iGoogle theme API released

The clues that presented themselves in October all stated adding up yesterday. Just as I thought, Google officially announced their API that lets people make their very own iGoogle themes for the world to use. The new feature has produced a few pretty nice themes so far, and I'm sure there will be a lot more soon.

To jumpstart the development of iGoogle Themes, we've released custom themes from innovative designers Yves Behar, Mark Frauenfelder, Troy Lee and John Maeda. These themes are great examples of creative, high-quality themes and we hope will inspire theme designers.

Unlike what you might have expected, the directory likely won't start filling up with terrible themes -- this is because for a theme to be added to the list, it must follow some pretty strict guidelines:

For a theme to be included in the iGoogle Themes directory, it must be a compelling, polished, tested design that conforms to the guidelines given in the program policy. You must also include all of the metadata fields

To select a new theme, click the "Select theme" link at the top of your iGoogle page, then find one you like. Once you have chosen your favorite, click the "Add It Now" button to change the look of your homepage.