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Hellos.com Online Home Page

By Invitation Only

This information is provided so you know what to do when you receive your invitation.

Our online home page is much like our free launch page in terms of its look, layout, and the process for creating it. The difference is that, while the free page is a file on your device, the paid page is hosted online by us at an address like www.hellos.com/your.name. Thus, the page is publicly accessible. Think of it, then, as the front door to your house, or the cover to a magazine that's all about you or your interests, and fill it with things you want other people to see. You can include links to your blog of vlog, social media sites, things others have written about you ('cause you're so famous), stuff you want others to know, and so on.

We offer these pages by invitation in an attempt to avoid a host of vices that have become manifest on social media sites that are open for everyone to join, such as fake identities, false information, and a lack of accountability for bad behavior. The pages are not free so that we can avoid the vices associated with selling advertisements, such as spying on you, selling your information, pestering you with ads for things you've already purchased, filling your pages with distracting content, and so on. The annual payment is also a way of making sure you still want/use the page, and, no, we don't do autopay because:

  1. we want to know if you still want/use the page,
  2. we'd like to help you keep your financial information private, and
  3. we don't feel comfortable reaching into people's bank accounts.
We hope the prospect of these benefits will help you to be patient until your invitation arrives. In the meantime, live by the golden rule, because those who do are more likely to receive an invitation.

How It Works

As with our free launch pages, we have some simple forms that you can fill out. Each form creates the code for a web page. As you complete it, you can click the Preview button at the bottom of the form to see how it is shaping up. To return to editing, just hit the refresh button ↻ on your browsers menu. This reloads the page, but the info you've entered should return.

Once you are happy with the page, hit the Code button at the bottom of the form. This will produce HTML code with your info included. Copy the code and paste it into a text editor (Gedit, Notepad, TextEdit, etc.—make sure the program is set to edit in plain text mode, other modes may inject unwanted coding), and then save it with the name "big.shtml" or "small.shtml" (see below for which to use) in a folder that is easy to find; put any image(s) you want your page to show into the same folder, and give them a name (like "background.jpg") that's easy to remember.

At this point, you have to log in to your Hellos.com account and upload your pages (big.shtml and small.shtml) and image(s) to your default folder. Now check your home page (www.hellos.com/your.name) to make sure everything came out right. If it's good, tell your friends and family to check out your new site! You can also set it as the default page (often called the home page or start page) that your browser displays when you turn it on (check your browser for info on how to do this). To update your page, just repeat this process, replacing "big.shtml" and/or "small.shtml" with updated versions.

Before You Start:

If you haven't made a page with us before, here are the full instructions

If you've made a launch page and are familiar with that process, here are the things that are different from doing that:

  • Pictures: Important: Since your site is accessible to the public, you must have written permission from both
    1. the photographer or artist (to use the picture), and
    2. any people shown (to use their image);
    Your best bet is to use pictures that you have taken, and use yourself as the model (so selfies are the perfect choice!).

    If you use a photo from another source, and it is not properly documented, we may have no choice but to delete it, and you may face legal action (Yikes!) The free version does not have this restriction because the file is only on your private device (you are not publishing somebody else's work or likeness). Please note, then, that it is not good practice to simply upload the images you used on your free launch page.

  • Content: Your page will be on public view, so let's avoid inappropriate content like:
    • Content that looks to us to be pornographic, belligerent, bullying, hateful, inciting violence, deliberately offensive, celebrating crime or others' misfortunes...
    • Outright stupidity
    • Links, scripts or other content that contains or leads to any form of malware.
    • Stuff that makes us look bad (yes, it's your page, but it's our site, so we have the final say. If you'd like to have the final say, get your own website; it's that simple).
  • File Names: Important: Use the file name big.shtml for your laptop/desktop file and small.shtml for your file for smartphones and small devices. Why? Because, when people open your site, we check the size of their screen; if it's above a certain size, we automatically reroute them to big.shtml, otherwise, we show them small.shtml. If your file is named something else, that plan won't work and your visitors will get a not found message. Another thing that won't work right is the hellos.com image at the top of your page because clicking on it will toggle between big.shtml and small.shtml.

READY TO START?

1. The links below take you to our forms. We recommend you use a desktop or laptop to fill out the form (it'll be easier to read and fill in the boxes).
2. Remember, you can click the Preview button at the bottom of the form to see how it is shaping up. To return to editing, just hit the refresh button ↻ on your browsers menu. This reloads the page, but the info you've entered should return.
3. Once you are happy with the page, hit the Code button at the bottom of the form. This will produce HTML code with your info included. Copy the code, open your text editor, and paste the code. Save the resulting document with the name "big.shtml" or "small.shtml" (depending on whether it's for a desktop or a hand-held device) in a folder that is easy to find (you'll need to know where it is when you upload it along with any image files). It is important to use these specific file names ("big.shtml" or "small.shtml") Other file names won't function correctly with your default address (hellos.com/your.name).

PICK AN OPTION (You can always come back and do the other one):

Desktop/Laptop or hand-held device