Now that you have understood some of the potential of Mahara, it's time to get started. The very first thing you are going to do is to register for a Mahara site, log in, and set up your own personal profile and dashboard pages. You will also have your first look at how you receive notifications and manage your Mahara settings.
In this chapter you will:
- Register to join the demonstration Mahara site that accompanies this book
- Explore the Mahara user interface
- Learn how to enter your personal information
- Begin to configure your personal profile page
- Have a brief introduction to the Mahara text editor
- Have a look at the dashboard page
- Understand how you can manage your settings and receive notifications
By the end of this chapter, you will have started to set up your own profile page. You will have also had a look at your dashboard page in Mahara and be ready to start adding your stuff.
I'm sure you can't wait to get inside a Mahara site and have a look around. Luckily, for this book we have created a demonstration site, so you can do just that.
Usually, a Mahara site administrator will provide you with your own username and password, so that you can log in straight away. Sometimes though, to join a Mahara site, you will have to register.
Let's have a look at some of the Mahara sites available on the Internet that you can register to join:
- http://maharaforbeginners.tdm.info: This is the demonstration site for this book. Register here to work through the examples in each chapter.
- http://foliofor.me: This is a freely available Mahara platform in the cloud. Anyone can register here to set up their own portfolio. A fairly large international community is already using this site.
- http://demo.mahara.org: This is a default Mahara installation that always runs on the latest version of Mahara. It is a demonstration site that can be explored by the users who are interested in Mahara but don't have the resources to set up their own test installations. Be aware though, all the content of this site is removed every day.
- http://mahara.org: This is Mahara's own website, which is a highly stylized version of a Mahara site. This is where the international Mahara community interacts and you really should register here to follow and take part in discussions about all things related to Mahara. The site is just for community discussions. You shouldn't keep your portfolio here.
If you have login details for your own Mahara site, you might want to skip the following Time for action — registering to the Mahara for Beginner's demo site section and get straight into logging in. However, we recommend that you register to join the demonstration site accompanying this book. The demo site will allow you to work through the examples.