xpgeek
23-10-2005, 09:55 PM
What is a bookmarklet and what does it do ?
Bookmarklets are free tools to help with repetitive or otherwise impossible tasks in your web browser.
What they actually are, is standard bookmarks, but in place of a website URL address it is instead javascript code. Clicking the bookmarklet runs the javascript code the same way clicking a normal bookmark makes the browser load the URL. Bookmarklets can do what web pages can do, and nothing else. When you click a bookmarklet, the browser executes the JavaScript code as if it's a part of the page.
What they can do depends on what the bookmarklet was written to do, but they can do many different things.
Some remove or change the colors of a web page, such as a useful one I use called zap colors. If you've ever come across a web page with horrible colors too dark to be able to read anything, you simply click the zap colors bookmarklet, and it will remove any background image, turn the background color white, and turn all the text black and links blue, making it very easy to read the web page now.
Some add things to a web page such as a useful one I like that adds a pause button and a seek bar to all Flash movies.
Others can zoom all images in, or out, or move up a directory in the URL, such as imdb.com/title/tt0419706 to imdb.com/title or up again to imdb.com. Others can instantly direct the page through a web page translator like Google translate, or perform a dictionary search or a Wikipedia search on any word that was highlighted and selected when the bookmarklet was clicked. The limits of what bookmarklets can do are almost endless.
How do I use a bookmarklet ?
First you find a web page listing created bookmarklets for you to save and use. I will provide links to some of these web pages below. When you've found one you like and want to save, you click on the bookmarklet, and instead of clicking and releasing, click and hold, and then move the mouse to drag the bookmarklet up onto your bookmarks toolbar or links bar. This is the easiest way to save a bookmarklet.
To use a bookmarklet, while viewing a page you want to use the bookmarklet on, simply click the bookmarklet from your bookmarks toolbar or links bar, and it will execute the javascript code of the bookmarklet.
Bookmarklets do not have to be kept on the toolbar. Once saved they can be moved to any other place in your bookmarks, or all put into one folder for bookmarklets. It doesn't matter where in your bookmarks or favorites they are, they still perform the same way when clicking one.
I keep my bookmarklets organized in their own folder, still on my bookmarks toolbar so I can find them quickly, as so :
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/127/bookmarklets5zt.png
I am using the Firefox web browser there. Notice all bookmark folders in Firefox have an option to open all bookmarks in the folder in tabs. Do not click this in a folder full of bookmarklets. As each bookmarklet is a piece of javascript code and does a different thing, even though I've never actually tried it, I am pretty certain it would probably instantly crash the browser.
Not all bookmarklets work in all browsers.
Many bookmarklets don't work in Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft reduces Internet Explorer's support for bookmarklets with every new version of Internet Explorer. IE5 supported bookmarklets up to 2,083 characters. IE6 limits bookmarklets to 508 characters. IE6 SP2 keeps the 508-character limit and also counts each space as multiple characters.
Firefox supports 100,000 character bookmarklets. Its probably even more then that, but no ones come up with a tool to test it at more then that. Needless to say, this limit will support any bookmarklet ever written, unless the bookmarklet was written specifically for use in a another browser.
Opera 7 limits bookmarklets to about 4,000 characters. I am unsure of the limit in Opera 8.
Most good bookmarklet web sites will say which browsers the bookmarklet will work in. Not all do, or some offer only bookmarklets for a certain browser and will say so somewhere, and some don't say so anywhere and you will have to test for yourself if it will work in your browser.
Many bookmarklets don't work when you block pop-up ads in Internet Explorer.
Most pop-up blocking designed to work with Internet Explorer, such as the Google Toolbar, only allows web pages to open windows within milliseconds of a click. Some pop-up blocking software doesn't even count a click on a bookmarklet as a click. The pop-up blocking built into Firefox and Opera get it right. They always allow web pages to open windows in response to a click on a link or button.
Summary :
Now that you know what bookmarklets are, what they do, and how to get them and use them, have fun.
And of course, bookmarklets are javascript code, so they will not work at all in a web browser that does not support javascript or if javascript is disabled.
Places to get bookmarklets :
Here are some good web sites to get bookmarklets from. The very first one is probably the best one, having scores of them and listing exactly which browser each will work in.
http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/10/bookmarklets_ev.html
http://subsimple.com/bookmarklets/default.asp
http://www.bookmarklets.com/tools/categor.html
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/bookmarklets.html
http://tantek.com/favelets/
http://homepage.mac.com/samrod/
http://www.philburns.com/bookmarklets.html
http://www.webconfs.com/seo-bookmarklets.php
http://milov.nl/tag/bookmarklets/
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessibility-checking-favelets.asp
http://www.andybudd.com/bookmarklets/
Bookmarklets are free tools to help with repetitive or otherwise impossible tasks in your web browser.
What they actually are, is standard bookmarks, but in place of a website URL address it is instead javascript code. Clicking the bookmarklet runs the javascript code the same way clicking a normal bookmark makes the browser load the URL. Bookmarklets can do what web pages can do, and nothing else. When you click a bookmarklet, the browser executes the JavaScript code as if it's a part of the page.
What they can do depends on what the bookmarklet was written to do, but they can do many different things.
Some remove or change the colors of a web page, such as a useful one I use called zap colors. If you've ever come across a web page with horrible colors too dark to be able to read anything, you simply click the zap colors bookmarklet, and it will remove any background image, turn the background color white, and turn all the text black and links blue, making it very easy to read the web page now.
Some add things to a web page such as a useful one I like that adds a pause button and a seek bar to all Flash movies.
Others can zoom all images in, or out, or move up a directory in the URL, such as imdb.com/title/tt0419706 to imdb.com/title or up again to imdb.com. Others can instantly direct the page through a web page translator like Google translate, or perform a dictionary search or a Wikipedia search on any word that was highlighted and selected when the bookmarklet was clicked. The limits of what bookmarklets can do are almost endless.
How do I use a bookmarklet ?
First you find a web page listing created bookmarklets for you to save and use. I will provide links to some of these web pages below. When you've found one you like and want to save, you click on the bookmarklet, and instead of clicking and releasing, click and hold, and then move the mouse to drag the bookmarklet up onto your bookmarks toolbar or links bar. This is the easiest way to save a bookmarklet.
To use a bookmarklet, while viewing a page you want to use the bookmarklet on, simply click the bookmarklet from your bookmarks toolbar or links bar, and it will execute the javascript code of the bookmarklet.
Bookmarklets do not have to be kept on the toolbar. Once saved they can be moved to any other place in your bookmarks, or all put into one folder for bookmarklets. It doesn't matter where in your bookmarks or favorites they are, they still perform the same way when clicking one.
I keep my bookmarklets organized in their own folder, still on my bookmarks toolbar so I can find them quickly, as so :
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/127/bookmarklets5zt.png
I am using the Firefox web browser there. Notice all bookmark folders in Firefox have an option to open all bookmarks in the folder in tabs. Do not click this in a folder full of bookmarklets. As each bookmarklet is a piece of javascript code and does a different thing, even though I've never actually tried it, I am pretty certain it would probably instantly crash the browser.
Not all bookmarklets work in all browsers.
Many bookmarklets don't work in Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft reduces Internet Explorer's support for bookmarklets with every new version of Internet Explorer. IE5 supported bookmarklets up to 2,083 characters. IE6 limits bookmarklets to 508 characters. IE6 SP2 keeps the 508-character limit and also counts each space as multiple characters.
Firefox supports 100,000 character bookmarklets. Its probably even more then that, but no ones come up with a tool to test it at more then that. Needless to say, this limit will support any bookmarklet ever written, unless the bookmarklet was written specifically for use in a another browser.
Opera 7 limits bookmarklets to about 4,000 characters. I am unsure of the limit in Opera 8.
Most good bookmarklet web sites will say which browsers the bookmarklet will work in. Not all do, or some offer only bookmarklets for a certain browser and will say so somewhere, and some don't say so anywhere and you will have to test for yourself if it will work in your browser.
Many bookmarklets don't work when you block pop-up ads in Internet Explorer.
Most pop-up blocking designed to work with Internet Explorer, such as the Google Toolbar, only allows web pages to open windows within milliseconds of a click. Some pop-up blocking software doesn't even count a click on a bookmarklet as a click. The pop-up blocking built into Firefox and Opera get it right. They always allow web pages to open windows in response to a click on a link or button.
Summary :
Now that you know what bookmarklets are, what they do, and how to get them and use them, have fun.
And of course, bookmarklets are javascript code, so they will not work at all in a web browser that does not support javascript or if javascript is disabled.
Places to get bookmarklets :
Here are some good web sites to get bookmarklets from. The very first one is probably the best one, having scores of them and listing exactly which browser each will work in.
http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/10/bookmarklets_ev.html
http://subsimple.com/bookmarklets/default.asp
http://www.bookmarklets.com/tools/categor.html
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/bookmarklets.html
http://tantek.com/favelets/
http://homepage.mac.com/samrod/
http://www.philburns.com/bookmarklets.html
http://www.webconfs.com/seo-bookmarklets.php
http://milov.nl/tag/bookmarklets/
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessibility-checking-favelets.asp
http://www.andybudd.com/bookmarklets/