iGoogle

The first two challenges in the 23 Things were to sign up for a Google account and customise an iGoogle page.

Luckily I already had a Google account as I use Googlemail, so Thing 1 was complete before I began.

I've long been a fan of Google. Their classic search engine has always been my homepage, and is wonderful- beautifully minimalist, so simple and easy to use. Plus the extra tools (language translation, spell checking and so on) are all wonderfully implemented without cluttering the design. The ability to search images and maps just makes it all the better. The constant adverts are a bit of a detraction, but they're easy enough to ignore.
In addition Googlemail is an incredible tool, and I love it utterly. The combination of searchable emails and the clever way they're combined into threads? Wonderful.
What I particularly like about Google is that all these things- searching, maps, images and email- are just a click of a button away. Conveniant and close at hand, but not in your face.

iGoogle, on the other hand, is simply horrid.
It's so cluttered! Urgh. It's so distracting, so much rubbish being thrown at you at once. I've tried it before and never liked it. Certainly won't be using it outside the program, Classic Home all the way for me. I'd much rather have all the information close-but-not-omnipresent.

A definite "Nay" to iGoogle from me, I'm afraid!