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 The lack of love is for an (apparently) outdated feed reader that can’t even find half the feeds I give the exact address for.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!
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you, However I am encountering troubles with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anyone else having identical RSS issues? Anyone who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!|
I visited various web sites however the audio quality for audio songs current at this web page is genuinely wonderful.|
Enjoyed every bit of your post.Really thank you! Great.
Quality articles or reviews is the key to attract the users to go to see the website, that’s what this website is providing.|
Wow! Finally I got a blog from where I know how to actually obtain useful data concerning my study and knowledge.|
Great information. Lucky me I discovered your website by accident (stumbleupon). I have saved it for later!|
Hi, everything is going well here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s actually fine, keep up writing.|
Spot on with this write-up, I really think this site needs a great deal more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the advice!|
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is magnificent, let alone the content!|
I have been surfing online more than 3 hours today, but I by no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It is pretty worth sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the net will probably be much more useful than ever before.|
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your site? My website is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would really benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Many thanks!|
Good web site you have got here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours nowadays.
I truly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is wonderful, let alone the content!|
Everything is very open with a very clear explanation of the challenges. It was truly informative. Your website is extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing!|
I used to be suggested this website by means of my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else realize such unique approximately my problem. You’re wonderful! Thanks!|
If some one wishes to be updated with newest technologies then he must be pay a visit this website and be up to date daily.|
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about meta_keyword. Regards|
excellent issues altogether, you simply gained a emblem new reader. What could you suggest about your post that you simply made a few days ago? Any positive?|
I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this hike.|
Heya excellent website! Does running a blog such as this take a great deal of work?
I have absolutely no understanding of computer programming but
I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyway, if
you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share.
I understand this is off subject however I just wanted to ask.
Cheers!
It’s very effortless to find out any matter on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this article at this site.|
Piece of writing writing is also a excitement, if you be acquainted with afterward you can write if not it is complicated to write.|
Hello! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!|
It’s an amazing piece of writing in support of all the internet viewers; they will obtain advantage from it I am sure.|
Hi I am so excited I found your webpage, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Digg for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a marvelous post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the awesome jo.|
Hello, i believe that i saw you visited my site thus i came to go back the choose?.I am trying to to find issues to improve my web site!I assume its good enough to use some of your ideas!!|
I think that is among the such a lot significant information for me.
And i’m glad studying your article. But wanna remark on some normal issues, The web site taste is ideal,
the articles is in point of fact nice : D. Good process, cheers
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone the content!|
Sweet blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it|
I’ve been surfing on-line greater than three hours as of late, yet I never found any fascinating article like yours. It’s beautiful price sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all website owners and bloggers made excellent content material as you probably did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.|
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?|
Usually I don’t read post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me
to try and do it! Your writing taste has been surprised me.
Thank you, quite nice article.
Link exchange is nothing else however it is only placing the other person’s website link on your page at proper place and other person will also do same in favor of you.|
For most up-to-date information you have to visit world wide web and on web I found this web page as a finest web page for most up-to-date updates.|
Cool blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump out. Please let me know where you got your design. Bless you|
I am genuinely happy to glance at this website posts which consists of tons of helpful facts, thanks for providing these statistics.|
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your next write ups thank you once again.|
I truly love your site.. Pleasant colors & theme.
Did you build this amazing site yourself? Please
reply back as I’m trying to create my own site and want to find out where
you got this from or what the theme is called.
Thanks!
I think this is among the most important info for
me. And i’m glad reading your article. But should remark on few
general things, The web site style is great, the articles is really
nice : D. Good job, cheers
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?|
Wow, awesome blog structure! How long have you ever been blogging for? you made blogging glance easy. The entire look of your website is fantastic, as well as the content material!
Awesome! Its actually awesome post, I have got much clear idea about from this article.|
Hey very interesting blog!|
I’m excited to find this website. I wanted to thank you for your time due to this wonderful read!! I definitely really liked every part of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new things on your site.|
What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this site regularly, this website is genuinely pleasant and the visitors
are truly sharing good thoughts.
I do consider all of the ideas you have offered on your post. They’re really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very short for novices. May just you please extend them a little from next time? Thank you for the post.|
Hi there it’s me, I am also visiting this web page on a regular basis, this web site is in fact fastidious and the viewers are truly sharing fastidious thoughts.|
Hi there, I desire to subscribe for this webpage to obtain newest updates, so where can i do it please help.|
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.|
I think the admin of this web page is really working hard in support of his site, for the reason that here every stuff is quality based information.|