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
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
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.
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 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.