If you frequently search the Westminster Library then you may be interested in this post. I have created a command for Firefox‘sUbiquity that allows you to search the Westminster Library Catalog without ever leaving your web page. You can even highlight text on any web page and automatically search the library catalog 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 wtslibrary command by clicking “Subscribe” in the drop down notice on this page. Once you’ve subscribed to the command, activate Ubiquity and type in “wtslibrary”, 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 “wtslibrary” and return. So easy (and you may also be interested in this post)!
New to Ubiquity? I have a full introduction available, complete with instructions for installing my Westminster Bookstore Ubiquity command.
If you’re not ready to jump into the wonderful world of Ubiquity, try my simpler Firefox Search Plugin.
How does the wtslibrary command work?
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 “wtslibrary”. Then type in your search and press “enter”. You can also select text on a web page (why not try it be selecting the following: bavinck), activate Ubiquity, type “wtslibrary,” 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!
As a follow-up to my Westminster Bookstore Search Plugin I have created a similar plugin for the Westminster Seminary Library, which works in both Firefox and IE7. So now you can search Westminster Seminary’s library right from your browser, and since the site natively supports Zotero, this makes research all that much easier.
Add the Westminster Library to your search bar
Installing
The same instructions for installing the Westminster Bookstore plugin apply here as well. For Firefox and IE, while viewing this post just click on the search engine toolbar in your browser and select “Add the Westminster Library.” For Google Chrome go here and click on “Westminster Library,” which should open a dialog box. Leave everything as is, unless you want to change to the keyword to something simpler (like “wl”), which will allow you to just type the keyword in the URL bar, then tab, then your search. The plugin is also available directly from the Westminster Library site.
Updates
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.
If you want to make this search feature even more powerful, follow this guide. There is also a Ubiquity command available.
As a side note, the plugin supports advanced boolean syntax. Typing “stott romans” into your search will return all results with both “stott” and “romans” that occur in any field. By contrast, “a:(stott) romans” will search for any books whose author is “stott” and also have the word “romans” in any other field. Similar results will occur with t:(“title”) or s:(“subject”). For more syntax suggestions, just search the Westminster Library Catalog and pay attention to how it formats your queries.
Update: This plugin is now official. In addition to accessing it here, it is now available from the Westminster Library Catalog.
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!
My Google Reader is full of wonderful subscriptions to wonderful web sites. Little did I know that I can subscribe to daily Bible Readings courtesy of ESV. There are a number of different options available on this page. There are a wealth of different options, including a Study Bible option, Daily Reading option, and a Chronological option.You can have your reading program sent to you by RSS (Google Reader or other RSS reader), Emai, or even through your Mobile phone.
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.
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):
Gmail finally has a built in to-do list, a much needed and requested feature. It’s pretty bare-bones, but its there, which is certainly an improvement. You have to enable it through Gmail Labs. From Webware:
Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations?
To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Remember the Milk for to-do lists in a getting-things-done fashion. RTM has a Thunderbird plugin, interfaces for iGoogle, netvibes, and twitter, and even a Ubiquity command set. It also integrates perfectly into Gmail, which I posted about here.
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:
Mozilla, the good people behind Firefox, have recently introduced an experimental Firefox extension called Ubiquity, designed to help users interact with web data in a social world. Justin Taylor points out a new plugin from Crossway that takes advantage of this technology to make looking up (and interacting with) Bible verses easily. This is great news for bloggers, or other active Web 2.0 folks. Read about it here.
