Several years ago I had longed for a “launch page” I could easily customize (meaning create with little to no effort) to consolidate all my frequently visited web sites so I could see the latest postings on the discussion boards I frequent, shared calendars, and news headlines all on one web page. Imagine having everything at your fingertips so you don’t have to think and navigate as you take the first sip of morning coffee.
Netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com/) is a do-it-yourself web page maker that helps you consolidate all your favorite sites, photos, blogs, and newspapers onto one page. It is super easy to setup too. Just drag and drop to select your content and rearrange it on the page. Here is what I was able to create in 30 minutes time:
Here I have all the subscriptions (they are called RSS feeds) in one column. Headlines are shown from the most recent in descending order. I also have all my online magazines here too.
The confusing part of it is the public versus private side of it. The public side is the web site you setup for others to view your stuff. I don’t really care about the public side of things since this is all about me! The image above is the private side of it, where the real magic happens. I simply made a bookmark to the page and placed it on my desktop so I can access this page first thing in the morning. Now I can read the latest headlines, the best recipes for the perfect Risotto and plan my day in a single glance.
