startsidan

Startsidan is a Swedish term that refers to the start page or homepage used when accessing the internet. It is also the name of a Swedish web portal that operated as a gateway to Swedish online content for many users during the internet’s growth in the 1990s and 2000s. As a portal, Startsidan offered a curated collection of links and content organized into sections such as News, Weather, E-mail, Entertainment, Finance, and Games. It typically included a search function and could function as a personalized entry point for visitors, acting as a central hub from which users could navigate to other sites.

Historically, Startsidan-type portals emerged as browsers became popular and users sought a single, convenient starting point. In Sweden, such portals competed with international portals as well as local directories, gaining traction by presenting Swedish-language content and locally relevant services. They served both as information gateways and as platforms for online advertising, user accounts, and community features in some cases.

With the rise of modern search engines, social media, and mobile apps, the emphasis on centralized portals diminished. Many Startsidan-style portals either closed, rebranded, or shifted focus to niche or regional content. Despite this decline, the concept of a home page as a personalized starting point remains a common feature in browsers, even as individual portals have become less dominant.

Overall, Startsidan reflects an era of web navigation where a single page aimed to organize and streamline access to online resources, while also illustrating shifts in internet usage and design.