homepage http://www.webupon.com/tags/homepage New posts about homepage Amateur Journalism and the Web http://www.webupon.com/Web-Talk/Amateur-Journalism-and-the-Web.370631 H.P. Lovecraft is best know as the Godfather of modern horror and without his work but horror, or weird fiction as it was then, is only one aspect of his life.  In his developing years he produced a voluminous discourse through a variety of magazines, both professional and amateur.  It is the amateur organisations that hold the most interest.  While modern newspapers generally bear little resemblance to their counterparts from the 1900s, the ideas that generated the amateur journalism organisations that endeared themselves to Lovecraft which have stayed with us.

These organisations seem to have been highlt beurocracised clubs for people who either wrote, edited, published or in some cases did all of these for amateur journals; i.e. they were not generally available at the news stand.  I think what hit me strongest of all when reading about Lovecraft's involvement with them was the feeling of familiarity.  My friends and I (I think my sister also) used to regularly produce our own newspapers, magazines and even faux radio programmes for the enjoyment of ourselves and close family; although admittedly it was mostly we who enjoyed them.  I can't think of anyone reading mine favourably and when I think back, they weren't exactly anything you'd bring out now as an example of fine workmanship.

Lovecraft got heavily involved with one of the main amateur associations and ended up having long and in-depth conversations with other members, both through print in the various publications (his own and others) and through letters.  He struck up friendships, made enemies and generally wrote about things close to his heart while others wrote about things close to theirs.

Does all this sound familiar to any of you?  It does to me, that's for sure.  Move the description away from the heady days of typesetting, ink and paper, substituting these for lights, electricity and HTML.  What do you have?  Websites.

Anyone who was around during the first Dot Com bubble or before Google will no doubt remember the glory days of the Webring; the system of linking together homepages and larger websites discussing favourite topics.  Anyone who has put together an even barely successful website will have had at least one person e-mail them about it, be it to either discuss a topic they have read about, or to belittle you for your opinions.  Nowadays web rings are mostly a thing of the past, although links pages do still frequent many sites.

It seems to me that the principles behind the amateur journalism associations of the past are still with us.  People want to talk about things close to their hearts and they want to share their thoughts with others.  We have a more informal method of doing this now, and in many cases the overheads of getting your message out to the masses are much lower.  The means have changed but the spirit is still the same.

In many ways it is a shame Lovecraft is not around now.  I for one would love to have read his blog.

]]> Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:37:20 PST Four Great Homepages for Your Browser http://www.webupon.com/Web-Design/Four-Great-Homepages-for-Your-Browser.87699 A good start page can be very practical and useful; nowadays, instead of displaying fixed news pages, you can get all of the news that you want through RSS feeds and more, all to your own customized page.

Customizable homepages these days are quite powerful, with some emulating what a desktop GUI for those on the move, and others which can be customized to your liking with widgets. These four pages all offer that little something that makes a start page into your own homepage.

  1. Netvibes

    This site is clean, easy to use, and can be customized with all sorts of different widgets to get the page that you want. By default, the site loads with a Facebook and e-mail widget; once you create a Netvibes account you can associate it with your other internet accounts.

    Having a homepage to load up everything you need to see on the internet can certainly speed things up.The content, layout, and number of pages it up to you; this is a great homepage to start with. However, the control you have over the layout is limited to the "three column" setup, rather than placing widgets where you please.

  2. Protopage

    Along the same lines as Netvibes, this site provides another highly customizable homepage; it essentially provides the same functions as Netvibes, but with the ability to place widgets wherever you please. This is a mix between a simple start page displaying relevant information, and the all-out web desktops that you can find. You can post "sticky notes" anywhere on your homepage, along with to-do lists to keep track of your life and remind you of important tasks. You can also set it up to fetch podcasts and cartoon strips, and you can add as many pages as you please.

  3. Widgetop

    Going a step further than Protopage is the colourful Widgetop; while the functions are essentially the same as the previous two pages, this provides more of a "desktop" feel. Your widgets can be dragged much like windows on a desktop. This also has "sticky notes" widgets so that you can post reminders which you can see every time you start up your browser.

    One difference is that this site can't be organized into different pages like Netvibes and Protopage. There is plenty of room on the desktop, and it is functional while still looking nice.

  4. Jooce

    This is one of the more powerful solutions; one of the goals listed by the site is to provide a functional desktop which can be accessed from any computer. The site demo shows a fully functional desktop which can play media, display information, and provides all the IM clients you need to stay connected with friends. You even get multiple desktops along with the 3D "cube" interface, much like Ubuntu offers.

    It appears that this site is best for those who need their own desktop but are using different computers frequently. I haven't personally signed up for the site, so I don't know the space limitations (i.e. how much video/music can be stored) but this site looks quite promising, even for those who aren't using many different computers.

These four pages all amalgamate most of our internet tasks into one page; as opposed to visiting several different sources, you can receive all of the important news that you want, and have it laid out the way you want.

]]> Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:39:00 PST