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Do people still set their home page in their browser?


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View Poll Results: What's your browser default/home page?
Whatever the default was set to. 1 2.50%
Blank or no homepage at all. 13 32.50%
Custom URL, other than blank. 18 45.00%
Bookmarks (or "top sites") grid page. 8 20.00%
Voters: 40. You may not vote on this poll

Do people still set their home page in their browser?
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2010-05-28, 12:04

Just realized I hadn't done this in a long time. Back in the day, your home page was always what came up when you launched your browser and where you went when you hit the Home button. Nowadays I generally remove the home button from my toolbar (it's just a glorified bookmark anyway) and set my home page to about:blank. Or I don't even bother changing my home page and just set the browser's behavior to start with a blank page (since those two functions aren't necessarily the same anymore).

In fact, it seems many browsers have now incorporated a grid view for favorites or recently-visited sites, making bookmark toolbars somewhat obsolete as well.

It's funny how much things have changed, isn't it? Heck, remember when every browser had an animated icon in the corner to show you that it was loading? Those are gone now too.
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jdcfsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Florida
 
2010-05-28, 12:08

I've been using Wikipedia's random page for a few years now as my home page though it only ever comes up when a new browser window is opened as, like you said, new tabs etc open with the top sites or just blank depending on the browser.

90% of statistics can be made to say anything 50% of the time.
Website | Twitter
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CitizenTony
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Dallas
 
2010-05-28, 12:14

I set my browser to about:blank for pretty much the entire span of my browsing life. Until about a year ago when I started setting them to bing.com. I like the daily picture and my connection is so fast these days it loads just as quickly as about:blank. My new tab page is the default Chrome new tab page though.

I hadn't even noticed the missing animated logo, but I guess in Chrome it's the little spinning half circle on the tab and Safari has the blue bar and spinning circle as well. I wonder if IE still uses the globe?

I never used the home button. I've always gotten rid of it and all the other buttons except for forward and back. Safari does it right, moving refresh into the URL box. Chrome is moving to something similar in the Dev. build. Moving the refresh button to the star's spot and the star to the end of the box.

Chrome is also getting rid of http:// in the box as well, which I like.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2010-05-28, 12:21

Quote:
Originally Posted by CitizenTony View Post
I set my browser to about:blank for pretty much the entire span of my browsing life.
This.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2010-05-28, 12:22

Also, poll added!
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Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-05-28, 12:30

about:blank at home.

At work I have it set to our intranet site, but that's because I need quick access to our corporate partner's intranets.
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evan
Formerly CoachKrzyzewski
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Charlottesville, VA
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2010-05-28, 12:32

google calendar
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2010-05-28, 12:33

Can't stand the visual clutter of a home page. Even if it's something fast and useful like Top Sites and other grids of frecency, it just gets the way of the idea of starting each browsing session with a clean slate.
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julesstoop
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
 
2010-05-28, 12:51

None of the above. I want my browser to restore my previous session. Since Safari can't automatically, I have to choose the action from some menu. In the meanwhile I believe it tries to open an empty page.

A black hole is where god divided by zero.
http://settuno.com/
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Wyatt
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
 
2010-05-28, 12:56

I actually have *no* home page. Safari lets you blank out that option entirely, so that's what I do. There's actually a (very brief) load time for about:blank, so I don't even bother with it.

Twitter: bwyatt | Xbox: @playsbadly | Instagram: @bw317
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2010-05-28, 13:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by julesstoop View Post
None of the above. I want my browser to restore my previous session. Since Safari can't automatically, I have to choose the action from some menu. In the meanwhile I believe it tries to open an empty page.
Consider Glims.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wyatt View Post
There's actually a (very brief) load time for about:blank, so I don't even bother with it.


I guess it would have to invoke the URL parser, but beyond that, nothing should happen.
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ezkcdude
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-05-28, 13:39

I set it to website for my music server, so I can set playlists and stuff.
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ezkcdude
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-05-28, 13:40

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luca View Post

In fact, it seems many browsers have now incorporated a grid view for favorites or recently-visited sites, making bookmark toolbars somewhat obsolete as well.
These grids don't hold enough sites for me. I'm using Chrome mostly now. And it only has 8 (unless somebody can tell me a way to set more that I haven't found). I need like 20, at least.
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Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2010-05-28, 14:11

Ever since Safari 4.0, it's been the Top Sites grid. Before that, I think I had it set to Google.com

What amazes me are those sites that still have a link to "make crappysite.com your homepage!" Er. No thanks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ezkcdude
These grids don't hold enough sites for me. I'm using Chrome mostly now. And it only has 8 (unless somebody can tell me a way to set more that I haven't found). I need like 20, at least.
It's 12 in medium size. Choose "Small" in options and you get 24.
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ezkcdude
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-05-28, 14:19

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson View Post
Ever since Safari 4.0, it's been the Top Sites grid. Before that, I think I had it set to Google.com

What amazes me are those sites that still have a link to "make crappysite.com your homepage!" Er. No thanks.



It's 12 in medium size. Choose "Small" in options and you get 24.
Bryson, I don't see any of those options. I'm using Chrome 5.0.375.55 on OS X.
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2010-05-28, 14:19

I have all my favorite sites loaded in tabs, so they come up when I launch Firefox, so I guess I don't have a home page per say.
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Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2010-05-28, 14:22

Quote:
Originally Posted by ezkcdude View Post
Bryson, I don't see any of those options. I'm using Chrome 5.0.375.55 on OS X.
Ah, I missed the Chrome reference. I was talking about Safari 4.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2010-05-28, 14:29

Quote:
Originally Posted by ezkcdude View Post
These grids don't hold enough sites for me. I'm using Chrome mostly now. And it only has 8 (unless somebody can tell me a way to set more that I haven't found). I need like 20, at least.
The only thing that I've found to possibly satisfy your needs is Speed Dial (via http://www.google.com/support/forum/...df93862379f4da).
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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2010-05-28, 14:29

Quote:
Originally Posted by ezkcdude View Post
These grids don't hold enough sites for me. I'm using Chrome mostly now. And it only has 8 (unless somebody can tell me a way to set more that I haven't found). I need like 20, at least.
The reason I posted this thread was I just tried using Opera again. Last time was a while ago and I hated it. Well, it's improved a lot. Still not perfect and there are a lot of weird things it does, but it's very cool. Highly configurable, lots of themes (many of which you may actually want to use!), etc.

Anyway, Opera's grid view (called "speed dial") can be set to accommodate up to 25 pages. It might be worth checking out. The only thing is you'll have to go in and configure some things to get used to it. The keyboard shortcuts and some other behaviors are quite a bit different from other browsers, at least in my experience (moving from Firefox to Opera on Windows).

EDIT: Looks like Speed Dial is available for Chrome! Neat find, chucker, I just assumed it was an Opera thing. That might be a better idea than switching to Opera since again, it is a bit weird.
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thegeriatric
geri to my friends
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Heaven
 
2010-05-28, 14:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by ezkcdude View Post
These grids don't hold enough sites for me. I'm using Chrome mostly now. And it only has 8 (unless somebody can tell me a way to set more that I haven't found). I need like 20, at least.
Try this add on.

https://chrome.google.com/extensions...pgbbjdpbbkikmi

Dammit. Beaten by chucker.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-05-28, 16:07

Boring, I know, but I just have mine set to www.apple.com

I sometimes think about changing it (some sort of news or updated-throughout-the-day site so I'm always greeted with the latest bit of "what's going on in the world"), but it's just comfortable and out of habit. Been doing this since my tangerine iMac DV back in February 2000. Feels nice to touch base with the mothership at the start of my online sessions...

"Ah, yes...Apple. I see the iPad is still on the homepage. The world hasn't ended yet...".

But maybe I should put it on MacRumors or even Macworld, just so there's some new, constantly-changing info throughout the day?
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ezkcdude
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-05-28, 17:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
The only thing that I've found to possibly satisfy your needs is Speed Dial (via http://www.google.com/support/forum/...df93862379f4da).
Thanks, that's great. (You too, geriatric.) I just wish it would automatically populate the dials with your bookmarks or most/last visited sites. Can't have everything, I guess.
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Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2010-05-28, 17:32

You could use Safari. *ducks*
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ezkcdude
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-05-28, 17:53

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson View Post
You could use Safari. *ducks*
I was, but then I wasn't.
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Xaqtly
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-05-28, 18:48

My home pages are set to Macintouch.
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joveblue
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Melbourne
 
2010-05-28, 18:51

www.google.com.au

I like the warm glowing feeling inside knowing that the internet is still working when I open my browser.

A hangover from bygone days, I suppose (although our router had been fucking up recently until I replaced it, so days not too bygone).

I might get over it one day
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Kyros
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2010-05-28, 18:58

Mine's been the astro picture of the day for a while now, but like you said, it rarely comes up, to the point that I still have it on my bookmarks bar.
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