Newsletter Archives

Bookmarklets

Have you discovered bookmarklets yet? They are small pre-packaged JavaScript applications that are contained in browser bookmarks, which means you can load them on your browser toolbar so they are just a mouse-click away when you need them. If you are proficient in JavaScript, you can write your own; the rest of us will take advantage of the multitude of free bookmarklets available on the web.

So, what would you want a bookmarklet to do? For starters, you can zap those annoying plug-ins and embedded ads; block pop-up ads from appearing when you leave a site; block cookies from a site without changing your browser preferences; and stop annoying audio files from playing.

In addition to these nifty tools, you can add bookmarklets to your toolbar that let you switch from one search engine to another, with your search words ported into the new search engine -- all with one mouse click.

So, for example, if you run a search on Yahoo and don't find what you are looking for, you can click your Teoma bookmarklet and the same search will be executed in Teoma. So, where do you find these bookmarklets? Two excellent web sites to start with are http://www.Bookmarklets.com and http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets. You can also browse the Open Directory Project's listing of bookmarklets. And Greg Notess, editor of SearchEngineWatch, has built a nice page of some of his favourite bookmarklets.

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Do you ever struggle with tangibly demonstrating to your organisation the need for high-end value-added online information sources, in addition to the web? I recently wrote an updated white paper for Factiva, titled "Free, Fee-Based and Value-Added Online Services". You can download a free copy by going to http://snipurl.com/WhitePaper and clicking the PDF link on the first item. You'll be prompted to provide your contact information, then you'll see the PDF file. If you have any problem downloading the white paper, email me at meb@WebSearchPacific.com and I will send you a copy.

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