Start-page smackdown: Netvibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle and Live.com

By Ella Morton on 04 March 2008

Start pages

Introduction

The verdict
The four sites fall into two distinct pairs, with Netvibes and Pageflakes making up the funky, community-enhanced, highly customisable couple. Their prettied-up tabs load dynamically, they offer the most tweaking options and they have huge libraries of widgets that can be added in one step. Their help files are comprehensive and the community aspect allows sharing at a variety of levels.

Live.com and iGoogle are the pared-back, less-flexible duo. They focus on offerings from within their own brand and offer fewer customisation options. Their help sections are sparse, and the community element is either difficult to navigate (Live.com) or non-existent (iGoogle).

Overall conclusion? For a start page with the most flexibility -- and the least need to navigate elsewhere -- go for Pageflakes or Netvibes. These sites allow you to view feed content in full without having to go to the original site. The only downside of this is that the content can sometimes get mangled on the way -- especially when it involves elements such as polls.

As for the winner of the Netvibes versus Pageflakes smackdown, it's an incredibly close contest. We'd be happy to use either on a daily basis, but Netvibes just edges out Pageflakes due to its podcast player, wealth of customisation options, and the sheer ease of adding content. That said, if your focus is on RSS feeds rather than widgets, you may prefer Pageflakes' reader option and elegant, image-enhanced handling of feed summaries.

#1 Netvibes

Pros: Fantastic, unobtrusive podcast player Can create separate public and private pages to share Keyboard shortcuts Offers easy instructions for switching from other Web desktops or RSS feed readers Widget library tailored to your region	Cons: RSS feeds aren't quite as pretty as Pageflakes; pages can be text overload Can be slow to load Occasional broken/unresponsive feeds Ginger community features not yet available to everyone
Good for: People with short attention spans who want everything on one page. Widget fiends. Those looking to consolidate all their Web 2.0 profiles (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr). Anyone wanting to maintain separate public and private pages.

#2 Pageflakes

Pros: Pageflakes Central module keeps you up to date with latest modules RSS reader option Can publish your page to the world or within a group	Cons: Limited, none-too-pretty range of pre-set themes Can't tweak as many settings as Netvibes Can be slow to load and a memory hog
Good for: RSS addicts who like their feeds to look nicer than your average text-fest. Anyone looking to establish a group to share pages with. People who want the most widgets to choose from.

#3 iGoogle

Pros: Good integration with other Google services Simple, no-fuss layout Fast-loading feeds	Cons: It's, in a word, ugly Can't change many settings Fewer content categories to browse Can't share your page Tabs don't load dynamically
Good for: Google disciples. Those not fussed by aesthetics. People who want to glance at the latest headlines and updates but not necessarily read the content behind them.

#4 Live.com

Pros: Can view gadgets sorted by author, rating, number of downloads Loads quickly Integration with Windows Live/MSN is good if you are already a user	Cons: Doesn't work with Safari, has issues with Firefox Lack of decent gadgets Few customisation options Adding gadgets is a bit of a chore; the gallery is hard to find Help page is scant
Good for: Windows Vista/MSN/Hotmail devotees. People who want simplicity.

« Community

SHARE
- Digg
- Facebook
- Twitter
- delicious
PRINT

Topics: netvibes, pageflakes, igoogle, google, widgets, homepage, flakes, modules, live.com, start, page

Comments (14)

hi commented on 04/04/2009 05:59

I don't know but I now about wrestlemania who is going to wrestlemania??
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
m.afzaal commented on 25/12/2008 20:00

as
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
DTRA commented on 29/04/2008 11:25

If you're in New Zealand, and you just want a boring old quick link start page, try http://www.kiwihomepage.co.nz/
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Justin Nango commented on 16/04/2008 10:29

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.
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Pablothehat commented on 15/04/2008 07:31

I have been using Netvibes for a couple of years now and I am still finding new stuff...Fantastic!!!
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Mnate commented on 28/03/2008 21:45

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.
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
matt commented on 22/03/2008 21:29

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.
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Mike commented on 20/03/2008 12:53

Actually, I prefer Pageflakes. To each his/her own. But I'm sticking with Pageflakes. :)
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Oo commented on 15/03/2008 01:43

Netvibes rules ;)
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)
Afkarweb commented on 14/03/2008 05:52

I use NetVibes and I'm very glad ! And now u can create "Universes" and share items with friends or ... customers
- Reply
- Reply to story
- Report abuse
- Helpful?
- (0)
- (0)

Post your own comment

Enter your personal information to the left, or sign in with your Facebook account by clicking the button below.

Connect

Resource Centre Useful content from our premier sponsors

Which comes first... gaming or life?

Calling all noobs! Video from Alienware's best gamers... Click. View. Judge for yourself.
Sony Brand Showcase

Believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real. Visit the Sony showcase.
Samsung Galaxy S

Faster, easy to use smartphone with exciting apps. Turn on Smart Life with the Samsung Galaxy S.