Orange County Register

Have you personalized your home page on our new beta site yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Not doing so is like moving into a model home - it’s fine as it is, but wouldn’t it be nicer if you add some family photos and other personal touches?

Our new “personalize your home page” capability is pretty awesome. If you like to catch up on the latest headlines first, then inspect a few favorite sections (Local News, Sports, Business, etc), this new site is for you.

With personalization, your Web-browsing life is now a lot easier because you can deliver your favorite content - local information from our site and any other outside sites you like that have RSS feeds - front and center onto your ocregister.com home page. It brings your favorite stuff to one place, instead of surfing multiple sites.

Here’s how it works: click the orange PERSONALIZE THIS PAGE tab beside the main headlines area (right side of the home page). Decide what you want to keep or add on your home page, and click submit. You may also use black arrow icons located at the top right of each of the content section boxes (Sports, News, etc).

You can also edit settings within each content section – increase/decrease number of headlines within that box, the type of topics appearing within the section, minimize the section so only the box header shows on screen or delete it altogether. Another cool feature is the ability to shuffle the top-to-bottom order in how your content boxes appear, by clicking and dragging them up or down the page.

Here’s an example on how you create a new section: say you like following the Chicago Bears. You can add Chicago Bears as a new section, and feed in headlines on the ocregister.com home page that post to chicagobears.com. Just copy the RSS feed link (usually seen as an orange icon on your favorite Web sites), then paste it within the “Add News from other Sites” box within the PERSONALIZE THIS PAGE tab. Done!

This example isn’t random, by the way, it’s how I’ve customized my ocregister.com home page! I’ve also added RSS feeds from our own site onto my home page for Anaheim Ducks blog coverage , O.C. Business News and Morning Reads (great place to read good news).

Need some more information before testing out the personalization for yourself? Refer to this ocregister.com video demonstration and FAQ page.

Come back tomorrow morning for more details how we’re reinventing how we deliver local information about your Orange County neighborhood.

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