Introduction to the Web Interface

LISTSERV’s Web Interface makes it significantly easier to join or leave a list, change your settings, view your list archives, post messages to your list, and reply to messages from your list.

The 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 2.6 Setting Your Personal Preferences.

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

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 in LISTSERV's site configuration file. In any case, invoking 'wa' without any parameters returns the default home page.

You can log into the Web Interface from any list's main web archive index page or you may also login by using the link from the default LISTSERV home page mentioned in Section 2.1 The Default Home Page.

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

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

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.

Notes: There is a known bug in Netscape prior to version 4.0 that allows you to see the userid and password typed into the text boxes if you back up to the login page using the "Back" arrow. The userid 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 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.

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.

The Toolbar contains menus and icons that give you quick access to the different functions in the LISTSERV 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 4 Working with Mailing Lists.

The Email Lists option takes you to the main list archives page. For more information on this feature, see Section 5 Viewing the List Archives.

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 3.6 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.

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), or Extra Large (main body text is 16 pixels). The default is Large.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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:

• 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.

• 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.

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

The following preferences can be set:

• Lists 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.