**NEW** Cumulus Weather Topsites 2013 - Please Join.

[JennyLeez]

I have just edited the introduction post and will add here also.

You do not need a banner to join. We have made a very nice banner for those that do not have one and it will link to your website

[avoorpool]

Awesome site you have displayed.
Great!!!

I wish I could send you some 'cold-snap' from Canada, but.............
As Monty Python sings: "Always Look at the Bright Side of Life"............
So.... I'm happy to see we gain an additional 2 mins daylight per day, while you guys are losing it

Cheers,

Arthur

[mcrossley]

Any idea why my banner isn't showing - similar to many on the rankings page, the image code is there in the HTML but hidden and 1x1 pixel in size?

[JennyLeez]

Hi,
Yes it is showing as with all of them.
Try changing browsers. Another member had trouble with Firefox but was all ok with google Chrome.
My firefox is ok however.

Meanwhile I will check with server re this issue.
Cheers

[mcrossley]

Ah, right, it *fails* in Chrome (my default browser) but works with IE9

[steve]

Mark, I think you said you have an ad blocker in use? I use Adblock Plus, and that blocks images that are generated by PHP, like the banners.

[JennyLeez]

Ah ha so does one of the other members who cant see them in firefox. So that be the culprit then.

You guys sure are cold up there looking down all those banners

[mcrossley]

Mark, I think you said you have an ad blocker in use? I use Adblock Plus, and that blocks images that are generated by PHP, like the banners.

Doh! Forgot all about Adblock running - that was the culprit, "cumulussites.net" now exlcuded and all is well!

[jdc]

Mark, I think you said you have an ad blocker in use? I use Adblock Plus, and that blocks images that are generated by PHP, like the banners.

Doh! Forgot all about Adblock running - that was the culprit, "cumulussites.net" now exlcuded and all is well!

If it's any consolation I did exactly the same thing but was still able to see some of the banners. Using mod_rewrite got the .png visible, but now I realise it was Adblock. Doh! indeed.

[RayProudfoot]

I've joined. I just have to work out how the rating works now.

[mstrandbo]

Got mine up and running. Time to start tinkering with the banner.php

[mcrossley]

If it's any consolation I did exactly the same thing but was still able to see some of the banners. Using mod_rewrite got the .png visible, but now I realise it was Adblock. Doh! indeed.

I noticed yours was bypassing Adblock because it was an 'image', I added a rewrite rule to .htaccess in my root folder as well...

Code: Select all

#Banner image redirection to script
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^banner.(gif|jpg|png)$ banner.php?format=$1 [NC,L]

A slight tweak to the banner script to take a parameter of "format=xxx" and now the same script can be used to create either a gif, jpg, or png as required. Some forums/sites will not accept a php script as an image source and this works around that limitation.

[RayProudfoot]

How does the Top Sites rating actually work? What moves a site up the league table? Does a visitor need to click on a link to generate a hit for that site?

I can't fnd any information about this at all. I know it ran previously and was then bombarded by spammers but some info on how it works and how sites are awarded credits for visits would be very helpful.

Thanks.

[JennyLeez]

Good Morning,

A hit for your banner/site comes directly from your topsites button which of course should have been placed on your site main page. The code for this is sent to you via email on sign up. Clicking on the button takes you to cumulus topsites plus adds one page hit to your total.
Clicking on your button is 1 vote and one vote towards your ranking.

The ranking period was set to daily and was reset at midnight. I have changed this to Overall but any feedback here would be great. The ranking period can be daily, weekly, monthly or Overall.
Most topsites have Overall and I guess that is how it should be. The down side to this is the same banners end up sitting on top all the time.
There is also a choice of ranking by the 'Average' Votes or by 'Todays' votes. Again any feedback here would be a great.

Cheers
Jenny

How does the Top Sites rating actually work? What moves a site up the league table? Does a visitor need to click on a link to generate a hit for that site?

I can't fnd any information about this at all. I know it ran previously and was then bombarded by spammers but some info on how it works and how sites are awarded credits for visits would be very helpful.

Thanks.

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks for posting that Jenny. Is there any mechanism to prevent people increasing their league position by voting for themselves multiple times?

Is there any way users can vote for the quality of a site they visit or is the popularity just based on visits?