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An Explanation of Web Rings

The purpose of a web ring is to help web site visitors quickly and easily navigate to other web sites that have similar content. The members of a web ring are organized in a circular ring so that each web site has a "neighbor" on each side of the ring. Each web site in the ring displays the name of the web ring and provides links to:

• the next site in the ring,
• the previous site in the ring,
• a randomly-selected site in the ring, and
• the home page or "hub" for the ring (which explains the purpose of the web ring, the criteria for joining it, and provides a list of current members).

These links (and possibly some additional links as well) are usually displayed in a rectangular box that contains the name of the web ring itself and some kind of picture that symbolizes the content theme of the ring.

Here is a simple example to help you understand the concept of web rings. Let's say that Elizabeth has a web ring named Elizabeth's Favorites Web Ring. The members of Elizabeth's Favorites Web Ring are organized into the following order:

1. Beth's Web Site
2. Liz's Web Site
3. Bethy's Web Site
4. Betherini's Web Site
5. Betherly's Web Site
6. Betheronus's Web Site
7. Lizzy's Web Site

The main web page for each member web site would display the following:

Elizabeth's Favorites Web Ring Ring Hub Random Previous Next

If you visit Beth's Web Site, then the link for the "next" web page in the ring will take you to Liz's Web Site. On Liz's Web Site, the link for the "previous" web page in the ring takes you back to Beth's Web Site. The "next" link on Lizzy's Web Site (the last member in the ring) takes you to Beth's Web Site (the first member in the ring). The "random" link from one of these sites will take you randomly to some other member site in the ring, such as jumping from Bethy's Web Site to Lizzy's Web Site. Each member in the ring also has a link to the ring hub which is a page that explains Elizabeth's purpose for creating the web ring in the first place. The hub also gives people the opportunity to add their own web sites to the web ring (assuming Elizabeth grants their requests to join).

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