VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:32 pm**

Hi everyone:

The website now has some RSS news feeds available. What is RSS? It's stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and it is a way to get updates from websites that have frequently changing content...like BWD. You can have use a News Reader to retrieve the news feeds for you and tell you when new content is available. That way you don't have to keep checking for updates on the home page.

The main RSS feed page is here: http://www.bigwavedave.ca/rss.htm
and can also be found through the HOME pulldown menu. There are 8 feeds available:

- the latest message board posts;
- the latest forum posts;
- the latest photo gallery entries;
- the latest Wiki changes;
- Wind Alerts!
- Marine Forecasts from EC summarized by BWD;
- Marine Forecasts from NOAA summarized by BWD;
- and coming soon, the latest Sailing Log entry.

Here is a sample of what you would see using an RSS reader like SharpReader:
http://windisgood.com/MiscPics/bwdrss.jpg

All of the above BWD news feeds are mostly self explanatory. The wind alert RSS gets updated if:

Code: Select all

RaceRocks&#58; WindSpeed >= 30 knots and WindDir >= 180deg
TrialIsland&#58; WindSpeed >= 25 knots and WindDir >= 180deg
Gonzales&#58; WindSpeed >= 17 knots and WindDir >= 180deg
OgdenPoint&#58; WindSpeed >= 20 knots and WindDir >= 180deg
Ballenas&#58; WindSpeed >= 21 knots and WindDir >= 50 and WindDir <= 180deg
ColumbiaBch&#58; WindSpeed >= 18 knots and WindDir >= 50 and WindDir <= 180deg
VicHarbour&#58; WindSpeed >= 18 knots and WindDir > 180deg
KelpReef&#58; WindSpeed >= 18 knots and WindDir >= 50 and WindDir <= 180deg
KelpReef&#58; WindSpeed >= 20 knots and WindDir <= 60deg
Discovery&#58; WindSpeed >= 25 knots and WindDir >= 50 and WindDir <= 180deg
Sheringham&#58; WindSpeed >= 18 knots and WindDir > 180deg
GordonsBch&#58; WindSpeed >= 18 knots and WindDir > 180deg
EntranceIsland&#58; WindSpeed >= 20 knots and WindDir > 180deg

Lots of information here, so let me know if you have any questions on how any of it works.

Some extra info:

What is RSS? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)

Some RSS news readers:
For Firefox - use the built in Live Bookmarks, although they don't seem to update all that often. Or try some add ons here. I've tried Wizz RSS and infoRSS and they work fairly well.
For Outlook - use the built in RSS reader in MS Outlook.
External Programs - try SharpReader. This is what I use and it works well.[/img]

If your newreader supports opml feed subscription importing, then you can use this file to simply subscribe to all of the BWD newsfeeds (just save the page as bwdrss.opml and go to File>Import in your newsreader).

Posted: **Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:38 pm**

Thanks to Russian Dood, we now have an RSS feed for the Sailing Log

So all the news feeds are complete now. Hopefully someone will try it out, it's not as complicated as it looks and it is kinda cool, in a geeky sort of way

Again, let me know if you have any questions or can't figure something out, like maybe what I'm talking about. The WindAlerts and Marine forecasts are probably the most useful - they come to you automagically without having to check them...
dave

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:25 am**

thanks Dave, well perhaps I'm not alone but not sure how this works yet. So maybe everyone is still digesting what this really means

including the benefits of this good work

The site is already light years ahead of what most people know how to take advantage of and what they are used to in terms of forecasting, updates etc.. I'm still trying to get my phone to access the message board (again

)

Thanks guys

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:29 am**

cant wait to run this RSS thing on my new rig!

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:03 pm**

sweet. dwd, I think they're still working on the dos 3.3 version of firefox and ie7 with rss support... be patient.

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:02 pm**

Installed 'bloglines' on firefox ... I'm with KUS on this 'live bookmark' thing ... Off the topic: I've picked up a video cam. (35x canon ZR 800) My windows movie maker 2.1 is missing 'video transitions & effects' ... Any suggestions ?

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:19 pm**

Jeez Dave that is a real blast fromt he past. $9K for the box.... that is probably 1% of the computing power of the most basic laptop now...

Never mind DOS 3.3 version, can I run this on my CP/M?

My brain hurts, is this something else I have to learn? Like Kus, I'd be happy to be able to get bwd on my cell, seems beyond me.....

Posted: **Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:37 pm**

fish stories can get ridiculous, but it still might be fun to have a "log of the week', or a collection of logs that people have found most entertaining (might require confirmation of entry by other sailors to ward off any leaning toward fiction!)

VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

BWD RSS Feeds

BWD RSS Feeds

Sailing log RSS feed ready

dramatic license