Now it's time to create the ring fragment. This is simply a matter of providing some
navigational controls in a standard format for use by those sites who join your ring. Each site will receive a copy of the
fragment, customized specifically for their site. They are expected to insert this fragment onto their page, along with
any (optional) graphics.
Note: this tutorial assumes a working knowledge of HTML coding.
Before you begin, you should review the article "Ring Fragments" for an overview of what
fragments are and how they work. Once you've read that article, we will proceed by describing how the RingSurf system
works.
The ring fragment contains of some controls, each of which allows surfers to perform functions on the ring. All control
is performed by one routine (called "ring") which is passed a parameter telling it what function is desired.
The available parameters are listed below.
| Function |
Description |
| Home |
Go to home or join page |
| Index |
List detailed index of ring |
| Join |
Go directly to join form |
| List |
List all sites in ring |
| Next |
Proceed to the next site |
| Next5 |
List next 5 sites in ring |
| Prev |
Proceed to the previous site |
| Prev5 |
List previous 5 sites in ring |
| Rand |
Go to a random site in the ring |
| Snext |
Skip next site |
| Sprev |
Skip previous site |
| Stats |
Show ring statistics |
What you are attempting to do when you design a ring fragment is:
- Give surfers a way to get to as many of these navigational controls as you can. Ideally, you should let them use all
of the controls.
- To somehow convey a sense of the theme of the ring. This is usually done by including one or more graphics.
All right, now it's time to design the ring fragment. A sample fragment from a working RingSurf webring is shown
below.
As you can see, a graphic is included in order to give you an idea of the ring theme. You would be wise to note in your
join page that the graphic(s) must be loaded onto each site's own space. Otherwise
your host will loose bandwidth each time the ring fragment is displayed.
The HTML code for this fragment for the ring "grandlife" is included below.
You will note the presence of some special tags. These are substituted with information specific to each site when a
site is added.
| Symbol |
Description |
| ***ring id*** |
Id of the ring |
| ***site id*** |
Id of the site |
| ***site title*** |
Changed to the name of the site |
| ***site owner*** |
Modified to the name of the webmaster of the site. |
| ***site email*** |
Modified to the site's email address |
Proper use of these substitution symbols ensures that sites which join the ring receive fragments which are exactly
ready for insertion into their web pages. A good goal to achieve is to make it as simple as possible for sites to add the
fragment - otherwise you will spend a lot of time helping people do this simple chore.
There are many different variations on the fragment format available to you. Since you code the fragment, you are free
to do whatever you want with it.
Once you've created your fragment, you use the Ring HTML section of the
RingSurf control panel to modify what is sent to your site members.
I've included some example of other types of fragments below. These examples are from surfing around the various rings.
Minimalist Format
«
» you don't have to love me
#
?
This format is very interesting in that it takes up very little space but still provides all of the navigational
controls. Take a look at this page and you
will see how useful this format can be.
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