Introduction to the Web Interface

LISTSERV has a completely revamped Web Administration Interface, making LISTSERV administration significantly easier. It is now possible to change many LISTSERV site configuration settings "on the fly", although some changes may still require a restart of the server before they are recognized.

Note: Most sites will be able to upgrade to LISTSERV 16.0 without losing local web customizations, although this is not optimal and will not generally expose new features to your users. To assist you in customizing the new LISTSERV 16.0 Web Interface, L-Soft has produced a Customization Manual, which is available in PDF format at the following location: http://www.lsoft.com/resources/manuals.asp

The LISTSERV 16.0 Web Interface requires JavaScript to be enabled by default. However, those who prefer not to use JavaScript can set their navigation style to "Non-Script Navigation" in their personal preferences. For more information about preferences, see Section 6.6 Setting Your Personal Preferences.

Virtually all list management operations can be accomplished via this Interface, which is tied into LISTSERV's own password manager for security.

Note: The Web Interface cannot be used to manage lists that are coded Validate= Yes,Confirm,NoPW or Validate= All,Confirm,NoPW because passwords are not accepted for validation in those cases.

The default home page for LISTSERV typically is reached by using the URL:

Of course this is not standardized; the location of the 'wa' script is determined by the value of WWW_ARCHIVE_CGI in LISTSERV's site configuration file. In any case, invoking 'wa' without any parameters returns the default home page.

You can log into the list administration interface from any list's main web archive index page (assuming that this link has not been removed by the list owner; it exists in the WWW_INDEX mail template by default). The interface may also be reached by a link from the default LISTSERV home page mentioned in Section 6.1 The Default LISTSERV Home Page.

To access the Web Interface without a link, you point your web browser to the "wa" script. Typically the interface is accessed as follows:

and by default, users are directed to the main archives page for the server.

To get to the administrative pages, you will have to log in. If you already have a personal LISTSERV password, then you will simply log in with your existing userid and password.

Notes: The userid/email address you use here must be associated with the personal password you have from LISTSERV. If you have registered a password as joe@unix.host.com and try to log in here as joe@host.com with that password, LISTSERV will reject your login.

If you login with the "save my password in a cookie" method, LISTSERV will issue you a cookie that allows you to bypass this login screen (and incidentally to stay logged into the Interface for longer than 15 minutes without having to log in again when your session expires). This option is, however, only recommended for people who have physically secure machines (for instance, on your machine at home or in your office) or who are able to otherwise keep unauthorized users from logging in since LISTSERV cannot tell who is using the cookie. Specifically, if your browser does not support separate configurations or bookmark files for different users, you should not use the cookie method in a workplace environment.

Tip: There is a new option for the Login Cookie Expiration setting on the General tab of your personal preferences so you can decide whether or not you want the login cookie to expire when you close the browser (end the session). This is highly desirable for those who wish to have increased security on shared computers. For details, see Section 6.6.1 General Preferences.

If you do not already have a personal LISTSERV password (set with the PW ADD command or via the Web Interface) or cannot remember your password, you need to define one now. If you choose to do this via the Web Interface, simply click the Get a New LISTSERV Password link. The Register LISTSERV Password screen opens.

Enter your email and password. Confirm the password by entering it again, and then click the [Register Password] button. When your password registration is accepted, a confirmation email will be sent to you. You will have to activate your password by responding to the email or clicking the link it contains.

Important: The password must be at least 6 characters. It can be any alpha numeric combination (A-Z, 0-9, and any case). You can also use certain special characters, including $, #, @, _, -, ?, !, |, and %.

To change your LISTSERV password, click the [Change Password] button on the Login Screen. The Change LISTSERV Password screen opens.

Enter your email address, your current LISTSERV password, the password you would like to change it to, and then click on the [Change Password] button.

When you log in for the first time, you will be returned to the main list archives page, but with a difference: The top toolbar will have a lot more options.

Note: If Non-Script Navigation is set in your preferences, then the toolbar will only consist of the main topics in LISTSERV. This means that when you click on a topic (i.e. Server Administration), the Web Interface refreshes and displays the page that was the first option on the Toolbar menu (used with Pulldown Navigation, which is described in Section 6.6 Setting Your Personal Preferences). For example, the first page for the Server Administration topic is the Server Administration Dashboard. At the top of the Dashboard, the remaining options for Server Administration will be displayed as links. Use these links to view these pages.

The Server Administration menu gives you access to the Server Dashboard, site configuration functions, mailing list creation and deletion, server reports, server customization (mail and web templates), and the ad-hoc LISTSERV command entry page. For more information on the features associated with this menu, see Section 7 Server Administration with the Web Interface.

The List Management menu gives list owners access to the List Dashboard, list configuration, customization, and subscriber management. For more information on the features associated with this menu, see Section 8 List and Subscriber Management using the Web Interface.

The List Moderation option centralizes the moderation function, and it will show all messages needing moderation from the userid@host under which you are logged in. For more information on this feature, see Section 9 List Moderation using the Web Interface.

The Subscriber’s Corner option lets you access the lists that you are subscribed to as well as all public lists on the server. For more information on this feature, see Section 10 Subscriber’s Corner.

The Email Lists option takes you to the main list archives page. For more information on this feature, see Section 11 Working with Archives in the Web Interface.

The Preferences option allows you to set personal preferences to control the appearance and default settings of the Web Interface. For more information on this feature, see Section 6.6 Setting Your Personal Preferences.

The Logout option logs you out of the LISTSERV Web Interface.

Help pages are accessed by clicking the Help icon at the right side of the Toolbar.

LISTSERV allows you to set personal preferences to control the appearance and default settings of the Web Interface. Your personal preferences are saved with your email address and password, and they will be remembered each time you log in, even if you log in on a different computer.

To change your preferences, click on Preferences from the Toolbar, and then click on the General Preferences, Archive Preferences, or Report Preferences tab. Make your changes, and then click the [Submit] button.

Information for each option on the tabs can be found by clicking the Help icons associated with them.

The General Preference tab lets you set the appearance of the Web Interface; plus, if you are a server administrator, you can define your license and support expiration alerts.

The following preferences can be set:

•	If you choose Tutorial, then each web page is displayed with additional text that is meant to guide you through the options on the page. This is the best mode for beginners or for those occasional users.

•	If you choose Basic, then only the most common options are shown, but no tutorial text is displayed. This is the best mode for those users who are familiar with LISTSERV, but who are not experts and do not need to use the more advanced features. This is the default.

•	If you choose Expert, then each web page is displayed with no tutorial text, similar to Basic mode, and certain pages may contain advanced options that are not available with the Basic mode. The Expert mode is available for those users who are very familiar with LISTSERV.

•	Text Size – Select the size of the text for the Web Interface. Your options are Small (main body text is 11 pixels), Medium (main body text is 12 pixels), Large (main body text is 13 pixels) (default), or Extra Large (main body text is 16 pixels).

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If you choose Non-Script Navigation, then the toolbar will only consist of the main topics in LISTSERV. Then, when you click on a topic (i.e. Server Administration), the Web Interface refreshes and displays the page that was the first option on the toolbar menu (used with Pulldown Navigation). For example, the first page for the Server Administration topic is the Server Administration Dashboard. At the top of the Dashboard, the remaining options for Server Administration will be displayed as links. Use these links to view these pages.

•	Start Page – Select the page that you want to act as your home page when you log in to the Web Interface. The default is LISTSERV Archives.

•	License Expiration Alert – Select the number of days before your LISTSERV license expires that you want to be alerted on the Server Administration Dashboard. The default is 45 days.

•	Support Expiration Alert – Select the number of days before your support agreement expires that you want to be alerted on the Server Administration Dashboard. The default is 45 days.

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Owner Dashboard Changelogs – Select whether you want any changelog data on the List Owner Dashboard to be loaded automatically every time you access the page or only after a prompt. Loading the changelog data automatically can make the page slower to load, especially if you have many lists or if they have large log files. The default is After Prompt Only.

•	Page Title Icons – Select whether the page title icons should be shown or hidden. It might make sense to hide the icons on low screen resolutions since the conserved vertical space makes more of the page fit on the screen. The default is Shown.

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Login Cookie Expiration – Select how long you want your login cookie to be valid before it expires. The default is No Expiration, which means that the cookie will not expire until you explicitly log out. This means, for example, that you can close your browser and come back later and you will still be logged in. However, if you are working on a shared computer, for example, it might make sense to set the login cookie to expire for added security. After a time of inactivity, the cookie will no longer be valid and you will need to log in again to continue.

In addition, a new Session setting is available so you can decide whether or not you want the login cookie to expire when you close the browser (end the session). This is highly desirable for those who wish to have increased security on shared computers.

Note: Changing your cookie expiration setting does not change your existing login cookie. In order for the new login cookie setting to take effect, you need to log out and log in again.

•	Select whether or not you want recently visited pages of the Web Interface to be cached in your browser. The default is No, which provides extra security, especially if you are working on a shared computer.

Note: Without caching you will not be able to use the "Back" button in your browser to quickly return to past pages. Set this value to Yes if you prefer quick and easy back navigation and if this additional security is not critical to you.

The Archive Preference tab lets you define the default settings for the archive index and archive message viewer.

These options are available for the archive index:

•	Hovering Descriptions – Select whether or not you want hovering descriptions containing list descriptions and message abstracts to be displayed in the archives when you move your mouse over the list name or message. The default is Shown.

•	Latest Messages on List Home Page – Select whether or not you want the latest messages to be shown on the list's home page. The default is Shown.

Note: Hovering Descriptions require javascript, and you must have Pulldown Navigation selected as your Navigation Style, which is set on the General Tab.

•	Primary Sorting – Select how you want the archive index to be sorted. The options are By Author, By Date, or By Topic. The default is By Topic.

•	Secondary Sorting – Select the order you want the archive index to be sorted after the messages have already been organized according to the Primary Sorting setting. The options are Chronologically or Most Recent First. The default is Chronologically.

•	Include Author's Name, Address – Select whether or not you want to include the author's name and email address in the archive index. The default is Yes.

These options are available for the archive message viewer:

•	If you choose Proportional Font, then each character has a different width, depending on their size. For example, the letter w has a different width than the letter i.

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If you choose Monospace Font, then each letter has the same width or "pitch". The most common pitch values are 10 or 12. For example, the letter w and the letter i would have the same pitch value; therefore, the word window would look like this using Courier font – window. Notice that the width allotted for the w and the i are the same. Other examples of monospace font are Prestige Elite and Monaco. Monospace font is also the name of a monospaced Unicode font.

Note: Proportional Fonts look more professional, but Monospaced Fonts are often better for data because the fixed width of each character makes column alignment easier. Printed documentation is usually done with proportional font.

•	Archive Message Numbers – Select whether you want individual messages or threads to be numbered in the archive index. The default is No.

The Report Preference tab lets you define the default settings you want to use when running reports.

The following preferences can be set:

•	List and Subscribers Displayed – Enter the number of lists and subscribers you want to display per page when running any report that displays lists or subscribers. The default is 50.

The Newsletter Profile tab in your Preferences allows you enter a profile for sending newsletters using the built-in HTML newsletter template system.

Profile fields that have been defined will be automatically entered into HTML newsletter templates when the system is launched. Not all profile fields need to be defined. You will have the opportunity to change or fill in empty profile fields during the content development stage in the newsletter template system. Empty profile fields will be omitted from the final newsletter.

The following fields are available:

•	Newsletter Name – Enter the name of your newsletter. This value will automatically replace the &*NEWSLETTER; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	Physical Address – Enter the physical address of your company or organization. This value will automatically replace the &*ADDRESS; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	Phone Number – Enter the phone number of your company or organization. This value will automatically replace the &*PHONE; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	Contact Email – Enter the contact email address of your company or organization. This value will automatically replace the &*CONTACT; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	Website URL – Enter the Website URL of your company or organization. This value will automatically replace the &*WEBSITE; placeholders in a newsletter template. Since this field will be clickable in the newsletter, remember to enter the http:// or https:// part before the URL as applicable.

•	Slogan – Enter a slogan for your company or organization. This value will automatically replace the &*SLOGAN; placeholders in a newsletter template.

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Logo – Upload a logo for your company or organization. This image, which is saved on your LISTSERV server, will automatically replace &*LOGO; placeholders in a newsletter template. You have up to 10 slots where you can upload different logos. The &imgnum= variable at the end of the access URL coincides with the slot number and will determine which logo is inserted into the newsletter. In order for the image to be properly displayed in an HTML newsletter, the logo should be in .gif, .jpg, or .png format.

Note: Be careful when changing or deleting existing logos, especially if the logo has already been used in a newsletter because the new logo with the same slot number will replace the old logo in any archived copy.

•	Footer – Enter a short footer for your newsletter. This value will automatically replace the &*FOOTER; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	Legal Disclaimer – Enter any legal disclaimers, company registration numbers or similar information for your newsletter. This value will automatically replace the &*LEGAL; placeholders in a newsletter template.

•	HTML Editing – Select the default HTML editing method. Source Code Mode will display the HTML code. HTML Editor Mode will use an HTML Editor.

The Interactive Edit Mode is a tool to help server administrators and list owners customize the LISTSERV Web Interface. Only server administrators can make site-wide changes, while list owners can modify pages and templates for the lists that they own. When a logged in user has the privileges to edit a page, an Edit Page option appears in the top-right corner of the Web Interface. Click on this option to enable Edit Mode.

When enabled, the screen is split into two sections. The top section shows the current page divided into its component templates. By default, all LAYOUT and BODY template components are displayed as well as the names of all text variables. Each template is marked by a paragraph sign and followed by its name.

The bottom section contains the control panel.

To edit a template using the template editor, click on its name. The template editor will open in a new window. If you want to change a specific piece of text, make note of the name of the text variable, which is printed inside brackets following the text. Then, select it from the text variable drop-down menu at the bottom and click [Load Text]. A text area will appear containing the current text. Update the text, and then click [Update Text] to save the changes.

To expand the menu of variables to include all variables for a specific page, click the Show Variables drop-down menu, select the Show All Text option, and then click the [Update] button. (The Show Displayed Text Only option narrows the menu to include only the text that is currently displayed on screen.)

Important: Every template can be modified either for the entire site or for a specific list. When enabling Edit Mode, the templates that will be opened and updated are the ones for the list that is currently selected. For administrators, if no list is selected, then the site-wide templates will be modified. Before making any modifications, check carefully that the list for which you want to make changes is selected, especially if you own many lists or have server administrator privileges. Server administrators have the option to toggle between site-wide templates and templates for the selected list by clicking the Modify for drop-down menu and selecting Load Text.