Personalised start pages -- also known as Web desktops, Ajax desktops, customisable portals and metagators -- have been kicking around for several years, but recent improvements in looks and functionality have resulted in a heap of competitors vying for the right to be your homepage.
If you're not familiar with the enticing world of start pages, here's a quick run-down. These services, which include the likes of Netvibes, Pageflakes, Microsoft's Live.com and iGoogle, have two main components: feeds and widgets. Feeds allow you to view content from a heap of different Web sites on one page by subscribing to the sites through RSS. Widgets are interactive apps that do everything from monitoring your eBay auctions to converting currency.
From top: Live.com, Pageflakes, iGoogle and Netvibes
The convenience factor is the main appeal of start pages -- instead of visiting 10 sites every morning, you just load your browser -- but recent releases of Netvibes and Pageflakes have introduced a comprehensive community aspect. In a similar way to social sites like Twitter and Facebook, you can create a profile, add contacts and then follow their pages and activities.
What start page do I choose?
Ready to sign up and revolutionise your Web habits? Great stuff! The first choice to make is which service to use, and that's what this article is all about. We put four sites -- the aforementioned Netvibes, Pageflakes, Live.com and iGoogle -- through stringent testing according to the three Cs: content, customisation and community. Though all share the same key features and appearance, there were big differences in how they performed. Read on to find out which Web desktop is right for you.
A few points to note before we get into it:
- Wondering why we haven't included My Yahoo? Granted, it's also a start page service, but it does not allow developers to create and share their own widgets. Due to this limitation, we haven't featured it in the round-up.
- For Netvibes, we are referring to the Ginger release, which is still in Beta. Many of the remarks we make also apply to the current public release (Coriander), with the main difference being in community features. We're expecting to see the full release of Ginger any day now, so there's not long to wait.
NetEx
04/03/2008 07:57 PM
Well done review. If you want more analysis on Netvibes and its competitors you can check this site: http://netviber.blogspot.com/
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Flakey
06/03/2008 08:25 AM
Agreed that iGoogle is pretty boring. I however, think users that "want to consolidate all their Web 2.0 profiles (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr)" or create public and private pages, Pageflakes is not only capable but equally comparable to Netvibes.
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vincent
08/03/2008 08:35 PM
I agree with the verdict, new version of Netvibes "Ginger" is the best start page ever... I love the universe feature too :)
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Fact checking anyone?
09/03/2008 03:26 AM
The article has several factual errors. It seems someone got lazy. I'll hit iGoogle only for brevity: iGoogle has over 40,000 gadgets (not including RSS feeds) http://www.google.com/ig/directory?synd=open iGoogle has tab/page sharing (check the little down arrow next to your selected tab)
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Afkarweb
14/03/2008 05:52 AM
I use NetVibes and I'm very glad ! And now u can create "Universes" and share items with friends or ... customers
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Oo
15/03/2008 01:43 AM
Netvibes rules ;)
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Mike
20/03/2008 12:53 PM
Actually, I prefer Pageflakes. To each his/her own. But I'm sticking with Pageflakes. :)
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matt
22/03/2008 09:29 PM
Another start page to consider is Odysen at http://www.odysen.com. A couple of the key differences include 1) the ability to integrate as many news feeds as you want into one widget (saving space, being more efficient) and 2) free-formatting widgets, allowing you to change the size of the widget to whatever you feel is most appropriate to the content. There is also a blog available for feature updates and page examples at http://odysen.blogspot.com.
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Mnate
28/03/2008 09:45 PM
I started using Netvibes (Ginger) recently, and I'm absolutely blown away by it's content options, interactive design, and it's incredibly clean look. Personally, I don't think that iGoogle or Live.com come close to comparison.
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Pablothehat
15/04/2008 07:31 AM
I have been using Netvibes for a couple of years now and I am still finding new stuff...Fantastic!!!
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Justin Nango
16/04/2008 10:29 AM
Exhaustive analysis. Good work. Apparently the French scene is pretty active of start pages. A new start-up recently appeared on the radar: http://www.personall.fr/. They use this web 2.0 tool to build personalized intranets.
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DTRA
29/04/2008 11:25 AM
If you're in New Zealand, and you just want a boring old quick link start page, try http://www.kiwihomepage.co.nz/
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