Slashdot Mirror
A Peek at Personalized Google
Seoulstriker writes "Sci-tech Today is describing how Google will be offering customized homepages as seen here. Is this one step closer to Google becoming a web portal like Yahoo? Although it is not currently in Beta, it is only available through the Google Labs site. It definitely doesn't look like Yahoo yet, but I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now."
I just hope they don't execute Order 66...
One of the links on the story shows up darker than the rest. (For those who don't get it, firefox shows visited slashdot links as darker)
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
Would you want it cluttered enough so it could spot the dupe story? I could see that being useful to the lazy editors.
So don't use the personalized webpage, then? Or personalize it so it's simple?
It definitely doesn't look like Yahoo yet, but I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now.
Fortunately, you can edit all of the clutter out of the interface, if you want to.
- Have your persistant searches there
- Delicious popular
- Integrate TadaList
It is using tables and shouldn't be to hard to monkey up.If by web portal you mean your first stop on the way to doing something useful, then it already is.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
as long as it's a separate page from the google.com homepage, i'm cool with it.
it's when they stop offering the lightweight search page by default is when it starts to suck.
Dupe anyone???!?!
Dashboard Widgets
Perhaps we should all be trying to submit stories that have already appeared on the front page in an effort to force the editors to scrutinize harder, and maybe, just maybe, it'll stick....
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
http://yagoohoogle.com/
My hacked site
News by Timothy. Stuff that matters... to timothy
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I tried it out and actually like it for the most part. The thing that's particularly nice IMO is that all of the personalized content appears below the search feature so that the top looks more or less like the old Google. The interface seems to be the standard Google through and through and it does a pretty good job of showing you only the stuff you want when you take the time to customize it.
The only thing that they really need to do is add a feature to let you add custom news feeds based on RSS you specify or by creating Google News searches. Good News already lets you add your own categories based on search criteria so My Google needs that too.
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
And, of course, if I decide I don't like it, I can simply revert back to the simple interface. As long as I can do that, I'm happy.
Anyway, who has time to think about Google when there's Star Wars to think about?!
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
But perhaps if I select certain personalised info for my home page, they would have enough information to justify attempting to target ads to me? I actually think it pretty unlikely - it would be an unpopular move, and Google really does no evil. But it must be tempting!
Physicist, consultant, science communicator
"They just seem to be everybody's best friend. Google can do no wrong!"
I'm still waiting for my blowjob.
This seems to be their one and only service that isn't beta. But I don't mind their screwy usage of that term, it all is polished enough for me.
The integration of their other services is what makes this a not-so-hidden gem. I like being able to have my Gmail, Google News and regular Google Search all viewable on the one page. The weather, Slashdot and other news options are an enormous bonus -- as yet, this is replacing my RSS aggregator as all my feeds are on the site.
I like the fact that Google have not lost sight of their original focus: search. Many of the other web portals, like Yahoo or MSN, have all the graphics heavy customisation on the page and then throw their search box in as an afterthought (although this is becoming less obvious).
Google has just a couple of additions to make in order to produce another winning solution: integrated RSS feeds (as someone has already suggested), international weather information (or international versions of the customised page) and the option to put customised search buttons (like the useful Search Linux and Search Uncle Sam) under the search box. That I would like to see.
From the FAQ:
...
6. Why did you mess up the clean, crisp Google homepage?
We didn't. If you want to keep using the original Google homepage, you can. In fact, we expect that many users will. The personalized homepage is for those users who want to see more of the information that matters to them in the same place. You can always switch back and forth between your personalized homepage and the original Google homepage by clicking "Classic Home" or "Personalized Home."
If you don't like it, don't use it. Google isn't going to make this their default page.
I certainly hope the word of the day is harder than 'aficionado' in the future. I think word of the day should come in four difficulty settings:
/.
1. Unwashed Masses
2. Smarter than average
3. I'm a fucking genius
4. I read
I know with keywords in Safari and Firefox I haven't intentionally visited google's front page in ages.
there's more than one way to do me.
Google should help Slashdot with a technology that would help filter out ridiculous dupes like this one.
I dont much mind if google is trying to be another yahoo as long as they follow yahoos lead and create search.google.com. search.yahoo.com is a none bloated search only version of yahoo for those that never saw it.
I definitely like the Google personalized homepage, but I can see how many people wouldn't, and I certainly wouldn't want it to become too cluttered like MSN or Yahoo. I like being able to read Slashdot and Google news headlines and preview my gmail. They definitely are on the right track with this one. However, I think that they should keep the default homepage clean and simple as it is now and offer the personalized page only to those that truly want it. I think that one good feature about google products is their simplicity. They should keep it that way.
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has said the company is focused on search and is not a Web "portal." A Web portal is a site which offers a range of personalized services on one page.
This is a good move, focus on what they are good at, searching, and build all of their services around it, instead of trying to spread themselves too thin and only being mediocre at everything that they do. seriously good job
Ok, google is either perfect or really really evil.
...or they are just really really good at internet programming
Not the big blundering stupid kind of evil that microsoft is, but the creepy really really bad kind of evil.
Like the kind of evil in that story 'event horizon' where everyone rips their eyes out.
I would like to be able to personalize my google start page but I do not want anyone in my job to somehow have access to my gmail account at work.
"I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now." Well, I guess that's why it's completely customizable. You can put what you want where you want it, including putting nothing there... though I find the Slashdot module quite nice (that's how I found this story). With Slashdot, Google News, Gmail, and Google Search on one page, I've got 90% of the stuff I ever use right in front of me as soon as I start my browser. Couldn't be better.
It gets a thumbs-up from me, for sure.
I love My Yahoo! I also love my Gmail. I think this customized Google page is a great start but it's simply not there yet. Yes, the interface is nice simple Google, but I think in this day and age with RSS and broadband, it's a little too simple, boring and frankly not enough features for me. I do like how easy it is to customize though.
It really does feel to me like it's a start, and not ready for primetime. This is what a portal was 5 years ago.
I really do have high hopes for this though. It's Google. Yahoo! isn't shaking in its boots just yet.
I set up my personalized Google home page. I like it a lot. I don't know if I'll keep it because generally I like the uncluttered look of the standard Google Home page. But, take a look, your mileage may vary!
Some of the nice features:
Since this isn't even really Beta yet, I'm guessing (am almost sure) there'll be lots of improvements to this -- and probably most of the improvements address many of the "complaints" posted thus far. (I've found Google to be amazing in their willingness to listen to and respond to and take action on feedback from the consumer community.)
So, before you go ranting about the corruption of what was simple and is now crass, take a look... you may find it useful.
It is strange that it doesn't work if you are not in the locale of US. You can't get your gmail (the language must be English-US, not even English-UK), your weather and surely not your news.
The first thing that jumps into my mind when I hear personalization is Localization. Google must work first on making it truly localized.
even search.yahoo.com is still slower due to URL redirections in each link of the search result page
I'm sure for the 90% of the population that use I.E., including the 0.001% of /. readers that use I.E., it is a useful addition, but really, for the kinda guy that will take advantage of this feature, they just won't use it
"Sure there's porn and piracy on the Web but there's probably a downside too."