What is it?
Custom homepages, are user created pages hosted at companies such as Pageflakes.com and iGoogle.com that allow you to have whatever information you want, all on one page.
Key features
These websites will allow you to quickly and easily view any information, chosen and organized by the user. What information you can see depends on what site you build your custom homepage on, but most people can expect to find top news headlines, weather, and RSS feeds for starters.
Who uses it?
Anybody who uses the internet. Most people would expect this to be only popular for power users, but even the most basic user can find convenience. If you have a morning routine of going through different sites checking news, weather, etc. personal homepages make it much easier to find everything out at once.
How does it work?
Navigate to pageflakes.com or iGoogle.com. There are many more out there, but for the purposes of this article, these are the two referenced. Sign up for an account (for iGoogle, a Gmail account is the same, therefore you do not need to register, just login with you username and password). Once signed up, you can pick your theme, and pick your “widgets”. Both of these companies add widgets, so check back often for new ones. Once you are done, save it, then make it your homepage in your favorite web browser.
Things to consider before using Custom Homepages
These are pretty much for everyone, the only concern the user should have is making sure they have the latest version of their browser along with flash installed. More plug-ins may be needed based upon what widgets are selected.
Resources at Wooster
- Contact Instructional Technology for help using custom homepages or any website in general.