about us

Onthestart is a free to use website designed to make internet life easier for you. The primary reason for this website is all about quick links and accessibility. We all have a number of websites that we visit on a regular basis, such as email, news, weather, travel sites, social networks, etc so why not have these weblinks available on internet browser open. In addition to 1-click quick links accessible on any online computer, we've incorporated a customisable choice of search engines into the website so that you can search for other websites on opening the internet browser too. Doesn't this make a nice neat personal homepage for you?

What's more, as a site for your quick links that you'll see on the start of your websurfing, we've incorporated some useful addition features. There's a reminder facility, an online notepad, to do list facility and a directory of the most popular websites.

I first came up with the idea for this website many years ago after writing simple custom webpages for various people with their own personal quick links; and then setting them as their homepage. These were personal links to websites such as email, search engines, online banking, news, weather, shopping sites, various sporting sites, property websites and so on and so forth. Setting them as their homepage meant that their favourite links would appear as soon as they opened their internet browser, and they could 1-click to the webpage they wanted. Most of these people were of the older generation, including my mother, and had a dislike for search engines and cluttered favourites which required more mouse clicks for them to find the item they wanted. My custom webpages gave them familiarity and knowledge that the link would take them to the site they wanted. This also gave me peace of mind that they wouldn't mistype a name somewhere and end up on a phishing (fake) website. I would then periodically update and add new links for them whenever I was around. This little chore would then become impossible when on my trip around the world in 2006.

Before I left, I thought it would be great to have a website for quick links with additional features that could be maintained and accessed from anywhere; and better still made easy enough for them to maintain the quick links themselves. In addition, surely there were lots more people in the same boat. And also others who would like the convenience to be able to 1-click to numerous different websites of their choosing. The basis for Onthestart website was then born, and now grows with each additional feature.

Here's a breakdown of what the website does:

• Creates personal webpages with your own quick links immediately available to your favourite internet sites. It's like favourites on internet explorer but you can access these on any computer without the need to re-add them on a new computer. You also don't have to worry about a messy favourites list on a shared computer.
• Your favourite links will be available with 1-click as soon as you open your internet browser by setting your personal onthestart pages as your homepage.
• You can easily store notes online on your personal information wall webpage and access them later on any computer. This is useful for quickly jotting notes down, copy and pasting large portions of text, sharing information with others, using as a group noteboard that others can write on, or even just an easy way to carry information from one computer to another.
• A to do list for you to keep a track of tasks. Add tasks at home or at work and even when you think of things whilst surfing the internet.
• There's a reminder facility that allows you to store dates for birthdays, anniversaries, car tax, MOT, events, parties and more. The website will then automatically warn you in advance when it's approaching. This warning is configurable too for each reminder.
• You can optionally password protect any pages that you may want to keep private. E.g. Banking links. This way no one else can see them. Additionally, you can set your home computer to remember you so that you don't need to enter a password when at home. Your notes are password protectable too if you so wish.
• If you want more personalisation, then there's a choice of banner images available to choose from; or you can even add/upload your own custom banner image to be displayed.
• A directory of the most popular UK used websites is available arranged into categories and as an alphabetically sorted list for easy searching. Why remember all the names of different holiday companies and then search for them on a search engine? You have to do a lot of remembering, typing and searching to find the one you want and also possibly risk mis-typing and ending up on a phishing (fake) website. We've lots of categories like shopping, flights, banking, hotels, food and more already included.
• There's also a latest offers page, listing current promotions offered by over 150 brand name businesses like John Lewis, Lastminute.com, Amazon, Expedia, Halfords, HMV and more. This is well worth checking out from time to time as it's regularly updated. Occasionally discount coupons/codes are available here too giving extra savings.
• Any links and information you store on your personalised onthestart website is held remotely. This means that you can have peace of mind that if your computer suffers a failure your information is not lost.
• Finally, a number of popular search engines are available to choose from which can be made directly available on to your Onthestart webpages.

Here's some things the website doesn't do.

• No RSS Feeds: Because there are plenty of good websites out there for news and information already. Onthestart is primarily for quick links and RSS feeds would slow loading of your page.
• No Stock Portfolio Board: Again, there are plenty of good sites around that are dedicated to offering good features for this.

As users of the internet ourselves, we know what we like and what we don't like about surfing on the internet. With this in mind our philosophy is as follows:

• No annoying popup ads
• No email spamming. We will not sell or give your details on to any 3rd party
• Use of limited advertising banners to keep this website free to use, themed to the webpage, and kept subtle as to not detract from the real purpose of the website
• Keep it simple

What's more, we are always open to your ideas, suggestions and even constructive criticisms, as we believe that without you we can only be a good site but with you we can become a great site.

If you don't have an account already, then why not open one today. It's free, quick and easy and you can amend your links whenever you want. See register for details.

contact us

At onthestart, we are continuously adding new features and improving things for your benefit. However, we are still always open to ideas and suggestions to make this an even better experience for you. For example, if you have any weblinks that you think would be useful to a wide community of users whether locally or nationally then why not email your suggestion to us at suggestions@onthestart.co.uk

If you would like your own personalised account then please click this register link.

If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to email us at support@onthestart.co.uk

register

Want to have the following?

• Access your favourites anywhere online
• Easy 1-click quick links to your favourite websites
• Along with categorisation of your other links
• Not to mention other features such as reminder facility, an online notepad, personalisable banner image and more!

Sign up for an Onthestart account today and begin creating your own personal webpage with ease!

Click the button below to begin the quick registration process.

         

Here are 2 simple mini examples of a personal homepage:

1. Example 1
2. Example 2