Usage Instructions

Those who have not signed up for Phlogger yet, please do so first before following the instructions below.

Whisk Technologies encountered unexpected server downtime during the period from 29 Jun 2004 to 2 July 2004 due to the recent power failure across Singapore. We have released a statement here.

NOTE: This is a reminder. All messages to Phlogger must start with phlog. Otherwise, your messages will NOT show up on your phlog.

Features

• Standalone phlog or embedded phlog option
• Unlimited number of variables
• Fully customisable styles and content
• Comments tracking for entries
• Archiving feature
• Ad-hoc features include interactive SMS quizzes, polls, etc
• Group phlog option - share one phlog amongst friends
• Multi-line messages
• Chinese text support
• Embedded MMS
• Templates Library
• [New!] Phlogger Wingz - click to find out more
• An example phlog with all these features

Basic Phlogs

1. First, you must register for a username.
This associates your phone number with your username, but the most important part is that it allows people to contact you via your phlog without revealing your number. Send an SMS to Q, with the following message:

phlog -register <username>

For example,

phlog -register whisk

1. The "phlog" in front is the keyword, which must be at the beginning of each SMS you send. Because Phlogger is just one of the many services provided, and so this helps Q recognise that you want to use Phlogger.





2. The username you give is without the brackets "<" and ">". This applies to all the below commands as well.





3. There is only one space between each part. This is the same for all phlog commands. Or else it won't work.





4. Your username is case-sensitive, and may only consist of alphabets, digits, and/or the following punctuations: "-" (hyphen), "_" (underscore), "." (fullstop) and "~" (tilde). All other characters will be ignored.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation message (except for international users) from Q, and you're all set. You automatically get your own phlog directory at

http://www.whisktech.com/phlogger/<username>/

where all your files will be placed. Your default phlog page is index.htm.

For the above example, your phlog will be at

http://www.whisktech.com/phlogger/whisk/

2. Before you can customise your page, you will need to set a password.
This prevents unauthorised people from accessing your customise page. You can also change your password this way. There will be no confirmation SMS for this.

phlog -password <password>

For example,

phlog -password MySecret

3. Then you can begin phlogging.
Each SMS you send can be as long as your phone can support, be it 160, 459, or 2230 characters. Bear in mind that SMS may be slow. Sometimes if there is no response after sending an SMS, please wait patiently. Resending the SMS would not solve the problem, and may cause both to be processed eventually. At other times, the server may be down. Refresh and check the top of this page for the server status. If there is still no response after some time, please report it below.

To post an entry, send an SMS with:

phlog <text>

For example,

phlog Wanna have a phlog like this too?

To continue an entry (this updates the time), send an SMS with:

phlog -cont <text>

To append to an entry (this does not change the time), send an SMS with:

phlog -append <text>

To erase the last entry, send an SMS with:

phlog -erase

To archive all your current entries, send an SMS with:

phlog -archive

To create/update a variable, send an SMS with:

phlog -update <variable name> <variable value>

To remove a variable, send an SMS with:

phlog -update <variable name>

What are variables?
These let you tell people more about your current state of mind and such, like your mood, what you are doing, which book you are reading, etc. For example:

	Craving: White chocolate mocha		(Send the command phlog -update Craving White chocolate mocha)
	I feel: Excited about Phlogger =P		(Send the command phlog -update "I feel" Excited about Phlogger =P)

Variable names can consist of more than one word but must be enclosed in double quotes. After the variable name, everything after is considered to be the variable value.

4. Optionally, you may configure the styles for your entries.
This is the customisability part, where you can load given templates, change the styles for your phlog, and edit your data, and more. Just go to customise.htm in your own Phlogger directory. After clicking Edit, some time is needed before the change will take effect on the server (maybe two or three minutes). So do not click multiple times. Also, you may have to refresh your page and customise.htm before changes are reflected. Here are more details for how to customise each aspect:

Templates
To load a template from the Phlogger Templates Library, simply select it from the drop-down list, type in your password, and click Edit. It will be loaded after a few minutes.

You can also save up to 3 of your own customised templates, and you can reload them just as easily. Choose a slot to save to, type in a name and description for the template, and then click Edit. After updating, it will appear in the drop-drop list for loading templates.

If you feel your template is original and has mass appeal, and you wish to share it with everyone using Phlogger by contributing it to the Template Library, just save it in the slot "Template To Be Submitted", and it will be reviewed subsequently.

HTML and Styles
These are given by files ending with *.htm and *.sty, like index.htm, phlog.sty or comments.sty. These are just HTML formats that give your phlog its own unique and creative look. The difference? HTML files refer to a single file, but style files will repeat for each entry. You will see some symbols like %username%, which will be replaced with the actual content only when your phlog is generated. These are given in the table below.

phlog.sty
%username%	This is your username.
%entry%	This is the phlog or archive entry.
%datetime%	This is the date and time of the entry.
%comments_url%	The URL where comments for an entry are displayed.
%comments_num%	A counter to track the number of comments.
variable.sty
%variable%	This is the name of the variable.
%value	This is the value of the corresponding variable.
%datetime%	This is the date and time of the variable entry.
comments.sty
%comment%	This is the actual content of the comment.
%name%	The name of the commentor.
%url%	The URL of the commentor.
date.sty
hh	The hour of %datetime%.
mm	The minute.
ss	The second.
DD	The day.
MM	The month.
MMM	The month (in letters, eg Jan).
YYYY	The year.
YY	The year (last 2 digits only).

Editing Data
When editing data files (given by *.txt), you must be careful of the formatting and line-breaks. You may use HTML codes like <br>, but take note: Date and phlog entries must occupy a line by itself, and same for variables and comments. Each piece of data is separated by one and only one line-break. If you are unsure, it is best to not use the Enter key at all when you edit. Or you can leave the data as it is, and use the Erase All option if you wish to clear your entries.

If you accidentally create an extra line-break, or if the formatting of your phlog or archive entries is not correct, the formatting may go awry when you reload your phlog, and a red error message will appear on customise.htm once the page is refreshed. You may just follow the instructions on how to resolve the problem.

5. If you wish, you can embed your phlog into your existing web pages.
The following javascript source files are currently available in your own Phlogger directory:

write_phlog.js		Writes all your entries. Embed it where you want your entries.
write_variables.js		Writes all your variables. Embed it where you want your variables list.
write_archive.js		Writes all your archived entries (at one go, for now). Or you could just use the provided archive.htm.
write_oldvar.js		Writes all your old variables. It appears in reverse chronological order grouped together by variable name.

For example, simply place the following code to embed the javascript file write_phlog.js (but you must first change your_username to the username you registered for):
<script language=javascript src=http://www.whisktech.com/phlogger/your_username/write_phlog.js></script>

If you would like your phlog to be a side feature of your blog, and embed it in a box with scrollbars, like the one below, you can use the following code to start you off:

Powered by Phlogger latest entry is on top wrote K @ 10-21-2002 23:42:47 comments (0) second entry is here wrote K @ 10-20-2002 23:42:47 comments (0) first entry is pushed back wrote K @ 10-19-2002 23:42:47 comments (0)	<table border=1><td> <div style="overflow: auto; width: 160px; height: 140px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 7.5pt"> <script language=javascript src=filename*></script> </div> </td></table>
filename*: Replace filename with one of the files above, like http://www.whisktech.com/phlogger/whisk/write_phlog.js, if your username is whisk.

Group Phlogs

This section is only for those who wish to set up a group phlog, ie, share one phlog with a group of friends.

1. First, follow steps 1 and 2 above.
You need to register for a group account following the same steps above, and set a password as well. That is, your username will also be your group name.

2. Next, you must link your members to your phlog.
This associates all your members' phone numbers with your group name. For each member (up to maximum of 4 members), send an SMS with the following message:

phlog -link <member's mobile number>

You need not link your own phone number this way. After linking a member, he/she will receive a confirmation message to his phone notifying which group phlog he has been subscribed to.

NOTE: What all members must then do is submit their particulars through the sign up page, or the group leader may do so on their behalf. This information is required to keep track of users, and those groups which do not subsequently follow-up with this sign-up submission risk having their account withdrawn and banned.

3. Then, each member must specify his/her own nickname to identify the entries he/she has posted.
This nickname need not be unique, and may be changed anytime. Each member must send an SMS from their own phone with the following message:

phlog -nick <member's nickname>

4. Finally, everyone is ready to phlog.
The phlogging instructions are just like that of normal users, as shown above. Feel free to explore the possibilities of such a group phlog!

Notes:

1. Using phlog -erase will simply erase the most recent entry, regardless of who posted it or who sent the erase command.





2. At times, if 2 people in the same group phlog together and append entries at exactly the same time, the entries may come out jumbled up. This is because appending applies only to the latest post.





3. Customise.htm cannot be used to erase old entries, only correct them, or else the nicknames associated with each entry will no longer match. Instead, use the Reset Entries checkbox to erase all old entries.

MMS

This section is for those who wish to send photos and pictures to their phlogs via MMS.

1. First, you need to register for a basic phlog.
Follow steps 1 and 2 of setting up a Basic Phlog.

2. Next, using your phone, compose your MMS message.
You may put an email subject, insert a picture and type text into your MMS message as well. There is no need to put the keyword "phlog" in front of your text.

3. Once ready, send the MMS to phlogmms@whisktech.com.
Choose the "Send to email" or equivalent action on your mobile phone. The MMS will be received by the system subsequently and parsed, displaying the email subject and any image or text that was in the message on your phlog.

NOTE: Do not send your MMS to Q. He unfortunately is not equipped with an MMS-enabled phone, and will be unable to upload them onto your phlog.

Polls

Occassionally, you will receive notification of a Phlogger Poll. For example,

Phlogger Poll: "Power to the teacher or power to the student? Discuss." Start your 'essay' with "phlog -poll teacher/student".

When you answer the poll, it immediately goes into your phlog, adding value and dynamism to it. The results of the poll can also be viewed with your entry. It turns out like this:

In this poll, we are asking you to vote for the teacher or the student, hence we ask you to send in "phlog -poll teacher" or "phlog -poll student". But you can give any explanation you wish too, following your answer, so that it goes into your phlog as well. Hence, in the above example, our reply to Q was "phlog -poll neither, cuz we ain't schooling no more."

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