Put Some Thought Into Your Start Page

Back in the bad old days of dial-up, it used to drive me crazy how long it would take to load my starting page. Sometimes I would be opening the browser when I was offline, and then it would take forever for it to give up and stop trying to load a page it couldn't access. At the same time, I had a personal homepage that I devoted a lot of attention to, and I kept a copy of it stored on my computer so I could work on it. One day it occured to me that I could solve one problem with the other, and make my online life better in the process--so I created my very own offline start page.

How To

To create a start page in Word, simply create a new document. Add all the links that you use frequently, and add colors and fonts as desired.

To add a link, click on Insert -> Hyperlink. Fill in the text you want to display on the page at the top and the address at the bottom.

To save your file, click on File -> Save As Web page. Give your file a name and save.

Please note that for best results, you may want to make sure you choose View - > Web layout so that you can see things as they will be displayed in your browser. Feel free to use multiple columns for this (use the table features of Word to create columns.)

Using your web browser, navigate to the file you just saved, and open it. Set this as your browser's start page. (Using Internet Explorer, go to Tools -> Options, and then click the "Use current" button. Using Firefox, Tools -> Options, and then click "Use current page". Using Opera, Tools -> Preferences, then "Use current".)

Now your custom page will be displayed every time you start your browser.

It sounds like such a remarkably simple, obvious idea, but having an HTML page stored on your computer and set as your start page is a fantastic way to customize and simplify your internet experience. I don't want to do the same thing every time I head to the internet. Sometimes I want to search for something, sometimes I want to read blogs, sometimes I want to work on the next issue of Mosaic Minds. Therefore, it's a lot more convenient for me not to go directly to Google every time, but to begin with a page that loads nearly instantly and gives me immediate access to any of the different things that I want to do. With that in mind, I now have my very own page where I sort my links into various categories, placing the ones I use the most in the most prominent locations. I have headings for Web Development, Communities, News, Blogs, Finances, Search Engines (including a Google search box) and many others. The nice thing is that when I think of something else I'd like easy access to, all I have to do is open the document and add the link.

Creating such a page was very easy for me because I am a geek with an inappropriate love for HTML, but it doesn't have to be hard for you, either. The concept is merely to create a HTML page with links to your favorite sites. If you know HTML, or if you have an editor that you can use, whip up a little page and you're all set. The quick and dirty way to accomplish the same thing is to use a program like Microsoft Word and merely save your document as a web page. For once, you don't have to worry too much about creating a site that others will enjoy or appreciate--you're the only one who will see it!

If you decide to create your own page, get creative with it! You can easily link to pages offline or online. (Hint: use your web browser's "open" command to open a file that you want to link to, then copy the link that appears in your address bar to use in the link.) If you're proficient with HTML, by all means create a fancy page with your links. My own page is purposely very simple, as I've found that I get bored with the look of a page very quickly if it's complex. You can also insert code from Blogrolling or many other services directly into your page so you have easy access to your favorite blogs. (This will increase loading time, of course.)

Don't feel like going to all that trouble? Many places have personalized start pages, and Google's is particularly nice. You can add, move and delete many kinds of custom content--including your Gmail inbox, your horoscope, games, news headlines from various agencies and various utilities. Better yet, it's free, easy and fast.

Whether you create your own custom page or let someone do it for you, it's more than worth your effort to put a little thought into what you see when you open your browser. Consider how often you actually want to go directly to the site you have set as your default. Wouldn't it be nicer to have immediate access to everything you do instead of just one thing?