Google Launches New Feature to Decorate Personalized Homepages

WebKnowHow
Friday, March 23, 2007; 06:00 AM

Google announced the launch of a new feature on the Google Personalized Homepage service.  Users now have the option of selecting from 6 different "themes" to decorate their personalized homepage.  The themes to choose from include: a beach, a city, a sweet dreams theme, a teahouse, a winter hills theme, and a bus stop.

Google as you've never seen it before.

To engage the user, each theme changes dynamically – based either on the user's time of day or local weather conditions.  For example, if you select the beach theme, the sunrise and sunset on your personalized homepage will correspond with your local sunrise and sunset times. Or, if you choose the bus stop theme, when it's raining in your neighborhood, the characters in your bus stop theme will be equipped with umbrellas and rain gear.  While each theme design is dynamic, it doesn't interfere with the user's ability to read and access information on the page.  Google said the goal is to create an online experience that mirrors users' local conditions (time, weather, etc.) and serves as a reflection of their own changing environment.

This is one of several new features that have been developed recently to enhance users' experience with Google Personalized Homepage. Last week, two new features were launched: Google Talk gadget and a "Magic Tabs" feature that auto-generates a tab based on a category the user selects (i.e. sports, news, movies, etc.)

To select a theme for your personalized homepage, go to www.google.com/ig and click the "Select theme" link located on the top right-hand side of your screen.