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I found a pretty cool item on Techmeme this morning that I did not previously notice. Apparently I have yet to Google anything this morning because if I had I would have seen that my personalized homepage now has the option of being skinned. The skins, or themes as Google calls them, add a a bit of color to the page by way of an image at the top, a design in the footer, and by coloring the page elements to match the image you choice. Currently there are six themes (not including the original). The one pictured above (tea house) is my choice.

If that was not cool enough the image is loaded dynamically so it changes as the day progresses. When you load a theme Google asks for your zip code (as if they did not already know) so that they can have the system load the correct image to match the sunset and sunrise in your area. Not exactly a coding miracle, but still a nice little trick.

Right now you are not able to customize your theme or load your own, but this seems like the logical next step. It is interesting to see Google going from a completely stripped down page with just a few elements to the personalized homepage and now throwing in aesthetic customization. This in some ways goes against their purely functional way of doing things but it would seem to suggest a maturation of the company and willingness to try to broaden their appeal when faced with competition from other personalized homepages, like those from Yahoo, Netvibes, and Pageflakes. I don’t know how many people it will win over as it does not add any functionality to the page, but it the designs are well done and it makes Google seem a bit more personable.

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