Introduction

Personal Support Form

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Webring Guide

This page contains descriptions for procedures in joining and maintaining membership within a WebRing hosted ring. Everything from obtaining a Webring ID to managing your site within your chosen ring is explained here. The WebRing system is extremely easy to use, but a little extra explanation might provide that boost for your happy ring membership.

The WebRing ID: The new webring system is based on one fundamental element--The WebRing ID. You must have an ID to join your site to any ring in the system. This ID is extremely handy for managing all your memberships in one convenient spot. Below are listed a few relevant facts about your Webring ID.

• Privacy - Your Webring ID is only used by the system to identify you for the purpose of managing your memberships within the system. It is not published on any of the ring pages. Only the Ring Master (RM.) sees the ID.

• Email Address - Must be Valid/Current and Required to obtain an ID. After all, if there is a problem with your membership, the RM must be able to contact you through the system. NOTE: Your email address is not given out for any reason. RM's never see a member's Email Address - Nor is your email posted on your profile unless you place it there.

• Only one ID is required - All webring memberships can be associated to one ID. This makes it a simple matter to manage multiple memberships with multiple webrings.

• No limits on IDs - Some prefer to have multiple IDs to keep their interests separate. Personally, I have two. One for use as Ring Master (academiarings) and all educational related memberships. The second is used with memberships in rings for non-educational interests. However, keep in mind that too many IDs defeats the original purpose of easy one-step ring/site managment.

If you need to Sign Up for a WebRing ID, Click Here.

Lost WebRing ID and/or Password: Sometimes we can go months or more without needing to update site membership information and we forget our password or even the ID used for that ring. Fortunately, WebRing provides simple tools to help.

• Forgot ID - Just submit either your site address (URL) or what you can remember of your ID on this form. The system will display all results of ID's and URL paths containing that word.
   

• Forgot Password - This form requires you to submit your WebRing ID. The system will then display a verification of the existence of that ID with a partial email address. Only a portion of the email is shown for your use in determining whether that ID is indeed yours. If the email appears correct, have the password mailed. If the email is not correct, you will have to contact WebRing support -available through the HELP link at the top of the lost password page. * Ring Masters cannot edit your account info for you.

Changing Your WebRing ID: For existing ring memberships this process is extremely easy, but it is assumed that you have a working knowledge of member management. If you don't understand site management - Click & Read this First. 

Create your New ID or have another ID available that you wish to change to:

1. Go to your MY RINGS page (logged into Webring System under Old ID)

2. View Ring Sites

3. Choose/Click the Site Title in the WebRing you wish to change ID's for. You will then be taken to the Edit page for that site information.

4. At the very bottom of the "Edit Web Site Information" page, you will see a form box with:
   Transfer To:                                 Password:

5. Submit the New WebRing ID that you wish to change to and the password for that new account.

6. Once Submitted - You are all Done! Sign out of your current account and log into the new account and you will see that the Site has been changed over to the New Webring ID.

Note: The SSNB codes on your site pages are determined by your URL not your WebRing ID. Therefore, as long as you don't modify your Site URL just before or after changing IDs, you should not have to obtain fresh code for your page.

Site Management: Under the WebRing system, site owners (members) are solely responsible for updating their site information within the ring. RM's have very little access to site information. After all, its the member who is ultimately responsible for maintaining the appropriate ring code on their page. 

To access your webring memberships, edit site information, grab ring codes, view code pass/fail status, & even order your SSNB stacks - You need to click the "My Rings" link which is available on the top right of every WebRing Hub Page (After Signing/Logging In to WebRing). 

 (1a)

My Rings: Is the title given for your personal WebRing Management section. What is ironic, is that title is not displayed on the page. Instead, you will see on the Sub-Header on the default page, Rings You Manage - whether you own/manage a ring or not. If you are not a Ring Manager - The page is about empty with only a message to click links. So, Look over to the left side of the page on the navigation menu.

The two most important links in managing all aspects of your ring memberships include: View Ring Sites & View Web Sites. - Doesn't sound very descriptive, huh? The words sort of sound the same? Well, actually those link titles are very descriptive of the functions or management "tools" available on these pages.

(1b)

View Ring Sites - Allows you to see at one glance: webrings you belong to, the site title associated with each webring, membership status (pending, active, or suspended), & whether the ring code on that site passes the ring checker. View Web Sites - This page is organized by the URL of each page registered with a webring membership and its unique U# associated with that URL. This is the place to go to make global changes for site information, grab SSNB ring code, and manage the order or split your SSNB stacks.  Details for each management page is available below.

View Ring Sites: This page provides the tools to:

• Edit Site information such as URL, title and description.
• Transfer ownership of the site to another user id.
• Contact your Ring Master/Mistress.
• Get either SSNB or HTML navigation code.
• Test the ring code you have placed on your web site using the system "checker".
• Remove the site from the Ring.

(2a)

Edit Site Information: Click on the Site Title Next to the Webring where you want to change: your registered page URL, Site Title, or Site Description. This is also the area where you can transfer this ring membership to another WebRing ID.

Example: I want to change the name of my web page from Bytes O' History Castle to Historical Academic Accessories for the site membership belonging to the Ring of Academia. -- I just click on the Title "Bytes O' History Castle". Then, I submit the form and I'm Done! - This will only change the title for just That Specific WebRing!!

* To Change the Title, URL, or Description for every WebRing registered with that URL - I would Go to View Web Sites, click on the URL, and edit there.

* While on the Edit Web Site Information page

(2b)

< Title of WebRing This Site Belongs To. While Editing your site - You also have access to:  Code Wizard - Checks your site for correct installation Obtaining SSNB or HTML Ring Code - to install on your page Leave Ring - (Self Explanatory) Contact Ring Master - Takes you to form mail. Quick access to the Main HUB (directory) page for the Ring

Get Navigation Code:  This Link takes you to:  

Ring Navigation SSNB
The first thing you see is an example of what the Server Side Navigation Bar (SSNB) will look like on your site. The copy-n-paste code is available in the text box below the example. Complete Instructions are also viewable here concerning the SSNB.  

HTML Code: Providing the RM has configured the ring to allow HTML code to be used, (All of my Rings Allow HTML code) A link to Get the HTML Code is available at the very bottom of the SSNB code page. - Under the Privacy Policy Statement -
 
Yes, access to the HTML code is hard to find because the system admins can't possibly conceive why anyone would want to use Static HTML when the SSNB is so much more versatile (*wink). Yet, some of us prefer it or some us can't use script in our pages - So this option is available. 

** See HTML Basics on this site for Tips on Pasting your chosen code into the HTML of your page.**

* On the Main "View Ring Sites" page (Shown Above)

Status: This is probably the most important piece of information in the maintenance of your ring memberships.
On the far right of the page, the column "Status/Checker" shows whether your ring membership is:
Pending - Not yet reviewed or accepted into the ring.
Active - Full Member of Ring and shows on Ring Hub Page listing.
Suspended - (Not Active), This site has been accepted into the ring at one time - but has failed the code checker or perhaps, the site does not meet some standard set by the RM and the site has been placed in the Queue (not listed) until the problem is corrected. *Note, sites in suspended status are in danger of being permanently removed within a set time limit! (determined by RM).

Checker or Code Wizard: This handy feature will help you determine the validity of your ring code placed on your page. The View Ring's Page tells you at a glance if the site Passes or Fails. If the site fails, check your page - make sure that the SSNB or HTML Navigation Panel displays clearly on your page & fix any errors. (You may need to obtain a fresh copy of code and re-install on your page). Then click the Wizard Link and the system will check the code again. See "View Web Sites" below for more detail on SSNB codes.

 

View Web Sites: Basically, this area is primarily for managing your SSNB stacks. For a full explanation of the SSNB, see "SSNB or HTML". The screenshot below shows 3 of my web pages which belong to various webrings. Each Web page (URL) has its own unique U#. Its the U# which tells the system which webrings belong on that page for display of the SSNB. At a glance, by looking at the line containing the U#, you can see whether you have SSNB code installed on your page. The link at the far right "List Sites" when clicked shows exactly what webring memberships are associated with that U# - even if you don't have the SSNB code on your page. In this example, I prefer the SSNB on the top and bottom URLs - but I use HTML code on my /webrings/index.html page. -- You can also grab a fresh copy of the SSNB version of your webring code by clicking the link "Get SSNB Code" - But, HTML codes are not available from this page - you must obtain HTML codes as explained in the "View Ring Sites" section above.

(3a)

By looking at this screenshot -above, you also notice that my /webrings/index.html page has 2 U#s; that is because at one point (before opting to use HTML) I split my SSNB stack. I wanted to place some of my ring membership navbars in one place on my page and the other membership navbars in another portion of the web page.

Global Edit: By clicking on the U# (edit) line, you gain access to the Global U#/Site Information Change page.
* Changes Here only affect the single page URL associated with that U#.

You can:

• Change U# (Not advisable - unless you really know what your doing)

• Control NavBar Display - Single Navbar or Whole Stack

• Change Links page message and link

• Change Site: URL, Title & Description which will CHANGE the Info for every ring membership associated with this U#.

• Split or Join NavBar Stacks -- Arrange WebRing Order

(3b)

The form on this page is self explanatory - you type in your changes in the text boxes - make sure a checkmark is placed in the little square boxes to identify that item is to be changed and click the submit button.  However, even though the actual WebRing edit page contains more info than this example -- Some things could use clarification of purpose ...

Show Just Navbar being Surfed: By default, this is automatically Checked. What this means is that you or any other surfer who visits your page will only see 1 navbar: The visitor will see the ring that they are currently surfing or in the case of a visitor not surfing any webrings - they will only see the Top WebRing Navbar in the Stack.

 If the box is Unchecked, the Only YOU will see ALL navbars associated with U# (The whole Stack).

In order for ALL visitors to see the whole stack, you have to edit the SSNB code to include '&full=y' in the javascript call after the u=########## parameter. *Note: Showing the FULL stack every time the page is loaded is not recommended by WebRing due to the lag in page loading times.

Javascript Call Example: Look for -

There is another option - showing just the top few (favorite) rings in the stack. Example: To show the top 5 navbars to any visitor, edit the SSNB code to include '&top=n' in the javascript call after the u=######### parameter [ change n to 5 ] - Note: ' n ' can be any number you choose.

 

Navbar

(4a)

This example shows a single navbar with a webring member (currently logged) into the system. Notice: the visitor is surfing this webring.

(4b)

This example shows a guest visiting the same page as the navbar above and sees only the top navbar in the stack. *Note: To see all the webrings this site belongs, the visitor would have to click the link.

Links Page Message & Link: This feature is directly tied to the "Just Navbar being Surfed" listed above. When, a visitor is already logged into WebRing, a personal message is provided at the top of the Navbar containing their WebRing ID - If, the visitor is not logged into WebRing then they are called "guest". (See 4a & 4b)Also, the system recognizes whether the surfer is actually navigating the webring or not and the appropriate message is displayed. Check this box to include a Customized Message (to replace the default) You can use HTML to change fonts ...etc. and even include a link to your own custom WebRings Page instead of using the Default WebRing Page which shows all your ring memberships in the stack.

Split or Join NavBar Stacks: The location for managing your SSNB stack is not obvious. From the "View Web Sites" page, Click on the U# (edit) link for the web page URL that you want to change the look of your SSNB stacks. The link for splitting your current SSNB stack is located at the top of the page. (See illustration 3b above).

The form for the actual splitting is straightforward and easy to understand. Just place the divider ( - divider -) wherever you want between two rings titles. -- Just Highlight the divider, click the up/down arrow. Then, click the "Make Changes" button. Now, you will see Two U#s on your "View Web Sites" page for that URL. Make sure you grab the New Code (which reflects the changes) for both U#s for that URL - and paste the new code on your page.

Joining the stacks is much easier - Just click the "Join Stack(s)" link - See Illustration 3a.- Follow the easy directions. ** Just remember, anytime you split or join stacks - chances are- you will need to grab a fresh copy of the code for your site.

Split Stack Form Before (5a)	Split Stack Form After (5b)
Change Display Arrangement - and/or - Split Stack Example: Notice Teachers.Net Webring has been clicked to be highlighted (4a). Then, the Up arrow was clicked several times to move the highlighted title to the top position (4b). Now,  submit the form. To split the stack, I would click the -divider- to highlight and I would move it in the same manner as described above.

SSNB Display: Arrangement of the WebRing display can also be accomplished by using the Split Stack Form. (You don't have to Split the Stacks to just customize the ring arrangement). In other words, -- Say you have one Ring Membership that you really want to top your Stack of Webrings - Just use this form to move that Ring Title to the top of the list and click the "Apply Changes" button. Only the movement of the "-divider- line Between Two Ring Titles will result in the splitting of the stack.

Additional Help Resources

Official WebRing Help Guide