Personalize this Page | Google Power Tools Bible

On the right side of the Google News page you will find a Personalize this page link, which when clicked, reloads the page with a Google News configuration page.

Requirements

There are a couple of browser settings that need to be correctly configured before you can configure and personalize Google News.

First, you must have JavaScript enabled in your Web browser. JavaScript is the scripting language that Google uses to allow editing of the configuration. The following sections provide instructions for enabling or making certain that JavaScript is already enabled in your Web browser. If you use a Web browser other than Internet Explorer or Firefox refer to the Web browser Help for instructions on enabling JavaScript.

STEPS: Enabling JavaScript in Internet Explorer

From the Internet Explorer menu choose Tools Internet Options.
Click the Security tab in the Internet Options dialog box.
Click Custom Level. Scroll through the security settings until you find Scripting.
Under Active Scripting, select the Enable radio button.
Click Yes in the Warning message box.
Click OK in the Security window.

STEPS: Enabling JavaScript in Firefox

From the Firefox menu, choose Tools Options.
Click the Content tab.
Make certain the Enable JavaScript checkbox is checked; if not, click it to place a check in the box.
Click OK.

Enabling Cookies

It is important to have cookies enabled in your Web browser to make it possible to save the personalized Google News configuration. Cookies are small files associated with a Web site where configuration information can be saved. Enabling cookies creates information security concerns. When enabling cookies you will need to manage them. Simply erasing cookies causes you to lose your Google personalization. Using an adware and spyware checker regularly to control which cookies are saved and which are deleted is a good idea.

image from book
Figure 14.3: Change the way your Google News is displayed by personalizing the page.

Arranging the layout

Click and drag the various sections by the vertical bars on the right side of the button to reorder how they appear when you load Google News. As you drag the item to its new position, that area is highlighted. Releasing your mouse button after dragging the section to its new location repositions it. You can drag items up and down and between left and right columns. Once you arrange the sections to how you want them to appear you can further personalize each section.

At any time while customizing your Google News page, you may log in using your Google ID and save your configuration on the Google server, rather than only on your local computer. This enables you to view your customized version of Google News on any computer whenever you log in to Google on any computer.

Customize the sections

Click on a section, such as World, in the Edit this personalized page box and you can select the edition you want to appear by choosing an edition from the drop-down list. You may also select the section by choosing from the second drop-down list. Further personalize the section by choosing how many stories you want to appear in that section. Finally, you can delete the section altogether.

Tip

You do not need to be logged in to Google News to personalize the News page. Log in to save your configuration for customized viewing on other computers.

You can save your configuration at any time by clicking Save layout. Once you save your configuration, a message displays letting you know that “You’ve created your own unique, personalized version of Google News on this computer.”

Adding sections

Add either additional standard, predefined sections to the Google News page or add your own custom section. Adding a standard section allows you to add back sections you might have previously deleted or create a new version of a section you have already chosen to display. The new standard section is created by first selecting the Edition; for example, if you are viewing the U.S. edition by default, perhaps you also want to see the world news from the United Kingdom. In this case you select U.K. from the edition and then select World from the Section drop-down list. You can also select how many stories you want to appear in that section.

Note

You are limited to the display of 20 sections. This includes the standard sections and any custom sections you create.

When you finish adding a standard section, click Add section. Your Google News page now appears as you’ve customized it, and the Personalize this page link now reads Edit this personalized page. To make further changes at any time click the Edit this personalized page link.

You can further enhance your Google News viewing by creating a custom section and adding it to Google News. Begin adding a custom section by clicking the Add a custom section link. The simplest way to create a custom section is to type one or more keywords, select the number of stories, and click Add section. Be aware that all of the keywords you type must appear in the stories, so adding too many keywords may result in no - or very few - stories appearing in your custom section.

Create custom sections using the advanced features to further personalize each section. Click the Advanced link next to the Keywords text box. The Advanced selections appear (see Figure 14.4). In addition to adding keywords, you can also select in which news sections those keywords appear. For example, when typing a name as a keyword and wanting only to see news articles about sports figures with that name, you can select Sport from the Section drop-down list.

image from book
Figure 14.4: Create customized news sections.

The advanced features also allow you to select the language of your keywords. This limits stories to articles written in the language you select. Add a label for your new custom section by typing it in the Label: text box. If you do not type a label, Google creates a label based on the keywords you typed. You can then select the number of stories you want to appear or leave it at the default number of three. Click Add section to complete your configuration.

Tip

Remember that after you add new sections you can rearrange how they appear on your Google News page.

Click Save Layout if you have changed the layout of your sections. When you finish customizing your Google News page, click the Close link on the Edit personalized page box.

Creating the Quick View

Each Google News article is displayed with the title, an abstract of the article, a list of the sources, and the time it was last updated. You can simplify browsing Google News by viewing only the headlines and eliminating the abstract of the article and the accompanying thumbnail. The headline of the article appears with the source of the news article and the time it was last updated. In the Edit this personalized page box click the Show headlines only link. To switch back to displaying the abstract and image click the Show images and text link.

Note

Restore your settings to their default values by clicking the Reset Page to Default link at the bottom-right side of the Edit this personalized page link.