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Portal Exercise

Three-in-one

We have used Yahoo as a search engine (Search Engine exercise) to search pages on the Web and as a subject directory (Subject Directory exercise) to find sites listed on our topic. Next we use it as a portal - a gateway to many more Yahoo features that can inform, entertain, help and connect us. In this exercise, we will explore some of these including the options to personalize Yahoo to our interests.


Exercise Explore Yahoo

[Use your mouse to open sites in a new window. PC users - right click and select Open in New Window]

Go to Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) or Yahoo Canada (www.yahoo.ca)

Portal choices at Yahoo Canada - Oct 2008You have to adjust your eyes to take in everything.

On the left is the menu to the main sections. In the middle you'll see some tabs for news.

 

.Yahoo News tabs - Yahoo Canada

Let's pick out a few of the services.

News: Yahoo has an excellent news service. The home page will have headline news, but use News to get detailed coverage from many sources on current events augmented by photos and audio and video.

Finance: Yahoo! Finance (or Yahoo Finance Canada) is used even by professional investment advisors for news and company profiles. You can set up news trackers to follow company and business news. Yahoo! has several finance search tools (for US users).

Maps: Yahoo! Maps is one of the best on the Web for finding places and getting multi-point driving directions. In the United States, users can also see live traffic.

Movies: Yahoo! Movies has news and gossip, top movies, trailers and clips and reviews. Find theatres and showtimes by postal code in Canada (Yahoo Movies Canada), zip code in the US.

Music: Yahoo has Internet radio, hot music videos, interviews, news - mainly rock, pop and country. Use a personal account to create lists and share what you like. Play the music through Yahoo's connection with CBS Radio. In Canada, Yahoo Music is mainly music video and news but does have personal features and recommendations.

Personal Tools:

Yahoo personal tools


Yahoo offers many personal tools to its members, including a calendar for appointments, facility to pay bills and manage personal finances, Yahoo! instant messenger with audio and video for connecting with others instantly, a companion toolbar, and Web E-Mail.

Review the full list of Yahoo services at Yahoo Everything .

Yahoo! International
Yahoo has versions customized to individual countries, such as Yahoo Canada - www.yahoo.ca. These are very similar in look and features to Yahoo.com.

Yahoo! Canada

Yahoo Canada has a few Canada-specific features:

News from Canadian Press, Reuters, CBC, Macleans, Toronto Star, AFP. Sum Media.
Finance news, Canadian stock exchanges, quotes, personal portfolio, and message boards for personal finance.
Insurance for house, life, travel and more. (Under Finance > Personal Finance)
Sports news and scores.
Shopping at Canadian stores in Canadian dollars.
Classifieds by postal code
Movie showtimes and theatres in Canada by postal code, city and province; eg, toronto,on.
Personals for online dating.
Photos (Flickr) for creating online albums, printing and sharing.

Review full list of services for Yahoo Canada at Help Central.

   

Exercise Personalize Yahoo

One of the main attractions to Yahoo is that you can personalize MyYahoo to bring up the weather conditions in your city, news categories and sources that interest you most, stock quotes, selected Web sites and other services. The page can also connect to tools such as Yahoo e-mail, currency converter, calendar, and messenger (for chat).

My Yahoo - Dec 2009

A personalized page will save time and can add to enjoyment of the Web. Registering to be a Yahoo Member is easily done with very few questions asked.

Warning: If you register for a Yahoo ID, review your choices carefully. Yahoo assumes you will accept its offers, and you might prefer to decline. Especially watch for options about:

  • Receiving e-mail notification about special offers and new features.
  • Gathering personal information about your age, interests or your occupation.
  • Being listed in the e-mail directory (applies for Yahoo e-mail).

Where to next?

Check your knowledge of using the subject directory and search engine in the Starter Kit Quiz.


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