Help & FAQ

Any questions we didn't answer? Do you have feedback or requests? Get in touch at support@23visualblog.com

How do I change settings and name of a blog?

To change the name, go to Settings in the Administration bar. You can change the name of the Visualblog under the heading Site name. Below that heading you find fields where you can add a description and a byline to your blog. You can also set the sender e-mail the application will use when inviting people, choose to add some company information and lots more. When you are all done - click "Save Settings" and your changes apply.

How do I change the domain of my Visualblog?

One of the great things about 23 Visualblog is that you host the log on a domain that suits you. Setting up the site to run on your own domain involves two steps: Updating the DNS record of the domain to point to 23's servers and then asking the site to use that domain.

The first step requires you create a CNAME record for the domain and associate it with visualplatform.net. If you control the domain's DNS yourself this is an easy task − otherwise you'll need to ask your hostmaster to do this for your.

Once the domain is set up correctly you'll simply need to change 'Domain' under the site's settings: Go to Settings in the Administration bar. Under the heading Site domain, you enter the new domain you want for the site. (When you click 'Save settings' the server verifies that the domain is set up correctly. If you get an error message, please confirm that the DNS configuration is in fact correct.)

How do I change the basic presentation of my blog?

The basic look & feel can be easily changed by going to Presentation in the Administration bar. Select your basic presentation including how you would like to show your photos on the blog, colour, font, logo, background, icon etc. Click "update presentation..." and the changes you made are applied to your blog. Note that your browser might not recognise your changes immediately - if this is the case you might need to refresh your browser or restart it.

How do I build my own design theme?

If you want to integrate your Visualblog with your corporate web universe, building your own design theme is the way forward. To get started go to Presentation in the Administration bar. In the Presentation drop-down menu or in the sidebar you can select Theme builder, which is used to building your own design theme.

The Theme builder lets you add, change and modify CSS, JavaScript and add resource files to make the Visualblog look exactly like you want it to. Once your done you also have the opportunity to download and share the theme you have created or import another design theme. Detailed information about how you can re-style the blog using CSS can be found in the styling guide. Detailed info on how to use the JavaScript API to program special functions can be found on the developer site.

How do I add custom pages to my Visualblog?

To add additional and custom pages to your blog, go to Presentation in the Administration bar. In the Presentation drop-down menu or in the sidebar you can select Pages and "Create a new page". Add page title, page URL and define how you would like to link to the new page, click "OK" and you're done.

Your new page appears in the location you have selected and you will automatically go the new page where you can edit the title and add text of the page.

How do I add custom HTML blocks to the blog?

You might want to add HTML blocks to make your Visualblog even more like you. Get going by going to Presentation in the Administration bar.

In the Presentation drop-down menu or in the sidebar you can select HTML blocks. Insert the HTML block you want and select where you would like the HTML to be inserted. Note that you can add HTML block both to the Administration bar as well as to the visual blog it self, i.e. by selecting to place the HTML block in the Site navigation bar, the side bar or inside the head or body fields in the content area.

How does the Linkroll work?

If you want to add links to your linkroll, go to Presentation in the Administration bar. In the Presentation drop-down menu or in the sidebar you select Linkroll and add link name, URL, add a section or select one you have used before and finally add an icon that can visually represent the link. In the "Linkroll" view you can also manage, edit and delete all your links and once you're done - click "Add link..." and your changes are implemented.

To invite others to join your blog and post their photos at the same place as you, go to Users in the Administration bar. Select "Invite another user..." and add the name and the e-mail of the person you would like to invite. In addition, you can add a personal note to the invitation e-mail if you like.

Once the invitation mail is send the person will appear in the Users section in the Administration bar. However, the invited person will first appear in the People section of the Site navigation bar once the invited person has accepted the invitation and signed in for the first time. When the invitation has been received the invited person can login by following the link in the invitation e-mail. Once logged-in he or she can change name, username, password and e-mail themselves before getting started.

What is an administrator and how do I give my co-authors admin access?

As an account owner or administrator (aka admin) you can set other users to be administrator as well. This means they can do the same things you do and have the rights to add users, delete and manage users, moderate comments, add pages and text etc. to the presentation of the blog. Basically they can do everything on the Visualblog except paying the bills.

To give co-authors admin access go to Users in the Administration bar. Now, check the "Administrator" box under a users name to give that person admin rights.

How do I view, manage and screen comments?

If you have asked to approve comments before they are being published, you can screen comments by going to "Comments" in the Site navigation bar. In the side bar you can view all recent comments, the comments you've made yourself, comments on your photos and replies to your comments. You can also see un-screened comments and comments you have marked as spam. To screen comments click the "un-screened comments" section and view the comments you have received. Decide whether the comments is spam, not-spam or if you want to delete the comment directly. If you decide a comment is not spam it will be published.

How do I avoid spam comments? How do I set up permissions for comments on my blog?

We can't promise that you won't receive any spam on your blog (if you don't disable the comment function), but a good start is to go to Comments in the Administration bar. You can define whether comments shall be approved before being published or not, who's allowed to approve comments and whether visitors or authors only can attach photos to comments. To address spam you might want to add an Akismet API key - which is a service provided by an external company - and set up the system to require JavaScript when people leave comments. When you have set up the system the way you want - click "Save Settings".

How do I delete or edit a comment once it's posted?

If you missed some spam when you approved the last comments to your blog or posted a comment yourself which consisted of errors it's an easy fix.

As an administrator you can delete comments even though they are published - simply select the "delete" button beside the comment, but please note that the action can not be reversed and that deleted content can not be retrieved again.

Authors or the one who posted a given comment, can edit that post or comment also after posting. All editing of titles, text or tags can be done in context - just click the "edit" button beside the object you would like to edit and complete the changes you wish.

Subscriptions & Trackbacks

What is RSS and how does it work?

RSS (real simple syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content.

RSS gives you and the audience of your Visualblog the opportunity to get updated automatically on what's happening on your blog. You typically receive the specific content of the selected feeds aggregated in one place - e.g. a newsreader or e-mail client.

23 gives you and your audience the opportunity to subscribe to basically all kinds of feeds from your blog. You can subscribe to all photos of the Visualblog, or all of a given users photos, or all photos with a given tag, or all photos in a specific album etc.

To select a feed your interested in subscribing to you click on the RSS icon in the side bar of the page you're interested in and add the feed to e.g. the newsreader of your choice.

Can people subscribe to my photos via e-mail?

Yes, if the audience of your Visualblog (or you yourself) would like to receive updates and new photos to your blog via e-mail, anyone can choose to do so by selecting to subscribe via e-mail in the sidebar of the page that interest them. They can review what they have selected to subscribe to, add their e-mail and they can choose how often they want to receive photos from your blog. They will receive an e-mail confirming their subscription and also get info on how they can delete their subscription.

How do I set up trackbacks for my blog?

Trackbacks are a way for blogs to communicate with one another. To manage your trackback settings, go to Comments in the Administration bar. Scroll down to the "...and trackbacks" section and set your preferences in terms of enabling or disabling trackbacks and allowing trackbacks to be discovered automatically.

How do I upload photos to my blog from my browser

First, go to Upload in the Administration bar. In this view you can add tags to the photo you want to upload and add the photo you are about to upload to an existing album or create a new one. Then click "Select photos" from your computer hard drive and add additional tags, words and title to the individual photos while they are being uploaded. To finish up, click "Save" and you will automatically go the photos page.

How do I upload photos to my blog via e-mail? How do I add another unique e-mail upload address?

To upload photos to your blog via e-mail, all you have to do is to add the photos you would like to upload to an e-mail and send it from your computer or mobile phone to your unique e-mail upload address. To manage your upload e-mail address, select "Via email" in the Upload drop-down menu in the Administration bar.

Now you can see your unique e-mail address for uploading photos via e-mail and you can delete the e-mail address, select albums that photos uploaded using that particular e-mail address are added to and select tags that should be added to the photos as well. In addition you can add a new upload address from the side bar and set specific settings for that upload address as well. In this view you can also manage the settings as well as edit and delete your e-mail upload addresses.

How many photos can I store on my blog?

23 does not enforce quotas on storage. This means that you can have as many photos stored on your account as you like. Free and paid accounts alike.

Can visitors download my original photos?

Only if you allow them to download them. You can set permissions related to original photos and licensing if you go to Settings in the Administration bar. Scroll down to the heading Licensing to select what rules that apply to the photos on your Visualblog and then select whether or not visitors can download your original photos.

How do I organise my photos?

There is many ways to organise your photos in your Visualblog but one efficient way is to organise your photos in a single view by going to Organise in the Administration bar. In the new window that opens you can either search by using the drop-down menu or by free text. Once the photos you are interested in are located, you can select them by clicking on them. On the right side of the organising view you can select what you would like to do with the photos. You can edit and add text, titles and tags to all the selected photos at the same time, add all the selected photos to albums, rotate and delete selected photos and more.

How do albums work?

Albums are one of several ways to help you organize your photos. Using albums on 23 Visualblog, however, differ from the physical world's photo albums in significant ways. The most important difference is that any one photo can be associated with several albums. Albums works this way primarily as selections of photos not as folders. The photos are kept chronologically in your photo archive, and can be easily accessed from your photo calendar.

That a photo can be associated to more than one album can sometimes be very practical, because it allows your photos to be organized in different ways. A photo from your company reception may be associated with the Events album, but also be a part of the Office album.

What are tags?

Tags are a new way to organize, search and explore photos. Tags are basically keywords or labels that you can attach to your photos, to make it easier to find it later, or to help you make special cross-sections of your photos. You can tag a photo of your colleague and his old Fiat 500 with tags like luigi fiat cars (in this case 3 tags, but you can put as many or few as you like to your photos). If you at some point later on wish to find all the photos of cars in your collection, you can click on the tag 'cars' to get the photos with that tag. On your tags page you can see all the tags used on your photos, weighted after how often they're used. This makes for an easy way to browse your photos.