Searching for links to the Web sites you visit regularly can take a lot of your time. So, we've taken a fresh look at the Directory and navigation in general, to provide you more options and control over the sites that appear on your home page.

My Links
"My Links" lets you add links to sites you visit most, so you can access the things you care about in one place; the AOL.com home page. And, it's easy to customize "My Links". Just click on "Add Link" and then enter the Web site address (URL) and the label that you'd like to appear on your home page. This can be ANY site on the Web and you can update as often as you like.


Additionally, you can drag and drop items in "My Links" to put them in the order that you want them to appear. Just rollover the item you want to move, click on the icon with four horizontal lines and hold down the mouse as you move that link to where you want it in your "My Links" line-up.


Directory
We've also added more links to the Directory to give you access to more of the AOL content and features you like without having to look for them. We're sure you're going to find some interesting sites that you may not have known were out there. And if you're not sure what the something is you can mouse-over any of the links to get a quick description of what that site's about. So take some time and explore. And like "My Links", you can also reorder the Directory line up by rolling over a link and clicking and holding the icon with four horizontal lines to put things in the order that you want them.



How We Store Your My Links Choices
When you make changes to your page, like adding Web sites to My Links, we store those choices in a secure "cookie" on the computer that you are using. A cookie is, basically, a file that stores information you enter on a Web page, to save you time later. We use cookies on the AOL.com home page so that you don't have to Sign In or be required to have an AOL screen name to use and save your personalization options. However, deleting your browser cookies or private data will wipe out any changes you've made to your home page. Click here to learn how to protect your personalization choices.


Learn more about the other new features:

My Stuff - your mini-dashboard with mail preview and more
Themes - choose your homepage design
Mail Preview - preview your mail from Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL
My Networks - your social networks in one place
My Local – weather, real-time news and more
RSS Feed Browser - news and updates from other Web sites

We wanted to go beyond the basic weather forecast and provide you with a more, well-rounded and useful snapshot of what's happening near you. The new "My Local" module combines weather and real-time news about your area. You can also find out where to buy cheap gas and check out the latest lottery results. And there are more local features coming soon.

And if you miss having weather at the top of your home page, you can make it one your four preview panels in the "My Stuff" area. Click here to learn more. Here's more information about the new "My Local" features:

Just like e-mail, we know that many of you use and enjoy social networks to stay connected with friends and family members. We are introducing a feature called "My Networks" that lets you see your updates from multiple social networks all in one place. And we're giving you an easy way to send a status update out to your profiles with just one click.

You can log in and access your profile updates from AIM, MySpace and Facebook. Bebo and Twitter and other networks are coming soon.

And, if you're asking yourself "What's a social network?", they are sites that provide a fun and easy way to stay connected. Try setting up an account with one of them and see how many of the people you know already belong to a social network. We bet you'll be surprised!

Until now, your AOL.com home page only presented you with news headlines and articles from AOL sources. However, we know that most of you don't get all of your news and information from a single source. You visit a variety of Web sites as part of your online routine which takes away valuable time from your day. We're pleased to introduce the RSS Feed Browser, a new feature that saves you time by delivering top stories and updates from the Web sites you visit most, right to your AOL.com home page.


RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and provides an easy way to surface information (e.g. feeds) from your favorite sources directly to your home page. We've even started you off with a set of pre-populated categories and feeds to some of the more popular sites around the Web including The Wall Street Journal, CBS Sportsline, TMZ, People and Engadget to name a few. We wanted you to immediately see the benefit and value of having the RSS Feed Browser on your home page.


Customizing Your RSS Feed Browser
Don't like the pre-populated categories and feed options? No worries, you can add your own set at any time. Let's say you're interested in planning a fun getaway and want to start looking for ideas. You can create a category called "Vacation Ideas" and start collecting deals and information right on your AOL.com home page.

To create a feed category, just click on the "Add" button in the upper-right corner of the Category pane and type in the category name (Vacation Ideas).


Click on the "Add Category" button and you should see it appear at the top of your "Category" list.


Next, add feeds to the sites you want to appear in your "Vacation Ideas" category. Adding a feed is just like adding a category. Click the "Add" button in the upper-right corner of the Feed pane and type in the site address (URL) or feed URL (if you know it) that you want to add – "Travel and Leisure" in this case. We'll search for any available feeds from the Web site you've entered and present you with the options to choose from. To select a feed, just check the box in front of the option(s) you want and click "Add Feed". That's it.


The "Travel and Leisure" article feed will now be delivered to your RSS Feed Browser every time you visit your AOL.com home page. This is a "rinse and repeat" process, so you can add as many categories and feeds as you like.


You can also edit categories and feeds at any time. Just roll over the category or feed you want to update to expose the pen or "edit" icon. Click on the pen to display the Edit screen where you update category or feed information as desired. You can even "Delete" options from your RSS Feed Browser.



Also, you'll find "Related Articles" at the bottom of each feed. Sphere scours the Web and delivers content (not ads) related to the topics of the feeds displayed in your RSS Feed Browser. So you get even more content from across the Web delivered right to you on your home page.



How We Store Your RSS Feed Browser Choices
When you make changes to your page, like adding feeds to your RSS Browser, we store those choices in a secure "cookie" on the computer that you are using. A cookie is, basically, a file that stores information you enter on a Web page, to save you time later. We use cookies on the AOL.com home page so that you don't have to Sign In or be required to have an AOL screen name to use and save your personalization options. However, deleting your browser cookies or private data will wipe out any changes you've made to your home page. Click here to learn how to protect your personalization choices.


That pretty much covers the basic functionality of the RSS Feed Browser. We hope that you spend some time getting acquainted with the feature. Again, we believe it's a great tool that will make your online routine more efficient and save you time. Let us know what you think.

Learn more about the other new features:

My Stuff - your mini-dashboard with mail preview and more
Mail Preview - preview your mail from Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL
My Networks - your social networks in one place
My Links – customizable navigation
My Local – weather, real-time news and more
Themes - choose your homepage design

The "My Stuff" area features direct access to your e-mail and other information that's most important to you in one place, almost like a mini-dashboard. We've taken the preview panel experience from the "classic" AOL.com home page that we know is already popular with many of you and made it easier for to edit and to browse through all Preview Panel options.

The preview panels featured in "My Stuff" function the same as before. You can "expand" a preview panel by rolling your mouse over any of the four tabs. Clicking on any of the four tabs loaded you on your home page or in the carousel will launch the appropriate feature or site.

And now, we've made it easier for you to choose the four preview panels you want to see on your home page. Just click on the "Edit" button in the top right corner of the module to open the customization options window.

You can update any of the four preview panels you want by clicking the "Edit" below each preview panel and selecting the feature you want.


For those of you who miss having Weather as one of your four panels, now's your chance to add it back.
Just click on the preview panel tab you want to replace and select "Weather" from the Edit drop-down menu.

We've introduced a brand new design to compliment the new features set. One of our primary goals for the redesign was to give you more options and control over your experience. So in spirit of giving you options, we've introduced new set of design themes from which you can choose .

If blue is not for you, here's a peek at the five alternative options with more coming soon.

• Obsidian
  
  



• Organic
  



• 3D
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Purple
  
  



• Deco
  

To make one of these themes your own, just go to the chooser at the top right and click on the the Theme square that you like best.


Your home page will refresh with the theme of your choice.

How We Store Your Themes
When you make changes to your page, like changing your theme, we store those choices in a secure "cookie" on the computer that you are using. A cookie is, basically, a file that stores information you enter on a Web page, to save you time later. We use cookies on the AOL.com home page so that you don't have to Sign In or be required to have an AOL screen name to use and save your personalization options. However, deleting your browser cookies or private data will wipe out any changes you've made to your home page, like choosing a new theme. Click here to learn how to protect your personalization choices.

We hope you enjoy the new themes and that they make you feel more at home on your home page.


Learn more about the other new features:

My Stuff - your mini-dashboard with mail preview and more
Mail Preview - preview your mail from Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL
My Networks - your social networks in one place
My Links – customizable navigation
My Local – weather, real-time news and more
RSS Feed Browser - news and updates from other Web sites

Hopefully you've had a chance to try out some of the new features that let you personalize your home page. We wanted to let you how we store those preferences, so you can prevent the changes you've made to your home page from being lost. Any time you make changes to your home page, like adding sites to My Links, feeds to the RSS reader or choosing a theme, we store those preferences in a secure "cookie" on your computer. Basically, the cookie allows us to remember the changes you've made and deliver your home page to you the way that you want each time you go to AOL.com. We use cookies on AOL.com so that you are not required to login to the AOL network or even have an AOL screen name to be able to still use and save our personalization features.

We've received feedback from some you that the changes you've made have disappeared or didn't stick, and we understand how frustrating that would be since you invested the time to personalize.

What's happening in these circumstances is that your "cookies" are being deleted. Again, we use cookies to store your individual choices or preferences, so when that cookie is deleted the changes you've made to your home page get cleared away

However, there are ways that you can protect your cookies or private data. Sometimes your browser default settings might not allow cookies or could be set to delete your cookies every time you close it. But you can easily change your browser settings. Here's some information to help you check and update your browser settings.

Internet Explorer

To check your browser settings click click the "Alt" key and "T" keys simultaneously and your "Tools" menu should drop down from the top of your browser window automatically.

Then select "Internet Options" from the menu and then the "Privacy" tab.

If your settings are listed as Medium/High or higher, you may need to manually add AOL.com as a site from which you will allow cookies to save your settings. To add AOL.com, just click on the "Sites" button and then type www.aol.com in the input field then click "Allow". That's it.

If your Privacy settings are Medium or lower, you should not have to worry about losing your choices unless you manually choose to delete

Firefox

To check your browser settings click the "Alt" and "T" keys simultaneously and your "Tools" menu should drop down from the top of your browser window. Select "Options" from the menu and then select the "Privacy tab. ". Make sure that the checkboxes in the Cookies section are checked and that "Keep Until" is set as "until they expire".

Safari

For you Safari users, you can find similar setting by clicking Alt-E and then click on the "Security" tab. Make sure that the Accept Cookies setting is set to Always or Only from sites you navigate to (make sure its not set as Never).

If you are feeling very tech savvy, and you do want to delete cookies, you can go in and save the cookie named "uauserid". I'll spare you the details on how to do this as I have a feeling anyone who wants to venture down this path likely knows their way around pretty well already. If you do need help, please do drop us a comment here and we'll be sure to respond.

We are working on a solution that will let you bind your home page preferences to your AOL or potentially other external accounts, which we hope to release later this year. The benefit of this feature is that you can sign in to any computer at any time and have your home page reflect your preferences.

So, hopefully this information has helped. But if you still have issues or questions, there are some additional FAQs here or feel free to post of comment or send us feedback and we'll be sure to respond.

In September, we introduced the capability to preview your emails from other providers like Gmail and Yahoo, in addition to your AOL mail. You may, like many of us, have multiple e-mail accounts with different providers. And we wanted to make it easy for you to preview e-mail from other providers like Gmail and Yahoo! directly on AOL.com. Why shouldn't you be able to preview all your accounts in one place?!

We have received a lot of positive feedback about the feature since launch (thank you!) and mail preview is an important feature in the new home page design. You will find it in the "My Stuff" area in the top right corner of the home page.

If you haven't used mail preview before, here's more information to get you started. First, you need to set up account for each mail provider before you can preview your inbox. Just mouse-over the Yahoo! or Gmail preview panel tabs to get started on the set-up process.

Each one is a little bit different so, here's a quick walk-through.

Yahoo
To add a Yahoo account to your mail preview, simply place your mouse over the Y! icon. The panel will expand and you'll find a button prompting you to sign-in.

You may have noticed that we've made some major changes to the home page. And if you haven't, we're in the process of rolling them out to everyone in the coming weeks. So change is coming soon.

We've spent several months working hard to design an experience that makes it easy for you to access the things YOU care about most – right from your AOL.com home page. So, we are opening our site to include features you've told us are important to you -- whether it's access to different email accounts or your favorite Web sites. You're stuff is as important as our (AOL) stuff.

A little over a month ago we introduced Gmail and Yahoo! mail previews to the AOL.com home page. We received a lot of positive feedback from you when we introduced the feature so we knew we were on to something.

Today, we are pleased to introduce more features that, we hope, will save you time and make your online routine a little easier and more relevant. You'll now find access to some of your favorite Social Networks, an RSS Feed Browser that lets you read news from other Web sites, customizable navigation, enhanced Local information featuring real-time news and some fun new themes -- all available right on your AOL.com home page.

We want to thank you for your feedback. It helped us build the site you see today. We'd like to keep the conversation going and continue listening to what you like, don't like and really wish you could have on your homepage. So please leave comments on the blog or send us feedback.

We hope enjoy the new AOL.com home page. And if you want to learn more about the new features, click on the links below. Or, sit back, relax and watch the Page Tour. Enjoy!

My Stuff - your mini-dashboard with mail preview and more

Themes - choose your homepage design

Mail Preview - preview your mail from Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL

My Networks - your social networks in one place

My Links – customizable navigation

My Local – weather, real-time news and more

RSS Feed Browser - news and updates from other Web sites

PS: We understand that change is not always easy so, if you love the look and feel of the "classic" AOL.com home page, you can choose to go back by clicking the "Back to Classic" link located at the top of the page next to the Theme chooser.

We're nearing the "finish line" with a new home page design and a set of features that will put you more in control of your online experience.

About a month ago, we introduced the ability for you to preview your e-mail accounts from other providers like Yahoo and Gmail without having to leave your home page. Like you, we have multiple email accounts too and knew it would make your lives easier to be able to check them all from one place (the AOL Homepage, naturally). Your feedback on that recent addition has been overwhelmingly positive; Thank You!

We also know that many of you use multiple Social Networks (so do we!) so one the most useful of the "Coming Soon" features is the ability to preview updates from the Social Networks you use most (AIM, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and more coming soon), much like the Mail Preview we added last month. We love this feature and we know you will too because it provides a quick and easy of staying on top of all your updates in one place.

Additionally, you can customize your navigation by adding links to any sites you want and even re-order them. We're giving you a set of customizable themes so you can decide how you want your page to look, and an RSS reader so you can read news and updates from any other sites you choose. We're even updating our local section to feature news, weather, gas prices, and lottery results from your area.

Getting excited yet?

Enjoy a sneak peek of the new AOL.com right now!