The Writers Webring Resource Page

Introduction: What is the Writers List?
What is the Writers Ring?
What can you find on this page?
Webring Details: What is a Webring?
Purpose of the Writers Ring
Qualifications to Join
How to Join
Webring Code & Graphics
Editing Your Listing
Helping the Ring
Writers Ring Email
Additional Resources: Other Writing Webrings
Other Writing Forums
Other Writing Resources
Add Your Own Link
Help with Webpages
& Promotion
More about WRITERS: Many of the references, writing exercises, contest-winning stories and other treasures compiled from the WRITERS list, plus subscription info.

My Writing Workshops
StreetWrites, more about the online workshop
StreetWrites writing exercises - elements of fiction, essays, grammar
Kalliope, elements of poetry, a poetry exercise workshop
WebWriter, elements of webpage design and a webpage writing workshop
Speakout, a public speaking workshop
The Unicorn Pen writing forum
Teaching Poetry
Help with Your Homework

My Writing

WRITERS@MITVMA.MIT.EDU is an email writing workshop list where you can find: Subs, critiques, technical discussion, publication & contest info, interactive story lines, chat, philosophy, jokes, Your Favorite Breakfast Cereal surveys -- and anything else. Writers rampant!

The Writers Ring was begun by Sarah Mankowski in September 1998, to link the websites of members of the WRITERS email workshop list.

In September 2000, Yahoo reorganized Webring. Sarah turned the Writers Ring over to Anitra and moved on to set up a new resource site for writers and readers at Homestead.

This is the new Writers Ring homepage, covering:

Purpose and description of the webring
Qualifications for joining the ring
Procedure for joining the ring
Webring graphics and navigation code
How to update your webring listing

Additional resources:

What is the WRITERS list? How to join. How to manage your subscription.
Other writing forums
Writers' resource links
Add your own link
Help with your webpage and promoting your webpage

This Writers Ring site is owned by Anitra.

Webring Details

What a Webring Is
What the Writers Ring Is
Qualifications to Join
How to Join the Ring
After You Join
Maintaining Your Listing
More Ways to Help
Writers Ring Email

What a Webring Is

A webring is a way of linking similar sites without depending on manual link lists. Once a site is registered with a webring, it is automatically linked to all other sites in the ring without needing to periodically verify whether anyone has moved, been added, or dropped out. The webring software tracks all of that. All that you, as an individual site owner, need to do to make sure the Webring Magic works is to make sure that your site information is kept current, and to post a small set of standard webring navigation links on your site.

What the Writers Ring Is

The Writers Ring is intended primarily to link and promote quality sites created by members of the WRITERS email list. It is also intended as a resource for the members; therefore high-quality sites with valuable literary resources are welcome to apply even if the site owner is not subscribed to the WRITERS list.

Former members of the list are also welcome, and you will not be deleted from the ring if you unsubscribe from WRITERS. Your eligibility for the ring also does not depend on how active or popular you are on the list.

What the Qualifications Are

Unfortunately, there is only one administrator for this ring, so you are subject to my own judgement of what a "quality" site is. Fortunately, I am not entirely arbitrary. I will not rule you out of the ring because you write a genre or style that I don't read, or because you print the work of authors I won't read. I won't even rule you out if you use frames, Flash, or Javascript.

What I do require:

Your site must fit at least one of the following categories:

At least 10 works of your original writing, of a quality that enhances the ring. To get an idea of my judgement, browse through the current pages of the webring.
An active ezine, updated at least once a month, accepting public submissions, and publishing the work of at least 6 different writers in each issue. Again, the literary quality must be of a level that enhances the ring. Browse the ring to see currently accepted ezines.
Resources valuable to writers. Browse the ring to see currently accepted examples.

Your site must fulfill the following technical criteria:

Clean, attractive, design: no purple-font-on-black-rippled-background or entire-site-on-one-page designs; no Javascript errors, broken images, table errors, rampant mispellings. Tip: Check to see if you fit the standards on How to Win Awards at Selfpromotion.com
Your site is easy to navigate! Webring visitors will enter your site at the page you register with webring. Visitors should be able to get to the rest of your site from that page, and must be able to get back to that page from anywhere in your site.
Accessibility. If you have questions about this, review my tips on accessibility and test your site at Bobby.
If you do use design elements recognized only by advanced browsers, plug-ins, frames, Flash, Javascript, or other high tech, provide an alternative for lower-tech users -- or at least a graceful exit fr0m your site, continuing on with the rest of the ring.

Due to recent changes at Webring, you must now have a Yahoo ID before you can join any ring. It is easy to get— you can do it while applying for the ring — and there are many advantages to it, including the ease of maintaining your webring memberships. However, I'm well aware that not everybody loves Yahoo.

How to Join the Ring

You've browsed the ring, checked your site against the webring criteria, and you want to apply. Great!

The next step is to fill out an application form.

This includes signing in with your Yahoo ID — if you do not already have one, you will need to fill out another form to get one, then you will go back to the application form.

On the webring application form, enter the page on your site where you will place the webring navigation code. This is the page where webring visitors will enter your site. This does not have to be the main page of your site. I would rather that it be a page with specific content relevant to the webring. It can be a page containing only webring links, IF that page has easily found navigation links direct to your writing content. You may place the webring code on a different page than the one at which visitors enter your site, IF that page contains a clear link to the webring navigation code.

Enter your site name (50 characters or less). Suggestion: design the title to indicate the nature of your site, include one or more keywords that someone would use to look for the special content of your site, and be interesting enough to pull in readers.

Describe your website (400 characters or less). Suggestion: Include keywords that someome would use to find the special content of your site, but don't make your whole description all a string of keywords. Make the description attract readers.

Writers Ring Application

Yahoo!Webring will send you a snippet of Javascript code to insert in your page. This code will automagically load the Yahoo-designed navigation bar for the Writers Ring, and every other ring you have joined with that page address, whenever the page is called. The navigation bar will not load until your page has been approved to join the ring.

I will let you know within two weeks if you have been approved to join the ring, or I will write to you to let you know what problems need to be fixed before I can approve your application. If you do not hear from me within two weeks, feel free to nudge me.

After You Join

The Yahoo navigation bar is a handy gadget. Like a lot of other high tech, though, it isn't useable in all older browsers. It is also hard to use by some individuals, like those who are sight-challenged. For the purposes of accessibility, then, I also ask that all webring members, after being accepted, also post HTML navigation code for the webring. There are several options, from a minimum text link to the ring hub, to a full navigation table with your choice of graphics. Webring navigation code and graphics.

Keep the Magic Working

There is only one more thing you need to do to keep the Webring Magic working: maintain your own site listing. If your email address, site address or description, or the location where you' ve put the webring code changes, update your record at Yahoo!Webring. The Webring software cannot go find you, and neither can I. If your site cannot be found, or the navigation code can't be found on your site, you will be suspended from active membership until the problem is fixed. If I can't contact you about the problem, or you don't answer my contact, your site will be deleted from the ring.