2Wheeltips

Here is a quick tip to make sure you stay up-to-date on the stuff we post in the 2wheeltips.com magazine.

Subscribe to the magazine RSS feed.To do this, look for the "subscribe" section in the right column of the magazine page and click this button 

 

From there you will be given options to use your favorite RSS feed reader to access 2wheeltips.com magazine articles without constantly checking the website.

FYI.

We are still working on the choppy video playback issue. We have a solution to it and will be testing it over the next few days. Once we get the solution finalized, we will take the site down for a few days to test everything.

We will keep everyone posted.

Some quick information on video playback.


We are currently working to eliminate the choppy playback that some members experience when viewing our videos on slower connections. Right now, our videos are set to work when the connection speed is 900 KB/s or faster.....which basically means a cable modem, a high speed DSL line or greater. If you do not have those speeds then the video playback is choppy and it will pause periodically to download more data.

What we are doing now is adding a options to allow playback at 300 KB/s which will allow playback on a mid-tier broadband connection. The downside is there will be a reduction in the quality of the video. We should have this feature up and running within the next day or so.

Much thanks to our new member Harry for helping out with this issue.

The 2wheeltips team

We periodically hear from members that have problems with video playback along with tabs, boxes and other content that are not aligned properly. We did some investigating and decided to put together this technical list of minimum requirements needed by our site:

Computer/Operating System
Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher
Mac OS X Tiger or higher
Flash 8 or higher
756 Meg of memory
1 Gig Processor or higher

Browser
Internet Explorer 7 or higher (will not work on IE 6 due to CSS incompatibility)
Firefox (any version)
Safari (any version)

Internet Connection Speed
300 KB/s broadband connection or higher
900 KB/s give optimal video quality playback
below 300 KB/s will give choppy video playback

Basically, if your computer was purchased in the last 4 years and you have upgraded your browser and plug-ins, you should be fine. If you run our videos on a 300KB/s broadband connection, you will not get optimal video quality. Better than other sites like youtube and myspace but not the best that can be displayed. If you want to check your connection speed, you can use this site:

http://www.dslreports.com

The 2wheeltips team
 

Once you log on to the 2wheeltips.com you are taken to the "Home" navigation tab which shows all of the recent site activity. From there you should click the "Profile" tab.

The "Profile" shows all of the information you have loaded to the site. It also contains any groups you have joined, all the events you are schedule to attend, any responses to your postings and a "wall" for others to write and send comments to you.

You should check your profile everytime you login to update your information and to see what is happening. Also it is the only place on the site that you can check your anonymous connections and to see if anyone has responded to them.

Here is a quick overview of the members navigation tab and how it can help you connect with other riders

When you click on the "Members" tab in the navigation bar, the follow sub navigation tabs are displayed:



Here we will go over each one:

Browse
The browse tab displays all members of the site listed by the date they joined. The most recent members are displayed at the top. Use the next and previous buttons to page through the membership list

Online Now
This tab shows all members who are currently using the site. This is a great way to find out if your friends are online

Friends
This tab lists all of the members that are your friends.

New Members
This tab shows all members that have joined within the past week.

Advanced Search
This tab allows you to search for members based on their profile questions. A great way to find members with similiar interests. Since this feature searches profile information, it is important that you keep your profile up to date.

Moderators
This tab shows the site moderators. You should message the moderators if you have questions about the site or want to report abusive members or questionable pictures, videos and posting.

Pending
This tab shows all of the members that you asked to be your friend but have yet to respond.

Invite Contacts
This tab allows you to invite other people to join the 2wheeltips site. It also keeps track of the invitations you send and those who have responded.

A quick and easy way to personalize your profile is by uploading music. You can do this by clicking the "music" button in the "Add New..." section in the column to the left. Only unprotected mp3 files can be uploaded.

It goes without saying that you should only upload stuff that you own and not use this feature to swap music or trade other files. Unless you turn off the "autoplay" feature in your profile settings, music will automatically play for all member profiles that contain music.

I'm sure many of you have seen the following buttons on your profile and on other member profiles and are wondering what they are for and how to use them.

Well......wait no longer because in this blog we are going to explain how they work. The above buttons are used on the 2wheeltips.com site for anonymous dating. 

Unlike other biker dating sites or social networking sites, we at 2wheeltips.com know that you may not want everyone in the universe to know you are romantically interested in another member.

You could post a message on a member's wall, but then everyone on the site can read it. You could also send that member a message. That is a big shot in the dark and could be followed up with a nasty response or could be ignored completely.  A better way is what is called "double-blind dating."

With "double-blind dating", the only way that a person will know you are interested is if you BOTH express an interest in each other. Until that happens, neither person will know that the other has a romantic interest. It is a great ice breaker since  both persons will know that the other is interested before they reach out to each other. How does it work and how do I use it?

Connect

Well first you need to find someone you are interested in. When you do, go to their profile and look for the "Connect" button.

Once you click it, the 2wheeltips.com site will know that you are interested in this person. Nothing will happen and no messages are sent to this person unless they go to your profile and click the "connect" button on your profile. It is a very private way to express your romantic interest in another member without anyone knowing about it. (even the 2wheeltips.com moderators can not see it)

My Connections

This button appears in the left column of your profile. Clicking this button will show all of the people you have connected with or have pending connections. Use this button to monitor your current and pending connections. Remember, this information is private and only you can see it. No visitors to your profile can see your connections.

Connected

The button appears on the profile of all members that have connected with you. When this button appears on another members profile, it means that they went to your profile and clicked the "connect" button.  At this point you know there is a mutual interest in each other (i.e. riding buddy, romantic etc.). When you see this button, you can reach out to the other member and follow up on the mutual interest (whatever it may be). Remember, no one can see this button but you and the other member. It is totally private.

 

 

 

At the bottom left of each page is the current 2wheeltips.com poll. Answering the poll helps us decide what content to put on the site. It also helps us decide which features we should work on next.

If you haven't done so already, make sure you answer the current poll and frequently check for new polls as we will begin to roll new ones out soon.

If you do not like the color scheme used on our website or simply want to add your own backgrounds and colors you can do it using the profile designer.  We are motorcyclists and not graphics designers so you may want to touch up the look of the 2wheeltips.com website to suit your needs. It is very easy. Simply follow the steps below:

1. Select the "Profile" tab in the top navigation.

2. Once your profile comes up, select the "profile designer" button.



4. Change the colors and background images to suit your tastes.

5. Save your changes.