• marc
  • Member
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  • From: catalonia
  • Registered: 2008-12-24
  • Posts: 26

Topic: crunchbang start page useless

hi all,

not an urgent issue, now that ubuntu 9.04 is on its way. i am talking about http://crunchbanglinux.org/start/. this is the page that opens up when starting a new firefox window. crunchbang users are somehow expected to use it in order to provide a bit of revenue for the project from google.

however, for a long time this is not possible, at least for me. there are 2 reasons :

1) page load is slow and takes several steps. even when i just want to open a new window, i am forced me to press ^T (new tab) right after pressing ^N (new window) in order to have load in the backgroud. this is because if i click ^L to change the URL, a few moments after the browser focus goes to the search text field. quite inconvenient.

2) results customization : the results that i get when i do a regular search are not suited for me. it's not the same as when i do a search on a regular http://google.cat page. there is something about and search engine and web search.

in short, perhaps there is many people who find the start page useful and convenient, but it's not my case. a pity, because i'd like to contribute by using it.

btw, i've noticed that since i started using crunchbang linux (november 2008 or so) its distrowatch rating has gone from position #98 to #57 2 months ago, to #35 right now. congratulations!

  • marc
  • Member
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  • From: catalonia
  • Registered: 2008-12-24
  • Posts: 26

Re: crunchbang start page useless

oh, now i realize there is a closed topic that may have something to do with this : http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … art-page/. i tried searching "home page" and "start page" and got no meaningful results.

i wonder if there can be a compromise between revenue and usability, for example, by providing an alternate start page that we can set as default. if this topic is inappropiate to be discussed publicly please let me know privately.

  • kBang
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  • From: Calera, AL, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-06
  • Posts: 774

Re: crunchbang start page useless

If your thread is closed it will be due to the terms of use/agreement Philip has with Google, not because the topic is inappropriate.

Personally I have no issues with the start page, not sure what exactly you are experiencing.  The only issue I have is the color - heh.  Perhaps Philip can get us a set of basic color options.  Personally I like Google's default colors, but I can see red, green, yellow, and blue as optional start pages along with a google'esque white.

I view KDE like I view snow. It looks fun and marvelous, it's fun to play in, but after a while I just want someone to take it all away.
  • Registered: 2009-02-17
  • Posts: 21

Re: crunchbang start page useless

In my case I have no problem with loading speed of the start page. And I also like the B&W colors...

The only thing is that most of the time, I access directly to my email and most of the times I use the google search bar from my browser. I so used to it I can't help it.

rofranco's Website

  • Registered: 2009-02-02
  • Posts: 547

Re: crunchbang start page useless

Its specific to the distro - I think its a nice touch, just as Ubu has their own start page. Perhaps some of the improvements you have noted may be helpful, and if so, then I hope Phillip will consider them. In the end, if you dont like it, its not too hard to change the homepage on your own tongue

  • koral
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  • From: UK
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 58

Re: crunchbang start page useless

I'm pretty sure you can disable loading home page right after opening a new tab.

There's just one kind of man than you can trust, that's a dead man. Or a gringo like me!