Comments on: Top 12 web-based Startpages Compared. The winner is…

By: Peter De Vlegel

Peter De Vlegel — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:04:28 +0000

You are right, it had errors, but they seem fixed now…

By: Aibek

Aibek — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 09:27:59 +0000

I checked it out, however it seems to have bugs. Tried to add couple of URLs but it didn’t work. Any thoughts?

By: Peter De Vlegel

Peter De Vlegel — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 07:04:49 +0000

Hi,
I found a site which doesn’t do any of the customizable stuff, nor does it show any widgets, but if you just want to have a startpage as a tool to quickly browse to another site you should check this out.
http://go.nzal.es.

By: Aibek

Aibek — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:46:55 +0000

@paul:
1. [what would consitute a personal homepage?...]
That’s a very good point. I knew it may come up but was kinda hoping you would let it pass. :-). It’s hard to define clear distinction between these 2 concepts and in many cases they do overlap. After I looked at webjam for the second time and spend some time on it, I realised it I was wrong about it. I actually liked it and even thinking about putting it here. It has powerful interface customization options, rich variety of modules, good speed, different privacy levels on modules and some more. Although I think it can do a better job at presenting itself. It has lots more features when compared to other startpages, hence it needs stronger navigational tips. It needs design that will guide non-experienced web-user.
2. [how come you did not review yourminiâ€™s sister site goowy.com ?]. Ooops, I think I might have mistakenly excluded it because of the homepage link to yourminis. I am checking on it now….
P.S. Thanks for the tips

By: paul

paul — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:21:09 +0000

plus webjam also allows adjusting the size and dimensions of modules, a la ProtoPage. ProtoPage is neat, but too much going on, thus making it look disorganized, especially for something that is supposed to assist with organizing

Also, how come you did not review yourmini’s sister site goowy.com ? It does have minis per se, granted not as prevelant as netvibes, pageflakes etc

By: paul

paul — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:08:29 +0000

what would consitute a personal homepage? If Webjam has modules and feed management, just like netvibes etc, wouldn’t it fall in the same category as those sites?

By: Aibek

Aibek — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:44:57 +0000

@paul
just finished checking out webjam. By looking at the available modules, I think it looks more like a ‘personal homepage’ rather than a ‘startpage’. I also find it little bit confusing, because there is no clear description stating the purpose of the website. What is it? Why I should use it? and so on

By: paul

paul — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:28:26 +0000

i would be curious what you thought of webjam.com I use netvibes myself (regardless of its slow load time, especially when adding modules and moving between tabs). My first thought is that Webjam seems very promising, but complicated to use and personalize/customize.

By: Aibek

Aibek — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:47:18 +0000

@John
when I first tried netvibes I got the same feeling however, after some what initially seemed as cluttered interface became efficient use of screen space. Give it a try.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:51:58 +0000

You get funding you get “3″
You remain independent you get “Orerlooked”

By: Mo

Mo — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:05:57 +0000

Netvibes copied the shit out of pageflakes, but actually it might getting better now… they are French!!!

Vive la France

By: John Decker

John Decker — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:38:47 +0000

How can you honestly give Netvibes a “3″ on “Design” and being “User-Friendly”? It has a cluttered user interface with a lot of confusing controls. Sites like yourminis and pageflakes have much better usability and are definitely more aesthetically pleasing. The Netvibes interface is so “Windows 98″. I am starting to grow tired of Netvibes being put on such a high pedestal.

By: Bill Minton

Bill Minton — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:20:32 +0000

Adding static modules (ToDo lists, etc.) is on the ToDo list seen here – myownsite.us/history/history.txt so hopefully it won’t be too long before those are implemented.

Thanks for checking it out.

By: Aibek

Aibek — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:11:11 +0000

@John
if you’ll have a minute drop me a line mentioning the one you’ll decide to stick with.

By: Aibek

Aibek — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:06:53 +0000

@bill
I checked myownsite, thanks for the tip. It’s more like a feedreader rather than a startpage. If there would be a module for notepad or todo lists, I would definitely add it here as well. I am planning to do similar review for web-based feedreaders I’ll include it then.