SFF Net Blogging Tools - Detailed Information

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Use this index to find information regarding SFF Net Blogging Tools.
Detailed Instructions Page Index

Embed your People Newsgroup into any Webpage

Changing the way your newsgroup appears

Controlling your newsgroup

Sample embedded newsgroup

RSS Feeds

Embed your People Newsgroup into any Webpage
The process for embedding your People Newsgroup into a page is almost embarrassingly simple. You need only include this line in your web page's HTML code wherever you want the newsgroup to appear (note the text may appear wrapped here, but it is all one line):

<iframe width=100% height=450 frameborder=0 scrolling=yes id=webnews src="http://embeddednews.sff.net/read?cmd=[View Type]&group=[your newsgroup name]&Profile=[your SFF Net username]"></iframe>

In the above code line, replace [View Type] with the View Type command you want (xover, outline, or blogview - see the View Type description in the Format section below). Be sure to also replace [your newsgroup name] with the name of your SFF Net newsgroup (i.e. sff.people.jeffry-dwight) and replace [your SFF Net username] with your SFF Net username. Don't include the brackets [ ].
For example, if your SFF Net username is BettyB, your People newsgroup is named sff.people.bettyb, and you want to have your newsgroup appear in blogview format, you'd use this code:

<iframe width=100% height=450 frameborder=0 scrolling=yes id=webnews src="http://embeddednews.sff.net/read?cmd=blogview&group=sff.people.bettyb&Profile=bettyb"></iframe>

Changing the way your newsgroup appears
You have extensive control over how the newsgroup appears. This allows you to easily integrate the newsgroup into your web page's look.

View Type
You can control which type of newsgroup view you want your visitors to see by setting the cmd= parameter in the IFRAME tag. The options are:

cmd=xover - this uses the standard WebNews Article View that displays each thread and individual message sequentially.

cmd=outline - threads are collapsed into a summary outline view and only messages in that thread are displayed when the outline is expanded.

cmd=blogview - Uses a flat webboard-style view similar to the look used on many blogs.

Window Size
The size of the newsgroup display window is controlled by the width and height parameters in the IFRAME tag. Adjust these settings to make your newsgroup appear larger or smaller on your web page.
Colors and Fonts
If you have specified your SFF Net username in the Profile= parameter of the IFRAME HTML tag, the appearance of your newsgroup will be controlled by the font and color settings you choose in your WebNews options. If you do not specify the Profile= parameter, the newsgroup will use the default display settings for a WebNews guest.

Controlling your newsgroup
One of the unfortunate realities of having a public message board on a web page is that you will occasionally get unwanted posts, whether it is spam or obnoxious posters. You can remove these posts yourself by logging in to WebNews. As a People newsgroup owner, you have permission to delete any post in your newsgroup. If you have trouble with deleting posts, or have repeat visits from unwanted posters, let us know by writing techsupport@sff.net.

Sample Embedded Newsgroup
Here's how a People Newsgroup embedded using Blog View and the default colors will appear (go ahead and pet it, it's a live group). Click the Article View and Outline View buttons to see the other available display styles.

RSS Feeds
All SFF Net People Pages have an RSS Feed available that includes a summary of all new threads posted in the group. This allows visitors to include your newsgroup in their RSS news aggregator program so they're automatically notified when a new discussion is started. You can make this feed available to your site visitors merely by including this link on your page (note the text may appear wrapped here, but it is all one line):
<a href="http://webnews.sff.net/rss/[your newsgroup name].xml"><img src="http://www.sff.net/gfx/sff/rss-xml.gif" border="0" align="top"> RSS Feed</a>
Be sure to substitute the name of your SFF Net newsgroup (i.e. sff.people.jeffry-dwight) for the [your newsgroup name] in the above line.
Your link will appear like this: RSS Feed