Customizable start pages

Customized start pages are sweet!

They allow you to combine all the things you do on the internet (email, news, podcasts, weather, etc. etc. etc.) together into one page. You can then set this as your home page so it displays automatically every time you open your web browser.

Here's a list of the most popular customizable start page sites:

iGoogle
Netvibes
Protopage
Pageflakes

We all know everything Google creates is, for the most part, good quality stuff. iGoogle continues the trend. Quick and well integrated into the "google interface" with a large variety of "gadget" widgets to play with. But there are widgets I find highly useful that are not available in iGoogle, so I don't use this one.

Out of this list I've been using Netvibes the most because it's extremely customizable, more than others, and offers a ton of "module" widgets. The only problem I've found is that it can feel a little "bloated" and kind of slow at times. I hate waiting for things so I might ditch these guys.

Protopage seems pretty cool but it lacks many features found in other home page sites. The interface is very simple and easy to use, but.. a little TOO simple maybe? And I don't like the process you must go through to add a page.

I'm keeping a close eye on Pageflakes. It looks very promising with a nice solid interface and fast loading times. So because I'm impressed with this site I'm going to criticize the heck out of it :P

Some problems/issues I see:

1. To delete or change the settings of a page I have to click the "share" button next to the page's title. It then gives me options pertaining to that page. Get rid of the "share" button and turn it in to a little options icon of some sort. It's not JUST a share button!

2. Pageflakes calls their widgets "flakes". To add a flake click the "add flake" button at the top of the site. The flakes gallery expands down horizontally - SWEET! Very fast and easy to use. What I don't like is all the space being taken up at the bottom of the page by their navigational links. Condense all that stuff into a smaller section or something.. takes up WAY too much precious vertical space.

3. Oh and I'm personally not a fan of colorful interfaces. I use the slate gray theme on Mac OSX so I like to have my web applications match. Can you guys offer us more color (or lack thereof) theme options for the the header bar? Gray, black, off white, etc.

Ok enough of that. Pageflakes is a great website that makes me seriously want to leave my modules for some tasty flakes! I need to explore Pageflakes more but they seem to be offering some cool and useful widgets that are extremely well designed.

This wasn't really an article to find the best customizable start page, but here's my opinion:

If you're a Google fanboy and use their other services it would seem logical to use iGoogle. It's integrated perfectly, just don't expect to find EVERYTHING you're looking for widget-wise.

Netvibes is the grandfather of this list, so they have had time to perfect and refine what they offer. At times I just think they offer a little too much. Definitely looking for someone else to use.

Protopage looks promising but they have a lot of work to do. Don't use them.. yet.

If I had to pick one that I thought could replace my dependency on Netvibes, I'd go with Pageflakes. They have the right idea when it comes to interface design and features (with the exceptions mentioned above, fix them!).

Keep up the good work everybody.