3 ms·

Looks pretty cool, but what is it exactly? Just a start page? I think if you have more detailed description about what the site offers with additional screensho

Looks pretty cool, but what is it exactly? Just a start page? I think if you have more detailed description about what the site offers with additional screenshots i think it would be better. Unless of course that's all there is to it and I just completely missed it.

pclark 18y ago
its a start page that tells you when sites have been changed.
unalone 18y ago
Think of it as bookmarks combined with a very simple RSS reading technology. The RSS reading is a little spotty. Some sites update when there are no updates. Additionally, sometimes Start.io just doesn't recognize an RSS feed, and there's no option to manually input one. I also find I can't delete links, so I have a thin column of "about:blank" links that are painted white so I don't see them that I get from removing bookmarks. That said, this really takes the pain out of RSS. It's comfortable and functional and all the themes look really, really good.
- brand 18y ago
  I think I missed the RSS reading part of it; it makes more sense now. Seconded on the themes looking very nice! @jacobbijani: I'm not sure if you care much, but Firefox users can remove the start.io menu from their pages by adding a display:none tag to it in their layout. Also, users can write javascript in the layout editor. Mine is currently redirecting all visitors to google... Perhaps the layout editor should be restricted to css?
  - unalone 18y ago
    I don't know if these pages are meant to be shown publicly so much: I link to mine from my web site, but it's not a very social thing. It's not like a social network where people see lots of pages and so redirecting can be seen as hostile.
    - jacobbijani 18y ago
      exactly. people are starting to share them, which has the benefit of others seeing the service and maybe signing up, but i never intended them to be shared. it's for you to make and then you to use. there's a few annoying bugs with the RSS bot that i've been meaning to get around to. and i swear i've fixed that delete bug like 5 times!
    - petervidani 18y ago
      Hey all. I'm the other dev on this site. We were actually pretty surprised to see users sharing their startpages on their blogs and such. At first we didn't really get it; I mean the only reason we made them public was so that you could access it from where ever you were without having to log in. Basically, we made start.io to act as an attachment to a browser. But some people really do like sharing their links. Maybe it's just that they're used to sharing all their content online. One of the most visited start pages comes from a ministry sharing belief-oriented links to their visitors. I'm not sure what un-prepped signups will use it for, but I don't really care, either. We developed this to be a flexible platform from the beginning. That's just what happens when you made a product customizable, and for a general purpose. People will shape it to their needs. The obvious example here is Twitter, which began as a service to publish away messages to the web. Then people wanted to group their thoughts to channels, then they wanted to message, now they want to network and expand their names and products. Twitter is a good example of a platform that made getting information from the users brain to a public domain incredibly easy. Thanks for all the comments so far, this is great.
      - unalone 18y ago
        Absolutely! Best of luck to you guys: I love the minimal RSS style, and Rososo wasn't exactly easy on the eyes. Also: when non-logged-in users click a link, does it reset the bookmark?
        petervidani 18y ago
        Yes. If you're worried about someone else using your startpage, you can make it private in Settings. I'll tell you though, the startpages aren't indexed by any search engines, and personally, this has never been a problem for me.

pclark 18y ago

its a start page that tells you when sites have been changed.

unalone 18y ago

Think of it as bookmarks combined with a very simple RSS reading technology. The RSS reading is a little spotty. Some sites update when there are no updates. Additionally, sometimes Start.io just doesn't recognize an RSS feed, and there's no option to manually input one. I also find I can't delete links, so I have a thin column of "about:blank" links that are painted white so I don't see them that I get from removing bookmarks. That said, this really takes the pain out of RSS. It's comfortable and functional and all the themes look really, really good.

brand 18y ago
I think I missed the RSS reading part of it; it makes more sense now. Seconded on the themes looking very nice! @jacobbijani: I'm not sure if you care much, but Firefox users can remove the start.io menu from their pages by adding a display:none tag to it in their layout. Also, users can write javascript in the layout editor. Mine is currently redirecting all visitors to google... Perhaps the layout editor should be restricted to css?
- unalone 18y ago
  I don't know if these pages are meant to be shown publicly so much: I link to mine from my web site, but it's not a very social thing. It's not like a social network where people see lots of pages and so redirecting can be seen as hostile.
  - jacobbijani 18y ago
    exactly. people are starting to share them, which has the benefit of others seeing the service and maybe signing up, but i never intended them to be shared. it's for you to make and then you to use. there's a few annoying bugs with the RSS bot that i've been meaning to get around to. and i swear i've fixed that delete bug like 5 times!
  - petervidani 18y ago
    Hey all. I'm the other dev on this site. We were actually pretty surprised to see users sharing their startpages on their blogs and such. At first we didn't really get it; I mean the only reason we made them public was so that you could access it from where ever you were without having to log in. Basically, we made start.io to act as an attachment to a browser. But some people really do like sharing their links. Maybe it's just that they're used to sharing all their content online. One of the most visited start pages comes from a ministry sharing belief-oriented links to their visitors. I'm not sure what un-prepped signups will use it for, but I don't really care, either. We developed this to be a flexible platform from the beginning. That's just what happens when you made a product customizable, and for a general purpose. People will shape it to their needs. The obvious example here is Twitter, which began as a service to publish away messages to the web. Then people wanted to group their thoughts to channels, then they wanted to message, now they want to network and expand their names and products. Twitter is a good example of a platform that made getting information from the users brain to a public domain incredibly easy. Thanks for all the comments so far, this is great.
    - unalone 18y ago
      Absolutely! Best of luck to you guys: I love the minimal RSS style, and Rososo wasn't exactly easy on the eyes. Also: when non-logged-in users click a link, does it reset the bookmark?
      - petervidani 18y ago
        Yes. If you're worried about someone else using your startpage, you can make it private in Settings. I'll tell you though, the startpages aren't indexed by any search engines, and personally, this has never been a problem for me.