Personalize Your Google Homepage

The basic Google homepage, a clean, minimalist setting with the occasional logo change for holidays, can now be tweaked.

With a Google login and a couple of minutes, users can now flesh out the vanilla Google homepage with a few content items.

The customized Google homepage can contain previews of your Gmail messages, and content from Google News, Slashdot, The New York Times, Wired News, and the BBC News service.

Further options let a user tailor the page to show local movie times, weather, and stock quotes of interest. A few other options for driving directions, a word of the day, and a quote of the day, round out the available customization.

The custom items appear below the customary search box. If you find the changes too jarring, a click on the Classic Home link returns Google’s homepage to its glorious white splendor.

The announcement appeared on the Google Labs page yesterday. Users can send the Mountain View-based company feedback on the available customization, or share their thoughts in a dedicated forum.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.