About the WebRing ScriptsThe WebRing scripts are copyright E.P.Joe Tozer and were originally developed so that the Basingstoke Roundabout WebRing could be run without incurring the cost of any special hosting facilities and without participating sites having to carry advertising or having annoying pop up panels appear. The Basingstoke Roundabout has been successfully running in its present JavaScript form since 1999 and currently hosts over 60 member sites. The core of the WebRing is
based
on a set of HTML and JavaScript files that cause the WebRing software
to execute on the browsing machine, rather than the more usual method
of executing cgi scripts on the host machine. The member sites of the
WebRing carry an HTML-only panel that directs browsers to the WebRing's
core pages that carry the WebRing scripts. How the WebRing Scripts operateThe WebRing scripts work
like
this: at the member site a click on one of the links on the WebRing
panel will direct the browser to one of the prev/next/list/rand html
pages on the central site, these pages store a cookie in the browsing
machine indicating which page it is, they then auto load the ring.html
page, the JavaScript on the ring.html page reads the cookie value and
acts on it by auto loading the target member site, which in turn has
the WebRing member panel pointing back to prev/next/list/rand.html
pages. Using the WebRing ScriptsIf you want to use the scripts to create your own non commercial WebRing you may do so free of charge, providing the author is notified of the use and credited with a link to http://www.tozer.org.uk, the scripts are used intact, in particular leaving copyright notices in place, and that a references to this page, "tech.html", are kept in place, so that others wishing to set up a WebRing may find it. The files you'll need to use to set up a script based WebRing are available from http://www.zetrox.com/ringb/scripts.zip and are: alph.html One way to copy them is to http: to the page and then save the page from your browser. As many of the pages automatically redirect browsers to other pages, they can be a little tricky to save, to prevent the redirect occurring switch off scripting support in your browser. Once copied all the files need to be stored in the same WebRing folder on your WWW server. For example in: www.mydomain.myisp/webring/. The main files you'll need to modify for your WebRing are "ringa.js" and "html.html", these contain the list of WebRing member sites, "html.html" is only necessary for "scripts challenged" browsers. The variables SiteMax and CatsMax in ringa.js needs to be changed to the number of sites and categories in your WebRing. The files can be modified with a simple text editor such as NotePad. If you use the WebRing scripts they may only be modified to change the names to that of your WebRing and to the names of your member sites, the structure of the pages may not be changed and the page "tech.html" and references to it may not be changed. The page "join.html" uses cgi functions available on sites hosted by Clara Internet to return the forms, if your site is not hosted by Clara Internet you may change this page to suit your ISP's facilities. You are free to use the scripts non commercially unmodified, with the exceptions noted above. All use of the scripts and html is entirely at your own risk, no guarantees are implied or given as their functionality. If you need technical support by email I can provide this at an annual cost of £25 / €40 / US$40, email joe.tozer@zetrox.com for details. For details of commercial use of the scripts email joe.tozer@zetrox.com Some WebRings which use the scripts can be found at:
If you do set up a WebRing using the software, or if you know of any other WebRings not listed that use these scripts, please let Mr. Tozer know the URL of the site. email Joe Tozer |