Protopage

Last updated
Protopage Ltd.
Protopage Logo.png
Type of business Limited company
Available in Multilingual
Founded London, 2004
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Andre Parrie
URL www.protopage.com
LaunchedMay 15, 2005;19 years ago (2005-05-15)
Current statusActive

Protopage is an RSS reader, virtual desktop, and Internet start page launched in London, United Kingdom, on 15 May 2005. [1]

Contents

The design offers color-coded tabs and categories to organize information, an audio and video podcast function, a news reader, the option to add cartoons, and a selection of widgets, [2] which can be dragged onto the desktop, arranged, and re-sized. [3] It is highly customizable and has been described as "simple to use." [4] One criticism is that it has only one mail widget, which requires connection via IMAP. [4]

Protopage has not taken venture capital and is debt-free. [5] Protopage outlasted Google's competitor service iGoogle, [6] which also launched in 2005 (just a few days after Protopage) but was shut down in November 2013, [7] as well as Netvibes, launched in 2005 too but closed in June 2025. [8]

In 2007, the site was named one of the top 10 best free web apps by PC Magazine. [9] In 2008, it scored 4.5 out of 5 stars in a review by About.com. [10] In 2013, Chris Pirillo called Protopage "the best designed AJAX portal". [11]

In August 2015, support for "Universal headline import" was announced, [12] which allows the service to import headlines from any web site regardless of whether that site supports RSS feeds or not.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Michael Arrington. (August 18, 2005). "Techcrunch Profile--Protopage". Techcruch. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  2. ↑ Cashmore, Peter. (December 6, 2006) "Protopage V3 Launches". Mashable . Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ Biersdorfer, J.D. (October 3, 2012) "Moving on From iGoogle". The New York Times . Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  4. 1 2 Gordon, Whitson. (July 5, 2012) "Two Excellent, Customizable Start Pages Worth Trying". Lifehacker . Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  5. ↑ Protopage Blog. (July 4, 2012) "Protopage is 7 years old and outlasts iGoogle". Protopage Blog. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ Jones, Gwyneth. (July 16, 2012) "Goodbye iGoogle-Hello Protopage". The Daring Librarian. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  7. ↑ What's Happening to iGoogle". (February 22, 2013). Inside Search, Google. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Important information about your Netvibes.com account". avatars.netvibes.com. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  9. ↑ Gralla, Preston. (May, 2007) "101 best free web apps". PC Magazine, May 2007 edition, p.85
  10. ↑ Daniel Nations. (March 22, 2008) "A Review of Protopage". About.com. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  11. ↑ Pirillo, Chris. (July 19, 2009) "My Favorite Portal: Protopage". Chris Pirillo. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ Protopage Blog. (August 11, 2015) "Happy 10th Birthday Protopage! Major new features announced". Protopage Blog. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.