The Ranker App - Frequently Asked Questions

If you made the list yourself, you can find it on your yellow dashboard strip at the top of your list. And for all lists, you will see it in the 'more options' dropdown on the top right of every list.

Some lists on Ranker will not have this button - they just aren't the kind of lists that are right for a widget. A blog style list, for example, will not have an embed link.

Most lists on Ranker can be embedded, and it doesn’t have to be your list in order to do it.

You can either click on the embed button found in the share bar on the left side (or along the top for smaller browser windows) of all list pages, or you can start a new list. (Click here for tips on how to make your own list)

Pro tip: if you want users to vote on the list you are embedding, make sure the list you are embedding is a "voteable" list.

So, you pick a list that you want to put on your site... but say that list is not quite right? (rhyming!)

You can pick any list on the site and embed it as it is.... OR, you can take that list and make some tweaks to it before you embed. Say it doesn't have votes, and you want it to have votes? Or the ordering isn't quite what you want? Or there are items on the list that you don't want there? Editing is the answer for you.

When you click the embed button on the list of your choice, on the Settings page you will have the option for "as-is" or "Create your own version". Simply choose "Create your own version" and you will get a new tab in the list embed process that lets you make changes to the list you are embedding. Once you have it how you want it, you can go ahead and customize the list like any other.

Note, however, that because you will be essentially creating a new version of the list you are embedding, you will need to either login or register to finish the embed process. (Embedding "as-is" does not require a login, since you are making no content changes).

You can click here, for one, and start your own list from scratch. Once you have built it, ordered it, added voting (if you want) and published it live, you will be able to click the ‘embed’ button and taken through the embed customization process. If you want some tips on how to build a list, you can read our List Making FAQ here.

Sure - just choose the “ALL” option in the dropdown under 'Pick your dimensions' on the 'Settings' page. That will show all the items on your embedded list with no scrolling.

This could result in an embedded list that is too “tall” for wherever you are putting it if you have an obscene number of items on your list. But if you really hate scroll bars (maybe one really insulted your mother), another option is to embed the “full height” app on a separate page and just link to it.

The iFrame version of the app (there's also a Javascript version) can be added to any facebook app (we said app... if you don’t know what that is, you don’t have one) you control that can support an iFrame.

But … the list can't be embedded directly to a Facebook wall, although a link to your Ranker list can be shared. So - you gotta have one of those app-thingies, and if you do, by all means go to town.

You don’t technically have to make a list - you can grab most any list on Ranker and embed it. But if you want control over the list - what items are on it, the title, etc - you do need to make your own list on Ranker. Ranker is the engine that makes the list and the app is the live window to it.

This separation allows you to go back to your list on Ranker at any time and make changes - like adding new items, videos or images - and they will reflect immediately to the embedded list on your site. Think of this list as a mirrored, real-time, wormhole of the list you created (or just embedded) on Ranker. It’s the same exact list, not a copy of it. When people vote on your list, it will automatically update your Ranker list, and vice versa. If someone adds an item to your Ranker list, that item will appear on your embedded list. Like magic! But without the unnecessary flourishing gestures and bad fashion sense.

Rankings update in near-realtime, but the order won't change without a page reload. Additionally, due to cacheing and other factors it can sometimes take as long as 5 minutes for the ranking to change. And, of course, the more pre-existing votes there are on list items, the harder it is for a single voter to cause movement.

If you own the list - or maybe you "created your own version" in the customization process... go to Ranker, sign in if you aren’t already, find your list in your account (through your profile page or your lists dropdown) ...and click ‘edit’ in the yellow strip at the top of the page when your list loads. Any changes you make to your list on Ranker will update your site's version of the list.

However, note that if your list has been voted on, you will no longer be able to change the order of the items. The moment you allowed your site's visitors to vote, the power of the list order transferred from your hands to the masses.

Good question. And we have a good answer.

It’s true that polls are great for asking a question that only has a handful of options for answers. But there are plenty of cases where a votable, self-ranking list gives a better “answer”. You can't really use a multiple-choice poll to ask your users what the best movies of all time are... or the greatest historical landmarks to see before they die without limiting how they can respond.

Our main goal is to power the best rankings about all topics, based on aggregated user votes. We can collect a ton more voting data if the voting is also happening on other sites with passionate users. Ranker's own Ultimate Lists combine user lists with all votes about a topic, including votes on sites like yours. Just imagine all that delicious data pooling into one place... it gives us goosebumps.

While we don't plan to ever charge for these embeddable lists, in the future we will be rolling out a subscription version of the list widget for eCommerce companies and other publishers who want each item on the list to link to a unique page within their site.

These portable lists have been known to eat 18 hot dogs in one 10-minute sitting.

OK - seriously. Firstly, we have a monstrous database full of … everything. And it comes with metadata, images, all stuff you would have to go find and build yourself. So building a list for your visitors to rank is super easy. This is what we do, after all.

And the Ranker list you embed changes and updates as visitors vote on items. Sure, you can always make a static list about something - find the content, search google images and design something on your own site. But if you want your visitors to rank the list, you need our app. (PS - thousands of sites have used our app to post static lists as well)

Two more really good reasons, actually. Branding ( #1). When you create a list for your site, you can upload your own logo as the image for the list that lives on Ranker, and Ranker gets a lot of traffic. Speaking of Traffic (# 2), since the list lives on Ranker.com as well as within the widget, you can also add a link to your site on the list on Ranker.com to drive traffic back to your site and increase your site's backlink profile. 

Somewhere in the world, a hedgehog will fall down a hole.

No, actually, it will just create a copy of that list on Ranker as a basis for starting a new list for whoever clicked on that button. Some people like to rank their own lists as well as vote on them; this button is a convenience for them. They can make changes and generally do as they wish to that list ( they will have to register for Ranker to publish it).

Also, they will get a welcome fruit basket. An invisible one.

Some Ranker users prefer to showcase their lists in "blog view", which displays much more room for images and text about each item. Typically these lists don't convert well to the smaller size of the widget, so the "embed" button does not show on those lists.

There is a way around this, though - you can click the small "info view" link next the the print button on the list, which will change the display of the list to "info view". At that point, if you are happy that the "info view"-style list will look good on a widget, you can go ahead and click the Embed button (which has now magically appeared).

No. The list you embedded will be driven out to the country... to our cousin Rankster’s farm... where it will be able to run and romp and play in the fresh air, eat treats all day, and chase rabbits.

Since the embedded version and the list on Ranker are tied together like conjoined twins, or like the Doublemint Gum girls, when one dies, the other cannot survive. We’d recommend that, if you delete your Ranker list, you should remove the app code from your site, but if you don't, we'll display a nice error message with a cute mascot (ominous music).

Your portable list looks and works equally well in a sidebar or as it’s own post. Typically you have more space to play with on a post, but it still looks great in a 300px sidebar - if you need to put it in a more narrow space it will work fine but it probably won’t display with images.

A post obviously allows you to add your own text context to the list, and is more “permanent”, resulting in better SEO for your site.