What Is The Elmo Lover's Ring?

What is a ring?

A ring (or webring) is a totally free service offered to the Internet community. The ring provides the World Wide Web with a different way to organize web sites. The ring is a way to group together sites with similar content by linking them together in a circle, or ring.

How does it work?

The idea is that once you are at one site in the ring, you can click on a "Next" or "Previous" link to go to adjacent sites in the ring and--if you do it long enough--end up where you started. This is actually something you can do without the ring system by simply having each page owner link their site to the next. However, when somebody wants to join the ring, someone has to edit their page to point to the new page and--when the ring gets big enough--it becomes more and more difficult to keep the ring "intact" when pages disappear and servers go down.

The ring provides a solution to all of these problems, as well as numerous enhancements. When you join a ring, the HTML code on your homepage rarely changes. Links point to a special CGI script that will send people to the next site in the ring. Because the central ring database is located in one location, sites can be added and removed quickly and easily, and because the ring CGI allows you to continue past sites that are unreachable, you will always be able to continue around the loop.

The ring will do quite a few tricks, actually. People can travel a ring in either direction, either jumping to (or skipping) the next site or previous site, list the next five sites in the ring, jump to a random site in the ring, or simply get a list of all pages in the loop. Furthermore, the system supports the operation of a virtually unlimited number of separate and distinct rings, allowing the creation of thousands of different "communities" on the web. And, best of all, the ring is entirely free!

What's so special about the Elmo Lover's Ring?

The purpose of this ring is to link every Elmo lover's page across the world together. There are only a few requirements for you to join:

1. You must have a home page.
2. Your page must have at least a picture of Elmo. If you need Elmo graphics, see the list of Elmo graphic resources here.
3. Your page must be family safe. That means no profanity, violence, etc. or links to sites with those things.

How do I join this Ring?

First, go to the "Submit a Site" section. Fill out the form to add your site to the queue. The queue is a waiting place until I place your site in the ring. After you submit your site, you will be forwarded to a page that will give you the HTML code to put on your page. You will also get an email message with your site information and the HTML code again. If your site information is wrong, then go to the "Edit Site Information" section and follow the instructions there.

Once you add the HTML code to your page, email me to ask me to look at your page. Remember to include your URL or site id, so I can find your page. I'll visit your page and look for the code. When I see the code, I will add your site to the ring and you'll be able to surf through the ring from your page.

What Other rings are available?

The best way to find a ring that will interest you is to visit RingSurf, an online diretory of the system. Chances are you'll find one that will interest you-- either to surf or to join.

You can also join rings when you see one that you like on someone else's page. See my rings here. Just follow the link that says "get more info" or something to that effect on the ring you like. It will bring you to that ring's home page and you can submit your page from there.

Who are you people and why are you doing this?

All of the rings are operated by average, ordinary people across the Internet, like me. If you can't find a ring that suits your needs, you're free to start your own as well!

Rings are a good way to increase the number of people who visit your webpage. Managing this ring has also been a good way for me to meet other Elmo lovers around the world.

Elmo Lovers Ring About the Elmo Lovers Ring Submit your site
Edit Site Info See the Elmo sites HTML Code Free Elmo webpage graphics