I agree that going from site to site in a ring can be more helpful than
trying to use a search engine and ploughing through totally irrelevant
sites.  And more fun too.

Catherine

From September's Computer Shopper:

  #8  Club Scene
          Sandra Beltrao uncovers a ring of hobbyist Web sites that could
put
          an end to search engines as we know them

Like all good ideas, Web rings seem so obvious once you understand them.
Anyone
running a Web site can start a Web ring which is a group of Web sites linked
together by a common theme, literally. Hence, there is none of the hassle of
back-clicking to some enormous index list on a search engine: you can just
drift between Web ring sites for hours in a loop using the common
navigational
tools at the bottom of each site's home page or survey all the sites that
make
up the ring. Best of all, because site members are united by a love of their
specialist field, content tends to be free of the usual corporate trappings
and
more personal in nature.

To find a Web ring that interests you, visit the lord of the rings, WebRing,
at
www.Webring.org and run a search as you would using a normal search engine
either by category or doing a word search. A list of relevant rings will
appear
showing the nature of each ring and the number of sites within it. So if a
ring
currently has zero sites, that ring isn't going to be a font of information.
As
an indication of just how fast rings are growing, WebRing started out as a
small outfit on an overburdened server in 1995 with some 200 rings and has
since grown to over 40,000 rings with over 500,000 members. Not
surprisingly,
Geocities has snapped up the company, but it still retains its user-friendly
charm albeit with the occasional pop-up banner with a few words from its
sponsors.

WebRing also provides a service free of charge for joining or creating your
own
Web ring, and can support a nearly unlimited number of distinct rings across
the Internet. To join an existing ring, you must have a Web site up and
running
with at least five useful links. You then submit a form (quite painless) and
join the 'Queue'. You are then issued with a site ID and password by
WebRing,
asked to choose the navigational graphics and paste the HTML code into the
correct page with any necessary HTML changes. Once the code is inserted, you
then e-mail the ring host with your pages and they check that the code works
and that they are satisfied that your site fits in with the ring's criteria.
If
your submission is successful, you will receive a welcome letter together
with
detailed instructions about editing your personal/site details. A nice
feature
of WebRing is that it lists the top one hundred ring performers in each
category thus increasing your chances of getting more hits the more
successful
your ring becomes.


Playing host

If you plan to start up your own Web ring, WebRing will create and
administer
it for you. However, it is worth bearing in mind that being a ring host is a
time-consuming business. It is your job to find like-minded sites, e-mail
and
convince them to join your ring, and promote the ring on newsgroups and
message
boards. You should also bear in mind that you will need a pretty solid
understanding of HTML if you want to create a good Web ring as many fail due
to
poor navigational links between member sites. On the plus side, you do get
to
call the shots. As ring host you dictate the nature of the ring and you can
reject submitted site applications on whim alone although, being too
stringent
and you risk never taking off. The Canary Ring, for example, which aims to
provide a ring for Norwich City Football sites, has only one site - the
host's
own, which is not surprising. After all, how many Norwich City Football
sites
can there be in existence. Too easygoing, and your Web ring could turn into
a
spam-riddled list of corporate Web sites jumping on the promotion bandwagon
as
in the FrontPage Ring.


Atari lives

One resounding success story is the Atari WebRing at
www.incontrolinternet.co.uk. Set up by Roy Goring, Web author and
self-proclaimed leading light in the Atari world, last year, the ring now
boasts some 172 member sites, all of which have reported an increased hit
rate
to their sites since they joined. The ring has been known to engage in
discussions via e-mail on issues of copyright and piracy, making it
something
of a Web community and keeper of the flame for the ageing Atari. Another
excellent ring set up by student John Garner is the Sinclair Spectrum
Webring
which now has some 30 member sites.

However, a true sense of Web community is not really possible with the
current
infrastructure of Web rings. As they operate on a loop basis, there is no
real
front end, as it were. This makes it difficult to set up some kind of chat
or
messaging system between members without having to rely on other mediums
such
as Usenet or IRC. The other problem is that not everyone is an expert in
HTML
and are easily put off by the possible technical responsibilities of being
part
of a Web ring. A possible alternative is Tripod UK, part of the Lycos
network,
with its system of Pods. Similar to an online forum, a Pod is an online
member
community united by theme or topic. Pods reside on Tripod's home page under
categories sport, clubbing, sci-fi, computer games, film and tv, music,
technology and business park. Membership into a Pod is free and it is then
possible to chat or post messages to fellow Pod members. The big difference
between Pods and forums is that each Pod member is given 12Mb of Web space
on
which to create their own Web site, if they so choose. You don't actually
need
to have a Web site, which slightly defeats the point, but with Tripod's
support, you can be up and running with your own domain name in 20 minutes.
Once you're online, your site is up for all the world to see in the
Published
Pods' list. Your site can also be accessed when a visitor clicks on your
name
in a message board. On inspection of the current crop of Pod members' Web
sites, it must be said that the content really wasn't up to much. There was
also a lot of spam business Web sites as there is nothing to stop members
posting whatever they like bar anything too offensive.

It would seem a happy medium between Tripod's service with its use of chat
and
messageing crossed with WebRing's strict access policy over Web content
might
be the way forward. That way, the Internet will attract a cross-section of
newbies and no-alls while providing information in a way that is easily
accessible, informative and entertaining to boot.


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