Technical Items

How do I log on?

When you are logged off there is a login form on the menu bar (top of the page). Enter your user ID and password and click on the “Sign In” button. If you have entered a known ID and correct password you will be logged in.
 

What is my user ID?

Your user ID is your National Ski Patrol membership number.
 

What is my password?

Your initial password should have been emailed to you by the webmaster. You can have any password you want. We attempt to be careful about how we handle data on this site but we cannot guarantee to safeguard all of the data on it. For that reason we strongly advise you to use a password that is different than you use for accessing other sites. For example, do not use the same password that you use on your banking accounts.

You may change your password anytime you are logged on by updating your roster entry.
 

How do I log off?

When you are logged on there is a “Log off” link on the menu bar (top of the page). Click on the link. You can also log out by exiting your browser.
 

I forgot my password?

Click on the “Forgot Password” link on the menu bar (top of the page). You will be given a form much like that for setting up online access. Answer the questions to identify yourself and your login ID and password will be emailed to the email address we have in our roster. If you no longer have access to that email account then contact David Kelly and your access will be manually reset.
 

I can't seem to stay logged on?

We keep track of your login status using a cookie that disappears when you exit your browser. You must allow cookies for the login to be successful. We only put one cookie into your browser and we tell your browser to delete it when the session is over.

Some older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer cache pages even when our web server tells them not to. Because of this you may be fooled into thinking you are logged off when your login was successful. Try pressing the refresh button on your browser. We have seen this behavior on other web sites as well when using IE 5.5. You might want to upgrade to IE 6.0 which seems to have this problem fixed.
 

How can I be emailed about events of interest to me?

Login and go to the roster. You will see that you can update your roster entry. Select “Update” and you will be presented with a form filled out with your current information. One of the configuration items is selection of which events you wish to be notified of. Click on the ones you want and then select “Update”.
 

I don't see any “members only” events. Why not?

You may not be logged in. If there is a box in the menu bar for your User and password then you are not logged in.

It could also be that there simply are no members only events currently on the schedule.
 

I dont see the roster.

You may not be logged in. If there is a box in the menu bar for your User and password then you are not logged in.
 

How do I put pictures in my news article or classified ad?.

Pictures must be located on a web server some where. Then edit your ad or news article to include a HTML image tag to point to the picture. If the preceeding explanation makes no sense, then simply email your pictures to David Kelly and ask that they be added to your article or ad.
 

Why do my pictures look horrible when printed in the newsletter?

Web pictures are typically very low resolution. A printed newsletter requires much higher resolution to look good. Please email the highest resolution pictures you have to David Kelly to have the best quality possible in the printed newsletter.
 

Why is my classified ad not shown?

Here is the “work flow” for classified ads. Note that your ad will not be publicly visible until after it is printed in the region newsletter.

• You must be a logged in member to place classified ads.
• When you first enter a classified ad it is only visible to logged in members.
• When the next edition of the newsletter is put together, the newsletter editor takes all the ads and places them into the newsletter.
• After the newsletter has been mailed and enough time has passed to allow our non-Internet connected members to respond to the ads, the webmaster manually updates the ad database to show which ads were printed.
• After the webmaster has updated the database, the printed ads become available for viewing on the web site by non-members. To protect members from SPAM email, the email contact address is not displayed to non-members.
• You may edit or delete any ad you have placed at any time. Just log in and go to the classifieds page. You will see “Edit” and “Delete” buttons by the ads you have placed. Any edits or deletions will be immediately reflected on the website.

We feel this policy is a reasonable compromise that allows our members a first shot at items advertised yet allows the widest possible audience to the advertiser.
 

I don't want to give out my email address. Do I have to?

No. You have several choices you can consider.

• General member email addresses are not displayed except to other logged in members. If that is good enough for you then our “standard” way of dealing with email should work for you.
• If you choose to give us your email address, you can still tell us what areas of interest you have. We will only send you email about those topics.
• You don't have to give us your email at all (or you may not have an email address). No problem, you should still be able to access the full web site. Place ads, post articles, update your roster entry, etc.

So, you have several options.
 

Can I get real time event notices without using email?

Yes. We have added “Really Simple Syndication” (RSS) services to our web site. Point your news program to http://www.pinecrestnordic.org/rss. Don't know what a news program is? Check out NetworkNewsWire (Macintosh) or Newzcrawler (Windows). All new article postings or public event announcements are put into our “feed”. Because we cannot determine if the feed is going to a member or not, you will only get the public version of the event postings. To find out about new “members only” events you will still have to log into the web site.
 

Can I sync my computer’s address book with the roster?

Maybe. The website will allow you to download the roster in serveral different formats. At present, the formats supported are:

vcf

vCard data. Widely used for attaching address book information to email. The flavor generated is based on the files generated by both the Apple Address Book program and the Mozilla address book component. See note on Skype below.

ldif

LDAP Data Interchange Format files are widely used to transfer address information from program to program. The .ldif file generated is based on those generated by Mozilla/Netscape.

csv

Comma Separated Value (csv) files are generally used to import and export data from spreadsheets. The field names in our .cvs file match those used by Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Macintosh OS X.

Which begs the question: Which should you use.

Macintosh OS X

Apple Address Book

.ldif and .vcf files both seem to work okay.

Mozilla/Netscape Mail

.ldif files seem to work okay.

Microsoft Entourage 2004

.cvs files seem to be the only way to import supported by the "File->Import" dialog box and import wizard. However dragging the .vcf file and dropping it into the address window works too.

Windows

Note: The webmaster only has access to a Windows 2000 machine, so not much has been checked.

Mozilla/Netscape Mail

.ldif files seem to work okay.

Microsoft Outlook 2000

There appears to be no direct way to import a complete address book at one time. Outlook 2000 will take the first address from the .vcf file only. You could split the .vcf file into one file per person using a standard text editor.

Alternatively, you could import the addresses into Mozilla/Netscape then use the Outlook import capability to import them to Outlook.

If you have an Exhange Server and a Macintosh with Entourage 2004, you can import the addresses into Microsoft Entourage 2004 on a Mac (to get them on the server) then pick them up from the PC.

Microsoft Outlook Express

According to Microsoft you can import any of the three formats we export. However the webmaster has no machine to test this on.

We are now including Skype ID information in the .vcf file. In addition to the normal Skype tag we add a “Other” phone number of the form “sips:skypeid@skype.com“ for use in the Macintosh Address Book. To integrate Skype dialing with your Apple Macintosh see http://homepage.mac.com/jcmallery/qualityshareware/ABSkype.html. Note: I had better luck with this when I turned off automatic localization.

 

Problems? Contact for technical issues with this website.