, feel free to check it out too see what the default theme will look like and feel free to try commenting.
Canadaka's Blog

There is only one template made so far, but I will probably make some more, also if someone wants I can give them the template files and they could make there own custom template.

But the system also has the ability for me to grant specific members the ability to create custom templates. Basically you copy and paste html into a form to change the layout. But anyone can change colors and some other things from the basic blog control panel.

At the bottom of the forum index, you can see the most recent updated forums (above upcoming birthdays). and under each posters post, beside there email, msn, profile links is a imagelink to there blog, if they have one.

I hope people might use this, some have been posting in the journal system, I will soon take that down as the new blog system will replace it. Any feedback is welcome.

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Below I am going to list all the thing I have yet to do for the blog system (so I dont forget) (will highlight blue when done)

short url to blog (example http://username.canadaka.net

in forums posters avatar indicate if they have a new blog entry

add blog info to users profile page, list recent entrees

on blog show forum medals

show some more info from site profile on blog, like personal picture

possibly make shoutbox ajax style so the page doens't have to be refreshed to post to it.

pagetitles

fix blog comments page to look more like forums, poster popup mousover details

possibly a block or a space at the bottom show a list of forum topics blog owner has most recently made or posted in.

this is the big thing I wanna do last, will take awhile. the ability when posting a CKA blog entry to also have it post on other blog services if you have them.

thinking of more things...

Heya Canadaka, I'm giving the blog thing a shot... mostly for my own personal records, but it'll remind me to keep it up to date when it's here... someone might even want to read it.

What's a template fle, and what would be involved in modifying it?

Thanks

I'll give it a shot, but prolly won't update too much....How do I register for one and has the whole thing been troubleshooted?

P.S. Can I post links and banners to other sites on my blog?

Neato. I think I'll like this feature. 'Course my blog thing probably won't be looked at very often by anyone other than myself. :wink:

the template files are just a bunch of html and css files.
for advanced uses, I would alow them to make there own complete template.

For everyone else, when you make your blog, after you can modify certain colours and such. Not all is functional yet.

I havn't had time to work on the blog thing since posting about it. Its operational but still a WIP.

Also if you request it, I can grant users the ability to make there own custom headers and footers, this is almost like there own template, but easier to manage.

With this new blog system it is promoted in more places on the site, so your blog might get more attention. Like the weblog icon under each of your posts in the forum, and the most recently updated blogs on the forum index. if you want to try out being an advanced blog user, PM me.

also feel free to post and feedback and suggestions. I already notice that the default background colour after a new blog is made is wrong, should be white not black.

I like mine black... :evil:

I dont see yours? Well the problem is, its not setup for black yet, the logo is white and the main block of the blog still stays a black background. I will probably work on the colours tonight.

Something else to note, is that on the blogs, there is no advertisments.

The colour adjustment options don't seem to work. Well, some of them do, but I can't seem to change the entry background colour, for example.

No biggie, though.

Also, do we get email notification on comments made? That's a feature I'd like, if it's possible.

is there a way to get blogs from myspace on to here? i don't want to be blogging in two different places...

GAH!!!!!! EVIL MYSPACE!!!!!!! SMASH!!!! RRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

well this is kinda like a ckaspace. myspace is just really a blog network.

it is one of the features i have planned, as I mentioned in my first post. The ability to post your blog to other blog sites.

I have tested this with livejournal a lon time ago and got it working, but havn't tried myspace. Basically I didn't want to pour time into until I knew people would use it.

I know not all the color settings work right now, going to work on that tonight probably.

This is awesome. I have a livejournal, which I regularily write in, so this would be cool!!

ok to demonstrate that all of the blog control options for font and colour customization are now working, I made my blog look like a horrid purple people eater: www.canadaka.net/blog/canadaka

I also notice Blue_Nose played around with his colours, now you can actualy see tha changes you make, hehe
www.canadaka.net/blog/Blue_Nose

*update*

I started some basic url rewriting, to make the URL to users weblogs shorter and much easier to remember. (www.canadaka.net/blog/username)