iGoogle

iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage) was a customizable Ajax-based start page or personal web portal launched by Google in May 2005. It was discontinued on November 1, 2013,[2] because the company believed the need for it had eroded over time.[3][4]

iGoogle
Type of site
Web Gadgets
DissolvedNovember 1, 2013 (2013-11-01)
OwnerGoogle
URLArchived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived October 31, 2013)
CommercialYes
LaunchedMay 19, 2005 (2005-05-19)[1]
Current statusDiscontinued

As of October 17, 2007, Google had made the service available in many localized versions in 42 languages, and in over 70 country domain-names.[5] In February 2007, 7.1 million people used iGoogle.[6] In April 2008, 20% of all visits to Google's homepage used iGoogle.[7]

Features

Gadgets

iGoogle gadgets interacted with the user and used the Google Gadgets API. Some gadgets for Google Desktop could also be used within iGoogle. The Google Gadgets API was public and allowed anyone to develop a gadget for any need.[8]

The API allowed developers to create widgets (web plugin, portlet, webpart) to run in users' iGoogle pages or other web pages quickly and easily. Users had the ability to add a gadget to their iGoogle portal, or have it coded into their own website, by specifying a URL (this could be done indirectly via the gadget registry). Users will appear in the registry if the gadget has been submitted to iGoogle). iGoogle Gadget is the part of Google Gadgets API.

Gadgets were rendered as an iframe. Security constraints will be present, preventing users from damaging the portal and other gadgets. Users communicate with other gadgets via a remote call to a common third party server.

Google also allows all users to create a special gadget that does not require the use of the Gadgets API. The gadgets are designed to be shared with friends and family. The special gadgets must be created using an online wizard and must belong to one of the following types:

  • "Framed Photo" – displays a series of photos.
  • "GoogleGram" – creation of special daily messages.
  • "Sidebar" - designed for middle school chat rooms
  • "Daily Me" – displays user's current mood and feelings.
  • "Free Form" – allows the user to input text and an image of their choice.
  • "YouTube Channel" – displays videos from a YouTube channel.
  • "Personal List" – allows the user to create a list of items.
  • "Countdown" – countdown timer.
  • "Daily Literary Quote" – displays literature-related quotes served up by ModeRoom Press.

Some of the developer-made gadgets include:

  • "Meteo-si": displays the current weather and the weather forecast for selected area(s)
  • "eBay Gadget": searches for items on eBay

There is a "You might also like" gadget where you can look at similar gadgets to ones you already have.

Themes
iGoogle with the Winter Scape theme.

With iGoogle, users could select unique themes for their Google homepages; some themes were designed by Google itself and others by third parties.

Experimental iGoogle

On July 8, 2008, Google announced the beginning of a testing period for a new version of iGoogle which altered some features, including replacing the tabs with left navigation, adding chat functionality, and a canvas-view gadget for RSS.[9] Users were selected for this test and notified when they logged in by a link to a brief description and further links to forums. On the forums, it was explained by Google staff that there was no opt-out, as a control for the test. Further, there was no information on how long the test would continue. On the main discussion thread, almost 600 users expressed dissatisfaction with the new version and with the inability to opt out.[10]

On October 16, 2008, Google announced the release of a new version of iGoogle and retired its older format. The release did not initially include the persistent chat widget. It did include the left navigation in place of tabs as well as a change to widget controls, however.[11] The stated purpose was to prepare for OpenSocial, with the new canvas view stated as playing an important role in that.[12] InformationWeek[13] reported "a vocal group of users" as unhappy with the changes, pointing out that many users do not want change forced on them, and that this is a general problem with cloud software under a service provider's control.

A workaround to restore the original tab layout was found by attaching "?gl=all" to the end of the iGoogle URL. On June 4, 2009, this workaround was eliminated. Within days, another workaround was discovered. Changing the URL ending to "?hl=all" would again restore the original tab layout, with some missing links across the top of the home page, including "Maps" and "more". This workaround was again eliminated on November 18, 2009. This led to an immediate resurrection of the controversy over user choice, both in the UK and worldwide, as many people unhappy with the new layout imposed on US users had switched to the UK Google site where the workarounds still worked. Within hours, the most frequently asked question on the help forum was how to restore the old layout, and there was a large number of feature suggestions to the same effect on the Google product ideas page. Other solutions had come to the fore, which require adds-ons, greasemonkey scripts or bookmarklets.[14]

Discontinuation

On October 14, 2011, Google announced through its official blog that with its new focus on Google+, the ability to interact socially on iGoogle would be disabled on January 15, 2012, and the mobile version of iGoogle would be shut down on July 31, 2012.[15][16]

On July 3, 2012, Google announced on its blog that several of its services, including iGoogle, would be retired due to "the unforeseen evolution of web and mobile apps and the erosion of the need for the site." iGoogle was retired on November 1, 2013, with the mobile version being retired on July 31, 2012.[2]

Since Google announced its discontinuation of iGoogle, several alternatives appeared, many of which are still online (as of June 2017).[17]

A later feature in 2022 built into Google.com that has customizable widgets at the bottom of the screen has been compared to iGoogle.[18]

References
  1. "Personalize Your Homepage – Google". Google Press Blogspot. May 19, 2005. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  2. Google Support; iGoogle's Decommission
  3. What's happening to iGoogle? Google Support
  4. The search giant is renaming and adding new features to Google Personalized Home Page (...) iGoogle, as it will be called in a few hours, was the fastest growing product at the company last year (...) Archived February 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on September 28, 2009
  5. "Google Web Search Help Center". Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
  6. Tech Crunch; iGoogle users
  7. Quittner, Josh (April 30, 2008). "Google's Art of War — With Facebook". Time. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008.
  8. Liedtke, Michael (April 30, 2007). "Google dubs personal home page 'iGoogle'". NBC News. Retrieved July 25, 2008.
  9. "Experimental iGoogle features".
  10. Williams, Chris (September 1, 2008), iGoogle personalises personal pages on other people's behalf, The Register
  11. The New iGoogle, Publicly Launched, October 16, 2008
  12. Quist, Jake (October 16, 2008), Big Canvas, Big Opportunity, iGoogle Developer Blog
  13. Claburn, Thomas (October 17, 2008). "iGoogle Users iRate About Portal's Changes". InformationWeek. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
  14. Get Rid of Left Navigation in iGoogle, October 16, 2008, archived from the original on November 22, 2009, retrieved November 19, 2009
  15. Google blog/Blogspot; iGoogle's social interaction will be disabled but its non-social applications will stay as announced on Google's official blog
  16. Google Support; What's happening to iGoogle?
  17. Jack Schofield (November 7, 2013). "iGoogle: what are the best alternatives?". The Guardian. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  18. Li, Abner (August 31, 2022). "'New Google.com' adds weather, news, and other widgets [U: Testing continues]". 9to5Google.
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