Thing #32: NetVibes

Thing #32 is a bit different then some of the other Things we’ve explored in the past. This month we are going to use NetVibes as a tool to create a personalized start page bringing together information from a variety of resources we’ve already explored. There are many tools that will allow users to create their own personalized start page, some examples include: Pageflakes, iGoogle, and Yahoo.com. The reason I selected to explore NetVibes is because it allows users to create a public page. This public page can then be shared with friends, colleagues, and patrons or even used as a starting page for computers in the library.

Before going any further let’s take a look at some examples of pages created by other libraries around the world.

• Cranbury Public Library (NJ)
  
• Dublin City Public Libraries (IRL)
  
• The University of Sheffield (UK)
  
• Rowan Public Library (NC)
• Denver Public Library Reference Librarians Resource Page (CO)

For Thing #32 your assignment is to create your own public Netvibes page. You can make it as simple or complex as you’d like however as you are creating it try to incorporate as many of the previous 31 Things as appropriate and include items your patrons would find useful. You may be wondering why I wanted everyone to create a public NetVibes page designed with your patrons in mind and incorporating the previous 31 Things. First of all with the start of the New Year I think it’s a great time to look back over the previous 31 Things and remember what we’ve looked at, what Things you have embraced and what Things you may want to go back and revisit. Second I think creating a public NetVibes page is a great way to show your patrons what you’ve been working on and expose them to these great Things. (I realize some of you are not in a position to actually share this page with your patrons but just pretend. :) ) Here’s a sample page that I created. As you’ll see I’ve included items from libraries across the state. I’ve included a blog, Google Map, Twitter, delicious, LibraryThing, Facebook, Flickr, IM and a ton of RSS feeds.

Are you ready to jump in and start creating your own site? Feel free to head on over to Netvibes and jump in. If however you feel you need a bit more guidance then read on and I’ll share with you what I learned as I created my own public site.

Creating Your Own Netvibes Account

Before digging in, it might be useful to look at the Netvibes Tour. It provides a nice overview of what Netvibes is and how you can customize your pages.

Like a lot of the Things we’ve explored over the past year, you will need to create a Netvibes account. As I previously mentioned, Netvibes allows users to create a public page in addition to a private page. As the names imply the public page can be seen by anyone while only you will be able to see the private page. To start let’s activate your public page.

1. Go to the dropdown menu in the upper left corner that’s located to the right of the green Add Content button. The wording on this menu is going to vary depending on what you’ve already done in Netvibes. It may read “Create my Public Page” or it may be the name of your private page.
   


2. From that menu select Activate My Public Page and complete the three steps. Give some thought to your URL because I haven’t found any place where you can change it. You may NOT want to use the library’s name if you are only going to be using this site for your NE Learns 2.0 assignment. You will however be able to go back and change your picture, Title, Description, Category and Keywords. Those options can be found in the Account area. The Account area can be found on the dropdown menu labeled with your username. You will find it in the top right corner of the page.


3. In the future you will use this same dropdown menu to switch between your public and private page. Simply select the page you’d like to view from the menu.

As you work with Netvibes you will see that your pages are made up of one or more tabs. Each tab contains one or more widget. You will be able to customize the layout of each tab along with selecting a theme that controls the look and color of your page.

At this point you can decide if you want to work directly on your public page or first create your Tabs in your private area and then move them over to your public area. When I worked on my Tabs I chose to first create them in my private area and then move them over to my public area. This way I could mess around as much as I wanted and not worry about the world seeing my page until I was happy with it. I’ve include instructions below in the Tabs area on how to move a Tab from one area to the other.

Here’s some basic information to get you started.

Tabs

• Create a new Tab by clicking on the New Tab link. It will be located just to the right of your last Tab.
• Before you can edit a Tab you must be viewing the Tab you’d like to work on.
• To the right of a Tab name will be an Edit link. There are a number of options available in the Edit area.
• You can change the name of the Tab.
• Select a different icon for the tab. To do this click on the box that’s just to the left of the box that contains your Tab name. You can select one of the icons they provide or enter a URL for your own icon.
• Share this tab – here’s where you can copy a Tab from your private page to your public page. Select the Public on your page tab then select Copy.
• Layout allows you to select the number of boxes or columns you would like to appear on that Tab. You can always come back and change this at any time even after you’ve added content.
• The last option on this page allows you to Delete this Tab.
• To close the Tab Edit options click on the red X located in the right corner of the edit area.
• To change the order of the Tabs click on a Tab and drag it to a new location.
  

Adding Content Using Widgets

There is over 148,000 widgets available but don’t let that number overwhelm you. For the simple page that I created, I mainly used the Add a Feed option or an Essential Widget. As you are looking at the Widgets keep in mind that some of them may not be appropriate for a public page.

Most, if not all, of the widgets provide you with options that can be edited. The Edit link will be located in right hand corner of the widget. After a feed is added there are a few options that you can edit. I’d suggest playing with the option until you achieve a look that works for that particular feed.

• To add content to a tab click Add Content. It is located in the top left corner.
  
• Add a feed: I used this option for a large portion of my content. I used it for the Alliance Public Library blog, Twitter, Delicious, Flickr, LibraryThing, and the all of the information on the News and Sports tabs.
  
• Essential Widgets that might be useful


• Flickr – On my Pictures tab I used the RSS widget and the Flickr widget to display the same images. As you see they look different. The widget on the right is the Flickr widget.
• Bookmarks – I tried the bookmark widget but it didn’t really do what I wanted it to. Looking at the Dublin City Public Libraries it appears they added their bookmarks to delicious and tagged so they would have individual RSS feeds for each topic they want displayed. For example, on their Home tab there is a widget labeled Full Text online. That is a RSS feed for this Delicious page.
  
• HTML widget – The HTML widget allows you to insert chunks of HTML code that has been provided by other sites. Here are some examples of widgets you may want to include.
  
• Meebo Chat Widget
  
• WorldCat Widgets
  
• H. W. Wilson Widget Note: This widget will work great if it is used from a computer that is set up for IP access to Wilson however users will NOT be able to use their NebraskAccess password with it.
  
• Facebook Widget
  
• LibraryThing Widget
  
• Link module widget – Use this widget to create a link to a website.
  
• To rearrange the widgets simply click on the title bar and drag it to a new location. (Don't forget the layout of the page is controlled under the Tab settings!) Widgets can also be moved to a new tab simply by dragging it to the tab name.

Controlling the Look of Your Page

Netvibes uses Themes to control the look of your page. Access the Themes under the Settings option. The Settings link is located in the top right had corner. Under Themes you have three options.

• Gallery - select one of the 1,800+ available
• Customize - Select one of Netvibes Top and Bottom Wallpaper options or select a image from an online source.
• Create - create your own custom look

Assignment

As you know this month's assignment is to create a public Netvibes page. After you have finished your page write a short blog post providing the URL of your Netvibes page along with a few sentences expressing your thoughts about Netvibes.