A Free, Easy-to-Maintain Personal Homepage featuring both Google & Duckduckgo Search

Free Republic ^ | March 21, 2021 | PoconoPundit

[poconopundit]

Imagine having a simple tool for creating and updating your own private starter page (homepage) of favorite links on the web.  If you're looking for something like that, I've built one you can download and use for free.  Here's the idea behind it:

• Build and maintain the homepage using a simple text editor (such as Notepad++) that doesn't require you to learn HTML — just insert a few HTML tags.

• Deliver a private HTML page that launches from your laptop so you can quickly access your links without Big Tech's help.

• Enable quick search engine switching to and from DuckDuckGo and Google.

• Customize the tool with settings for background, colors, fonts, and local search by zip code.

Check out the sample page on-line.

Download & Instructions for Use

Here's how to install and customize this tool:

1. Download this zip file: myhomepage (1 MB) to your computer.

2. Create a folder named "Home", "Homepage" or whatever you like.

3. Unzip the files into that folder.

4. Double click the myhomepage.htm file and test drive the Sample homepage pictured below.

5. For your own homepage, simply revise this Sample homepage or copy it to a new homepage of your own name in the same folder.

6. To create your own homepage, just delete the existing sections and create sections and links of your own.  It's set up for 6 columns.

7. The syntax for a section heading is <h4>My Section Heading</h4>

8. A link is <a href=http://freerepublic.com>Free Republic

9. No need for a closing </a> tag at the end of each link.  Instead, insert the closing after each section of links with the line: </a><!-- closing anchor -->

10. To select this as your browser's homepage, Chrome and Firefox have similar methods. On a Windows PC in Firefox, select Options > Home > Homepage and new windows, then enter the name of the file in this format:
    file:///C:/Home/myhomepage.htm

11. Instructions for customizing colors, fonts, image background and local zipcode are shown in comments within the CSS styling file: myhomepage.css and the Javascript file: myhomepage.js

12. Import your own background image(s) by putting them into the backgrounds subfolder of the homepage folder.

13. Contact me by FR private mail if you need help with these instructions.

Sample MyHomePage

Observations

I'd be interested to hear your comments on methods you use to managing personal links for your web searches.  Also, let me know this tool's shortcomings.  Later on, I may add more capabilities if there's enough interest in doing so.

I did a search on "build my own homepage" and could find nothing comparable.  I was either directed to links that show you how to create a website, or sites like Start.me that hook you into their on-line page to capture your search behaviors so they can sell that intelligence.

I suspect the search engines and browser creators want to discourage people from having their own personal homepage.  These are commercial enterprises who compete for eyeballs and advertising.  When people use a homepage located on their own computers, the first "hop" of a web search doesn't contain the analytics tags they use to track you.

Of course, there are many ways you can still be tracked -- by analyzing behaviors, mobile location, your ISP, cookies, etc.

While I personally value Duckduckgo as a way to cut through the fake news filter, it's a commercially driven search engine like all the rest.

Google is far superior to Duckduckgo in the quality of business and general interest search results.

We're making progress in winning greater web search choice.  I notice that both Firefox and Google Chrome browsers now allow you to choose Duckduckgo as a search engine option.

In the end, public pressure and competition are the best tools we have to make the Web less commercially and politically biased.  We are fortunate to have Free Republic with moderators and FReepers who police for trolls and see that fellow FReepers follow the rules.

[mountainlion]

How much private information are you giving to the deep state that way?

[Repeal The 17th]

How is this better than just using “bookmarks” in Firefox?

[poconopundit]

FRiends,

I built a personal homepage for myself, and I figured there may be a few FReepers out there who would like to have this capability, especially if it’s easy to update.

Creating this was a learning experience for me, especially figuring out the Javascript necessary to switch between Google and Duckduckgo.

I originally played with adding a cookie, but opted instead to open a new web page every time you use search from this homepage. That way, the homepage remains one of your tabs (until you delete it). And it also means you can keep the last keywords you searched for, just in case you want to modify the search or change the search engine on the fly.

[jimtorr]

BTT for later.

[poconopundit]

Well, since this page lives on your laptop, it makes a little harder for private information to be extracted since your personal links do not go through the search engines.

[KevinB]

Very cool. I may have to spend some time on this. Thanks for putting it together.

I'm currently using the Firefox addon Group Speed Dial as my home page, which is a similar idea and I love it, but it won't accommodate as many links as yours does.

[poconopundit]

It’s a personal choice. I use the Firebox bookmarks to find links for short term needs. Links I use every day I move to my private page.

Firebox also has a left-side tree structure for links. I agree, this is another way to go.

[max americana]

I have Chrome browser with the DDG extension, combined with Adblock. I’ll try it l8tr..

[algore]

I just got a 8x10 envelope and letter from some company who said they were working with Google to be for the web like Nielsen is to tv.

inside was a crisp dollar bill, it said take a survey to see if eligible and get a 5$ amazon gift card, and if eligible another 20$, install their modem/router and an app on your cel phone get $200 and then $16 per month for every household member who also puts the app on their phone.

Sounds like a Great Idea.. Not

[LucienCA13]

I have been very frustrated when trying to create a website of simple links with logos. Lists of links by topic. This looks like an easy way to do that. Am I correct?

[V K Lee]

PP, thanks for the info. Perhaps one day, we’ll get
around to it in working on a home page.

[jrestrepo]

Bookmark to try later

[poconopundit]

I just tried to look for HTML examples to point you to, but could find absolutely none.

Take a look at this page: https://start.me/start/us/startpage

I think this may be what you are looking for. Unfortunately, when search for the source code, you can’t find it because the author is trying to protect his code by hiding it somewhere through the use of scripts.

Let me help you develop an example of what you are looking for.

But first, can you point me to a page that does what you want it do? Or create something in Word or PowerPoint or Excel and send to me.

And you say “logo”, but company logos are of various shapes. If you use an icon or symbol, it will be look much nicer on your page. But either way will work.

Will the text go on the bottom of the icon or to the side?

Let me know.

[mountainlion]

Sounds like a Great Idea.. Not. ...

I get calls from India every day with good deals or IRS threats of arrest if I don’t send money. Been hacked a few times.

When I see GOOGLE I see CIA deceit.

[GOPJ]

Bump to the top

[bigbob]

Start page? In the era of tabbed browsers?

[backwoods-engineer]

Both those search engines support left-wing causes. Do you you want to support the Deep State?

Try Qwant or some of the lesser-known engines. Qwant is so good, I have been using it on a daily basis for months.

[poconopundit]

Never heard of Qwant, but I checked it out and agree with you. On first glance it definitely appears better than Duckduckgo.

It’s also more graphically appealing than both Google and Duckduckgo.

As for Google, I would ask: are you in business? If so, it’s important that your company have a presence on Google because that’s what 90% of searches in North America use.

Apart from its political bias, Google sets a valuable standard of excellence in search quality and search security. And it’s certain that Bing, DDGo, Qwant and the rest of the search engines use Google search as their main source of search results in the English language — then modify those results to suit their target audience or their own agenda.

But I like Qwant. It deserves to be given more attention, so perhaps I’ll make that available in this homepage as a substitute for Duckduckgo.

I think the Deep State has an interest in seeing a not-so- professional search engine like Duckduckgo being available.

[poconopundit]

First of all, LucienCA13, check the comment from KevinB.  I think he points to an option for a logo launchpad that is an add-on to Firefox.

On the same question you raised, I have coded a change to the 6th column in myhomepage that shows the links appearing as logos (or icons).

Here's the sample page for that.

To make that work, you need to find all the icons and insert them into the icons folder.  Then the width attribute in the img element needs to be set to 120px or whatever your choice is.

Here's the code which you can drop in as a replacement to Column 6:

<!-- Column 6 -->
<div class="column">

<h4>Travel</h4>

<a href=https://www.orbitz.com/>
<img width=120 title="Orbitz Travel"
src=icons/orbitz_icon.jpg>

<a href=https://www.southwest.com/>
<img width=120 title="Southwest Airlines"
src=icons/southwest_icon.jpg>

<a href=https://us.megabus.com/>
<img width=120 title="Megabus bus lines"
src=icons/megabus_icon.jpg>

</a><!-- closing anchor -->

</div>

Note, I added the "title" attribute which enables a mouse-over text description of the link just in case the logo doesn't explain itself.  Of course, the use of the "title" attribute is optional.