IndiBlogger – Development blog

We’re pleased to announce a major feature addition to IndiBlogger- the completely revamped IndiVine.

IndiVine originally started as a knee jerk reaction to the Mumbai terror attacks, as a collection of blog posts on the crisis and it’s aftermath. In fact, the original IndiVine was built in a day and had more than 100 posts before the Taj stopped burning. Since then, we added more topics to IndiVine such as the “Pink chaddi campaign”, the elections and the Tata Nano. IndiVine in it’s present avatar is a direct result of the collaboration among bloggers on the forum, where Vipul Grover and all the usual suspects decided how it should be in order to help the Indian blogging community. Now bloggers can submit their blog posts to virtually any category, and vote for the most deserving blog posts.

The IndiVine voting system is integrated with IndiRank, where a vote for a higher ranking blog gets more weightage.

We hope IndiVine is a useful tool for bloggers and readers alike!

We heard about this event a while back and we thought it was a good idea. So we got in touch with the organizers of BLACK (the event) and decided to pledge our eyes at the event. And then we thought, why not a blogger meet? Great.

Visit the meeting page for the Nandi hills blogger meet details.

Details of the actual event below:

BLACK (the event) is an initiation to bring in the “AWARENESS OF EYE DONATION” among the masses.

Motive behind the event:

To help the blind have their eye sight and make people understand the need to donate the eyes

How to bring in the awareness?

Through a daring act of riding a bike blind-folded on Nandi hills for a stretch of 8 kms. (Please don’t try this yourself, or you may be giving away your eyes sooner than planned!)

What is Blind Fold Ride?

Blind fold ride is an art of riding the bike without having any visibility. A cloth will be tied to the riders eye while riding and only after meticulous practice and planning is such an act possible.

What is the IndiBlogger agenda?

To show our support and spread awareness of eye donation by blogging, tweeting, inviting your friends and family, being a  part of the event and to pledge our eyes.

About the rider:

Deepak Shenoy, an actor by profession is a down to earth person whose dreams have no limits. The crave to carve his own niche drove Deepak to learn the art of blindfold riding through sheer guts and hard work. He’s performed this act many times, with inspections by TV channel associates to verify that no hearing aids or other devices were used.

All this, of course, can only take place with safety presence, civil protection agencies and a doctor.  Whilst performing this stunt Deepak wants to send a message to our people how difficult it could get for people who cannot see at all and how they would be living in a world of darkness. In a hope that this will promote eye donation and people will come forward to join hands with us in this noble deed.

Visit the meeting page for confirmation of participation.

Some of our IndiBloggers who have Windows Live Spaces blogs have had some problems putting up the IndiRank widget on their blogs. We tested the code and here’s the result.

Comment: However, Windows Live Spaces is not accepting images. Could be a image compatibility problem. We are working on it as we blog.

1) Log in to your Windows Live Spaces blog

2) Select ‘blog‘ from the menu after logging. See e.g. below:

3) Select the widget module:

• Click on the ‘Customize‘ tab found on the upper right corner.
• Click on ‘Add Modules‘ sub menu under ‘Customize‘.
• Then click on ‘Add‘ next to ‘Custom HTML‘.
• See picture below for details.

4) On the next screen click on Edit button under ‘Custom HTML‘. See picture below for an example.

5) IndiBlogger.in widget code

• Log in to Indiblogger.in
• Visit the IndiBlogger.in widget page
• Select the blog for which you need the widget for and click on Get Widget button (see picture below)
• Then click on the link where it takes you to the code for wordpress.com and Windows Live Spaces blogs (See picture below)
• Click in the code box by the side of the widget color you prefer (see picture below) and copy the code onto the computer clipboard (press CTRL+C on your computer keyboard)

6) Finish, the end, omega, or whatever

• Go back to your Windows Live Space page where you had opened the edit page for the Custom HTML code (see picture below)
• Paste the code in the box (CTRL+V on your keyboard)
• Click on Publish (see picture below)
• That’s it. Your widget should be visible now.

Happy blogging!!! Visit http://anwinj.spaces.live.com/ for a view of the end result.

WebReps is organizing Kolkata Blogger’s Meet on 8^th August 2009 at

CCD, Adlabs
Sector 5, Saltlake (Near SDF Building)

The program will start at 5 PM – Sharp! If you haven’t registered your name yet, please do it here (Entry Fee = ZERO). The event is sponsored by Indus Net Technologies.

Some of the best web minds of Kolkata will be there. Here is the guest speaker’s list:

• Abhishek Rungta; CEO of Indus Net Technologies: “How can blog contribute to your topline?”
• Vikas Kedia, CEO of InterNext Technologies Inc.: “Should websites charge Search Engines for access to resources”
• Aji Issac Mathew from SEO for Clients: “Usability for blogs or why blog is not enough (how to use wiki, forum, blog & CMS together)”
• Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury: “Why Do you Blog?”
• Arun Agrawal; Managing Director of Ebizindia Consulting Pvt. Ltd.: “Online Reputation Management”

To add, there are few awards too:

• The Best Idea Award: Publish or mail some ideas on how WebReps can take this initiative forward.
• The Best Marketer Award: Market yourself or your blog in the event. The winner will be decided by votes – on spot.
• The Best Elevator Pitch Award: Every participant will be allowed 1 minute to talk about his or her blog. The best speaker will be selected by Judges.

So are you ready? Need more help?

Contact WebReps or send a tweet to Kamanashish or Saikat or Anirudh or Shimul or call +919433174311; +919433204293, +919830687878; +919831442066

By the way, don’t forget to follow WebReps at Twitter for ‘to the minute’ update of the event