Section 21. Sign Up for Services

21. Sign Up for Services

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Just jump right in.

In this task, you'll learn how to set up an account on GeoCities. This is a long task, but there are a lot of steps and you have to go through them all at one time, so buckle up, here we go.

Over time the steps might vary as GeoCities grows and changes, but you will need to go through the same steps, even if they are arranged differently.

1.	Go to http://www.geocities.com The welcome page for Yahoo! GeoCities shows several different options from which to choose, but these are all the paid options for service. We are going to go with the free version of GeoCities. The main differences between the services are the amount of space you are allowed to use, the number of email accounts you are allowed to create, and whether you have your own domain name , such as tacothechook.com . We're going to use the free version of GeoCities for this task. Click on the Sign Up button under the description of the free services. On the page that loads, click Sign Up Now . 21. Sign Up for Services
2.	Provide Sign Up Information Fill in your name in the text boxes provided. Your name is used by GeoCities to personalize your service. When you go to your account, it calls you by the name you provide here, so enter something you want to see yourself referred to. Choose your ID . Your ID is what your website is going to be called, as well as the name you are going to use to log in to the site and the name for your email account. TIP Remember to write down your password. (Yes ‚ I have learned that one the hard waymore than once.) Select the check box to get your Yahoo! mail address. A Yahoo! email account is free, and you can use it to register for other services later. You might also want to use that address for people to contact you from your website. Sometimes it is useful not to use your main email address because it will help you to avoid receiving spam. The information you supply in the next section of the form will help you recall your password if you ever forget it. Select a question and answer so that if you forget your password, you can provide some information for Yahoo! to send you your password. It also asks you for an alternative email account. If you have forgotten your password, you won't be able to get into your Yahoo! email account to get the password Yahoo! sends you, so it sends the password to the alternative email account. At the bottom of the form is a box with a picture of some letters and maybe some numbers distorted and out of line. You need to copy the characters you see there into the box above the picture to guarantee you are a real person and not a computer program someone is using to make a website for questionable purposes.
3.	Submit the Form Click on the I Agree button. If you have made an error in the form or left a field empty that you need to fill out, a page will come up that tells what else you need to fill in. Submit the form and write down the information that is returned and keep it in a safe place. Click on the Continue to Yahoo! GeoCities button.
4.	Choose Your Ads You are presented with a choice of what sort of advertisements you want to see on your page. You must have the ads in the free service, but you at least get to ask GeoCities to give you ads related to your site. Select one option and click on the Continue button.
5.	Test Your New Home Page You are presented with your Yahoo! ID, your alternate email address, and the URL or web address of your new page. Click on the link to your new page and go to your new home page!