This column is for my WebTV friends who thought they would never use the WebTV Page Builder. Here are 4 uses for the previously disinterested. Learn how to direct traffic to your Tripod (Geocities, Angelfire, etc.) web site, put your Favorites Folders online, make web sites for your eyes only, and make a WebTV Member Profile.
Use #1: Directing Traffic to another Site
We all know the formula for viewing each other's directory of web pages is:
http://community.webtv.net/username
We can replace "username" with any WebTV'ers actual user name and peruse their web pages. What that means is you will have curious visitors going to your directory to see what you have made.
You do not have to mirror your page or rebuild in the Page Builder to take advantage of this exposure. It will take you 5 minutes to make a Page Builder page re-directing the curious to your Tripod (or Angelfire, Geocities, etc.) site.
Here's How:
From your start page, click on "Community".
Click on "Page Builder".
Click on "Create"
Select a Page Style.
Click on "Add an item."
Select "Heading."
Type this code in: <Meta http-Equiv="Refresh" Content="5; URL=http://www.geocities.com/webtvbeth/sitemap.html">
The 5 stands for 5 seconds. 5 seconds after coming to this page, the visitor will be redirected to your other homepage. Change that to any number that pleases you. You will need to remove: http://www.geocities.com/webtvbeth/sitemap.html and replace with your actual homepage URL.
Press "Done."
Click on "Add an item."
Select "Text."
In the large rectangular box, type any message in. Example: In 5 seconds you will be directed to my Sitemap of Help Pages.
Press "Done."
Press "Publish" (on left sidebar).
Follow the prompts to title your page, the description area generates meta description tags, press "Continue" and then "Publish."
A few notes:
Follow the Meta redirect code exactly. Double check the quotes and semicolons.
You don't have to insert the Meta re-direct code. Another option is to insert HTML code in the text section and write out a link to your site. A visitor would then just click on your link to get to your page.
Here's a Sample Page. This is an opportunity to increase your site's popularity. The number of links to your site from other sites is key to the success of your site. Some search engines use this to grade your site and move you up the ladder.
Use #2: Optimizing your Favs Folders
If you have ever wanted to access your Favorites Folders from another user account or while away from home and if you have gotten the error message "Your folder is already full. It can only hold 32 Favorites. To make room, organize your Favorites and remove some of them" have I got the solution for you!
The Page Builder has a special feature that allows you to easily copy all of your Favorites Folder onto a page. When you publish it, it will be available to you from any user account and wherever you access the internet (like from work, the library or Grandmom's house). Also, the number of links you place on a page is not restricted to 32.
Oh, the news gets better. When and if you leave WebTV, you can easily transload the entire page to another web host. You could even do it now by transloading the page to your Geocities (or Angelfire, Tripod, etc.) site.
Here's How to put your Favs Folders Onlne:
From your start page, click on "Community."
Click on "Page Builder."
Click on "Create."
Select a Page Style
Click on "Add an item."
Select "Links."
Click on "Add from Favorites" (near bottom on right).
Checkmark any of the web site titles.
Press "Done" (on bottom).
Press "Done" again (on bottom).
Press "Publish" on left sidebar.
Follow the prompts to fill in the page title, the description box will be used to generate meta description keywords, press "Continue" and press "Publish"
A few notes:
You can only click on 25 links at a time. You can add more than 25 links on a page by just selecting "Add from Favorites" again. This is a great way to organize your folders because you can select web sites from each folder to put on your page. I recommend making a separate page for each folder.
If you want to take advantage of being able to put more than 32 favorites in one place but enjoy the fact that your bookmarks were behind a firewall and only accessible by you, you can elect to "Not Publish" at the end. You will still have this page but only you can access it from your user account.
You can now delete the Favorites in your folders and make room for more. Add the new ones to your Page Builder pages when you have time.
To add more links later:
Go to the Page Builder Index.
Click on the page you want to add more links to.
Click on "Change page."
Click on "Add an item."
Select "links."
Press "Add from Favorites."
Checkmark up to 25 sites at a time.
Click on "Done" (at bottom).
Click on "Done" again (at bottom).
Press "Publish" (on left sidebar). Note: This "Publish" button is actually a "Save" button that saves any changes.
Follow the prompts.
Use #3: Privacy
One feature that the WebTV Page Builder has that Tripod, Angelfire, Geocities and all the other internet web host providers don't have, is the choice to not publish your web site on the internet.
The possibilities are endless. You can create sites that are for your eyes only. You can leisurely create a web site at your own pace. You can unveil your web site when you are ready. No need to have "under construction" signs plastered about an incomplete thought. The Page Builder offers you the freedom of privacy.
When you have completed your work of art, you can publish it at your convenience. You can just as easily take your site offline while you work on it. You can create a Christmas card/family newsletter web site for 1999, unpublish it and make changes to your family newsletter as you go throughout the year and then publish it for Christmas 2000.
There are two features that you will have to master in order to do this:
The first task is being able to differentiate the two "Publish" buttons. They both say "Publish" but they have two separate functions. The first "Publish" button that you will come across is actually a "Save" button. It "Saves" anything you add to your page. This "Publish" button is on the left sidebar. The second "Publish" button is shown alongside a "Do not Publish" button. It will be on the bottom right. You will see the message "You are about to publish your page to the World Wide Web where anyone can see it..." Now this "Publish" button actually places your page on the internet to be seen by anyone who looks into your directory or who you give the address to. You will have to differentiate between these two buttons (one is on the left sidebar and the other is on the bottom right)to ensure that you have not put your page on the internet.
Do not worry if your chubby little fingers accidentally publish your page on the internet. This can be changed in yet another keystroke.
Here's How to Unpublish:
Go to your Page Builder Index
Click on the Page you want to unpublish.
Select "Un-publish page."
You will get this confirmation: "Your document is no longer visible to others on the Web."
Use #4: Make a WebTV Member Profile
The 4th use for my WebTV friends who thought they wouldn't have a use for the WebTV Page Builder is to make a WebTV Member Profile.
With the advent of the Page Builder came a system of building WebTV Member Profiles. Making them is voluntary. We can make a different one for each of our personalities (I mean user names). We can take them offline at will or update them at any time. AOL member profiles just recently added the ability to create their member profiles with HTML. We already have that. They really are a nice way of building a community spirit.
Click here for complete instructions on how to build a WebTV Member Profile or to look up fellow WebTV Member Profiles.
Okay, so there are the 4 Page Builder uses for the disinterested. You can direct traffic to a homepage you built elsewhere (and increase site popularity), you can easily give your Favs Folders the features you always wanted, you can privately build web pages offline, and you can create a WebTV Member Profile.
With love from, Beth Candy
