From my previous entry about the SpellBound Firefox extension, comments had suggested checking out Google Toolbar which now includes spell check, but be aware that it sends data back to Google servers. This morning I played with the toolbar a bit to check out the latest features (I don’t generally use any of these search toolbars). When you run spell check for the first time, an information dialog appears, informing you that “SpellCheck uses Google servers. Please view the updated Toolbar Privacy Policy.” I like the plain language shown here and the fact that it comes up just when you’re…
I’ve really come to appreciate and rely on the SpellBound Firefox extension. Whether it’s creating a new blog entry, submitting bug reports and comments, or any other web-based content, having spell check only a right-click away is very handy. Things were going swimmingly, until Firefox 1.5.0.1 update came out. Unfortunately the SpellBound extension and the corresponding dictionaries both reported incompatibility with the newer version. A quick web search revealed one possible solution: editing the install.rdf file inside the XPI packages to raise the “maximum” version number supported. After uninstalling my existing extensions, then installing these newly-modified ones, spell check was…
I’ve been a big Stanford football fan and season ticket holder for quite a while now (I guess about 8 years). The whole “anti-establishment” band thing has been amusing at times, but especially when they get in trouble. From SFGate.com yesterday, it turns out that the tree was fired for drinking on the job (emphasis mine): “She wasn’t doing anything offensive,” Urmy said. “She was just jumping and dancing. The tree’s movement is usually consistent with that of someone who’s had something to drink.” Those in my family who are Notre Dame fans relish the fact that Stanford’s band is…
I spent the whole afternoon in jury duty, coming home to learn about the new Yahoo! User Interface blog which coincides with the public launch of the Yahoo! UI Library and Design Patterns. It looks like all this stuff launched yesterday (Monday, February 13). Here’s the scoop from the new UI blog: This blog is the companion blog for two libraries we’re proudly releasing today. The new Yahoo! Design Pattern Library offers our thinking on common interface design issues for traditional and rich Internet applications. The new Yahoo! User Interface Library is a collection of industrial-grade JavaScript utilities and widgets…
I recently discovered the Aardvark Firefox extension and have found it quite helpful for printing web sites that don’t already offer “printer friendly” versions. Aardvark lets you remove page elements like navigation bars or ads. Whether you’re printing out a longer article or just trying to read something online, this is really a helpful tool. To demonstrate this extension, I’ve made my first screencast with Camtasia Studio. I’m still trying to figure out the best combination of image/sound quality versus file size. I’ve published a couple different combinations to try: Aardvark Firefox Extension Screencast, Flash format (20 MB) Aardvark Firefox…