Welcome to the WritingChat Webring

The WritingChat Webring links the members -- past, present, intermittent, and in quantum flux -- of the WritingChat email list, a Virtual Hangout for writers After the Workshop.

Resources for the WritingChat Webring

| The Navbar |  My Nav Bars Won't Behave! | Older Navigation Code | Get Your Graphics |
| Edit Your Listing | Other Help Links | Ring Main Page |

Code Options

A webring works by having a set of standard links on each page in the ring. You must add webring navigation code to your page for it to function as part of the ring. The magic doesn't work without you!

The code must be posted on either the page you registered with the ring when you joined, or another page that is clearly linked from that one, with "Webrings" in the link name.

If you have already posted the code for the stacking webring navigation bar on your webpage, the WritingChat navigation bar will automagically appear in the stack if you are added to the ring.

If you need the Javascript code for the navbar:

• Sign in at Webring
  • Click the link at the top for "My Rings"
  • Click the link in the left column for "View Ring Sites"
    OR
  • Use this link to go directly to "View Ring Sites": http://S.webring.com/mbr?p=ms
• Locate the name of the webring you need code for in your list of memberships
• Click the title of your site
• Click "Get Navigation Code"
• Your code will appear in a text box just below a sample of what your SSNB code should look like when installed.
• Copy the code and place it on your site.

Lynx (text-only) and some older graphic browsers, cannot use Javascript. This is the reason for the code between the <NOSCRIPT> and </NOSCRIPT> tags. That code will be executed by browsers that do not use Javascript, and provides a link to a page hosted at Webring that will display all your navbars.

Some people still prefer to use the all-HTML navbar. To get the HTML navbar, follow the above steps, but when you get to the page displaying the SSNB code, scroll to the bottom and click the word "here" at the end of the sentence "Members who wish to use the HTML version of this nav bar should go here."

If you use the Javascript code, the navbar for each new webring you join will automagically appear in the "stack." So will any code updates. If you use the HTML form, you will have to manually insert the HTML navbar for each new ring, and manually make any updates.

There is a way to get the best of both worlds. At the end of the Javascript code is a <NOSCRIPT> tag. This tells the browser what to do if Javascript isn't working; it provides a link to a page hosted at Webring where your navbars will be displayed. Carefully insert your HTML code just before the </NOSCRIPT> tag. Then the automagically maintained navbar stack will appear for your visitors who use Javascript, a link to the Webring page with your navbars will appear for visitors who don't, and your manually maintained HTML stack will appear for people who don't use Javascript and don't want to click an extra link.

The code is customized for your webpage. If your webpage address or any other site information (including your email address) changes, please update your entry! The magic of webring cannot work without your help.

The stacking navbar is a convenience if you register the same webpage with many webrings. Each additional bar on the stack, however, slows the loading of your page, and if it loads too slowly some rings -- including Bookfans -- will not accept your page.

I don't want to have to go searching your site for the ring-relevant content, and visitors shouldn't have to either.

A design solution to both considerations is to group your navbars by theme, and put each group on a page with links to the pages in your site on that theme, as well as a link to your front page.

Common Navbar Problems

• "I've put the navbar code on my page but the navbar isn't showing up!"
  • The most common reason for this is that I haven't added you to the ring yet; or, if you were in suspended status until navbar code was posted on your site, we just haven't caught up with you yet. If you have been notified that you are in the ring, and navbar code is posted on your page, please wait 24 hours before panicking.
• "It's been 24 hours!"
  • Don't panic, anyway.
  • Log in at Webring, click on "My Rings" then on "View Web Sites". You'll see a list of all the pages you have registered with any webring; below each page is an arcane number; and in the right column are two links, "Get SSNB Code" and "Site List".
  • I will bet you Virtual Chocolate that you will find your page entered more than once, with separate numbers assigned to it.
  • Pick the number in the code you have already posted on your page and copy it. Now click on any other numbers assigned to that page. You get an edit screen where you can change the number. This is called "merging stacks."
  • After you end up with only one listing for that page address, click on "Site L:ist" to make sure all the webrings that are supposed to be on that page are really there. At this point, you can also rearrange the webring stack!
  • You can also click on "Get SSNB Code" to make sure you have the valid code for that page.
• "It still isn't working!"
  • Go to "View Web Sites", click on "Site List" and click on "Rebuild Stack" -- even without making changes. It's like a reboot -- sometimes it kicks the jam loose.
• "It still isn't working!"
  • Sometimes you just have to yell for Help. The good news is, under the new Webring system, you actually get an answer!
• I've joined 192 webrings since 1995. When I sign in at the new Webring sustem, I only see five of them!
  • It's going to be a severe pain in the tushie, but you are going to have to import the other 187 webrings by hand.
    • Sign in at webring
    • Go to the migration page
    • For each webring, enter the ring name and your site ID

Older Navigation Code

As an alternative, we have the older "pretty code" navigation block that has been updated with the new Webring links. You can no longer get a copy of the HTML tailored for your site, but you can copy the code of your choice from this page and edit it to substitute your own site information.

That's what it looks like. this is the code:

<table border="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" summary="Webring">
<tr>
<td><a href="http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&home"><img src= "images/wchat1.gif" alt="WritingChat Ring" border="0" height="100" width="100"></a>
</td>
<td align="center">
<font size="-2">This <a href= "http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat">WritingChat Ring</a> site is owned by<br>
<a href="mailto:anitra@spamcop.net">Anitra, Dances With Dragons</a>.</font>
<p><font size="-2">Click for the [ <a href= "http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&id=22&next">NextPage</a>
| <a href="http://go.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&id=22&prev">Previous</ A>
| <a href= "http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&id=22&next5">Next5</a>
| <a href="http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&id=22&skip">SkipIt</a> ]
<br>
Want to join the ring? Click here for <a href= "http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&home">info</a>
<br>
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://M.webring.com/go?ring=writingchat&id=22&next"><img src="images/wchat2.gif" alt="next site" border="0" height="100" width="100"> </a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

You may, of course, change the text and background colors, and the table alignment, to suit your page design.

Graphics

If you decide to use the webring graphics, you must copy them to your own webspace and change the image links in the webring code accordingly.

If you are using a PC (with a two-button mouse), right-click on the image. If you are using a Mac (which has a one-button mouse) click on the image and hold.

You will get a pop-up menu: one of the options is "Save this image as ..." (if you are using Netscape) or "Download image to disk" (if you are using IE.)

Select that option, and save the image to your hard drive.

Using the FTP program of your choice, upload the image to your own webspace.

Change the image file name in the webring code you've chosen to point to the directory where you have posted the image, and the filename you've chosen for it.

Edit Your Listing

This bears repeating. The webring magic won't work without you!

If I can't find your page when I check out your application, sometimes I can figure out that it's because you typed two "http"s or mispelled "index", or backtrack to your main page and then forward to your webrings page. Sometimes when the ring checker suddenly says your site or your navcode is gone, I can track you down through forwarding links. In such cases, i will edit the information for you.

But it will always be much faster and more certain if you edit it yourself, whenever anything changes.

Other Webring Help Links

James Huggins has absolutely the best, most up-to-date and readable information on webrings that there is. If you have any further questions, or you're just curious about webrings, I recommend his pages.

• What is a Webring?
• Webring FAQ
• New Webring System FAQ
• End of Yahoo FAQ

[ WritingChat Email List Home Page ]
[ My Writing Page ] [ My Home Page ]