I really enjoyed creating my own
start page for my computer. It was nice
to put my personal touch it. Rather than
opening the internet to see a bland Google screen (well, when it is a holiday
or an important event, then Google does do a good job of spicing up their
screen – I am getting pretty good at this Snipping Tool).
Although I am sure there are numerous
different themes, I chose the Spring Frog theme for my start page. It just seems so fun and warm. It even changes from day to night at the
appropriate time! Many of standard
widgets were fine, but I did customize it with a few other widgets that I
thought I would use more often. I added
the following widgets – cooking, baking,
measurement conversion, translation, and to-do list. I did delete the YouTube and CNN since I
never use those sites. Overall, the
start page looks snappy and right up my alley.
I am unsure, though, if I will use it as my homepage. When I use my computer, it is usually for
school purposes only. I am there to
focus and work on my assignments. If I
have this as my homepage, I am worried that I will be distracted by all the
other widgets. If I get off-task, then
it is very difficult for me to get back on track again. It is tough enough to complete my assignments
with two kids (and husband) running around, goofing off, and asking a million
questions; I do not think another distraction will be a good idea.
I kept the calendar on the start
page, but since I do not use the internet very much, it does not serve its
purpose. Since I do not have a phone
with internet capability or an iPad, I would have to rely on my husband to
access the calendar or be physically at a computer to enter the
information. Right now, my trusty
color-coded master calendar that hangs on the fridge works just fine. The same holds true for the online to-do
list. Although I did try it out (see my
screen clip below), it does not seem very useful for where I am at this
time. Again, I would have to depend on
my husband to do it all. Other than at
home, I would not have access to it.
Since my husband does not run any of the errands, I would have to print
the list out at home so I could take it with me. It defeats the purpose of having an online
to-do list. Besides, there is just
something about physically crossing out something that I completed; that makes
me feel good.
If I were to recommend any of the
tools that I found, I would have to suggest the cooking and baking
widgets. Every time I looked at those
two applications, I was pleasantly surprised over the daily recipes there were
offered. I can see a number of my other
‘mom’ friends using it. We are
constantly searching for recipes that we know our kids would enjoy eating. So far, all the ones that I have seen have
been great.
Credit
for Google logos:
http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2012/United%20States
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