So you’ve installed a bunch of new searches for Firefox, like this one for the Westminster Bookstore, but don’t want to always be switching back and forth between Google and your other favorite searches. Well there is an easy way to automatically switch between searches: Firefox Keywords.
Setting things up is easy. First drop down your search bar dialog (just like you do to install new searches). Click on “Manage Search Engines.” A new dialog pops up. Select the search that you would like to be able to access more quickly, then click “Edit Keyword.” Type in something short and memorable. I typed “wts” for the Westminster Bookstore search and “g” for Google. You can add keywords to as many search engines as you want, they just have to be unique.
Now you’re all set. To activate your desired search, based on these keywords, go to your address bar (that big long bar you type web addresses into). Alt+D is the default shortcut for easily accessing your address bar. Now type in your keyword, space, and your query. Hit return, and watch Firefox do the rest! Neat!
Who needs Google when you’ve got the Westminster Bookstore, right? Well now you can add that famed repository of Reformed Christian resources right into your Browser search bar.
It's now easier than ever to search your favorite Reformed bookstore!
How? Easy. If you are viewing this page (and my guess is you are), just click on the search engine toolbar in your browser and select “Add the Westminster Bookstore.” Still confused? Just check the picture to the right. This plugin works in Firefox, Internet Explorer 7, and several other popular browsers.
Consider this the official page of this little plugin. Updates will be posted here, so you may want to bookmark this post. Please post any comments, suggestions, or problems in the comments section and I will respond as soon as possible.
This blog exists to promote and describe tools and technologies that might be of interest to Christians. If you are interested in such things, why not subscribe to my blog.
If you love the Westminster Bookstore, then you’re going to want to read this post. I have created a command for Firefox‘sUbiquity that allows you to search the Westminster Bookstore without ever leaving your web page. You can even highlight text on any web page and automatically search WTS Books using that text.
The ubiquity notification bar appears on pages with Ubiquity commands
If you know all about Ubiquity, and already have it installed, then simply add the wtsbooks command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtsbooks”, then your search. To highlight and search, just select text on any web page (try it now on the word bavinck), activate ubiquity, and then type “wtsbooks” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)!
New to Ubiquity? Keep reading!
What is Ubiquity?
Ubiquity is a plugin for Firefox (an excellent web browser) that allows you to interact with the web in a whole new way. It is a way of talking to the internet, telling it what kind of information you want and what you want to do with it. Bottom line: it’s the future of interacting with the web because it lets you do things more naturally and with less effort.
All this may sound like a lot of fluff. Why not see Ubiquity in action? The video below is an amazing demonstration of Ubiquity’s power and promise.
Easy. If you are using Firefox just go here and click the “Download Latest Version Ubiquity” link (or alternatively, just click here). Restart Firefox. You should see a page that tells you how to use Ubiquity and offers you a few options.
Note the keyboard shortcut listed in the top left corner of the page. It’s set to <CTRL>+Space by default (for Windows). You will use this shortcut to invoke Ubiquity and type your commands. Try it out now. Press the shortcut key, then type in “weather”. Wait for it…. Pretty cool, huh?
You may want to customize your shortcut key (especially if it doesn’t work, which is probably because that key combination is mapped to some other command on your system). I have mine set to WINDOWS+U.
How do I install more Ubiquity commands?
Ubiquity just provides the interface—the language by which your browser can communicate with you. For Ubiquity to be useful, you need to install commands. Ubiquity comes with a whole set of default commands, and installing new ones couldn’t be easier.
The ubiquity notification bar appears on pages with Ubiquity commands
If you go to a web page (like this one!) that contains a Ubiquity command, a little drop-down notice will appear asking if you want to subscribe. If you do, click “Subscribe” and follow the instructions on the next page. That page will look unnecessarily scary. It’s asking you if you trust the source. If you do, scroll down to the bottom and click “I know what I’m doing”. You might also want to check the “auto-update the feed” box, which means that anytime the author of the command makes a change, you will automatically have the latest version.
You can subscribe to the “wtsbooks” command by browsing to this page with Ubiquity installed and clicking “Subscribe” when the notification window drops down.
To use the command, activate Ubiquity (your shortcut key) and start typing “wtsbooks”. Then type in your search and press “enter”. You can also select text on a web page, activate Ubiquity, type “wtsbooks,” and the text you selected will be automatically entered as your search.
Future prospects
For future updates to this command, bookmark this page or subscribe to my site. I hope to add more functionality in the future, like search previews (type “amazon” into Ubiquity to see what I mean) and other goodies. If you have suggestions or questions, please post them in the comments!
In addition to a whole host of great features, you can use Zotero to annotate Web pages that you have saved as snapshots.
Now you can annotate you favorite web pages
Zotero allows you to take a snapshot of any web page for later viewing. If I then view that snapshot (all the files for which are stored on your hard drive, and therefore are in principle modifiable), a little toolbar pops up. The options are primitive, but helpful. I can highlight text or add little sticky-style notes to the page. The toolbar pops up for stored PDFs as well, but the functionality does not seem to work here yet–just web pages for now. Perhaps later releases will add PDF support.
You can download Zotero Sync preview here. Though this is the version I recommend, be careful, it is still pre-Beta. If you want the stable release, go here.
If you have not yet set up Zotero, follow this guide.
Update: Apparently this functionality has been available for awhile now, and I just failed to notice. Ooops. This post has been modified to take that into account.
Well, I’m back after the holidays. Quess what happened on my New Years?
For reasons that boggle the mind, I decided to type in the Linux equivalent of “format c:/”. Seriously. The result? My entire Windows partition is irrevocably gone.
Not a problem. I back up my data. Everything iimportant is safe, and all my dissertation research is secure, largely because of an excellent backup utility called Dropbox. I put all my important files into my dropbox and they are automatically synced accross multiple computers, and online. So after a little drag-and-drop, I’m back to work.
Back up Zotero
As many of you know I am a big advocate of Zotero for research and bibliographic management. It is worth noting that by default Zotero puts all required files in your Firefox folder, which is generally not backed up by most software. You can always add it to your Dropbox, but a better idea is to change your settings. Go into Zotero’s Preferences dialog and the Advanced Settings to set a new location for Zotero files. Put it in your My Documents folder under a subfolder called “Zotero.” Almost all backup software will backup you My Documents folder by default, so this is the safest place.
One Dropbox Limitation
One thing to be noted: Dropbox is not true backup software. True backup software archives your files on a periodic basis. Dropbox does something a little different; it mirrors you files. Any changes you make on your computer are automatically changed in your dropbox. If you overwrite or delete a file, it will be overwritten or deleted in dropbox.
This might be a problem, except Dropbox saves all revisions, so if you do something stupid, and then your stupidity is mirrored by Dropbox, you can “undo” your changes by going to the Web interface and clicking “Restore my files.” That’s what I had to do, and it worked flawlessly and quickly.
Thanks Dropbox!
Make a New Year’s Resolution
I have two suggestions for nerdy New Year’s resolutions: (1) Backup your data, (2) Use Super-User priveledges responsibly.
Fostertribe has finished compiling his list of Bible Software reviews. This is a very handy guide to (largely introductory) Bible software. Bibleworks doesn’t make the list, nor do a couple of online tools, but the guide is very helpfully organized. Anyone interested in an introductory desktop program for reading and searching the Bible should check it out.
For an in depth look at the upcoming version of Bibleworks, check out this series of posts.
The web is now a primary arena for serious research. With Google Scholar, the Internet Archive, academic blogs where writers self-publish their complete works (such as this one), it is now possible to do a whole host of respectable research on the internet.
But how do you take notes on a web page? Should you print it out? That seems to miss the point. Use Zotero? Sure, for simple things, but it would be nice to have a dedicated web-note taking system (to complement Zotero’s functionality).
Enter WebNote. From ReadWriteWeb:
There are any number of services that offer the ability to annotate Web pages or share finds with friends. So why spend time on WebNotes? Because it seems awfully serious about providing the types of features that allow professional researchers to do online research – and only those features.
Anyone who has spent a great deal of time doing research by sifting through printed materials will immediately notice that WebNotes offers the two most critical research tools for any bookworm: sticky notes and a highlighter. But it also offers a filing system that allows users to categorize notes and pages under topical areas, as well as the option to share your findings with others.
Read the whole thing for a full review and list of features. I have been initially impressed with the software, which runs as a plugin for your web browser.
The service is still in private beta, so you will have to request an invite. I have 10 invite codes available, so if you want one, request it in the comments or email me at tommy@nerdlets.org.
For those who found this post interesting, there are a whole host of additional Ubiquity commands available to you. If you have already set up Ubiquity (follow this link if you haven’t), then you may be interested in Mozilla’s (incomplete) repository of commands that other people have been creating for this exciting new interface. Be warned: many of these are still a little buggy, so don’t go crazy, but some are still worth a try.
Update: There is also a Ubiquity command for Cli.gs, which is not listed in repository. Get that here.
If you’re still unsure whether to install Ubiquity, check out this video (but be careful—it may blow your mind):
It is now even easier to search, read, and even listen to the Bible online.
A much improved upgrade to Ubiquity has been released, making this ground-breaking Firefox plugin prettier, more robust, and exceedingly versatile. More to the point, the ESV command for this plugin has also been updated, and the update allows you to listen to the Bible as you browse. You can watch the video at the end of this post for a full demonstration and how-to instructions.
Ubiquity is a plugin for the Firefox browser. You can read the full introduction, complete with an excellent video demonstration, here. In a nutshell: it gives your browser a basic understanding of language. You can use Ubiquity to type in simple commands in order to make Firefox do things that it would normally require several clicks and minutes to do.
Check the weather with Ubiquity
Take checking the weather as an example. The old way: (1) open up a new tab, (2) type in the URL of the weather site, (3) type in your zip code, (4) scroll past adds and other useless information. The Ubiquity way: (1) Type in “Weather”, (2) Wait while ubiquity does everything for you (it uses your IP address to automatically determine your location, check the weather site, and output todays weather in the same window).
Ubiquity Commands
Ubiquity includes a number of built in commands, such as “wikipedia” to search the site with that title, “calculate” to crunch numbers, “add-to-calendar” to add an event to your Google calendar, or “twitter” to change your twitter status. You can see all available ubiquity commands by using the command “command-list.”
The true awesomeness of Ubiquity, however, lies in the fact that any web page or service can generate a set of commands that allow you to interact with its services. You can add these commands to Ubiquity by “subscribing” to the page in question. You can find a large list of commands here, but be warned that these should all be considered beta-at-best.
How to Set Up Ubiquity and the ESV Plugin
The good folks in charge of the ESV Bible have provided a ubiquity command that allows readers to search, read, and even listen to the ESV Bible. I have written a small screen cast that shows you how to set this up and also demonstrates some of Ubiquity’s best features.
You will need to go to the following sites in order to set things up.
Below is a brief screencast demonstrating how to get Ubiquity set up, how to install the ESV plugin, and how to use both to do a number of interesting things while you browse the Internet.
Update:
Don’t miss the official video from ubiquity! It’s truly amazing:
The following is a set of links that will be useful for those trying to set up Zotero on their computers. (Not sure what Zotero is or why you would want it? Check out their site, and don’t miss the demo video).
The Zotero Plugin. There are two options here. Pick one of the following:
Zotero 2.0 Beta (recommended). This is the latest release. It is Beta software, which means you may experience bugs. But I have been using this release for sometime and have not experienced any problems. There are several advantages of this release: online syncing (though see below), rich-text editor, more functionality. Create an account online to store your Zotero database here.
Zotero Version 1.0. This is the “safe” option, but you loose some functionality, and I have not had any problems with the “cutting-edge” version above. This version will be upgraded soon, so whichever option you pick will be fine in the long term.
If you chose the Beta version, go here and follow the instructions.
This now runs as a browser plugin, which installs the Word Processor integration utility automatically. Smooth and easy.
If you downloaded the regular 1.0 version, go here and follow the instructions.
Customized Bibliography Styles. Zotero comes with a wide variety of default styles, including Chicago. But if there is a specific style that you need, check out this link to see if it is available. Researchers in Biblical Studies might be particularly interested in the SBL Style. Just click and Zotero will install everything for you.
Securing Zotero
Use the Sync Preview release (above). It will securely back up and sync all your information and notes online, which can be accessed here. It does not backup stored files or PDFs, however; only text.
If you are computer savvy, you can set up a WebDAV server to store and sync your entire Zotero database. This is like option (1) but also stores PDFs and other files. Check out this forum for suggestions.
Use Dropbox. This is the best possible solution. Install Dropbox and then open your Zotero preferences dialog. Go to the Advanced tab, then place your Zotero database in a custom location: your “My Dropbox” folder. Now anytime a change is made the Dropbox software will upload it in real-time. You can also use this to sync your Zotero database accross multiple computers, and it includes all your files (movies, PDFs, images, etc). Your data is encrypted on Dropbox’s servers, so you don’t have to worry about security concerns.
Update: I should mention one issue I have had with the Dropbox solution. Dropbox cannot save open files, which means it will not upload or download your Zotero database until you close Firefox. If you are syncing your Zotero database across two computers, be aware of this limitation. Make sure you close Firefox on both computers, and that Dropbox has finished syncing all the data, before you switch workstations. Dropbox does save conflicting copies of files, so your data should ultimately be safe, but it may be a lot of work to recover it.
Update: This post was modified from the original on Sept. 17 2009 to bring it in line with the current status of the Zotero project.
Setting things up is easy. First drop down your search bar dialog (just like you do to install new searches). Click on “Manage Search Engines.” A new dialog pops up. Select the search that you would like to be able to access more quickly, then click “Edit Keyword.” 
Type in something short and memorable. I typed “wts” for the Westminster Bookstore search and “g” for Google. You can add keywords to as many search engines as you want, they just have to be unique.
