Bristol Channel Events What, How & Why?

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BCEvents is now live, if you wish to add it to your website please email me

What is Bristol Channel Events?

(If you have come to this page without seeing a Bristol Channel Events page click here. and see for yourself)

Bristol Channel Events (BCE) is a calendar of what's going on in and around the Bristol Channel. It is/will be hosted jointly by the websites of various clubs and organisations involved in sailing and other water based activities around the Bristol Channel.

The calendar will be accessed from different participating websites, and will take on the general appearance of the referring website, as regards typeface, colours and page settings, in other words it will appear to be another page on that site. However it's entries will be shared with the other websites and entries will be placed by the various clubs for any event that they wish to bring to the attention of all in the channel, open races, regattas, open days, social events etc.

What are the Main Features of Bristol Channel Events?

Entries are placed online by the organisers of the events involved using an agreed password
Entries are automatically sorted by date
The time of the event is entered and appears colloquially e.g. you could say Race Entries 9:30am for 10:30 start.
Entries appear immediately (you will have to Refresh or Reload your page to see an entry you have just made!)
Entries appear on the Channel Events page of every host website
Entries can also be deleted and edited online, so that details of events can be added as they become available
Out of date entries are automatically removed, keeping the content fresh and interest alive
The calendar forms a constantly changing feature on each site, encouraging people to return
A table of links to all the co-host websites appears at the bottom of each screen, increasing interest in all sites.

Can Your Organisation become a host, and what would it involve?

Yes, all you have to do is put a link on your site to BCE. There is no cost involved. If you provide us with full details (see below) the BCE page when called from your site will take on the appearances of other pages from your site. For example...

BCE when called from BCYC site will look like this.
BCE when called from Portishead CC site will look like this.
BCE when called from Newport Uskmouth SC site will look like this.

If you wish to add entries to BCEvents then you have to agree to not misuse the calendar and supply us with your chosen password.

What Events Should I put on BCEvents?

Only events to which you wish to attract visitors from other clubs, for example regattas, open days, etc. Please do not enter ordinary club events, as too many events could swamp the calendar and make it less easy to use.

At present you can add events up to 60 weeks ahead, but this may be reviewed in the future.

How does Bristol Channel Events work?

BCE uses a set of perl-cgi programs called AbleEvents. If you wish to use another copy of this program for your own internal club events page then you will need cgi access on your server. Please email us.

Tips for placing Events

By using your back button after making an entry you can amend, say, just the date or whatever and make a new entry without typing in everything again, say for three days of a regatta.. However be careful not to use this feature to inadvertently submit two identical entries.
If you have a dedicated page with, for instance, the details of your regatta you can enter a link to that page that will appear on the calendar, so that full details do not need to be typed in. it will appear thus at the end of the entry more....
Remember that to see an entry you have just made you will have to press the refresh or reload button on your browser.
If you do inadvertently place two entries by mistake please delete one of them

How do you link Bristol to Channel Events?

To actually link to the calendar from your website you just put an image or text link such as Bristol_Channel_Events on your page with one of the above links. The actual address part of this link is

http://www.shalligo.co.uk/cgi-bin/calendars/bristolchannel/ae_show.cgi?3|0

The 3 near the end being replaced with your host number which will be given to you when you join.

First we need the following information:-

Your organisation name as it will appear on the co-host section at the bottom of each page of entries, e.g. NUSC .................................................................
A description of your site or organisation to appear next to the link above e.g. Newport Uskmouth Sailing Club................................................................................... (if your name in 1 above is description enough then this can be left blank)
Your http://www.websiteaddress.co.uk which will be the link for your entry in the above co-host section. .........................................................................
Your chosen backround colour in #?????? format ...................................
The http://www.address.co.uk/dir/imagename.gif of your backround image, if you have one. ...................................................
The colour of your links (or leave blank for default blue) ......................................
Tthe colour of your active links (or default) ....................
Your style sheet, if you have one (attach to email)......
Whether the calendar page will appear as a pop-up (new window...recommended) yes OR no, or in an existing frame. (If you choose no instead of yes or frame then your return link will be to the url in 2 above) ..........................
Your chosen font for the page title ........................
your chosen colour for the titles. ......................
Your chose font for the main body text ..............
Your chosen colour for the main body text ....................
your chosen text size (default is 3 but 2 looks neater) ............
your chosen password ......................

You can choose to link to the new page in at least 3 ways:

Open up the calendar page in a new window. Here the page contains a reference to minimising or closing the calendar to return to the previous page. (recommended)
Open up the calendar in an existing frame in the current window. In this case there is no reference to closing the calendar as there is usually a navigation menu in another frame.
Open up the calendar page in the existing window. In this case the calendar page will contain a link back to your site.(not recommended, link back will be to your opening page, maybe not your homepage.)

I am sure you will agree that a shared online calendar of events in the Bristol Channel would only serve to increase interest and participation in these events, to everyone's benefit. Please join us!

(If you have any queries or comments please email me or phone 01633 860858. regards Chris.)