Google Offers Personal Home Page APIGoogle Offers Personal Home Page API

Google Inc. is trying to make it easier for developers to build applications that can be embedded in the personal homepage that the search engine offers subscribers.

The new application programming interface, called the Google Homepage API and released this week, doesn't require a download and is designed to be flexible and easy to use, the Mountain View, Calif., company said.

A developer guide walks developers through the process of using the API to build modules for the personal homepage. A module, at its basic level, is an XML file that wraps Web content or applications, Google said.

Once a module is finished, the developer can submit it to Google for inclusion in the directory containing other modules for use by homepage subscribers.