From: Bob Rankin

TOPIC: Bookmarklets Bookmarklets are one of the coolest and most useful ideas I've seen in a long time. They are a simple combination of browser bookmarks and Javascript code. You don't have to be a programmer to use them, and bookmarklets can add macros and additional features to your browser, whether it's Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Bookmarklets are cool because they work anywhere - Windows, Macintosh, Unix or any other platform where you can run Netscape or Explorer. By assigning a bookmarklet to a permanent button on your Navigator Personal Toolbar or Explorer Links Bar, you can add some very useful features to your browser. How Do Bookmarklets Work? -------------------------

If you're not a geek, you can safely skip this section. But if you want to understand how bookmarklets work and how to write your own, read on. As I mentioned earlier, bookmarklets combine the power of bookmarks with the Javascript language. A bookmarklet is actually a tiny Javascript program contained in a bookmark that you can save and use the same way you use normal bookmarks. Type this URL into your browser and you should see a popup appear on the screen. (If it doesn't, either you've disabled Javascript, or you have a REALLY old browser.)

javascript:alert("Ride The Bus")

If I make it into an HTML hyperlink as shown below, you can just click on it to run the script. But that's boring...

Making this hyperlink into a bookmarklet is where the fun begins. To do that, just drag the hyperlink and drop it on the Personal Toolbar. Ride The Bus Note: This probably won't work unless you're reading this issue as a web page with your browser. To do that, visit the Tourbus Archives at the address below and open up the issue for 25 May 1999. http://www.tourbus.com/archives.htm Creating a bookmarklet that just pops up a message isn't very exciting. But describing how to do some really useful stuff wouldn't be practical in this space. So I suggest you read the excellent article at http://www.webreference.com/js/column35 which describes in detail how to create your own bookmarklets. Some Really Cool Bookmarklets ----------------------------- At Bookmarklets.com you'll find dozens of free bookmarklets written by Steve Kangas. Fortunately for us, Steve decided to quit his job as a Low-dimensional Topologist (rough translation: Serious Math Nerd) when he discovered the Web in 1995. Steve has created all kinds of useful bookmarklets and he's nice enough to give them away FREE on his website. Here's a sample of what you'll find there:

QUICK SEARCH - Pop up a search box without loading the search engine home page. Enter your search words, press OK and the search results appear!

HYPERLINK ANYTHING - Select a word that's NOT a hyperlink and quickly feed it into your favorite search engines, dictionary or thesaurus. Lets you turn any word on a web page into a hyperlink. You MUST try this one!

CALCULATORS & CONVERTERS - Crunch numbers (even complicated formulas) or convert weight, temperature, length, volume from English Metric.

JUST THE LINKS - Creates a new page with just the links that appear in the page you are viewing.

EMAIL SELECTED TEXT - Mark the desired text, start this bookmarklet and either Outlook or Messenger will pop up with selected text in the message body.

CHANGE BACKGROUND - Changes the background color of the page you are viewing to the color you specify. Really helpful for those "dark blue on black" motifs that are impossible to read.

REMOVE BACKGROUND - Removes the background image of the page. Helpful if the page has a background image that makes it difficult to read the text.

HIDE IMAGES - Optionally hide all images, or just 468x60 ad banners. Sounds more interesting than useful, but who knows?

AUTO-SCROLL - Auto-scroll a web page for you. The page scrolls down automatically at a speed you select.

LINK HIGHLIGHTER - Puts a yellow background behind each link, so it looks like it was marked with a highlighting pen. (Some sites are now using "style sheets" which allow the designer to create links without the standard color and underlining - sigh.)

Not surprisingly, the address to find all this good stuff is: http://www.bookmarklets.com To add any of these bookmarklets to your browser, just drag the link and drop it on your Personal Toolbar or Links Bar. A new button will appear and you can run the bookmarklet by clicking that button. That's all for now - see you next time! --Bob Rankin