- Joined
- Mar 20, 2012
- Messages
- 43
We've had a lot of people express interest in creating Trail Guides. This thread will help you get started. To create a Trail Guide, simply go to the Trail Guides home page and click the 'Create Trail Guide' button in the top right corner. You will be prompted for the area, if the area you wish to post to does not yet exist post here or send me a message.
If you have any questions whatsoever about creating a trail guide, post here or send me a message.
There are 5 sections to the main content area in a Trail Guide:
On the secondary tabs, there are fields for:
[bimg=fright|278|center|Trail Profile Sidebar]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/trailprofile.png[/bimg]Sidebar Trail Profile Information
Maps
KML filename
If you leave this blank, a map will be rendered with a pin on the coordinates you provided. Useful if you have not created a custom map or cannot get your file uploaded immediately. Otherwise, enter the exact filename of your KML file. You can use GPS Visualizer to convert GPX or KMZ to KML or you can send it to me and I'll take care of it.
There are two ways at this moment to get your custom map into your Trail Guide:
To create a map in Google My Places, visit http://maps.google.com and click on 'My Places'. You must be logged into your Google account.
Then click on 'Create Map' and to start editing your new map. You can add pins and import GPS data at this point. When you are done, save your map and then click on the link icon to get the Google Maps URL we use to populate the map in Trail Guides
Photos
The featured image for each Trail Guide is the FIRST photo that you upload, so take care to upload the best or most relevant photo first.
The featured image will automatically be inserted into the main content area of your Trail Guide in the upper right hand corner. If you would like to insert more images, you can do that manually using the new Floating Image tool in the editor window.
Other Tips
Be sure to rate your own Trail Guide. Others who have done the route are encouraged to rate them as well. [bimg=fright|185|Erase Formatting Button]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/eraserbutton.png[/bimg]
Use the eraser button in the top left of the editor window to clean formatting from text copied and pasted from editors like Microsoft Word. To use it, just highlight the text, and click the eraser button in the top left corner.
[bimg=fright|185|Insert Floating Image Button]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/floatinsert.png[/bimg]The new insert floating image button makes it so that you can easily insert small images into the main content of your Trail Guide as can be seen here. All you need to do is enter the URL of the image into the window that pops up when you click the insert floating image button. Specify the size, whether you'd like it to float left or right and add a caption. The width of the default image in trail guide content is 400px which is half the width of the content window.
After You Submit Your Trail Guide
We're working on improvements to the system to make it easier to work on a 'draft' before your trail guide is published. But in the meantime, when you create a new trail guide, it goes into a moderated state. The only people who can see it are BCP Staff and yourself. This is useful if you want to be able to polish up your trail guide before it goes public. The downside to this is that there are some kinks in the system. When you click submit, you will be taken to your finished trail guide. If you want to come back and work on it later, you need to save the URL or bookmark it. If you are ready to have it published, send me a message and I'll make it happen.
All trail guides submitted are subject to editing and revisions by the BCP Staff. Before they are made live we may go through and modify the wording of your guide to enhance searchability and consistency in the trail guides system.
If you have any questions whatsoever about creating a trail guide, post here or send me a message.
There are 5 sections to the main content area in a Trail Guide:
Overview
Provide a brief overview of the area and any highlights.
Trailhead
Directions to the trailhead. How detailed is up to you, but providing coordinates for the trailhead is nice, and if it's a hard to find trailhead, the more info the better. Linking to google maps for directions is also a good idea, like lostlandscapes has done in this trail guide.
The Hike
The core of your trail guide goes here. Describe the route and what people can expect. If there are special features that should not be missed, it is always nice to include coordinates linked to a google map.
Permits & Regulations
List any information you have about permits and regulations here. This is also a good place to list any information on the governing agency for the area and perhaps even link to their website.
Relevant Books & Maps
List any guidebooks or maps such as National Geographic Trails Illustrated Maps here. If you know the USGS quad name(s), that is also useful information. It is likely that BCP Staff will add to this section with relevant books and maps that you might not list.
On the secondary tabs, there are fields for:
Trip Reports
Add links to trip reports on Backcountrypost and Backcountrypost Member sites here. I am working on a way for this to auto-populate but it might be a bit before I can get to that.
Videos
Youtube and Vimeo video URLs can be pasted into this area and they will auto embed under the Videos tab.
[bimg=fright|278|center|Trail Profile Sidebar]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/trailprofile.png[/bimg]Sidebar Trail Profile Information
Distance
Be sure to specify round trip or one way.
Difficulty
Easy, Moderate, Strenuous, Difficult, etc. Think of the average hiker, not necessarily yourself.
Usage/Traffic
Light, Medium, Heavy, etc.
Nearest Town
List the nearest town in City, ST format: Hanksville, UT
Coordinates
List coordinates in decimal format: 40.75558,-110.654297
Maps
KML filename
If you leave this blank, a map will be rendered with a pin on the coordinates you provided. Useful if you have not created a custom map or cannot get your file uploaded immediately. Otherwise, enter the exact filename of your KML file. You can use GPS Visualizer to convert GPX or KMZ to KML or you can send it to me and I'll take care of it.
There are two ways at this moment to get your custom map into your Trail Guide:
- Email the file to nick@backcountrypost.com and I will load it in.
- Enter a link to your saved Google My Places Map in the field labeled "Google Maps URL"
To create a map in Google My Places, visit http://maps.google.com and click on 'My Places'. You must be logged into your Google account.
Then click on 'Create Map' and to start editing your new map. You can add pins and import GPS data at this point. When you are done, save your map and then click on the link icon to get the Google Maps URL we use to populate the map in Trail Guides
Photos
The featured image for each Trail Guide is the FIRST photo that you upload, so take care to upload the best or most relevant photo first.
The featured image will automatically be inserted into the main content area of your Trail Guide in the upper right hand corner. If you would like to insert more images, you can do that manually using the new Floating Image tool in the editor window.
Other Tips
Be sure to rate your own Trail Guide. Others who have done the route are encouraged to rate them as well. [bimg=fright|185|Erase Formatting Button]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/eraserbutton.png[/bimg]
Use the eraser button in the top left of the editor window to clean formatting from text copied and pasted from editors like Microsoft Word. To use it, just highlight the text, and click the eraser button in the top left corner.
[bimg=fright|185|Insert Floating Image Button]http://backcountrypost.com/forum/uploads/floatinsert.png[/bimg]The new insert floating image button makes it so that you can easily insert small images into the main content of your Trail Guide as can be seen here. All you need to do is enter the URL of the image into the window that pops up when you click the insert floating image button. Specify the size, whether you'd like it to float left or right and add a caption. The width of the default image in trail guide content is 400px which is half the width of the content window.
After You Submit Your Trail Guide
We're working on improvements to the system to make it easier to work on a 'draft' before your trail guide is published. But in the meantime, when you create a new trail guide, it goes into a moderated state. The only people who can see it are BCP Staff and yourself. This is useful if you want to be able to polish up your trail guide before it goes public. The downside to this is that there are some kinks in the system. When you click submit, you will be taken to your finished trail guide. If you want to come back and work on it later, you need to save the URL or bookmark it. If you are ready to have it published, send me a message and I'll make it happen.
All trail guides submitted are subject to editing and revisions by the BCP Staff. Before they are made live we may go through and modify the wording of your guide to enhance searchability and consistency in the trail guides system.
