To sign up for the My Wishlist website, just click on the link "Sign up". If you don't see the "Sign up" link on the left side, someone is already logged in and you have to click on the little "Log out" link at the top. Once you've clicked "Sign up", fill out the form with your name, your login name, password and email address. The website will send you an email to confirm your email address. If you don't receive an email within about 10 minutes, it could be that my server can't send email to your address. If that is the case, just email me a little note and I can send you another copy. Once you've signed up and confirmed your email address, you can immediately start adding things to your wishlist. Before you can see other people's lists you have to join a group. Click here to see how to join a group.

To add items to your list, just click on the link called "Edit My List" on the menu at the left. (Please note that you have to be logged in to edit your list.) There will be a button near the top that says, "New Item". Press the button and fill out the form to add a new item to your list. You will need to give the item a name, a suggested location to purchase this item, an estimated price, how much you want this item, and a more detailed description of this item.

To reserve an item you must click on "View Lists" from the menu on the left. (If the "View Lists" link is not on your menu, you aren't a member of any groups. Please read the answer to the How do I join a group? question.) A list of all the groups you belong to will appear. Select the group that includes the member whose list you want to see. Push the "View Group" button to see a list of all the people in the group. Select a member of the group and push the "View List" button to see their wishlist. To reserve an item, select the item, push the "View Item" button and then press the "Reserve Item" button. (Note, if an item is already reserved, you can see who has reserved it by selecting it and pushing the "View Item" button.)

My Wishlist keeps track of all the items you reserved in your Shopping List. To view your shopping list, click the "View Lists" link from the menu on the left and then click on the "View my shopping list" link at the top of the page. From here you can print your list of things you've reserved to take shopping with you. You can also selectively unreserve things from your list to make them available for others to reserve.

Yes. To unreserve something, click the link from the menu on the left that reads "View Lists". Then click on the link at the top of the page that says "View my shopping list". Select the item you want to remove from your list and push the "Unreserve Item" button at the bottom of the page. This will unreserve the item and make it available for others to reserve.

There were a few technical issues I had to resolve when I designed this site. I realized a potential problem if someone wanted to delete an item. It wouldn't be very fair to the person who has bought a gift for someone to have that person change their mind and delete the gift. Also, one of the important features of the website is to keep reservations secret. If I made it possible to only delete items that haven't been reserved yet, someone could delete something and add it back just to check to see if someone has reserved it. Obviously that would be defeating the purpose of this website. So, I wanted to make adding an item seem more permanant. I felt that this would encourage people to only put things they really want -- something they wouldn't just delete later. You can still edit items (with the exception of the name) and change the price or note if you get more information, but I can't allow people to just delete items. If you have made a typo in the name and you want me to fix it, I can do that for you. Just email me.

You can't see anyone's lists unless you've joined a group. You also can't see someone's list unless you both belong to the same group. One person can belong to many groups or just one (or none, for that matter). Joining a group is simple. Click on the "Browse Groups" link from the menu on the left and then select the group you want to join. Click the "View Group" button to go to the next page. Provide a reason why you think you should be a member of the group and push "Request Membership". This will send me an email notifying me of your request. I will then get on the computer, consider your reason and either add you to the group or deny your request. Usually I let people in, but you really ought to give me a good reason.

I think it used to be "Purchase", but then I realized that it would be quite possible for two people to go out and buy the same thing on a particular day and when they get on the website realize that someone else has already bought the same gift. To help solve this problem, I changed the word to "Reserve" in order to get people to reserve an item before they buy we don't run into the problem of multiple gifts.

Now, you're probably wondering what this site is for? That is a very valid question. I haven't figured out everything that this website can do myself! But, until then let me tell you a little bit about it. Wishlist was inspired by my sister, Rachel, in late November 2002. I realized with a little PHP (hypertext preprocessing) and MySQL (a Linux based SQL Server) that I could make a website that kept track of users' wishlists allowing them to share their lists with friends and family across the country. The idea sounded promising, so I did some homework and learned some PHP. This is my first PHP project, so it is bound to be flawed. There are many great ideas for the future regarding the functionality of this website, so keep checking back for updates!