I have spent hours upon hours trying to find the “perfect” startpage. I have come to the conclusion that there is none; at least for me. I want a way to include feeds, mail, pictures of Hob and Istar, my Vimeo vids, my calendar, and more. All of the startpages pretty much offer these things, but in different ways.
I, like many others, started with igoogle, which was fun for about 15 minutes. Not too long after I designed my page to my satisfaction, they forced a lot of dead space on users by moving the tabbar to the left. That, and the fact that theming is so very limited meant that I needed an alternative, which led me to Netvibes. Netvibes is one of the best presented options I’ve used, but the lack of true customization leaves me a little unsatisfied (for instance, there is only one theme that does not have glaringly white widget backgrounds and the “extra” customizations, such as tabs, look cheap). Do not let their claim to have 1000s of widgets woo you…most are third party widgets, which always look tacky and include links to the widget’s “home”. Blech.
Pageflakes was my next trial, and I really like the flexibility it offers, but the native design looks very 1995, and not in a good way. It is by far the worst looking option, but has some really great flakes. Shame, really.
While searching for ways to overcome the issues I have with the above-mentioned sites, I found a link to Protopage. This is my preferred page, and I love it up to 95%. The lack of love is for an (apparently) outdated feed reader that can’t even find half the feeds I give the exact address for. I can circumvent this problem by using Feedburner feeds, which seem to work 100% of the time, but it’s still a gripe. Another gripe I had was that my thumbnail images weren’t showing up in my own feeds, but they were in everyone else’s feeds. I solved that problem by not using the “singlepic” function of the Nextgen Gallery plugin. Again, this is a non-issue with other readers, so I’m not sure why Protopage can’t handle them. Since there is no real calendar option beyond the most basic, I’m able to use my ics calendar from Netvibes, and include it as a widget on Protopage by use of the “webpage” widget. Niiiice. Widgets can be free positioned and resized, colored any way you want, and choosing a background is much easier than in other services. There are basic ads at the top of the screen, but you can close them forever (or until you reload) with one click, then they collapse. Not too bad.
The latest, and definitely most fun, option I found this weekend is Schmedley. Since Schmedley is so new, there is very little to choose from, but given a few more “schmidgets” and the option to resize the schmidgets (they are HUGE), this will become my favorite. The Gmail reader is wonky as hell, as it pulls emails from archived and trashed mail and never from my inbox, but the POP Mail seems to work a little better. The retro design of the logo and amazingly cool backgrounds make this a top contender for me. I just hope development continues!
If you try any of these out, let me know what you think!
I have read so many articles regarding the blogger lovers except this piece of writing is really a nice piece
of writing, keep it up.
What’s up i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anyplace, when i
read this piece of writing i thought i could also create comment
due to this good paragraph.
Truly no matter if someone doesn’t know after that its up to other users
that they will help, so here it happens.
Asking questions are truly fastidious thing if you are not understanding anything
totally, but this paragraph gives good understanding yet.
Howdy this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use
WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with
HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so
I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Howdy! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog. Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any points or suggestions? Thanks|
Thankfulness to my father who informed me regarding this website, this weblog is in fact
amazing.
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This article posted at this web page
is actually fastidious.
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this write-up and also the rest of the site is also really good.|
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I’m quite certain I’ll learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!|
magnificent post, very informative. I ponder why the other
experts of this sector don’t realize this. You should proceed your writing.
I am confident, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
I’m not sure why but this weblog is loading extremely slow for me.
Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue on my end?
I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
I seriously love your blog.. Pleasant colors & theme.
Did you build this website yourself? Please reply back as
I’m hoping to create my own site and would love to know where you
got this from or just what the theme is called. Cheers!
This post is priceless. When can I find out more?
Hi colleagues, pleasant article and pleasant arguments commented
here, I am truly enjoying by these.
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who had
been conducting a little homework on this. And he in fact ordered me lunch due to the fact that
I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this….
Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about
this matter here on your web page.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You definitely know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence
on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read?
I got this website from my buddy who shared with
me about this website and now this time I am visiting this website and reading very informative content here.
I’ve been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this kind of house . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this web site. Studying this info So i am glad to exhibit that I have a very good uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I such a lot indubitably will make certain to do not omit this website and provides it a glance regularly.|
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted
at this web page is truly fastidious.
I’ve read several just right stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for
revisiting. I wonder how much attempt you set to make such a wonderful informative
web site.
Excellent pieces. Keep posting such kind of information on your site.
Im really impressed by your site.
Hey there, You have performed an incredible job.
I’ll definitely digg it and in my opinion suggest to my friends.
I am confident they will be benefited from this website.
hey there and thank you for your information – I have
definitely picked up something new from right here.
I did however expertise some technical issues using
this website, since I experienced to reload the website lots of times previous to I could get it to load properly.
I had been wondering if your web host is OK?
Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times
will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage
your high-quality score if ads and marketing with
Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and
could look out for much more of your respective intriguing content.
Ensure that you update this again soon.
Hello to all, how is the whole thing, I think every one is getting more from this website, and your views are fastidious for new users.|
No matter if some one searches for his essential thing, thus he/she wishes to be available that in detail, thus that thing is maintained over here.|
Hi there, I wish for to subscribe for this weblog to get newest updates, thus where can i do
it please help out.
Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using?
I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard
time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Right here is the right webpage for anybody who wants to
find out about this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost
hard to argue with you (not that I personally would want to…HaHa).
You certainly put a brand new spin on a subject which has been discussed for decades.
Wonderful stuff, just excellent!
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to far added agreeable from you!
By the way, how can we communicate?
Hey this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering
if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with
HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I
wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
At this time it appears like Drupal is the best blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
I savor, result in I discovered just what I was looking for. You’ve ended my 4 day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye|
Heya i am for the primary time here. I found this board and I
to find It really helpful & it helped me out a lot. I’m hoping to offer one thing again and help others such as you
helped me.
You should take part in a contest for one of the highest quality websites on the internet.
I most certainly will recommend this site!
Awesome! Its really remarkable article, I have got much clear idea concerning from this post.|
We stumbled over here from a different web page and thought I should check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to going over your web page yet again.|
Greate pieces. Keep posting such kind of info on your site. Im really impressed by your site.
I constantly emailed this web site post page to all my associates, as if like to read it afterward my contacts will too.|
You can definitely see your skills within the article
you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers such
as you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. At all times follow your heart.
I have learn several excellent stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you put to make one of these wonderful informative website.|
I am truly delighted to glance at this website posts which carries tons of valuable information, thanks for
providing these statistics.
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy.
I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or advice.
Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article.
I wish to read more things about it!
I think the admin of this web site is genuinely working hard in support of his site, for the reason that here every stuff is quality based information.|
I’ve been browsing on-line greater than three hours these days, yet I never discovered any interesting article like yours. It is lovely price enough for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made excellent content material as you did, the net might be much more useful than ever before.|
May I simply just say what a relief to uncover someone that really knows what they are
talking about on the web. You definitely know how to bring a problem to light and make it
important. More and more people must look at this and understand
this side of the story. I can’t believe you aren’t
more popular since you surely have the gift.
I blog often and I genuinely appreciate your information. This great article has truly peaked my interest. I will bookmark your blog and keep checking for new details about once per week. I subscribed to your RSS feed too.|
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.|
It’s appropriate time to make a few plans for the long run and it’s time to be happy. I have learn this submit and if I may I want to recommend you some fascinating things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles regarding this article. I desire to read more issues about it!|
First off I want to say fantastic blog! I had a quick question that I’d
like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to find
out how you center yourself and clear your mind before writing.
I’ve had a hard time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10
to 15 minutes tend to be lost just trying
to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints?
Thank you!
Every weekend i used to pay a visit this web site, for the reason that i want enjoyment, since this this site conations actually nice funny information too.|