If you have started or installed the Pale Moon browser recently you may have noticed that it ships with a new default start page.

The start page, or homepage, is the page that gets loaded when you start the browser and have not configured it to load the previous session or start with a blank page without content.

Pale Moon entered a cooperation with start.me, a personal homepage service on the Internet similar to how iGoogle worked and still maintained services like Netvibes work.

If you compare the the new with the old start page you will notice differences but also similarities.

Here is a screenshot of the new default start page in Pale Moon.

And for comparison, here is a screenshot of the previous start page of the browser.

First of all, if you dislike the new start page you have a couple of options. I explain what you can in a bit but first, lets take a look at what the new start page offers.

The start page uses widgets to display contents on the screen. You get a search form at the top that you can use to search Google or DuckDuckGo, and several widgets below that link to resources.

You can modify the resources shown on the page easily. Hit the customize button at the top right corner of the screen.

To edit the contents of a widget, click on the down arrow icon that appears when you hover over it on the start page and select edit.

You can then edit or delete resources individually by hovering over them and selecting the desired option. There you also find an option to add your own resources or new widgets.

Start.me supports a variety of widgets, here is a short list of popular options:

RSS pulls data from a single RSS feed and display it on the start page. Weather displays weather information for one or multiple locations. Google Calendar pulls data from Google's calendar service. Stock quotes Notes

The service supports tabs which means that you can have multiple pages filled with widgets and resources if you like.

You don't need an account to modify the start page. The personal start page is linked to your device via a cookie in this case. The other option that you have is to sign up for an account and if you do that, the information will be linked to the account instead.

Change the start page

The old start page is not available anymore . The location of the original start page has changed. You can still access it @ http://start2.palemoon.org/.

The only options that you have are to set a different page as the start page or switch to session restore instead.

You do that in the following way:

Click on Pale Moon and select Options > Options. Switch to the General tab and enter a new web address or local address (about:home for instance). Click ok.

Conclusion

The new start page resembles the old one. The core difference between the old start page and the new is the fact that it is provided and maintained by a third-party company now.

Good news is that you can customize the new start page to your liking and support the Pale Moon project at the same time by doing so.

Since it is possible to switch to another homepage, the switch should not be problematic for most users.

Pale Moon users can join the discussion of the new feature on the Pale Moon forum.

Now You: What's your take on the change?

Summary Article Name This is Pale Moon's new start page Description Pale Moon has a new start page. We take a first look at it and reveal what is new, changed, and what you can do if you don't like it. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo

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