Links 2.1 Extended

Overview:
Links is an easy-to-use Directory Management program. Links allows you to run a complex link directory without being overwhelmed by editing and updating HTML pages. Apart from this, the new Links Extended is feature packed with an targetted ads system, stats module, unlimited mailing lists support, metasearching capabilities, top list functionality, an advanced webmaster control panel, reciprocal links management system and so much more.

If you already have Links 2.0 - check here for a list of new and enhanced features that makes links so much more versatile.

Features:

Administrator Control Panel

• Full Database Control: Add, remove, modify and search on both your category and your links databases using our powerful database engine.
• Build Static Pages: Don't destroy your server by running a dynamic directory -- Links creates static html pages just like Yahoo^R and CGI-Resources.
• Complete Customization: Links has levels of customizations. For the users, there are Templates. You simply edit the look of your site using a regular html editor, and insert tags for the parts where Links should put its information. All aspects of your site, even down to how a Link should look can be edited with templates. 
• Validating Links: Links let's you preview all links before they are entered into the database. Before adding them in you can edit any aspect of the link. If you accept the link, a custom email notice will be sent to the link owner. If you reject the link, again, a custom rejection notice is sent.
• Database Maintenance: Make sure all your links are in a proper category and move batches of links around to different categories with just a few mouse clicks.
• Targetted ADS system, which support banners, button and text links as advertisement. It can be used in Links directory or in any other page / web site. 
• Advanced stats system, which tracks hits and referers to any page of directory. Can be used for tracking any webpage/website
• Top list features which boasts a special gateway page that uses cookies, ip checking and random nums for protection from cheaters.
  Log file generated for admin with suspicious incomming hits.
• Recip links checking module, which allows the administrator to check recip links expanding up to two levels of users website. It can be configured to check recip link presence realtime in submission process.
• Extended ranking system, which allows the administrator to have "preffered" links in the directory and easily modify ranking methods within the directory and in search results.
• Automatic installer / configuration checker, which allows the admin to change the configuration of the script at any time and automatically password protect the admin control panel.
• Advanced control panel for webmasters (link submitters), which can be managed from Links control panel. It allows the admin to easily find all links submitted by one person and manage it. This system is also useful to webmasters submitting links to the directory as they have just one username & password easy to remember.
• Unlimited mailing lists support. 

5-aug-2001 (new features / addons)

• Ability to calculate impressions for ads
• For preventing ads caching changed format of ads tags
• ADS can be shown now via SSI (html pages, all cgi via javascript) or via Javascript 
• MetaSearch module now working with Google and with Amazon.com (with support of his affiliate program) 
  for books/music/video searching
• Added "reset In and Out hits" feature. If this feature enabled, hits is resetted after each rebuild as in standard top lists.
• Added Links Extended tags guide.

10-aug-2001 (new feature)

• Dmoz links fetcher is added. It allow you to fastly fetch links for your directory.
• After importing links from dmoz.org you can validate it (select category, edit if need title/description & add to your database).

Scroll to bottom for demo of Links Extended!

End User Experience: Searching

• Lightning fast searches.
• Altavista style "Next" hits toolbar to easily jump to different search results page.
• Links to other search engine if the search fails, categorized results.
• Search on any field as well as general keyword. For example, if you have a custom field called "UseShockwave", you can just add to your search form the ability to only get links that use shockwave and that match your keyword search.
• Allow user to metasearch the web and music, video, books shops. This feature support affliate program, and you will be paid for user purchases.
• Easily change the method you rank the directory. For example you can specify that all "preffered" links are listed first, "Top links" follow, and all "other" links will bring up the end of the search results.
• Stats system allows you to check list of top searches
• MetaSearch module, which allow you visitors metasearch the web (google) and search (amazon.com) for books/video/music. Affiliate program of amazon.com is fully supported.

End User Experience: Adding and Modifying Links

• Adds directly into the category the user clicked "Add" from.
• Custom e-mail notification when the link is added.
• Custom e-mail notification if the link was rejected.
• Custom "recip link not found" email
• Custom "Welcome email" for webmaster control panel
• Custom "Lost Password" email for webmaster control panel.

Links 2.01 Extended supports all old methods of add/modify link, but offers a new, advanced control panel to webmasters.

• Profiles system. When a user creates an account, he/she can easily check all listed links, add/modify/delete his/her links.
• Password protection by cookies
• Can show recip linking rules for every link.
• Can instantly check recip link presence when user add/modify link
• Support of instant account creation and "Lost Password" function. 
• Templates based control panel.
• Admin can easily find all links for every webmaster profile, and modify or delete it.

End User Experience: Mailing lists

• Subscribe to an e-mail update newsletter which describes the latest Links to be added to the database.
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe to unlimited mailing lists. (Can be used from any webpage - check admin demo for more info)

End User Experience: Ratings

• Users can "rate" links on a 1-10 sliding scale. A "Top Rated" report is automatically generated as well as a "Top Votes".
• Images for rating
• A "What's Cool" page also tracks the number of hits each link has generated and builds a summary of the most clicked on links in the database. This also helps stop people from stealing your links by putting the url's behind a cgi script.
• A "Top Links" page, with list of links, which reffer maximum hits to your directory

General Program Comments

• Well-designed: Tired of updating your program and adding patches every week? Tired of trying to figure out thousands of lines of spaghetti code? .
• Portable: no operating system dependent code. The program will run on Unix, NT and even Macintosh systems. You will need the perl LWP module to be able to verify links.
• Extensible: The HTML is logically separated from the program internals allowing easy modifications to the code. A quick look at some of the third party add-on's shows just how easy it is to do!

If you already work with Links 2.0, this is list of new features added to Links 2.0 Extended:

• Ability to collect referers and hits statistic for any page
• Ability to use targetting ads system (for category listing or for keywords)
• Ability to have "preffered" links in categories and in search results
• Ability to rank results / or category listing by incomming hits
• Ability to check reciprocal links with expansion upto 2 levels of user's website
• Ability to automatically password protect admin directory (2 methods - .htaccess or cookies)
• Ability to log searches
• Metasearch module (with affiliate program of amazon.com support). Google is used for web search results.
• Control panel for add/modify links
• Extended templates system (for categories, any types of links, etc)
• Ability to use unique templates for any category page (configured from admin area)
• Easy navigation addon
• Unlimited mailing lists support
• Automatic installation system, with configuration tester which automatically password protects admin control panel.
• Top list support (in category link listing and in search results).
• Two method of tracking incomming hits:
  1. Unique hits
  2. Special gateway, which uses random numbers, cookies and gateway page.
• Possible cheaters log
• Image ratings
• Webmaster profiles support
• Advanced control panel for webmasters (add/modify/delete link) with cookies authorization
• Admin now can easily find/edit/delete all links from one webmaster
• ADS and Stats can be used for any page or used in any website. Examples of html codes for this included in Links control panel.
• New Top Links page (ranking by incomming hits)
• 5 Top links is insertable into any page of a website. With this feature you can give maximum explosures to your main traffic referers.
• Cron support for rebuilding database. 
• Updating of work with permissions for non-friendly unix servers. No more troubles with permissions.
• Ability to calculate impressions for ads
• For preventing ads caching changed format of ads tags
• ADS can be shown now via SSI (html pages, all cgi via javascripts) or via Javascript 
• MetaSearch module now working with Google and with Amazon.com (with support of his affiliate program) 
  for books/music/video searching
• Added "reset In and Out hits" feature. If this feature enabled, hits is resetted after each rebuild as in standard top lists.
• Dmoz links fetcher allow you to fastly add links to your directory from dmoz.org (largest links directory from Netscape).

License:
The commercial version of this script is priced at $250. It includes the registration fee for Links 2.0, but if you have already purchased a licence for Links 2.0 original, upgrading to Links 2.0 Extended will only cost you $120.

Demo:

Demo (directory), Demo (admin), Demo (control panel), Demo (inhit gateway example)