Yahoo Alerts!

This article describes how to get the Yahoo! Alerts service to send you an e-mail whenever the BOK website is updated. To use this service you require a (free) Yahoo! account - the once-only sign-up process is fairly straightforward.

The steps are:

  1. Go to the Yahoo! Alerts log-in page.
  2. Sign-up for a free Yahoo! account.
  3. Create an alert for the BOK news feed.

If you already have a Yahoo! account, go straight to Step 3 .

1. Go to the Yahoo! Alerts log-in page

The address is: http://alerts.yahoo.com

2. Sign-up for a free Yahoo! account

Click on the "Sign Up" link under "Don't have a Yahoo! ID?".

On the sign-up page you will be asked to choose a Yahoo! ID - this can be any name (e.g. 'JoeBloggs99') and is not related to the e-mail address at which you wish to receive the alert messages.

You should uncheck the "Create my free Yahoo! email address" option, as you wish to use your existing e-mail address. However, it seems that a Yahoo! email address is created anyhow! Don't worry, you can just ignore it.

You can safely uncheck the "marketing updates" option.

Under "Alternate email" enter the e-mail adress at which you wish to receive the alerts.

Once you have completed the sign-up, Yahoo! will send you a confirmation e-mail. Once you receive this e-mail, click on the link it contains to activate your account. On confirming your password, you will be returned to the Yahoo! Alerts log-in page.

3. Set up an alert for the BOK news feed

If your browser has Javascript enabled (most do), you should be able to click on the "Create an alert" icon below. Tip: Click here first  to open a second browser window (you will then be able to have these instructions in one of your windows and Yahoo! Alerts in the other window).

This should take you to the Yahoo! Alerts log-in page, where you should enter your Yahoo! ID and password under "Sign in to Yahoo!".

If that didn't work for you, follow the instructions here .

Once you have logged-in you should be taken to to a page labelled "You will receive alerts for Bristol Orienteering Klub News".

Under "Choose how often you want Alerts delivered" select the options "As they happen" and "Just new items".

Under "Choose how you want your Alerts delivered" check the "Email" box. The e-mail address you see to the right of this box will probably be the Yahoo! email address that was created for you during sign-up (even though you didn't ask for it!), so click on the triangular icon on the left of that e-mail address to reveal the "alternate e-mail address" that you supplied during sign-up and select that address.

Now click on "Save Alert". On the next page you should see the message "Your alert has been saved". Now click on "Done" and you will be taken to the "My Alerts" tab, where you should see an entry for "Bristol Orienteering Klub News".

That's it. You can change your settings at any time by logging into Yahoo! Alerts and selecting the "My Alerts" tab.

P.S. If the "Create an alert" icon doesn't work for you:

Go to the Yahoo! Alerts log-in page and enter your Yahoo! ID and password under "Sign in to Yahoo!".

Under the "Create Alert" tab, select "Feed / Blog".

In box A ("Enter the URL for a web site's RSS feed, if you know it"), enter this URL:

http://bristolorienteering.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Hint: In most browsers you should be able to right click on the above link and select "Copy Shortcut"; then you can right click in box A and select "Paste".

Set up the remaining options as described in Step 3 above.

Author: Stephen Horton, BOK Webmaster , Monday 22nd January 2007