Computer

Tech-y StartPage

7,141 Comments

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 The lack of love is for an (apparently) outdated feed reader that can’t even find half the feeds I give the exact address for.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!

7,141 thoughts on “Tech-y StartPage”

  2. Hey there would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with?
    I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
    The reason I ask is because your design and style seems
    different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
    P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

    Reply

  6. Hi there! This blog post could not be written any
    better! Going through this article reminds me of my previous
    roommate! He always kept talking about this. I am going to forward this information to him.
    Fairly certain he’s going to have a great read. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  8. Simply want to say your article is as amazing.
    The clearness in your post is simply excellent and i
    could assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with
    your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to
    date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please
    carry on the gratifying work.

    Reply

  17. I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this website. I am hoping to view the same high-grade content by you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own site now 😉

    Reply

  18. I think this is one of the most significant info for me.

    And i am glad reading your article. But should remark
    on some general things, The site style is ideal, the articles is really excellent :
    D. Good job, cheers

    Reply

  19. Ahaa, its pleasant dialogue regarding this post at this place at this webpage, I have read all that, so now me also commenting at this
    place.

    Reply

  22. What’s up Dear, are you in fact visiting this website on a regular basis, if so after
    that you will without doubt take nice know-how.

    Reply

  23. I am not certain where you are getting your information, however good topic.
    I needs to spend some time learning more or figuring out more.
    Thank you for wonderful info I was searching for this info for my
    mission.

    Reply

  25. Just wish to say your article is as amazing. The clarity in your post is simply cool and i could assume you’re
    an expert on this subject. Fine with your
    permission allow me to grab your feed to keep up to date with
    forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the enjoyable work.

    Reply

  26. Hello, I think your website could possibly be having internet browser compatibility problems.
    Whenever I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in IE, it has
    some overlapping issues. I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up!
    Besides that, great website!

    Reply

  28. Pretty great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I’ve
    really loved browsing your weblog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing for your feed
    and I’m hoping you write again soon!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *