Did You Know? #5

You can access pretty most of the key areas of the site from the front page.

We've put the front page together very carefully so you can get straight to the information you're looking for.

1. Access the next entry form in the top left of the page
2. Access round information by clicking on the icon of the circuit
3. Access category information by clicking on the category logo
4. Jump straight to the latest News, Features or Classifieds article by clicking the headline
5. Visit our supporters websites by clicking their logos at the bottom of the page
6. We've also got links for the latest onboard video, photos and results next to the logo at the top of the page
7. And you can connect with iRace through your favourite method with the links at the very top-right

Did You Know? #4

You can easily share some of your favourite parts of the iRace site with your friends.

One area that really takes this idea to the next level is the News page.

By mousing over this button after each news article, you have dozens of options to share the article.

On the pane that pops up, you can share the article via Facebook, add it to your favourites, email a link to a friend, post it on Twitter, Digg or Myspace, along with many more.

If you click the "More" button in the lower right of that pane, you have even more options to share the story.

If that's not enough for you, there are a couple of other features found in every news article. Just below the headline of the story, you'll see a number of things: firstly the date the article was posted, then there are a number of "tags" - these are basically the broad subject of the article, and clicking any of these tags will show you a bunch of other articles that share the same tag. Lastly is the "Permalink" - this is the link to access that article directly - even once it has moved off the main News page, the permalink will bring you straight to that article. If you want to copy the link (or bookmark) a news story that interests (or features) you, the permalink is your best bet.

These are features you'll find on our News page. Many of them can be found on other pages of the site, for example the Share options are also available in the Classifieds. Have a look around, explore and experiment. There are plenty of cool things to find.

Did You Know? #3

You can search the entire iRace website instantly from every page.

If you can't find something you're looking for, just click on the magnifying glass on the top right, just above the navigation bar.



This will bring up a small dialog box where you can type whatever it is you wish to search for.



Just hit enter, and you'll be taken to the results.

On the results page, you'll see all the results of your search, and also in the sidebar is a full sitemap of the iRace website, so if the search results don't help, you may find the page you are looking for in the sitemap.

Download the 2010 Calendar in ICS format

Click here to download the 2010 Independent Race Series calendar in .ics format. This format is compatible with iCal, Google Calendar and Outlook.

Did You Know? #2

If you install the excellent Cooliris plugin (free and available for most major modern browsers), you'll be treated to very cool new way to view photo galleries on the category pages.

Check out the video below for a preview.



Head to www.cooliris.com to download the free plugin.

Did You Know?

There are a few handy features on the iRace website. Some are explained in the video in this earlier post, and some will be outlined below.

You can access many parts of the website directly, just by using a different prefix to the address.

See below for a full list of directly accessible pages:
calendar.irace.net.au
classifieds.irace.net.au
features.irace.net.au
news.irace.net.au
results.irace.net.au

The category pages are also available:
formulatasman.irace.net.au
lemanssports.irace.net.au
productionracingcars.irace.net.au
tcc.irace.net.au
muscledivision.irace.net.au
rocketsports.irace.net.au
hdtcup.irace.net.au

And you can access most of the old website at:
2009.irace.net.au

Why might this be useful? If you access a certain part of the site more than the rest, you can either bookmark it, or remember the direct address. OR, if you're sending something through to a sponsor or friend, you can point them directly to the section of the site you want them to see (the information on your category for example).

There are a number of other features incorporated in the new website, and we'll try to post regular tips on getting the most out of www.irace.net.au

iRace: Into the Future

The 2010 iRace website has been released, and there are a load of features accessible through the new site.

We've put together a short (10 minutes isn't really that short is it?!) video highlighting some of the features of the site. Check out the video below.

We really recommend that you use a modern internet browser to view the site if at all possible. Great pains have been taken to ensure that the site is still accessible to old browsers like Internet Explorer 6 & 7, but users of those browsers will miss out on some of the nicer features of the site.

To get a top of the line browser, check out Firefox, Safari or Chrome.

Keeping you up to date at iRace.net.au

The Independent Race Series is always working to serve our competitors and fans in the most effective way possible. We try to innovate and capitalise on useful advances in technology that can make everyone's lives a little more streamlined.

When the site launched, we offered our news as a RSS Feed (click here for more information on how you can have every article delivered to your email program or other RSS reader).

We've started a mailing list and send regular updates to all our subscribers (subscribe here if you haven't been receiving the emails).

We've launched a fully featured Online Entry System that makes it easier for competitors to submit their entries, and makes life a little easier at our end by automatically putting all the entry information into a handy spreadsheet.

And now, we're ready to launch something else new. Live Updates. The iRace website has always been kept pretty well up-to-date, but race weekends are always a challenge to get new information on the site. This is a problem, because race weekends are what we are all about. Well, now we've introduced two ways to overcome this.

We now feature a live "photostream" on the front page of the site. There is only one photo there now, but that will change once the round gets underway. The most recent photos from the current round will appear in this section. And to view all the photos from the current round, go via the Multimedia page to the round in question and select the Live Photo Feed.

We'll also be adding short live news updates to the front page. We can send these in from a mobile phone, so trackside news should appear fairly regularly. The most recent items will appear on the front page, and to view them all, you can check out this link. If you already have a Twitter account, you can 'follow' iraceupdates and receive the news in your 'tweets'.

And if all this sounds like too much for you, you can relax, because all the regular news and updates will still happen. Round reports, and post-event news items will be available in the normal way.

So, get ready for the year ahead. And if there's anything else you'd like to see on iRace.net.au, you can always provide feedback through the Contact Us page.

Subscribe to the Independent Race Series

The internet is a hectic place. New websites spring up every day, and it can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Most internet users have a collection of sites they visit regularly, but no way of knowing in advance if each of their favourite sites has been updated since they last visited. It can be time consuming to open up all your favourites only to find they haven't changed since the last time you looked.

What if there was a way to have any news items delivered automatically to your computer whenever you connected to the internet? Well, there is a way. And the Independent Race Series website (www.irace.net.au) has incorporated the technology in its design. The technology is called RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and it allows you to subscribe to a News "Feed", either through a program you may already be using (usually an email program or web browser), or through a dedicated program. Each time you connect to the internet, the program checks the status of the feed, and if there is a new article it can be automatically downloaded. For a full rundown on how it all works, and how you can subscribe, click HERE.

If you already know how to subscribe, the link you are looking for is: http://www.irace.net.au/news/files/blogRSS.php

There are a number of other little innovations incorporated in this website, and we'll bring you more information on how to get the most out of it soon.