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February 7, 2008

iGoogle's Settings Page

Google's personalized homepage (a.k.a. iGoogle) has a settings page where you can change the language, your location and some things related to tabs (name, theme, layout). You still can't reorder the tabs or make some special changes that aren't available in the main interface.

The settings page would probably be more useful if it had support for batch operations like deleting multiple gadgets or moving all the gadgets that contain "Google" in the title to a new tab.

25 comments:

  1. Weird, this seems to allow you to do just the same things you can already do using the on-page/ "native" interface. Is there any use in offering two alternative interfaces side-by-side instead of one? It sure can be confusing because you may think you'll get more options but actually you just have to rethink how to do the same thing.

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  2. I haven't played with the "share" option yet. Could you do this before?

    Also, the "Name This Tab" for me seemed to have some old discarded (two copies of Gmail, Stocks list, some random feed) boxes, which I deleted from the new interface. But oddly, when I gave the tab a new name, it doesn't show up as a tab at all. is it intentionally hidden? Or is this a bug?

    Have you played with the new "team" feature yet for Gmail etc.? For the life of me I can't figure out what it is for (except to further confuse people I try to introduce to Google Aps).

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  3. The "share gadget" is not new, but the dialog was updated to include a list of important Gmail contacts.

    I thought "Name This Tab" was the mobile iGoogle page.

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  4. Would be good to have a full name of Countries. I am Maltese and there still is no entry for Malta.

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  5. Sweet!
    One thing i dislike though is that tabs with loads of gadgets extend the page vertically, some columns would be nice.

    And of course, in general for Google Accounts, change the stupid location list in the UK to the regions, rather than specific towns/cities.
    Or maybe, just MAYBE, change it back to the way it was before, allow you to enter the location manually...
    God knows why they changed it to a drop-down with specific towns.

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  6. I wish I could tell it to always open links in a new page or tab..

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  7. I was right. The tab titled "Name this tab" contains the feeds/gadgets from the mobile iGoogle.

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  8. "Anthony said...
    I wish I could tell it to always open links in a new page or tab.."
    If you use Firefox you can add an extension Tab Mix Plus that allows you to specify how links and bookmarks are opened (new tab, new window, etc.), create duplicate tabs, save sessions, and many other tab related functions. It's stable, free, and very useful.
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122

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  9. Hi
    How can i clean my ask a word history
    Thanks

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  10. How do I save the Igoogle desktop I create, as every time I re-open firefox, igoogle seems to put all my gadgets in the order it wants, this very frustrating, and there doesn't seem to be an obvious solution to this.
    Secondly is anyone having problems with the ebay gadget, I go through authentication and then when I try and re-sign in I get Null Java pointers ?

    Tx

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  11. The fact that it re-orders widgets into whatever it deems fit, PLUS, refuses to delete a widget (no matter how many times I delete it just comes back next time I load) makes this completely useless. HOW do you save a layout permanently?

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  12. Why for the life of me does Google think I am in London? I can find no simple way to change this. I do not want London weather either but when I typed in my town it says temporarily unavailable but since it does not even show my country on the list, someone needs to brush up their geography ! We expect better from Google.

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  13. When hovering the cursor over a news headline on my igoogle homepage, I get a pop-up balloon summary of the article, i.e., the first paragraph. I like that, but it disappears after a few seconds. How do I make the balloon persist until I've read it and decide if I want to read the whole article? And then make it go away? Where's the setting?

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  14. Anthony to open Links in a new Page or Tab do this: clik Tools on our homepage, select Internet Options, under the General tab look for: Tabs "Change how webpages are displayed in tabs" and click on Settings, look for: "Open Links from other programs in:" and Select 'New tab in the current window'.

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  15. Doesnt work. The language goes back to where it was when i reopen my browser .. Ive deleted cookies, etc. but it doesnt make any difference. Ive changed the language preference to english a dozen times but it always goes back to spanish. So, How do I change the language? the page you have recommended does not do that for me.

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  16. I cant change the layout or delete gadgets which means im stuck with the stuff i added when i first began experimenting. this is very frustrating.

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  17. HOW DO YOU SAVE AN iGOOGLE LAYOUT PERMANENTLY?

    I SPENT TIME CUSTOMIZING MY iGOOGLE HOME PAGE FOR NOTHING, GOOGLE YOU SUCK FOR NOT ALLOWING THE PUBLIC TO SAVE IGOOGLE CUSTOMIZATION SETTINGS.

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  18. Can I save my iGOOGLE LAYOUT PERMANENTLY?

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  19. My google page has somehow become all mixed up. I have letters on top of letters and the font must be at least 20. I'm sure I must have accidentally changed a setting. Anyone have any idea on how I get it corrected? Thanks.

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  20. Hi is there a email address for igoogle to solve "Can I save my iGOOGLE LAYOUT PERMANENTLY?

    someone somewhere knows the answer to this q.

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  21. I've tried everything, including various suggested fixes, but I can't save my iGoogle Settings. Why is this so hard for the world's leading code writers to solve? Maybe they just don't have to care. Any body got a current fix?

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  22. I can't get to my igoogle page on one of the accounts on a single computer using ie8. I can get full igoogle on the administrator account, but I can't get igoogle on the "family" account. I can get to igoogle through the family account using Mozilla, but not ie8. I can get to full igoogle (in the family account) through a foreign URL (e.g. Australia). It appears that it simply won't allow me to sign-in to igoogle on the family account (even though I can sign in to my Gmail). I've tried cleaning cache, cookies and uninstall/reinstall ie8 -- no luck.

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  23. The language change does not have any effect. I still get Swedish interface and texts even though I have change the language to English.

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  24. i can not save my igoogle page preferences, every time i close google chrome i have to re set everything again. Chrome is fast but i'd sooner have the functions IE has to offer so i'm going back to it.

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    Replies
    1. You need to do your changes in the google/ igoogle interface, then your changes will be saved. Good luck!

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