For those who were wondering just what the heck a Trail Calendar is anyway, we’ve created a short video to introduce the basics of the website. This video describes the basic goals and functions of the website and demonstrates a couple of techniques for using the site. The video was posted on YouTube and can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wR3fsdB68M&layer_token=f66d0b51860bf73f.
Inserting Links in Descriptions
•September 10, 2010 • Leave a CommentIf needed, it’s possible to insert a link into your activity description.
When you post an activity on Trail Calendar, the item that holds the most information is the activity description, where you can enter as much text as you need. Although you cannot insert HTML formatting in the description, you can easily create HTML links using double square brackets ([[]]).
For example, to create a link, you could type [[http://www.trailcalendar.com]]. If you want the displayed text to be different from the link, you could do that too by typing [[Trail Calendar][http://www.trailcalendar.com]]. This second example would show “Trail Calendar”, but would have a link to http://www.trailcalendar.com.
Please do not abuse links. Trail Calendar is vigilant about protecting the intended purpose of the site and has a strict policy against posting activities that are really just advertisements or an attempt to gain links to another site. But if the link helps people in your community come together for real activities, then please feel free to add them.
Comment Notifications
•September 1, 2010 • Leave a CommentWe’ve just added a new feature that we feel was sorely missing: the ability to be notified by email when someone comments on an activity.
Whenever you post an activity, or post a comment on an activity, there is now a check box that indicates if you want to be notified when someone else posts a comment on that same activity. Notifications are sent by email.
This feature was needed because it was easy to post an activity or comment and then not be aware that someone had commented on your post or maybe even asked you a question. With this new feature, you can choose to be notified and not miss any more comments directed at you.
This option is on by default. Of course, we don’t want to send unwanted emails to our users. Not only can you uncheck this option but, if you do, we store that information in a web cookie so that the option will default to unchecked the next time you post something.
Filter Activities by Category
•August 15, 2010 • Leave a CommentTrail Calendar has added a new feature that allows you to easily filter which activities are displayed in your calendar.
As the number of activities listed on Trail Calendar grows, it may become a little more difficult to find those activities that are of interest to you. For example, you may be interested in only hiking and snowshoeing activities. This new feature allows you to select the categories of interest.
On the home page, just below the calendar, is a box with a plus sign next to the word Categories. Click the box or word to display the Category Filter Panel. This panel displays all the categories of activities with a check box next to each category. Simply check the categories you are interested in and click Update. Now only those activities within the checked categories will appear in the calendar.
Your selections are stored by your browser in a cookie so that the filter will remain active the next time you visit the site. You can choose to change which activities are displayed at any time.
Import Activity Feeds
•August 1, 2010 • Leave a CommentWe’ve added a new feature on Trail Calendar to import activities from external feeds. Trail Calendar members who have activities listed on their own website can automate the process of having those same activities listed on Trail Calendar. Once this is set up, the activities listed on your site will automatically appear on the Trail Calendar website with no additional effort on your part.
In order to accomplish this, your website must be able to create a data “feed” that contains details about your activities. Unlike most web pages that sit on the server until their content is requested, a data feed is normally created dymanically at the time of the request. This way, the data is guaranteed to always contain the latest information from your activity data (normally stored in a database). To work correctly, the feed must be in a specific format, which is described in detail at http://www.trailcalendar.com/Help/Feeds.aspx.
To establish an activity feed, first modify your website to generate the feed using the documentation at the link referenced above. Then log into your Trail Calendar account. Near the top, right of the page, click the My Account link, and then scroll down to where it says My Activity Feeds. Click the small link to the right that says Add Feed and fill out the form on the next page. Note that one of the fields is the feed URL. This is the URL to your site that will return the contents of the feed. Trail Calendar will then periodically poll that URL and your activities will appear on our site.
Establishing a feed like this does require a bit of programming on your end. But then it’s all automatic once it’s set up. It’s a great way to allow even more people to learn about and join in your site’s activities.
First Trail Calendar Blog
•July 10, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis blog is for posting information about Trail Calendar, a free community website for planning hiking, cycling, snowshoeing, and other outdoor activities with like-minded people in your area.
Trail Calendar is new. Only with the help of outdoor enthusiasts like you can we reach our goal of building communities of outdoor enthusiasts across the country, and even other countries. If you love the outdoors, please get involved by posting your activities on the Trail Calendar website and telling your friends to do the same.
Trail Calendar now has the full ability to track users, activities, comments and pictures. Features planned for the future include groups, a trail database, and much more.
If you want to join friends on the trail, please visit the Trail Calendar website. And if you want to keep up on the latest changes to the website, please visit this blog.
