Gather 'Cheat Codes' ...to Override Display Defaults on Gather

• Display more than 20 articles per page?   ...or more than 12 images?

• See all groups you belong to, or connections, on one page?
  

• Skip to any article, comment, or image listing page in one step, without having to click 'next' multiple times?

• View the Most Discussed, Most Read, or Highest Rated content of ALL TIME?

Now you can!  (well, actually, you could always do this, but now you will know how!)

NOTE:  Increasing the number of articles, comments or images displayed per page will increase the load time for the page.  I would suggest starting out with 100, or less, and then adjust for your specific connection speed.   Sorry dial-up users, these techniques will not work to reduce the number of comments displayed within an article, or break article comments into pages.


You may enter the 'cheat codes' directly into your browser, or, you can bookmark your most visited pages, with the cheat codes already entered.  In some cases, your browser may support a bookmark or favorites toolbar, which will place a convenient button on the browser toolbar for your most frequented pages, or functions, on Gather.  This makes using the cheat codes even easier, as you don't have to remember them each time.


The Basics

In essence, this technique is manipulating the program which displays content on Gather (it's ok! …Gather Inc. doesn't see this as a problem).  For example, in order to read this article, you had to execute a program.  You can see the program displayed in your browser's address bar.  In this case, the program name is viewArticle.jsp.  The information to the right of the question mark is information being passed to the program telling it what to do.  In this case, the instruction is to open the article with the number identification of 281474976782634.  By adding onto, or changing, this command string, you can change how Gather programs react, and display. 

The following is an example of this technique: 

Clicking on the 'Articles' tab will take you to a listing of the 20 most recently published articles on Gather.  The program's command string (address) in your browser address bar reads: http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp

Adding ?num=100 to the end of this command string, will redisplay the page, to now list 100 of the most recent articles on Gather, with accurate pagination, like this:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?num=100


You may change the number 100 to any number of your choosing.  Again, be aware that increasing this number too much may dramatically slow down the time it takes to display the page.


Increasing the Number of Articles, Comments, Groups, Connections, or Images displayed

In most cases the default number for content listings is 20.   Images typically only show 12. 

As was explained in 'The Basics' section above, adding the command ?num= to the end of most command sequences will allow you to have control over the number of items displayed on Gather.  Depending upon where you are on Gather, and what you are doing, this command may already be displayed in the address bar.  If this is the case, then simply change the value to correspond with the number you desire, and hit the Enter key, or Go, etc.

All listings of comments (Recent, By Me), articles, and images, support the ?num= command.  However, for Highest Rated, Most Read, and Most Discussed articles and images, a slight change is required.  The command delimiter changes from a question mark to an ampersand, like this:  &num=  (it changes because a ? already exists in the command line, and there can only be one).

Also, for people (subscriptions, connections), and groups, the ampersand is required.

Tip:  The ? changes to a & if there is already a ? present.  Therefore, if you already see a ? in your browser's address bar, then use a &


'Jumping' to a Specific Page

You have 90 pages of articles, or comments.  You want to get to page 45.  What do you do?  Hit the 'next' key 44 times?

Instead, enter another command, and you are there in one step!

This command is ?start= or  &start=

After the equal sign, you must enter the number of articles, comments or other content that you want to skip.  For our example above, you want to skip 44 pages of articles, comments, or other content.  There are 20 articles/comments per page, so 44 x 20 = 880 (sorry, there is some math).  You would then enter ?start=880 (or &start=880) and you will skip over 44 pages of content!

Here is how it would look on your browser's address bar for viewing your own articles: 

http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=48029

(this displays page 1 of 90 - note: your memberId will be different)

Then simply add &start=880 to the end.

and it then looks like this:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=48029&start=880

Hit the Enter key, and that's it!

Of course, you can also use this command in combination with the ?num= or &num= commands, but then your math skills really need to be sharp!

Warning:  Pagination will work perfectly ('Next', 'Prev', etc.).  However, the display at the top of the article listing will not reflect your true position.  For example, you will actually be on page 45 of 90, but the display at the top will still read 1 of 90.  There are ways to change this as well, but let's stick with the basics for now.


Highest Rated, Most Read , Most Discussed of ALL TIME.

The former Gather design provided you with the ability to see content, people and groups with the highest rating, most page views, and most comments since Gather was founded.  The new design eliminated this feature, but the data is still available....and is quite interesting!

The command is &period=all

For example, from the Most Discussed article listing, add &period=all to the end of the command sequence in your browser's address bar.

This is the default:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticleRankings.jsp?rank=mostdisc

Add &period=all to the end, like this: 

http://www.gather.com/viewArticleRankings.jsp?rank=mostdisc&period=all

…and the Most Discussed articles of all time will be listed!


The same command applies to all Highest Rated, Most Read, and Most Discussed content, groups and people.


That's it!  …Hope this makes you a more productive, and informed Gatherite!