IgHome
IgHome is a website that was built to act as a replacement for iGoogle, a now-dead service from Google that acted as a personalized homepage for your web browser. It includes just about all the functionality from the iGoogle platform except integration with Google+, which makes sense considering the software isn't related to Google itself. It still offers email, weather, horoscopes, news, and much more.
- Home Page
- Customizable
- Free
- No Obvious Cons
When using igHome to create your personalized homepage, you can use something the site calls gadgets to add content to your page. Many of the gadgets are similar to those that were offered in iGoogle. The Google menu is another welcome addition to the igHome website. Even though this site has no direct affiliation with Google, it still includes a Google search and menu bar at the top of the window. The bar contains links to most of the primary Google services, like Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Google News, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. As you could with iGoogle, igHome supports the use of tabs to organize all the feeds and gadgets you want to use. The link for adding a tab is on the left side of the main menu bar. There are also a number of background themes you can use to personalize the layout of the site. On the right side of the menu bar is a link that reads "Choose Theme" that you can press to browse available options. You can also use the site easily on a mobile device. By clicking on the "Mobile" link near the bottom of the page, you can access a version of the site that is optimized for mobile devices. You can then create a shortcut on your mobile device that will go directly to the site. The software for the website uses a grid system that is quite similar to the one used by iGoogle, and you can populate the various grid locations with gadgets of your choosing. There are many gadgets to choose from, and you can add them quickly and conveniently. When you access the gadget library by clicking the "Add Gadget" button, you'll be shown categories of gadgets along with several that are featured by the system. You can use the comprehensive search bar to find a specific gadget, or you can search manually through the various categories. By clicking on the "Add RSS Feed" link, you'll be shown gadgets that are specifically designed to showcase certain blogs or news sources. This makes it easy to catch up on the latest developments through your most trusted resources. Anyone can visit the igHome website and create an account. Your initial page will come with several of the most popular gadgets, and you can edit them as you please. Those who once had an iGoogle account can transfer their personalization settings from the older system to igHome. The process is relatively simple, but there are some things that won't transfer over, so you'll have to set those preferences manually. This is one of the few suitable replacements for the inactive and unsupported iGoogle system.
I have been using this as my homepage since IGoogle was discontinued, but now both Firefox and Google Chrome say this site is not secure. Why doesn't igHome's developer address this problem?
Used it for a few years and I like the concept. However, from time to time gadgets stop working and even just disappear. The content on my sticky note gadget just disappears without a trace. I kept a backup, but that became a nuisance. Lately even when signed in properly all my custom gadgets were gone. Don't know if somehow my security decided it was a threat (unlikely) but I'm done with this app. I am looking for a replacement.
Sadly I am now looking for an alternative to igHome which I have used ever since igoogle went offline. First, tired of the barrage of ads every time I looked something up I permanently changed my search engine to duckduckgo. Second and to the point, in igHome the gadgets/rssfeeds are without question being filtered and removed from availability if they have ANY conservative viewpoints. Recently "both" feeds of Trump's tweets have been removed as an example. Liberals who say "good" to this need to seriously contemplate the ramifications of censorship which is gaining ground in all media platforms as it is now reported that it is happening to democrats. (see Tulsi Gabbard's lawsuit)