Getting personal - Customised Web pages

Forget those hours spent searching for the latest headlines or industry gossip, says David Flynn. Customised Web pages tailor their content to suit your individual tastes.

With thousands of new Web pages appearing on the Internet every day, and the millions already in existence being updated just as often, the Net's scope for delivery of information is unparalleled. Getting the right information has now become the challenge.

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the 'right' information lies in the eye of the browser. When I hit the Net each morning I scan for industry news, mobile computing and the latest press releases, while you may care more for cool Web sites or even non-computing topics such as international news, sports results or even a dose of daily cartoon strips.

Does this mean we must visit a different site for our daily info-dose? Not if it's a customised or personalised Web page. Such pages allow visitors to roll their own content, determining what material they are shown and sometimes how it is presented.

On your first visit to most customised pages you can register (usually a free process), then work your way through a selection of drop-down lists and check boxes to choose the topics of most interest to you (this also has the effect of filtering out information that you deem useless).

You are also allocated a username and password. From that point on you can enter this username and password to see a personalised page with the topics you specified.

What information can be displayed on a customised homepage? Late-breaking national and international news bulletins, weather, up-to-date sports scores, stock quotes, star signs, the latest Hollywood gossip or an inspirational message for the day.

Customised pages are generally free services. While none of those sites we've listed below charge for their personal pages, several major sites do require payment. Time Warner's Pathfinder is one such service, although it does offer a free two-month trial subscription.

The motives of free sites aren't totally altruistic. Offering made-to-measure content is a valuable way to get users to visit and re-visit your site, which is parlayed into hits and then into advertising dollars on the page.

Behind the scenes, several mechanisms can be used to create each personalised page. By far the most common method is issuing 'cookies' (which we detailed in our April '97 issue, page ^^). These tiny files record your preferences and relay this data to the Web site each time you visit, building the page according to these preferences.

Here are some of the Web's most popular personalised pages. Note that because they are all US-based nearly all of the content is similarly Yank-centric, although the more flexible pages (such as CRAYON) let you weed out the US news feeds.

The most thorough of customisable pages, CRAYON (Create Your Own Newspaper) is a free service that lets you choose from a very broad range of topics including general news, politics, religion and arts.

Initially the choice appears to be very US-oriented but the lengthy sign-up procedure provides an excellent list of newspaper feeds, comics and other items you might wish to include on your special page. You can also add your own favourite links, a facility offered by no other customised page.

The final product is an HTML page that you can further edit. The only downside is that the page doesn't look overly brilliant, but if you care to roll your sleeves up and delve into the HTML code you can make it pretty as well as practical.

Eye on the Web saves your preferences either by password or cookies depending on your level of paranoia about where your personal information is stored. The page itself isn't going to win any awards for design; the content is basically an extensive list of links, links and more links. There are a few publications you can have delivered to your page but none of the content is filtered, so you are only taken to the link's front door.

Beyond that you must follow more links or seek out any relevant information by yourself. The personal page is laden with US information and based on a very crude template that barely deserves the title of being 'customised'.

Firefly is more an online community than anything else. You do get a customised homepage but its content is not your typical mix of news, sport and weather: rather, the focus is on entertainment and leisure-time information by members in the community with similar interests.
Upon the free registration you are issued with a Firefly 'Passport' which is recognised by Firefly-enhanced sites (known as 'venues') which then personalise their content according to the preferences listed in your passport. These sites act as forums where members with common interests to congregate.

Infoseek Personal Edition is a perfect example of straight filtered news. You specify what subjects and/or keywords you would like to read about in several categories and any news in the Infoseek's vast database containing those topics or words is presented on your personal page for your perusal.

This very 'hit and miss' approach often leads to a jumble of headlines and advertisements which are genuinely difficult to follow. However, it does have one excellent feature -- the ability to follow Usenet threads. If you are particularly keen on a topic, you can follow what is being said about it in the newsgroups.

Infoseek Personal also gives you the option to receive news headlines by e-mail as they arrive.

. . . and a detail-packed personal page is made on the spot for you!

Affiliated with one of the world's most popular Web directories and search engines, My Yahoo! is another highly customisable and classy page that is easily navigable and logically laid out. The news is delivered courtesy of Reuters and you can even get a Real Audio briefing of the day's top stories. Other interests are also catered for, so if happenings in the arts world tickle your fancy there are plenty of reviews and views on dozens of related topics, albeit with a strong leaning towards the US. My Yahoo! supports Firefly Passports.

While this is perhaps the most customisable page online, Netscape aren't making a big fuss over it. It is very flexible in design. Users have almost total control over the appearance of 'their' page (be sure to add your own personal links, because the collection already provided is fairly small). There's even a nifty Notepad feature on your page for jotting notes and URLs while surfing!

The initial setup routine is quite long and involves a veritable jar full of cookies. Refusing even one morsel will result in such severe errors that you will have to go through the entire routine again. When you do get the page setup you can save the file as a bookmark or make it your browser's starting page.

This great-looking site is the default Start Page for Internet Explorer 3.0 but it's also well worth a visit by non-IE users. The personalisation process is a simple three-step dance; a good selection of categories draw stories from numerous sources, including the likes of Wired under the Technology heading.

OpenSesame

Nevermind the news -- this gorgeous page touts itself as an entertainment genie for those who just want the fun stuff like books, music, movies and TV. This alone makes it worth more than one visit. Written in a humorous manner, the end result is particularly eye catching.

If you're a regular visitor to ZDNet.com but have not set up a personal page you are missing ready access to some of the best and most current IT news on the Web.

With content culled from a treasure trove of publications covering Windows, IT news, games and the Internet, plus all the news sources which feed into these magazines, ZDNet is one of the customised best sites for the PC-savvy user. You can choose from over a dozen computer-related categories, each of which includes both news stories and relevant press releases.

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