Typical Questions/Problems for New Users

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• How do I get a guestbook? You just click the Register button on the guestbook page, fill out the form appropriately, and you will be supplied with the html codes to copy and paste into your homepage. If you forget them or your browser crashed, or you don't know what the codes are, check out the utilities page once you have registered to get a list of all the guestbook utilities and links.
• Can the guestbook reside on my server? :No. For now it must reside on our server where the guestbook program is.
• Can you email me all the source code for the guestbook server so I can use it here on my server? :No!
• I did everything just right and it still does not work? My guestbook name is "Ian's & Tami's G-book!!!" :The problem with this guestbook is that it is not alphanumeric. Ian and Tami should use something with a little less pizazz, like "ianandtami".
• Can you check out my homepage and sign my guestbook to make sure it works? :No, Sorry. We wish we could.
• What if I lost my code for the guestbook? :If you don't know the name of your guestbook, then you should probably just re-register a different one and *really* remember it along with your password. If you do know your guestbook name, you can get the codes off of the utilities page.
• Guestbook Names and How does this work, anyway?? :Your guestbook name is a one word ALPHANUMERIC name that we use to keep track of your guests in the database. It is also used in the URL to tell us what your guestbook name is! Basically, we take the guestbook name off of the URL that you provide us when you use the service and search the database for those records with that guestbook name as the owner. That's how it works!
• Changing the sign in form... :How do I change the sign-in form's options, etc. just like Ian did? See our section on custom forms. Just as your "Sign My Guestbook" link is on your homepage and not ours, you can have a custom html form for your guests to fill in which will reside on your server not ours. When your guestbook comes up to be signed, at that point, you have a working html document that you can put on your server to get you started.
• I recently put a guestbook on my page...people have signed the guestbook...I can view it from your site...but I can't view it from my page!! The html appears to be correct. Any ideas?? :Yes, your html code for viewing the guestbook, though it appears correct... is wrong. There is a typo in there somewhere. Please don't insist that it is correct. A link is a link is a link. It doesn't matter what page you are trying to click from. If it works from one page it should work from another page. Check your links carefully and you'll find the culprit!
  

Registration and or Passwords :

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• How do I register? Click here to Register
• I registered but it says that I didn't? :Try to re-register with the same name to make sure. After trying, if it says you are already registered, make sure you have spelled your guestbook name correctly. See the note on guestbook names.
• How do I get my password. I forgot it. :This is available on the utilities page. You will be emailed your password.
• How do I change my guestbook name and keep my guests? :This option is not available.
• How do I change my password? :Via the delete utility, it is possible to delete your registration without disturbing your guestlist. Once you delete your registration, you would need to go back and re-register again. We do not yet have a method to modify just one item in the registration. See the utilities page.

Missing Entries :

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• Hey, I had a million...even STING signed it... : All guestbook entries are eligible for archival. With our new system we have not decided on how to do the archiving. Stay tuned...
• Friends have visited my homepage and have signed the guestbook. They told me so. But when I view the guestbook, they are not there. Perhaps you need to refresh your browser or delete the cache. This is very common with the Netscape browser. Also, you could have your code wrong on your homepage. Check the Utilities page which will generate the appropriate links for your page. There you can double-check your html.
• OK, it got archived, how do i download it? Not implemented yet!

Errors :

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• 500 Type Error : If you get a 500 error, please try agin
• 503 Error Maximum Connections...Please try in 30 seconds: We are working to solve this error as quickly as we can. Please do not send email to us if the error happens. This message does not indicate that our server is really "too busy" but is a symptom of another error that we are researching.
• 404 Error - Document Not Found : The html code you added is incorrect. Make sure you have the syntax exactly right. You are linking to a document that doesn't exist.
  Try signing your guestbook and viewing it from the sponsor page to test it.
• All necessary form fields were not filled in : Either the obvious or... if using a custom form, you mistyped a form field name in implementation. Note: name and comments are required, and all fields are in lowercase!!!

Modifying Entries :

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• Can you edit Guestbook entries? : No, you can only delete entries at this time.
• Does running the delete feature delete everything? : NO!!! You will be prompted for which entry you wish to delete.
• How Do I delete entries in my guestbook : See the utilities page or http://www.Lpage.com/cgi-bin/dbml.exe?template=/wgb/delete.dbm&owner=xxxxxx where xxxxxx is your guestbook name.

Custom Form :

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• A new form field now available : You can now use the form field name="location" in your forms if you wish
• Can I add fields to my form e.g. city, state... : NO! Not in this implementation. See our Deluxe Guestbook for that
• Is there a way to get a custom guestbook form generated for me automatically that I can use to get started? : Yes! Sign your own guestbook. That is the simplest way. When the form comes up.... there it is!
• Ok, I made a custom form! Now what! : Instead of the typical "sign my book" change it to point to your custom form. The form will do the rest! Relax,...have a homebrew!
• What fields can I use or must I use in my own form : name, email, homepage, hometitle, reference, comments, location ... all lowercase!!!

Viewing Your guestbook in other languages

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• Does Lpage need to know that I will be switching to another language and should we send you a bunch of email to inform you of our progress in switching? :Absolutely NOT! Just get the link right and you'll be on your way.
• How do I modify my existing guestbook so I can view it, say, in French? : Basically you need to add just a little bit of text to the URL you use to view your guestbook. Here is a snippet of the URL to view a guestbook

.../wgb/wgbview.dbm?owner=xxxxxx

and here is how you would change it to activate the french viewer.

.../wgb/wgbview.dbm?owner=xxxxxx&lang=fr

All you do is add a language identifier to the end of the the URL. This will work with all languages that we support. Please see our language section on the guestbook page or the utilities page.

• How do I add my language? :Send Check the utilities page for the link to add your own language. You can also use this to modify the look of your guestbook to match the questions you asked on your custom form:
• Name
• Homepage
• Refered by (meaning...How did you find my homepage?)
• Location (meaning... where are you from?)
• Comments

Changes to Viewing Your Guestbook:

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• How do I change the background color for my guestbook viewer?: We call it coloring your guestbook. There is a coloring utility available on the utilities page.
• Can I put a background image in there too?: Yes! That too is available by coloring your guestbook.

• Do I need to upload my background image and how would I do it?: Not at all. Just make an absolute reference to the background image you wish to use from the current server it resides on.

• What would be an example of getting a background on my guestbook?:here is an example: <body background="http://yoursite.com/~yourpage/back.gif>.

Create a Mailing List :

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• How to create a mailing list from guestbook entries : Not implemented yet!

Costs for the guestbook server :

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• How much does it cost to be the guestbook sponsor : This link describes the current rates per slot
• I'm a non-profit business where do i fit in? : You are welcome to consider the guestbook a donation as long as you send an email thanking us for the $50 donation along with a brief description of your charter.
• I have a business-related web page : There is a one time $50 fee.
• It's a business page and I hope it will be profitable soon but it's just getting started... : There is a one time $50 fee.
• I'm not a business. Just a personal web page : You owe me nothing. If you wish to advertise to increase your hits, that would be wonderful and appreciated.