In May of 2006, I wrote about a technology that changed my daily workflow: Protopage. Back then, the magic was the freedom to organize the web on your own terms. It made my home computer, office computer, and laptop feel like one continuous, dynamic workspace for the first time.
The fact that Protopage has survived for more than 20 years is nothing short of amazing. Most start pages went the way of Pageflakes and Netvibes a long time ago. Even Google entered the arena with iGoogle, only to terminate it as they so often do with their best projects.
In the back of my mind, I have always feared a similar fate for Protopage. They post to their blog maybe once or twice a year. The product is already so good that there is not much room for improvement, but the survival of the service likely depends on a very small number of critical people. If that light goes out, a twenty-year-old workflow goes with it.
Ten years ago, I made a video showing why Protopage was the ultimate start page. and while I have always kept copies of my links and RSS feeds “just in case” something happened to the site, this week I decided to stop waiting for that possibility and finally built my own.
I asked Gemini to help me build a clone. I wanted my data on my own server, and I wanted features tailored exactly to my needs:
- Bulk Editing: The ability to dump dozens of links at once for my projects.
- Management: I have friends and family who may want to use this tool.
- Backup: You can download all your content into a CSV with one click.
- Cloning: When I get a page setup the way I like, I want to be able to clone it.
- Total Ownership: Knowing that my start page lives on my server, backed up by my own code.
Take a look: https://www.trustyetc.com/start
The admin page lets me add new accounts and manage those that already exist. I can also clone one account to another and do routine database backups.
It took less than 24 hours to create all the essential elements of a twenty-year-old institution. I still love Protopage and will continue to use it as my start page. Protopage has scores of useful widgets. I have three. But there is a peace of mind that comes with building your own exit ramp.
The most incredible part of this experience isn’t just that I have a new start page. It’s that the barrier between having an idea and owning the software has completely vanished.
Twenty years ago, I praised Protopage because it meant you didn’t need to know HTML to have a dynamic web presence. Today, AI means you don’t need a team of developers to build a professional-grade tool that rivals the services we’ve relied on for decades. If you’ve been using the same tool since 2006, maybe it’s time to see what you can build for yourself in 24 hours.
Want to see the progress? This project is part of a larger push to own my digital tools. Check out my recent posts on the arcade games and high-score leaderboards I’ve been building using these same AI techniques!
