Geocities Information !

-:- One Hour Page -:-
Tutorials for using Geocities Editors
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-:- Web Page Help -:-
Help/Info for anyone building a web page
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Specific to GeoCities' Homesteaders -:- New items & information

The Community Leader's (CL's) are here to help ... honest! There are, however, things that are beyond the "CL's Magic Wand of Power". When I, personally, approach "File Manager", I hope it's in a good mood today. I may offer it a piece of candy, or half of my sandwich ... but if it's not going to take those as offerings in hopes of having a successful editing session in File Manager that day ... then, even *I* am out of luck. ;^D ... I say this half jokingly ... there always seems to be a reason that Geo's utilities aren't working right. And with the merger of Yahoo/Geocities databases, it seems that we ALL have had our share of lost files, lost pages, no email, etc. Also, it helps to try to do your HTML editing and uploading at "non-busy" times - Geocities is a very popular place, and with over 2,000,000 homesteaders - we all can't do our editing at the same time, ha ha! It was/is frustrating at the time, but things get better sooner or later. It is BEST if you can edit your pages on your computer and then upload them to Geocities. # 1) you have a current, updated copy of your pages on your computer at all times, and # 2) you don't have to worry nearly as much about how busy Geo's servers are.

I cannot stress enough ~ backup! backup! backup! ~ Whether you use GeoCities Editors, a web host's on-line editors or your own editor on your computer, to create your page; make sure you have a copy on your computer! Systems go down, things happen, and you don't want the heartache of loosing your hard work because of this.

If you ever loose your password, and you don't have a valid email address listed in your Profile Manager, you're out of luck. There is no way anyone can get your password for you, no matter what anyone claims. So you will have to get a new homestead somewhere else and start over! When you use Geo's "lost password utility", it sends the password to the email address listed in the profile manager. So it is highly recommended that you always have a correct email address listed there.

If you use Geo's editors and want to save a copy of your pages and your graphics to your harddrive, you can do that while you are in File Manager (if you're using Netscape). It shows you all your files and between the file name and the date you last updated the file, is the word "View" which is linked to your page. Just right click on that word, choose "Save Link As ... " and you can place that file in a folder in your computer. That will save the HTML file or graphic that you have clicked on. Do that for each HTML file and each graphic file you have. THEN -- make sure your computer's files are backed up!

IF you are unable to save your files while you're in File Manager, you will have to visit each page of yours, from the menu at the top of your browser, choose "File" and then "Save as ..." and put ALL your HTML files and graphics into a folder on your computer. You can then move them to floppy discs if you are short of space on your harddrive.

If you are a Heartland Resident, you can check the listing of all the Heartland Community Leaders - and the programs/applications that they are knowledgeable about. You will find that list from the HHQ pages. http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/7546/

So the saying goes ...
If your page even HINTS at being commercial, GeoCities will require you to be a GeoShops member or they will delete your site. (well ... so they say, although I'd never actually seen it happen in my two years of CL'ing) For more information, see the GeoShops FAQ page. GeoCities has created a program called GeoShops for people who would like to have a commercial page. The free pages will continue for homesteaders with non-commercial pages. Any free page that advertises any kind of product or service (or even hints at it) will be deleted by GeoCities.

HOW DO I GET LISTED ON A SEARCH ENGINE? One of the questions we're asked most often is, "Are there any tricks to getting my pages to show up on the search engines?" Well it's not a secret! The easiest thing you can do is to make sure you have an on-topic title for your page using the TITLE tag (don't title your pet cat's page "Fluffy," title it "My pet cat"). This will help the search engines categorize your page. Another hint: Pages with too few words are ignored. Be sure to include descriptive text with graphics and pictures. Also, it's wise to use the META NAME="KEYWORDS" tag. (Detailed examples are on my HTML tags page in another section of this site.) It allows you to select the keywords for how you want your page categorized. More (free) information is available at Danny Sullivan's website Search Engine Watch. There is a paid member section, too, but start out with the free information first.

The GeoGuide is used to keep the popups from appearing for your visitors. See the information at (and linked from) the GeoGuide link that you get to from INSIDE the file manager. You will also need to visit the GeoGuide Manager, and submit your new size banner that you've uploaded to your files at GeoCities. If you're confused by the GeoGuide instructions, there's a site, here, that has a tutorial (with screen shots) that will show you exactly what to do.

Need a banner made? There are banner helpers, OR you can create your own
at several places: The Banner Generator, Instant On Line Banner Creator, MediaBuilder Banner Maker, and Banner World, are among the free banner makers that I know of. Check them out - it's a great way to make your own banner, and it's FREE!

With the Yahoo/Geocities merger, you won't be able to send email through Yahoo/Geo any more. You must use your ISP's settings to send mail. That will cause a problem for AOL customers, so they will just have to use a web-based email program to send mail other than through the AOL email account.

GeoCities World Report will have information about things that are going on at Geocities. New features, announcements, etc. You can receive a copy via email, to sign up, see your Edit Profile area AFTER you sign in to your Geocities account. NOTE: It is ONLY sent to the email address that you have listed in your Profile Manager! Make sure that it is an addy that you DO receive mail from (via forwarding) or one you check often!

GeoCities now supports some web editor's "publish" feature (FTP'ing). For more details, please see Geo's page at http://geocities.yahoo.com/help/ftp/

Special Note for Front Page Users - Geocities does NOT support the Front Page Editor's natural functions. You MUST re-edit your files in order for things "to work" at Geo. Detailed information is at:
Answerpoint Front Page ~ http://www.oocities.org/answerpoint/wpw/
Front Page 97 ~ http://www.oocities.org/SouthBeach/Sands/1492/frmain.htm
Front Page 98 ~ http://www.oocities.org/SouthBeach/Sands/1492/rpmain.htm
Front Page Tutorial ~ http://www.abstract.simplenet.com/

GeoCities now requires EITHER:
A) that children under age 13 have a parent fill out the application form with their personal information (and monitor the web page), or
B) parents must purchase a GeoPlus account for each child. More information at http://geocities.yahoo.com/help/guidelines/

Make SURE you have a valid email address listed in your Account Profile and that your mail going to that address will get to you by having it forwarded, or one you will check often!! Change/correct it in the Edit Profile area after you sign in to your Geocities account. Good place for free email addresses is Bigfoot [http://www.bigfoot.com] because they will forward your mail to whatever email address you wish. Hotmail, Netaddress (usa.net), for example, does not forward mail (at least for free).