Last updated: 26 September 2009
OPEN RESOURCES
Using the iGoogle Dashboard

iGoogle is an online service from Google that lets you create a customised version of Google home page as your personal start page.  As you work through the different social media tutorials you can aggregate content from the tools onto your iGoogle start page.

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To set up your personalised dashboard

• Go to www.google.com/ig
• Here you will see the default iGoogle start page that includes a number of Google gadgets that can be removed, moved and/or edited.

• First, you will need to select the gadgets you would like to include on your start page from the large box at the top of the page. Check the ones you want and uncheck the ones that you don't want.
• Then select Save. Note, you can always add or remove gadgets later.
• The gadgets will now appear on your start page, and you can move them around to set up the look of the page as you want. You do this simply by dragging the boxes to a new position.
• Depending on the gadgets you have chosen you might need to some set up individually (e.g. weather, to get local weather reports by supplying a postcode).

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Add other gadgets

You can find some more gadgets of interest, by selecting Add Stuff in the top right hand corner.

There are many more gadgets to choose from, and as you make use of tools that you find (in this programme or elsewhere) you could add the relevant gadget to your home page so that the content is immediately accessible, e.g.

• If you like Flickr photos, there are a number of different Flickr gadgets available.
• If you like YouTube videos, there are a number of different YouTube gadgets available.
• If you like Slideshare presentations, there are a number of different Slideshare gadgets available
• Google Reader is a gadget to view your Google Reader items and read any RSS feed.
• Delicious bookmarks is a gadget that displays your Delicious bookmarks in different ways: tagrolls, links, links grouped by tags
• gMail gadget will show your mail in your gMail/Google Mail inbox.
• Skype Buddies Online Status Indicator will display the online status of your Skype buddies and friends.
• BeTwittered is a Twitter gadget that refreshes every 3 minutes, and you can post updates without ever leaving your iGoogle home page.
• Google Calendar - Integrate your Google calendar
• Google Map Search - Find places with Google Maps without leaving your homepage.
• Google Docs - view your active Google documents

To include a gadget on your iGoogle page, select Add it Now beneath the gadget you want to include on the page. Then click the Back to iGoogle page link,  and the new gadgets will be added. Again you can move the gadgets around to get the best arrangement on the page.

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Social gadgets

iGoogle have recently announced a selection of social gadgets.  These let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage.  Take a look at this video which explains them.

Add a tab

If you have a large number of gadgets, you might want to create a new tab to hold certain types of gadgets. Select Add a Tab (top left) to do this.

Change the theme

To change the theme, Select Theme, and click Add it Now for the one you want.

In the screenshot below you will see a personalised start page set up with gadgets arranged on two tabs, Work and Home. It also uses the Beach theme.

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Make your start page your browser's home page

If you want iGoogle to become your browser's home page, so that it loads loads automatically when you start your browser or when you click the Home icon on the browser toolbar, select Make Google your Home page.

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Share a tab with others

To share a tab with colleagues, friends or others:

• Click the down arrow beside the name of the tab you want to share
• Select Share this tab
• A box will open allowing you to email it to someone with a message.

Note: You can also include your settings for the Gadgets that it includes.

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Find out more about iGoogle

iGoogle is the highest ranked start page tool in our Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008. You can read the comments from those who selected it here:

• Top 100 Tools for Learning : iGoogle

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Directory listing: Start Pages