How to Build an iGoogle Page

iGoogle is a fun and fascinating way, via RSS feeds, to get all your favorite websites and blogs delivered to you each morning. It's a unique and user-friendly way to save time, and it allows you to get constant updates from your favorite sites. It makes it easy to install other gadgets that help you organize and have fun. Don't start your day without it.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Open a free Google account, if you don't already have one. This will take a few steps and you will be prompted to establish some settings for your account. Among other things, you'll be asked if you want to open a gmail account for email or use an existing email address for your account. This is totally up to you and won't affect how you navigate through Google and its tools.

2. 
   Select the iGoogle option

   Go to your Google page once your account is set up, and you'll see a list of options in a column on the right side of the page. Go to the iGoogle option to set up your iGoogle page. In its seemingly endless wisdom, Google will help you every step of the way by suggesting that it set up your page with some of the most popular feeds, or it will allow you to personalize your own page.

3. Take a look around the site. Google will automatically set up an iGoogle home page for you, complete with feeds from popular websites and some gadgets that can help to organize your life or entertain you. You have absolutely no obligation to stick with this format--it's just a start so that you can become familiar with using the tool.

4. 
   Become familiar with iGoogle

   Understand that each of the boxes you see on your classic iGoogle page can be moved elsewhere on the page or deleted. To delete a box, simply click on the small "x" in the top right corner of the box. To move the box, simply click on the colored bar and drag the box elsewhere on the page.

5. 

   Select one of several ways to personalize your iGoogle page. You can click on "Add Stuff" at the right top of your page to see a huge selection of feeds and gadgets that you can add to your page. You can choose "Add Stuff" when you first sign on to your Google account. Or you can choose iGoogle as the place to store RSS feeds from your favorite websites or blogs. Click on the orange RSS button on your favorite sites and it will take you to iGoogle as a choice.

6. Expand your iGoogle page by adding tabs and creating categories. At the top of your iGoogle page, you'll see "add a tab" as an option. Click on this and begin adding categories for each tab. For example, you can add a "News" tab, a "To Do" tab, a "Family" tab, or a "Jobs" tab. Each time you add news, a gadget or a blog, you can simply click and drag on the feed box, bring it up to the correct tab, and that's where it will live.

7. Choose a "theme" for your iGoogle page once you've become familiar with the tool. Click on the "themes" button at the top of the page to view the many design themes that can be added to your iGoogle banner.

Tips & Warnings

• Check the "add stuff" link on your iGoogle page to check on new gadgets and feeds offered by Google. The gadgets includes weather information, games, maps, sticky notes, schedules and other tools designed to make your online life a bit easier and more fun.
• Don't get worried about the choices you make on the page. They are all reversible.

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Resources

• iGoogle