Search Page as Home Page Suggestions

[easysurfer]

I see that Google decided to "improve" their search page.

I think the functionality now is, put put mildly is "Horrible!."

Any suggestion for alternatives?

 

[RunningBum]

I use the Mozilla Firefox Start Page, which shows the links I use most often. I used to use a blank page. I don't like waiting for a remote page to load when I may not even want to use it.


Edit: Sorry, I somehow missed that you were looking for a search page, so my answer doesn't apply.

 

[erkevin]

i use my.yahoo.com

 

[W2R]

I like having a home page, to let me know if I am connected to the internet. So, for me the top qualities of a home page would be:

1) loads extremely quickly
2) always "up", and
3) reliably conveys urgent info such as if World War 3 started.

I used to use Yahoo but changed to Reuters maybe a year ago. I don't think that one is too great either, and it doesn't fit the OP's desires for a home page with an internet search engine.

 

[easysurfer]

I use the Mozilla Firefox Start Page, which shows the links I use most often. I used to use a blank page. I don't like waiting for a remote page to load when I may not even want to use it.


Edit: Sorry, I somehow missed that you were looking for a search page, so my answer doesn't apply.

I've been using Google's search page as my home page. But with the changes now I'm looking for a friendlier page. What were they thinking?

If their page deesn't get some real improvemets, I'm thinking the switch wil be a case of less is less. Not less is more.

 

[imoldernu]

Guess I don't know what the Google Search Home page is..
.
Anyway,I usually start with Google, or ighome. That's IGHOME in small letters... ighome is easy to customize and to add and move favorite places.
YMMV

The new Google News page is pretty good, but not customizable.

My most used sites are on the Chrome bookmarks bar at the top of the page ie. ER. I abbreviate the links to allow about 30 bookmarks, and use 12 folders, for more links like Google Apps (G), finance (F), most used (M), health stuff (H).... etc...

Works for me...

 

[easysurfer]

Guess I don't know what the Google Search Home page is..
.
Anyway,I usually start with Google, or ighome. That's IGHOME in small letters... ighome is easy to customize and to add and move favorite places.
YMMV

The new Google News page is pretty good, but not customizable.

My most used sites are on the Chrome bookmarks bar at the top of the page ie. ER. I abbreviate the links to allow about 30 bookmarks, and use 12 folders, for more links like Google Apps (G), finance (F), most used (M), health stuff (H).... etc...

Works for me...

I probably should clarify. I currently use news.google.com as my home page. I used to use Yahoo News, but that got clunky so switched to google news. Now looks like google news is joining the clunky bandwagon. Instead of links to stories, thumbnails, probably for phone swiping which I'm not a fan of.

I may have to do something like you suggest and go for a tailored start page for what I want to see.

 

[Chuckanut]

i use this

refdesk.com

Science Geeks might like this:

https://phys.org/

 

[Donny68]

I use Bing. They always have a new picture to look at everyday and the news articles are on the bottom. If you sign in you can get points for using Bing to search and eventually cash them in for gift cards. The gift cards are mostly for Microsoft/Xbox things but they will offer them for restaurants at times, you just have to wait for them to be available.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm going to give Google's news (what I've been using) page as my start page a try for about a week. Hopefully, be then my mind would've adjusted.

 

[CaptTom]

I'm not a big fan of the new Google News page. I suppose I'll get used to it.

That said, you don't need a "home" page for search. Most browsers let you surf right from the address bar. Just be sure to select a search engine you like. I never liked Bing, and was always a Google fan. But I tried out Duck Duck Go and found it was at least as good as Google, without the tracking.

Speaking of tracking, the problem with a customizable home page is that you need to log on (or have your credentials passed automatically.) As discussed in another thread, I try to avoid that level of tracking.

 

[euro]

OP:
I'm still confused on what the problem is. Google is a blank page with a google search box. Is that what you don't like?
www.news.google.com is a news page that, at least at first glance, looks ok. Is that the one? If so, what is it that you don;t like about it?

 

[easysurfer]

OP:
I'm still confused on what the problem is. Google is a blank page with a google search box. Is that what you don't like?
www.news.google.com is a news page that, at least at first glance, looks ok. Is that the one? If so, what is it that you don;t like about it?

I don't like the new look of www.news.google.com .

But will give the page a try for a week or two to not pass judgement too soo.

 

[target2019]

OP:
I'm still confused on what the problem is. Google is a blank page with a google search box. Is that what you don't like?
www.news.google.com is a news page that, at least at first glance, looks ok. Is that the one? If so, what is it that you don;t like about it?

For those who use it, there is a recent change that is described in this link:

Google News gets a cleaner look, new features to make it 'more accessible'

I prefer the older look. New look has too much empty space. This makes sense for mobile users, who do not see all the empty space. For desktop users with large screens, it is not what some prefer.

 

[easysurfer]

For those who use it, there is a recent change that is described in this link:

Google News gets a cleaner look, new features to make it 'more accessible'

I prefer the older look. New look has too much empty space. This makes sense for mobile users, who do not see all the empty space. For desktop users with large screens, it is not what some prefer.

+1. You explained much better than me. The blocky, larger thumbnail look appears more for mobile users than those with desktops. I'm more of the latter group and for news stories prefer smaller thumbnails and links than squared made for swiping right or left.

 

[ERD50]

+1. You explained much better than me. The blocky, larger thumbnail look appears more for mobile users than those with desktops. I'm more of the latter group and for news stories prefer smaller thumbnails and links than squared made for swiping right or left.

I also don't like the change to news.google.
It's hard to say why, since now I can't compare them, the old format is gone. But it seems to me, the old one gave a snippet of the text, and 9 times out of 10, I could tell the article really wasn't the angle I was interested in.

Now, with not much more than a headline, I'd need to click to find out I'm not interested. Kind of like the 'naked link' rule here. So I don't click at all. So it's becoming useless.

-ERD50

 

[CaptTom]

I think it's correct that the Google News site was re-formatted for mobile users. This is probably the leading edge of a new trend. Until now, companies would create an alternate "mobile" page, and serve that when a mobile device connected.

I suspect we'll see more "dumbing down" as fewer and fewer people use full-sized monitors. This is a big loss for me, but I suspect most people won't notice.

Full-sized keyboards and monitors are of little use to folks who only type a few words at a time. I learned touch typing in sixth grade, and used that skill daily in my working life. Between writing code, documents, spreadsheets and e-mails with some actual content (not just "hi how r u?") I can't see myself giving it up.

Not to mention forums. I'd never be able to type all this on my phone!

 

[easysurfer]

Just a hunch, but wouldn't surprise me of news.google evolves to look more like CNN or USA Today. More tiles than text .