Webonizer Account Overview

Webonizer has extensive site-wide and per-account settings that can be controlled. When you set up your Webonizer site, the first user account belongs to the site administrator. The site administrator has absolute control over the information and features on the site. The site administrator will then set controls to limit who can join the site and create their own accounts.

Having an account on the site is necessary in order to do anything other than view pages and fill in miscellaneous forms like emailing the site and signing guestbooks. You will see links in the site such as "Join" or "Join Site" that will display the join fields.

Each site using Webonizer can have its own set of required fields you must fill in to join that site. Below is a list of some standard fields and what they mean.

Note that most Webonizer sites will show you what fields are required by giving them a bold or red label.

Invitation Code

If you see a long field at the top of your sign up form called “Invitation Code” then the Webonizer-run site you are trying to join only allows new members who have been invited with a specific invitation code. You must copy exactly the invitation code as it was provided to you. Your site may have sent you an email with that code—there may have been a link in that email that will pre-fill the invitation code. An invitation code is only active until midnight (server time) of the day it was sent.

Basic Information

Fields listed under “Basic Information” are generally self-explanatory. These fields include your personal name, company name, birthday and other information your site has set for its needs.

Login Information

Every account on a Webonizer site requires login information to be filled according to certain rules. You must create a username and a password. These fields must be alphanumeric (meaning they contain only numbers and letters). You must confirm your password by typing it exactly the same in the Password and Retype PW fields. If there is already someone using the account you chose, you will be prompted to create a new username. Each field for login information has a maximum of 16 characters.

NOTE: Your username and password must be Alpha-Numeric--meaning that they can only contain numbers and letters. You cannot use symbols ("@","#","'","-","/"," ", etc) or spaces. This stipulation is a login security measure that helps make sure that hackers cannot gain access to your account. You may have a username or password that works but is no longer valid if the site you are using was originally programmed before using the Webonizer system. If you have this problem, simply change your username and/or password.

Address Information

Depending on your Webonizer site, you may be prompted to provide your address information. Note that if you are using a JavaScript-enabled browser, the state field will change depending on the country you have selected. If your site requires a state and you live in a country where there are no states, simply enter your city into both state and city fields.

Optional Information

Optional information usually includes fields like “Website” and “Descriptive Keywords” and other miscellaneous tidbits of information. In many Webonizer sites, a link to your website will be provided on all pages you author if you enter your website address into the “Website” field. “Descriptive Keywords” should be a comma separated list that helps visitors find you when using the site’s internal member search.

Detailed Information

The detailed information is a very important part of your account if your site provides these fields. These fields are important for search-engine purposes.

• Description - A one-sentence description about you (or your company/organization if that is the situation). Make sure that the information includes the type of information that people might use to search for you and makes you stick out. The information you provide is the description people see when viewing results in search engines like Google and Yahoo. You have a maximum of 255 characters.
• Profile/Biography - A detailed profile of you or your organization. Use as much space as you wish. You can break paragraphs by hitting the ENTER key twice. You can also add links and HTML into this field if you know HTML. (For users visiting with Internet Explorer, there are Text-Format Tools above this field to help format with proper HTML.)

Account Options

Depending on the nature of your Webonizer site, there will be a set of check boxes and menus in a fieldset called Account Options. What options are available depends on the site.

Guestbook Options - Some sites allow members to have guestbooks. If your site has guestbooks, you may see a form that will set guestbooks to “public”, “friends” and “private”.

• Public turns your guestbook on and allows anyone to post in it.
• Private turns off your guestbook. Only you and site administrators can see your guestbook.
• Friends will only work if the site has the Friends Network turned on. If available, only people who you have selected as “friends” can post in your guestbook.

Another option is Show Posts in Pages which will show guestbook posts in both your guestbook and the page that prompted the post. If you check this option, you must also set the limit on the number of posts that will show on pages.

Contact Options - These options set how the site allows people to view/use your contact information. If you have checked Display Address & Phone then your profile will display your address and phone number and include a map generator for getting to your address. Webonizer strongly suggests that you do not check this option unless your account is for a business.

The Mail Link option sets whether or not visitors can email you through the site. If unchecked, there will not be a link to email you on your pages. Note that your email address is not public when checked—but a form to email you through the site will be available.

Anti-Spam Level - is a threshold that generically filters spam posts into your email and guestbook. This setting must be a numeric value from 0-999. The lower the number, the more likely potential spam will be blocked.

Other Options

Webonizer sites may allow you to post media files (images, music, PDFs, Flash files and other media) to your account. You may find that your site also requires you to enter a security code (random letters and numbers) to prove that you are not a spam-bot attempting to join automatically.