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 The lack of love is for an (apparently) outdated feed reader that can’t even find half the feeds I give the exact address for.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!
Hey! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing several weeks of hard work due to no data backup. Do you have any solutions to prevent hackers?|
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I will definitely return.|
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!|
I have read some good stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for
revisiting. I wonder how much effort you set to make this sort of
excellent informative web site.
This piece of writing will help the internet visitors for creating new
web site or even a weblog from start to end.
I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here.
The sketch is tasteful, your authored subject matter
stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an impatience over that you wish
be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly
again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you
shield this increase.
That is really interesting, You’re an excessively professional blogger.
I have joined your rss feed and stay up for in quest of extra of
your excellent post. Additionally, I have shared
your website in my social networks
I go to see everyday some web sites and information sites to read articles
or reviews, except this weblog presents feature based content.
Very good blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally confused .. Any tips? Many thanks!|
Valuable info. Fortunate me I found your website by accident,
and I’m stunned why this coincidence didn’t took place earlier!
I bookmarked it.
Good day I am so glad I found your web site, I really found you by error, while I was researching on Bing for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a incredible post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the awesome jo.|
I’m curious to find out what blog system you are using?
I’m experiencing some small security issues with
my latest site and I would like to find something more safe.
Do you have any solutions?
Quality articles is the crucial to be a focus for
the people to pay a quick visit the website, that’s what
this site is providing.
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the format for
your weblog. Is this a paid subject matter
or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice high quality writing, it’s uncommon to see a great
weblog like this one these days..
Hi there, just wanted to mention, I liked this article.
It was funny. Keep on posting!
Highly energetic article, I liked that a lot. Will there be a part 2?|
Amazing blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers?
I’m planning to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Would you recommend starting with a free platform like WordPress or go
for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m
completely confused .. Any ideas? Thank you!
890381 284857I like this internet site because so much useful stuff on here : D. 594957
Hi there to every one, the contents existing at this web page are really amazing for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.|
I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this blog.
I am hoping to check out the same high-grade content by you
later on as well. In fact, your creative writing
abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal blog now
😉
I think the admin of this website is really working hard for his web site, for the reason that here every information is quality based
data.
Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.|
I am in fact grateful to the holder of this web page who has shared this wonderful article
at at this place.
I am truly pleased to read this website posts which consists of
lots of helpful facts, thanks for providing such statistics.
Excellent blog you have got here.. It’s hard to find excellent writing like yours these days.
I truly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
As the admin of this web site is working, no doubt very rapidly it will be well-known, due to
its quality contents.
It’s going to be finish of mine day, however before end I am
reading this great article to increase my know-how.
Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and
found that it is truly informative. I’m gonna watch
out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future.
Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your site by accident (stumbleupon).
I’ve bookmarked it for later!
There is certainly a great deal to learn about this topic.
I like all of the points you’ve made.
If you are going for most excellent contents like myself, simply pay a quick visit this web site daily for the reason that it offers feature contents, thanks|
magnificent points altogether, you simply won a new reader.
What might you suggest about your put up that you simply
made some days in the past? Any certain?
Hello to every one, the contents present at this web site are really amazing for people knowledge,
well, keep up the nice work fellows.
Its not my first time to pay a visit this site, i am visiting this website dailly and
obtain nice information from here daily.
Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?|
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after going through many of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Regardless, I’m certainly delighted I stumbled upon it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently.
What i don’t understood is if truth be told how you are no longer really a lot more smartly-preferred than you may be right now. You are so intelligent. You realize thus considerably in terms of this topic, made me in my opinion imagine it from so many numerous angles. Its like men and women are not interested except it’s something to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your individual stuffs excellent. At all times handle it up!|
I every time spent my half an hour to read this weblog’s posts daily along
with a mug of coffee.
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with Search Engine
Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to
rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results.
If you know of any please share. Kudos!
For newest information you have to go to see the web and on internet I found this website
as a finest website for hottest updates.
Outstanding quest there. What occurred after? Good luck!
Awesome issues here. I am very happy to look your article. Thank you a lot and I’m taking a look forward to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?|
After exploring a number of the articles
on your website, I seriously like your way of blogging.
I added it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my web site as well and tell me
what you think.
Appreciate this post. Will try it out.
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after checking through some of the post
I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely
glad I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old
one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design.
Excellent choice of colors!
Amazing! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has
pretty much the same page layout and design. Superb choice of
colors!
hello there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up anything new from right
here. I did however expertise some technical points using
this site, as I experienced to reload the web site 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’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect
your placement in google and could damage your high-quality
score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and could look out
for a lot more of your respective interesting content.
Make sure you update this again very soon.
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a
co-worker who has been conducting a little research on this.
And he in fact bought me lunch because I stumbled upon it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk
about this matter here on your blog.
Quality articles or reviews is the secret to
interest the visitors to go to see the website, that’s what this web
page is providing.