I just wanted to show off a cool project I've found recently. Dashy is a very customizable dashboard that works perfectly for self-hosting projects. You can monitor any service that is reachable via http/https and use widgets like the universal web search interface, I've enabled in my installation.
I only use it as a glorified startup page for my browsers with the search function, but to give you an idea of what's possible, you can take a look at some more creative examples as well.
Very cool, it reminded me that most of all Linux distros seem to their ads in the Firefox install. Things like discussion boards and Amazon keeps getting pinned when I install a new Linux distro. It's the norm but it's kind of gross. Ask if I want all your ads.