Online Applications > Directory Software
Web-link is one of the most popular and widely recognized Directory Management solutions in the world. Every day, millions of people worldwide use the web sites that are run by Web-link. Web-link is a powerful portal solution that allows you to run a complex Yahoo™-style directory directly on your web site without having to update numerous HTML pages. Web-link can also be used for many other purposes and for managing directory structures of any type. For example, it can be used to run a directory of products, profiles, listings or records containing specific information. Web-link runs on Web-portal Platform and integrates seamlessly with other Web-portal modules.
Web-link features dynamic presentation of data and includes multiple customizable features. Web-link requires very little configuration and is fully equipped with features necessary to manage a directory structure of any type and application. The centralized Administrative Console allows you to administer your entire Web-link directory and all of its related services Web-link requires Web-portal Platform – a free system that installs on your web site and contains the core functionality that is necessary for running dynamic web sites. The platform performs all of the common services, such as Category and User administration, and handles data sharing and communications between Web-link and other modules DIRECTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Integrated Support for Other Modules
- Centralized Catalog Management
- Windows Explorer™-like Interfaces
- Built-in Content Management Tools
- Unlimited Custom Fields
- Unlimited Link Images
- Unlimited Related Items
- Advanced Permissions
- Automatic Link Expiration
- Flexible Link Priorities
Paid Listings Support
The support for Paid Listings has been requested by our customers for a long time and we finally made it a reality through this release of Web-link 3.1.1 and Web-commerce 1.0.1. WebNet can set up a Paid Listings Directory or convert your existing Web-portal site into a powerful e-commerce solution. Email us for more information at support@webnetint.com.
Main Features
Web-link boasts more features and flexibility than virtually any other Directory Management solutions available on the market today. Years of experience and feedback from our customers helped us to design a product that includes a number of features making Web-link stand out. Web-link automatically integrates with all of the centralized services managed by the Web-portal Platform and allows seamless introduction of countless additional features offered by other modules.
General Features
- Unlimited number of Links per category
- Paid Listings support (configurable unlimited paid listing types, automatic expiration)
- Link-modifiers – new, hot, pop, editor’s pick
- Configurable output options – sorting, pagination
- Configurable Links priority
- Link reviews
- Link rating/voting system
- Link submission form on the front end
- Link modification form on the front end
- Suggest category form on the front end
- Unlimited number of custom fields
- Different type of custom fields – text, drop-down, checkboxes etc.
- Configurable Search Settings – relevance, fields to search in etc.
- Configurable Output Settings – sorting, pagination, priorities etc.
- Configurable E-mail Settings – which notifications to send and to/from whom
- Links Validations – locates the dead links in the directory
Front End User Experience
The front-end users of your web site, regardless of the structure and the purpose of your site, will enjoy convenient and intuitive features and interfaces offered by Web-link. Web-link does not only allow your users to effectively view, navigate and search the information; it also allows your users to interact directly with that information, by viewing and applying it in accordance with their preferences and continuously keeping it up to date. It allows front-end users to suggest new information, maintain their own listings, rate and review the existing listings. Web-link automatically maintains top rated, new and most popular listings, editor picks and keeps track of various markers, counters and statistics on all categories and listings in the directory.
Front End Features
- Sortable link listings with adjustable pagination
- Friendly URLs - perfectly spiderable, meaningful URLs with no query string; configurable category and items names in the URL*
- Breadcrumbs (category path) display on every page
- Quick search for links
- Advanced search for links
- Link submission forms (extensible with custom fields)
- Instant or pending administrator’s approval link submission
- Instant or pending administrator’s approval link modification
- Links Enhancement for submitted links (Paid Listings)
- Renewal notifications for Enhanced (Paid) Listings
- Multiple Enhancement types selectable when enhancing listings
Administrative Experience
The centralized Administrative Console allows you to manage your entire Web-link directory of listings and all of its related services through a central Catalog. The interface of the Catalog is similar to the File Explorer in Microsoft Windows™, allowing users to work with multiple listings and categories, just like with files and folders on your computer, including but not limited to moving, copying and pasting categories and listings. The Catalog allows administrators to add, edit and delete listings and categories, validate pending listings and perform other administrative services. Web-link stores detailed information for each listing (link) in the database, including its title, description, date of entry and unlimited custom fields that can be used to store any information pertinent to your web site. Each listing has properties that the system automatically maintains based on the administrator’s preferences and the interaction with the end users. Additionally, the Administrative Console allows managing multiple settings and preferences and provides access to many useful tools, such as Link Validator, for example.
Administrative Console Features
- Catalog view – displays listings by category
- Advanced view – displays all the listings regardless of the category in one grid
- Reviews management – display all reviews in single section, allowing to edit and approve or deny it
- Graphical toolbars on every page
- Cut/Copy/Paste functions for managing links and categories
- Approve/Deny available from the toolbar
- Keyword-searchable data-grids (Catalog, Advanced View)
- Customizable View Options (pagination, sorting, display by link status etc.)
- Links verification – allows to automatically verify the availability of every link in the system
- Adjustable Output settings (sorting, pagination, priorities)
- Customizable Search settings – allows to specify fields for searching, relative weight of each field in calculating relevance etc.
- Customizable E-mail settings – allows to specify the from/to addresses for all automatic e-mails such as link added, link modified, link approved etc.
- Custom fields management – add/edit/delete unlimited custom fields, specify custom field types, labels etc.
- Paid Listings management add/edit/delete Paid Listing Types, create, modify, extends, approve or deny Paid Listings
- Import data from Web-link 2.x
Technical Requirements
 Web-link requires Web-portal Platform – a free system that installs on your web site and contains the core functionality that is necessary for running dynamic web sites. The platform performs all of the common services, such as Category and User administration, and handles data sharing and communications between all modules such as Web-link. All of the functions and services of Web-link and the Web-portal Platform are managed through a web browser. The administrator needs a web browser and an Internet connection to be able to work with Web-link and the Web-portal Platform.The actual site running Web-link on the Web-portal Platform needs to reside on a web server. Web-link and the Web-portal Platform are designed to run on most hosting platforms – both virtual accounts and dedicated servers. Should you have any questions regarding a particular hosting platform or configuration, please don’t hesitate to contact us. WebNet International, Inc. also provides hosting accounts that are optimized specifically for use with Web-portal and its modules.
User-Side Software Requirements
Since the front end of the system is completely template based, its compatibility with various browsers depends on the implementation by the site administrator. The default theme supplied with Web-link is compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 and higher, and Mozilla version 1.5 and higher. The Administrative Console requires Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5, Mozilla 1.6 or higher with Java Script enabled, in order to be able to utilize all of its features. You may be able to use older browsers; however, your experience may be limited, as older browsers do not support all of the technologies utilized by the Administrative Console.
Server-Side Software and Environment Requirements
Web-portal Platform and all of its modules have the same server requirements. As of version 1.0.4, Web-portal Platform has the following server requirements:
- OS: Microsoft Windows 2000, XP Pro, 2003; Linux (most flavors); FreeBSD, BSDi, Sun Solaris 7 and higher.
- Web Server: IIS 5.0 or higher, or Apache 1.3 or higher. The Web Server must support PHP 4.1.x or higher.
Database: MySQL 3.23 or higher
- Space Usage: 10 MB for the files, and 1 MB for the database for an empty installation. Thereafter, the database space usage is, on average, 0.5KB per 1 database record (Each record is a separate Category, Item, User, etc.).
Server-Side Hardware Requirements
The server hardware requirements are dependent on the actual web site, its traffic, the load on the server, the software installed and the optimization of all components. If you have questions regarding your particular site please contact us to determine your scalability requirements. For questions related to compatibility, technical requirements and performance, please contact us at support@webnetint.com. |
