SX1Blog User Manual

SX1Blog Manual (49k) User Manual as PDF

SX1Blog User Manual

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Installation
2.1 Installation requirements
2.2 Installation from the Internet

3. Setup
3.1 User Properties
3.2 Site Properties
3.3 Program Properties

4. Using SX1Blog
4.1 Making a new post
4.2 Managing saved posts
4.3 Taking pictures with the camera
4.4 Managing saved pictures
4.5 Managing the user dictionary
4.6 Using html tags in the editor

5. Limitations

6. Feedback

7. Disclaimer

1. Introduction

Blogging is becoming ever more popular. A growing number of websites offer blogspace to users and new blog features are invented at a steady pace. Blogs can be edited with a web browser or with special client applications that run on the user's desktop or notebook computer. So you need a computer with internet access – and what if you're on the go?

Introducing SX1Blog: A blog client that runs on your mobile phone. It lets you write texts in a comfortable way, upload these texts to your blog server and modify them later. And SX1Blog lets you take full advantage of your mobile phone's built-in camera by enabling you to take pictures directly from within the program, upload them and insert them into your posts.

2. Installation

2.1 Requirements

The following requirements have to be met to use SX1Blog:

1. Siemens SX1 smartphone

2. A minimum of 100kB free phone or card memory (1 MB recommended)

3. A compatible blog account. Tested blog providers / blog servers are:
   Blogger.com, TypePad.com or your own installation of MovableType, B2, Roller or Nucleus.
   SX1Blog will work with any blog server that offers the BloggerAPI and MetaWeblogAPI XML-RPC interfaces. If in doubt, ask the administrator or developer of the system.

If you don't have a blog account yet, you can still go ahead and start using the program with the default setup, which lets you post to the SX1Blog-Demo blog on blogplanet.net (http://www.blogplanet.net/SX1Blog-Demo).

2.2 Installation

1. Start the Internet browser
   

2. Add a new bookmark (Options, Add bookmark). For the name, enter 'SX1Blog', for the address 'http://www.blogplanet.net/files/SX1Blog.jad' (without the ' ' ). Press Back and Yes to save.
   

3. Select the new SX1Blog bookmark and press the joystick to load it. Allow the phone to make the connection if you're asked. Answer Yes when you are asked if you want to download and install the program and follow any further instructions.
   

3. Setup

The first time you start the program, you should change the program settings according to your preferences. If you don't have a blog account yet, you can leave the user and site presets and post to the SX1Blog-Demo blog at http://www.blogplanet.net/SX1Blog-Demo.

The settings are divided into three categories, User, Site and Program Properties:

3.1 User Properties

Notes:

You can find out your blog id by looking at the URL that shows in your web browswer while editing your blog. Look for "id=", the number behind that is usually your blog id.

Choosing a picture size larger than the recommended 160x120 pixels will only result in increased picture size. The quality will not change since the phone apparently only enlarges the 160x120 picture to the resolution you set. Setting the picture format to PNG will result in very large files, which is usually not worth the slightly better quality.

3.2 Site Properties

Note:

Enable Picture Support when you are posting to a TypePad blog or one than runs on MovableType or Nucleus or you are sure your server supports the MetaWeblogAPI.

3.3 Program Properties

4. Using SX1Blog

4.1 Making a new post

1. Choose "New Post" in the main menu.

2. Enter your text using the keypad.

   Use the #-button to toggle T9/all small/all capitals/... just like you're used to.

   Press the *-button to insert special characters.

   Use the Options menu to insert a line break, text formatting options, user defined words from the dictionary and links to pictures.

3. When you are done editing your post, press OK.

   You can now send the post immediately, only save it for later or discard the post.

4.2 Managing saved posts

• Choose "Saved Posts" from the main menu.

• The list of all saved posts is shown, in chronological order, newest on top. The ball at the beginning of each line represents the status of that post, green means sent, red means unsent. Next to the ball are date and time of the post and the first couple of characters of the post's text.

• Selecting an entry in the list and clicking the joystick or chosing "Edit" from the Options menu loads that text in the editor and lets you modify it.

• Chosing "Send" from the Options menu will send the selected post to the server.

• Chosing "Delete Local" will delete the post from the phone's memory.

• Chosing "Delete Remote" will delete the post from the server.

4.3 Taking pictures with the camera

1. Start the camera by chosing "Camera" from the main menu.

2. Find your motive and click the joystick or chose "Capture" from the Options menu to take the picture.

3. The picture is shown on the screen. You can now select "Save" from the Options menu to save the picture or "Send and save" to upload it directly to the server. A picture needs to be uploaded before it can be inserted into a post.

4.4 Managing saved pictures

• Choose "Picture Gallery" from the main menu

• The list of all save pictures is shown, in chronological order, newest on top. The ball at the beginning of each line shows whether that picture has been uploaded or not. It is followed by date and time of the picture and the first characters of the URL at which the picture can be found. If the picture is not uploaded yet, "local" will be shown instead of the URL.

• Selecting an entry in the list and clicking the joystick or chosing "Show" from the Options menu loads that picture and shows it.A ticker will scroll the URL and size of the picture at the top of the screen.

• Chosing "Send" from the Options menu will send the selected picture to the server.

• Chosing "Delete" will delete the picture from the phone's memory.

4.5 Managing words in the user dictionary

1. Choose "User Dictionary" from the main menu.

2. All entries are shown in alphabetical order

3. Clicking with the joystick or chosing "New Entry" from the Options menu will let you make a new entry in the dictionary. All characters can be used in a dictionary entry but the length is limited to 128 characters. Click with the joystick or chose "Save" from the Options menu to save the entry or chose "Cancel" to discard.

4. Chosing "Delete" will delete the selected entry from the dictionary.

4.6 Using html tags in the editor

You can use any html formatting in the editor, it will be passed to the server and the web browser will render the text accordingly. You can store your own frequently used html tags in the user dictionary and access them from within the editor.

Support for two frequently used formatting options, bold and italic, is already built into the editor. If you want some bold text in your post, chose "bold" from the Options menu while editing the text. The program will insert <b> into your text at the current cursor position. This is the opening tag for bold and all text from here until the closing tag will be formatted as bold text on the web page. Now write your text and chose the "! bold" command from the menu to close the bold tag. </b> will be inserted into the text.

The same works for italic text. Use the corresponding "italic" and "! italic" commands from the Options menu.

5. Limitations

There are some known limitations to the functions of the program:

1. The picture quality seems very poor when sizes 320x240 and 640x480 are used. This is caused by the implementation of the phone's KVM. Apparently the picture is taken in 160x120 resolution and then enlarged.

2. Out of memory conditions might occur. This is due to the limited memory available to the program and tends to happen especially when larger picture sizes are used.

3. Pictures saved in the phone's memory that were taken with the standard phone camera application cannot be accessed from inside the program due to Java(tm) security restrictions.

4. The maximum length of a post is approximately 1024 characters.

6. Feedback

Please send your questions and suggestions to support@blogplanet.net
News about the program, a FAQ and new versions are available at http://www.blogplanet.net

7. Disclaimer

The user acknowledges that the author of the software makes no warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied, statutory or otherwise, with respect to the product including, but not limited to, the implied warranties or conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose and that the user assumes the entire risk as to the use and performance of the product. In no event shall the author be liable to the user or any other person for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or incidental damages (including without limitation, damages for loss of revenues or profits, business interruption, loss of business information, and the like) arising out of the use or inability to use the product, including any viruses or other problems of any nature or kind whatsoever, all of which such risks the user voluntarily assumes.