It is a service from Google that lets you customize your Google welcome screen. The standard Google welcome screen has a search box and a lot of white space. Although it looks very clean, there is not much you can do with it other than use the search box. Google now allows you to create a personal page that contains a Google search box at the top, a design style theme and your choice of any number of gadgets below. Themes add entertainment, color and pictures to fill some of that white space and gadgets are mini-programs that provide access to activities and information from all across the web. You can sip on a cup of coffee in the morning and check on stock quotes, read the news, chat with a friend, update to-do lists all without ever having to leave your iGoogle page.
iGoogle setup
You don’t have to “Sign in” to your Google acount to create and use an iGoogle home page. If you don’t sign in, your iGoogle page is saved just on your computer whereas signing in with a Google account before you start lets you save your iGoogle page across computers.
The first time you use iGoogle, you’ll see the setup wizard, which will let you, “Create your own homepage in under 30 seconds.” Start by opening Internet Explorer and type in this link www.google.com/ig. You should see a web page similar to the one below.
If you want, choose a theme, pick some categories from the box in the middle of the page, and then click the See your page button. (You aren’t stuck with the settings you choose—you can always change them later). Or, if you want to check out more themes (there are a LOT) and content before you make any decisions, click the upper-right X to close the box.
Next, Google will load an iGoogle page with content and gadgets related to your choices or a default page if you made no selections. The default page will look similar to the page below:
Layout
- The familiar Google search box appears prominently near the top of the page, where you can't miss it.
- iGoogle devotes the majority of the page to your gadgets. You can add new gadgets, rearrange them or remove them at any time.
- Tabs: On the left side of the page, you see links that let you switch between different iGoogle pages.
- Google links: On the upper left side of the page, choose links to popular Google services, like Google Images, and Google Maps. On the upper right side are more Google links that relate to your Google accounts.
Customize iGoogle
On the right side of the page, you see two links for customizing iGoogle: “Change theme” for changing iGoogle’s appearance and “Add stuff” for customizing its content.
Add a theme
To add (or change) a theme, click the upper-right “Change theme from Classic” link. Here, you can browse themes or search for something specific by clicking on the “more options” link located at the top in the colored bar. When you find a theme you just have to have, click the Add it now button just below the image. Most themes change not only the iGoogle header, but also the footer and the overall color scheme. Some themes change according to the time of day or weather, showing sunrise, daylight, sunset, and nighttime colors. You can change your iGoogle theme whenever you want. If the current theme doesn’t match your mood, click the Select theme link, and then repeat the process for adding a theme.
Add Gadgets
The whole point of creating an iGoogle page is to see useful or entertaining stuff without having to go looking for it. iGoogle’s content comes in the form of gadgets, where there are thousands of them to select from a variety of categories and topics. Each gadget is a mini-program that displays information and interacts with you. Gadgets are compact, so you can fit lots of them on a single page. And if you go gadget crazy, you can add tabs to hold even more gadgets. You can also edit gadgets settings.
To find gadgets you’re interested in, click the upper-right Add stuff link. As with themes, you can browse gadget categories or search for a particular gadget. Type Google apps into the upper-right search box, for example, and you get dozens of results that can pull your various apps together on your iGoogle page. When you find a gadget you want to add, click its Add it now button.
Move Gadgets
To rearrange the gadgets on your iGoogle page, all you have to do is drag them by placing your cursor on the bar at the top of the gadget and when the cursor turns into a four-way arrow, click and drag it to the new location. The other gadgets will automatically move around to make room for the one you’re moving.
Delete Gadgets
If your iGoogle page is getting crowded, you can get rid of a few gadgets to free up some space.
If you don’t want to get rid of a gadget completely, you can minimize it so just its title bar appears on your iGoogle page. Click the drop down box in the gadget’s title bar and select minimize it. To expand a minimized gadget back to full size, click the drop down box again and select expand it. Likewise, to get rid of a gadget for good, select delete in the drop down box on the gadget’s title bar. Google displays a confirmation box asking if you really want to get rid of this gadget. Click OK, and it’s gone.
Change the Layout
When you create a new iGoogle page, its layout is three columns of equal width, but you can use another arrangement, if you like. Look on the left side of the page and click the Home tab’s drop-down arrow, and then select Edit this tab. This opens the preference page. Scroll down to the Layout section and select a new layout.
You can also organize your iGoogle page by adding another tab and grouping related gadgets together. Click on the Home tab’s drop-down arrow and select Add a tab. Enter tab name and leave the check box, “I'm feeling lucky. Automatically add stuff based on the tab name.” selected if you want iGoogle to add the most popular gadgets for the group.
Add Newsfeeds
You can also gather your RSS feeds all in one place by adding a Google Reader gadget or you can do the following steps:
1. On your iGoogle page, click the Add stuff link
2. Look at the bottom of the left-hand menu for the “add feed or gadget” link; click it
3. A box appears where you type or paste the URL to which you want to subscribe, and then click Add.
4. Google adds the feed to iGoogle.
Delete iGoogle
You can reset your iGoogle page at any time.
Visit http://www.google.com/ig/resetprefs.html and click the appropriate button. This will take you back to the standard Google page.
Additional Resources
iGoogle: A mini Product Tour www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbf0dlESX8E
Personalize iGoogle: Set up iGoogle: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=25551
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