Put the information you need on your home page

Last week, my iGoogle home page suddenly got a new look via the addition of a pane on the left side containing shortcuts to my widgets. I didn't ask for the new arrangement, and I can't find a way to make the new left pane disappear.

What's worse, when I now click my Gmail in-box, I get an abbreviated version of the application, minus a search box and other useful features. To see the whole enchilada, I have to click the Launch Full Gmail link in the top-right corner of the window. Huh?

The upshot is that the change motivated me to check out my home page alternatives. For the last couple of years, I have used Netvibes as the home page on one of my browsers and iGoogle on the rest. (I rotate between five or six different browsers, just so I don't fall into a rut.) I also took a look at Pageflakes, Symbaloo, and the Delicious social-bookmarking site.

While each of the services offers something unique to Web denizens, I ultimately returned to iGoogle--even with the funky left pane and dumbed-down Gmail module. The difference makers were the ability to see my Google Calendar, (crippled) Gmail in-box, Google Reader feeds, and Google Docs files all in the same window. iGoogle was the only service that manages this trick.

Here's a quick look at the Pageflakes and Netvibes custom-home page services. Tomorrow, I'll cover the beta test version of the new Symbaloo service, Delicious, and the new-look iGoogle.

Pageflakes gets you custom info in a flash
If you don't want to mess around with registration, Pageflakes will serve up information to order in just a few seconds. Just click the big link at the top of the page to open a menu listing about a dozen categories, including news, sports, tech, movies, and gossip.

Choose the categories of information you want to see on your Pageflakes page.

(Credit: Pageflakes)

You can add "flakes" of all descriptions to your home page, or create several themed pages that you can jump between by clicking their tabs. If you register with the site, you're prompted to allow the service to search your Web mail contacts to connect with friends and colleagues who also have Pageflakes accounts. I passed on this social aspect of the site.

While I was able to place widgets showing my Gmail in-box and Google Calendar, I struck out trying to do so for Google Docs and Google Reader. Still, you'll find "flakes" of every description at this service. It may not sound like it, but that's a good thing.

Netvibes has the interface edge
In terms of content and features, there really isn't much of a difference between Pageflakes and Netvibes. Two things give Netvibes the edge: a better-looking interface and the lack of "sponsored" widgets.

Netvibes' themes give your custom home page a polished look.

(Credit: Netvibes)

You can customize the look and layout of both services, but the Netvibes themes appealed to me more than those available for Pageflakes. (Neither service offers the number and quality of interface options you get with iGoogle, however.) And while you can move Pageflake's ad widget to the bottom of your customized window, you can't delete it entirely.

Tomorrow: a look at Symbaloo, Delicious, and iGoogle.

[hdkruger]

I too hate the new Google sidebar. There is a greasemonkey script for firefox to collapse the sidebar at http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/30414. It works well.

[bnabound]

I am a big Google fan and would pretty much take any Google product over something else.
However the iGoogle page change infuriated me beyond belief. No warning, no option to revert to the old style - just simply forcing the user to accept a design that looks like it was thought up in the 90s and takes up way too much screenspace.
I refuse to give iGoogle a second chance, mainly because I believe they really don't care about the user at all (why do I have to now see the content of my emails without allowing me to hide them if I so wish???).
I switched to Netvibes the same day the changes happened and whilst I do miss the Google Reader, I don't intend to go back. It's the only way to show them that they've screwed up.

[mike.loux]

I, too, was introduced to the new iGoogle home page last week. Oddly enough, my wife has been living with it for months (she was apparently one of the people they tested it on). One good thing is that the 2-line previews for every RSS entry go away after a few days, so it looks more like it used to. And I'm used to the left sidebar by now as well, so it's not too bad. I'm not endorsing it by any means, I don't think there was any need to get rid of the old tab system, but in the grand scheme of things, it's only a minor annoyance, as far as I'm concerned.

As for GMail, clicking on the Inbox link in the gadget will give you the abbreviated, integrated, crippled version of Gmail, tis true. However, if you click on the "GMail" link in the gadget title bar (directly above the Inbox link), you will get your old GMail. No need to go up to the top of the screen. I still forget and click the Inbox on occasion, but I'm starting to remember more often than not.

Hope this helps!

[danderson130]

not sure why my yahoo is not reviewed. i forgot this site renamed itself to g-net....

[weblaureate]

i like symbaloo 'cause it looks as yummy as candy (oh yeah, it is pretty fun to use too) - http://web-poet.com/2008/10/27/life-is-a-box/

[JustJen22]

Any clue why pageflakes isn't working? Site's been down for about 2 days with no messaging as to why.

[acter]

Does pageflake not work in Firefox? I just keep getting a blank page when I go there.