What is Netvibes, anyway?
Netvibes is one of the leaders of the pack in webtops – a web based desktop. Another way to look at it is a personalized homepage. Webtops provide you a way to keep updated with all kinds of things inside your web browser.
From their initial launch materials, Netvibes described themselves this way:
The aim of it is to provide a place on the internet where you can set just the content you like, a super easy way of building your personalized homepage, available anywhere, anytime. No registration is needed, however if you want to access your page from another computer you’ll be able to do it by registering with your email address and a password.
So?
It is an easy way to have the same information available from any internet connected computer. You can add modules for different news feeds, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, weather, blogs and more. Adding tabs to the page allows you to continue adding information without getting too cluttered.
It also makes it very easy to search for and listen/watch/view podcasts, videos and photos
How do I use it?
You pretty much can set up Netvibes however you like. Add widgets from the sidebar and move them around on the page or to another tab for organization. Then, when things are updated, you will see that indicated in the widget title and you can act on it accordingly.
Um, widget?
A widget, in this context, is a window or other element on the webtop that contains either content or some way to interact with site. You can generally move widgets around on the webtop to organize as you like.
Why Netvibes?
Netvibes has gotten a lot of startup funding and has well over 5 million users so it is very popular and has 200+ modules like email, webnotes, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, chat and more.
It has also really developed into a strong RSS reader that is online and available from any computer. Many other readers are installed programs so you have to be at a certain computer to read your feeds. Netvibes gives you the same environment at any computer.
Other Webtops:
Protopage: AJAX enabled homepage that allows users to customize the look and content as you like.
From their website: “Protopage = personalized news + sticky notes + photos + email + weather + bookmarks, all on one page.†http://www.protopage.com
Pageflakes: Also AJAX powered and driven by modules and tabs. http://www.pageflakes.com
NOTE: Both Protopage and Pageflakes have some public capabilities, which allow you to share your personalized pages with others. With Protopage, you do not even need to have an account to see the public pages. You can share tabs publicly in Netvibes EcoSystem.
Google Personalized Home: If you have a GMail account, you can customize a Google search page to include information you want to have on the page as well as how it is organized on the page.
http://www.google.com/ig/
30 Boxes: This one looks the most like an actual computer desktop. http://30boxes.com/webtop/
Helpful Resources
Tutorial made by a Netvibes users: http://eco.netvibes.com/help/masey/
Netvibes EcoSystem, where you can customize Netvibes and share your work: http://eco.netvibes.com/