(Guide time: 1 hour.)

What is a start page?

When you switch on your computer at home and go to the internet, you can set it so that it automatically starts up with the website of your choice. Some people set it up so that it starts with Google on the screen, and some people set it up so that their email account is the first thing they see. Well, lots of people are now creating a "start page", which is the first thing that boots up when they use the internet.

(Photo courtesy of Basegreen. Original can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/basegreen/205733912/)

A start page is a great thing, because you can bring together a whole range of bits and pieces in one place. Do you want a search engine? Put it on your start page. Want to see what emails people have sent you overnight? Put a feed in your start page. What have people been saying on Twitter? Do you want your bookmarks listed? Do you want to know what the latest BBC news is? Put them all on your start page. There's an astonishing range of gadgets (also sometimes called apps), available for you to add.

Start pages can also be called home pages or front pages. Like so much other useful stuff, you don't need special software to create a start page, and you can do it free.

Examples
iGoogle (please note iGoogle will be retired on 1 November 2013),
Netvibes,
Pageflakes.

Why use these?

Well, it's really useful and time saving to be able to pull all the stuff you've created into one page.
But more generally you need to get familiar with the concept, because it's going to get more and more important over the next few years. Some libraries are already partnering with Anywhere.me, which puts a start page onto the front screen of every People's Network terminal.



It seems clear that we're going to move away from heavy, static information sitting on our websites. Instead, we can pull information from all the interactive things we do. We can advertise our events on Facebook and our conversations with the public on Twitter and our book reviews on LibraryThing and our recommended urls on Delicious, and then pull them all into one place, on something like a start page, for members of the public to use.

How libraries use this

The next generation of library management systems are based on this principle. When a member of the public goes to a library catalogue, the page includes a window containing recommendations from staff, another window showing latest book reviews by the public, another window with a little poll asking the user to vote on the best children's book of 2010, etc.

Examples

Doncaster libraries - the first Axiell customer to implement the new Arena content management system. The top pages are built on start page principles.
Edinburgh City Libraries
Devon libraries
Manchester libraries

CILIP's "Defining our Professional Future" page uses Netvibes, although it looks a little unloved. A more active network is "Librarians as Teachers", which uses Spruz.



The best way to find out what they do is to create one, so go straight to the activity below!

Activity

How to set up an iGoogle start page. (You might want to print out these instructions so you can follow them step by step.)

1. Go to www.iGoogle.com (note the "i".)

2. You'll be presented with a blue box saying "Welcome to iGoogle, your home on the web.Start by selecting some of our most popular content." Choose one of the applications - any of them, it doesn't matter which - by ticking the radio button. Then click on "save".

3. You've now created your start page. Have a look at the kind of things that are there.

4. Now delete all of them. (You'll find a little down-pointing arrow at the top right of each one. Click on that, then click on "delete this gadget".) You should be able to delete all of the little windows in the centre of your screen.

5. Now change your theme. Look at the top right of the screen and you will find the words "change theme from classic". Click on it, pick one you like, and click on "Add it now".

6. Now close the theme box - you'll find a little x in the top right of the window.

7. Now click on "add stuff", which you'll find in the banner at the top of your screen.

8. In the "search for gadgets" box, type "twitter".

9. Choose any Twitter application and click on "add it now".

10. Click on "Back to iGoogle home", which you'll find at the top left.

11. You should find a little window open, saying "connect to twitter.com", or you may have to click on the "Twitter Reader" gadget on your start page. Either way, you'll have to type in your Twitter login and password. Once you have, you'll see tweets from all the people you're following.

12. Click on "add stuff" again, and explore what gadgets are available. There's an astonishing number of them... Try looking for the software you've tried out so far in this course: Twitter, Flickr, Blogger. You should be able to add the various bits and pieces you've created so far. Or you can try looking for library catalogues, or for search engines, or tv listings, or to do lists, or bbc. Add as many as you like. If you've got a Hotmail or Google or Yahoo email account, you can also find and add them.

13. Go to one of the three applications mentioned above (iGoogle or Netvibes or Pageflakes), find a start page that somebody else has created that appeals to you, and put the web address on your blog, along with one line about why you like it.

If you do this activity from home, you don't need to save it. Scarily, Google will remember who you are. All you need to do is click on "make iGoogle my home page", and this page will come up first every time. However, if you want to save it just to make sure - or to access it from other computers - you'll need to use your Google account (if you have one) to sign in, THEN create your start page. This also gives you additional functionality like game playing or chatting.

One interesting thing to consider is that start pages are intended for individuals. This means that iGoogle pages can't be shared with your friends (although Netvibes and Pageflakes can), and you won't find other people's Start Pages using a search engine like Google.

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