I don’t like to have to scroll when looking at my start page. If I make a really long one and have to keep going down and down to view it - chances are I’m not. This is a page I look quickly at when I want to go somewhere else. It should be small - yet easy to quickly navigate through.
Get the Basic Gadgets Out of the Way First
Your first tab should have all of the gadgets on it that you actually get some use out of. I like the weather one along with the Google Reader one the most. You might also put other application based gadgets here so that you can get good use out of them.
Here are a few good “basic” gadgets to get you started:
Easy Way to Gather Gadgets Based on Topic
Now every tab after that should be based around things the interest you. You can create them very simply by naming the new tab after your interest. For me I would type in “Web Hosting” and then make sure the check mark for “I’m feeling lucky. Automatically add stuff based on the tab name” is selected.
From the suggestions they give you - you can cut out the ones you really don’t like and add a few it might have forgotten.
Should You Create a Popular Tab?
Now there are a lot of social link popularity Web sites out there as well. Digg, Reddit, Delicious and a boat load of others. You might try to gather all the ones you can and put them on their own tab. This way you can see what is the most popular set of links at any given moment.
Need suggestions on which ones you should be tracking? Visit popurls for a long list of these sort of Web sites. Visit each one, grab the RSS link and take it to you own iGoogle start page.
Is That It? Do You Have More to Share?
There you have it. That might have taken a whole five minutes to configure! Now you have a need focused start page that will help you keep up to date with what you need to stay informed with. If you know of any other iGoogle optimization tips feel free to drop in a comment and let me know.
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