I've had a few interesting email exchanges in the past week about start pages. One friend of mine recently converted to Netvibes - the other switched to iGoogle... and both made the switch from a single news service (ESPN.com and WashingtonPost.com respectively) to the multi-content aggregator. When asked what my start page is, I have a long-winded response:
- I don't really have a start page because my browser is always running and Firefox resumes all of your tabs when you restart
- I have 4 computers and have 4 different homepages depending on the primary use of that system / location
- I have a Netvibes page that runs 20 Widgetbox Blidgets from my favorite content / feeds... but I find myself going there only a few times a day
Instead, I rely on Firefox, email and rss. Those are my navigational pivots for the web.
I have customized my FF toolbar with hotlinks to my favorite pages, blogs, sites, etc. I use this throughout the day.
I set my FF navigation box to accept inputs that directly go to frequently visited destinations: g 'query' --> takes me to a google search for that query e 'query' --> goes to ebay a 'query' --> goes to amazon
Similar things are built for searches on stocks (f), yahoo (y), msn (m), berecruited (b), widgetbox (w), etc.
For content browsing, much of my navigation starts with email - it's how I find must-read articles and news (thanks to friends who fill my inbox). I use Digg for social news browsing (I have a Digg screensaver and commit to clicking and reading at least one article every time I return to my article). And I live by RSS - both as a publisher and a consumer.
Speaking of RSS feeds - if you're a high-volume feed user, you'll enjoy Josh Kopelman's latest post.