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 Geocities BASICS Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 
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Hi! My name is Soose, and I have a homepage that has since turned into a site with over 20 pages in it. But there was a time when I wasn't sure WHAT I wanted to do a homepage about or HOW to go about getting one. And I'm sure that there are quite a few of you out there who either want one, but don't know how to get one, OR you have one, but can't seem to figure out what to do with it.
NET4TV has asked me to give you a "blow-by-blow" account of how to go about acquiring a homepage, and then what to do to it to make it look like you want it to look. Our lessons will be in chapters, and in THIS chapter (Part 1), we will discuss how to get that homepage.
First off, there are quite a few site providers to choose from when you consider starting a homepage. Some will charge you the space, but the majority will offer free space. Among the most popular are GeoCities, Tripod, and Angelfire--just to name a few. My site is with GeoCities. Out of all the site providers that offer free space, GeoCities is probably the most popular, and since my site is with them, I'll tell you how to get started there. Here we go!
First, you will need to know the URL: http://www.geocities.com/homestead/
You enter the "Homesteading Program" page, your gateway to getting your homepage started. Here, GeoCities discusses all the different programs that you can be involved in, along with information on homepage creation, and a general FAQ section. Under the heading, "Homesteading Program Information", click the subtitle, "Free Home Pages". You are transported to the "Personal Home Page Program" page. This page walks you through a simple step-by-step procedure in acquiring your free personal home page.
Since GeoCities is set up in a "neighborhood-type" format (there are 37 of them!), the first step is to browse the different neighborhoods to see which one will be suited for the type of homepage you want to have. Once you have decided which neighborhood to join, you must then find a vacancy somewhere in that neighborhood (this vacancy will eventually become the place for your homepage!). I will not go into too much detail at this point as the "Personal Home Page Program" page is fairly thorough, and will walk you through the procedure with little or no trouble.
Ok, so you've browsed the neighborhoods, found your spot, clicked the vacancy to reserve it, now what? Well, when you click the address of your vacancy, you are immediately transported to the "Application Form" for that vacancy. Again, it is self-explanatory, and easy to understand. The only "hang-up" might be in putting in your birthdate. For some reason, whenever someone e-mails me telling me that GeoCities won't let them register because of their birthdate -- it's usually because that person didn't put it in the way that GeoCities requires. When you put in your birthdate, put it in like this: mm/dd/yy. So, if you were born on August 30, 1960, you would enter it as 08/30/60. It seems simple, but you'd be surprised how many people have trouble with that!
After you've completed the registration application form, and submit it successfully, a registration confirmation page appears, confirming your acceptance into the neighborhood you've chosen, AND confirming your e-mail address, as well as your new GeoCities neighborhood address (your homepage!). A couple of minutes later, an e-mail will arrive in your mailbox (that is if you gave the correct e-mail address), also confirming your acceptance, AND giving you your password. It also gives you a list of handy, helpful areas of GeoCities that may be of some use to you sometime in the future.
You are now ready to start creating your homepage. But that's for Part 2!
In Part 2, we will discuss what to do with that vacant space you just acquired--your future homepage!
I was in the same boat as you in January, 1997 -- a WebTV user with no HTML experience at all. If you would like to see what I did, as please come to The World of Soose and see how it turned out!
See you next time!
Soose |