Expanding the Webring

Tinylytics already includes a delightful opt-in webring feature, which lets users embed a simple widget on their websites to showcase a random site from the ring. It's a fantastic way to discover our cozy corner of the indie web and stumble upon some truly inspiring personal sites.

Today, I'm excited to announce the groundwork for expanding this feature. While the full rollout is planned for later this year, you can start adding more details about your site right now. This gives everyone plenty of time to prepare before we launch.

Here's what's new:

• Website Categories: You can now assign a category to your site (like "Personal Blog"). This will enable filtering in integrations, so you can retrieve only sites that match specific categories — great for tailored recommendations or themed explorations depending on your mood or showing similar categorised sites to yours.
• Site Descriptions: Add a brief description of your site (up to 500 characters). This will appear in the embed widget and on the upcoming public webring directory, helping visitors quickly understand what your site is about. For the widgets, this will be opt-in so it won't break anything.

The public webring directory will be an opt-in page where users can browse and filter through participating sites at random. It's designed to make discovery even easier and more fun.

To get started, head over to your site's settings page and navigate to the Webring section. You'll see the new options for category and description, along with a checkbox to include your site in the public directory if you'd like.

Go ahead and fill in these details when you have a moment — it'll ensure your site shines when we roll out the full webring enhancements. I'm looking forward to seeing our tiny webring grow and connect in new ways! Every day I see new and interesting sites and hope I can return that joy in kind.