Providing Weather Forecasts on Your Site

I figure that most of the people on the Net spend almost all their free time indoors, but amazingly, they still maintain a fascination with what’s happening outside. Okay, I admit that I have to drive through the outside world sometimes, and the guys from marketing often take their laptops and cell phones to the beach to “work.” But all you really need to know is whether a thunderstorm is coming your way, right? And if that bright flash and the sudden puff of smoke from your modem don’t tell you that, what can? Still, you just can’t please some folks, and if your visitors want to check out the latest weather conditions and forecasts, who am I to stand in their way?

Weather.com (at www.weather.com, of course) is the online version of the Weather Channel. If you’re not familiar with that channel, you obviously don’t get cable TV. It offers some really nice weather graphics that you can put on your Web site.

To add all this wonderful weather wizardry to your site, follow these steps:

1.	Go to the Weather on Your Website page at www.weather.com/services/oap.html.
2.	Scroll down the page and click the Get It Today button.
3.	On the resulting page, shown in Figure 12-13, click the Sign Up link in the upper right corner. Figure 12-13. Click the Sign Up link for new users. [View full size image]
4.	On the Set User Profile page, shown in Figure 12-14, enter all the required information (such as your e-mail address) in the appropriate text boxes. Figure 12-14. The Set User Profile page. [View full size image]
5.	Unless you want to receive weather-related e-mail offers, deselect the Subscriptions check box. Agreeing to this means that you’re giving up your privacy, and the site can share your name, address, and other information you provide with other companies.
6.	Click the Save and Continue button.
7.	On the Settings page (see Figure 12-15), type your company name. Figure 12-15. The Settings page. [View full size image]
8.	Select your industry from the drop-down list.
9.	Enter your phone number and the URL of your Web site in the appropriate text boxes.
10.	Select the I Accept check box for the legal agreement.
11.	Click the Save and Continue button.
12.	On the Website Builder page, shown in Figure 12-16, you can click the Customize button to choose such items as background images if you desire. The resulting options are: Basics: Size, city name (or zip code if you’re in the U.S.), unit of measurement (English or metric), and your domain name. Background: Background photos or colors. @weather.com Links: To display news about seasons, lifestyles, travel, and so on. Weather Info: Choose up to three specialized items of weather info, such as humidity, dewpoint, or UV index. Figure 12-16. The Website Builder. [View full size image]
13.	Click the Finish and Generate Code button.
14.	Copy the HTML code from the page that appears (see Figure 12-17) and paste it into the source code for your Web page. Figure 12-17. Getting the code. [View full size image]