\ninspired by blogger’s right-click menu extension, i have written three other tiny little scripts to provide me with that same easy access to a few ‘utility’ sites i use all the time… \n<\/p>\n
\nfor web searches, it used to be AltaVista. now i use Google to find everything web (and a hell of a lot non-web). i just highlight the text (a word, a name, a phrase) and with the rc-menu, select ‘google’. a new window opens with my precious info. if nothing is highlighted on the page just right click and select ‘google’ and a prompt pops-up asking you to type in your search string. same with the other two. \n<\/p>\n
\nthe online dictionary i use is Merriam-Webster’s. just because it is the most accessible. it will even try to find misspelled words, and give options based on the search string. \n<\/p>\n
\nthe latest addition to my right-click assortment is for encyclopaedia (i like that spelling) look-ups. it searches britannica.com, which always returns several short articles, and sometimes a longer, comprehensive one. \n<\/p>\n
\none of the major benefits of this method for me is that i no longer lose the window from which my search originated– a cause of me getting very lost sometimes (like Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits). \n<\/p>\n
\nif you want these trinkets on your system (sorry, IE only) then download and ‘merge’ these three reg keys into windows registry– one each for web search [goosrch.reg<\/a>], dictionary [define.reg<\/a>], and encyclopaedia [encyclopedia.reg<\/a>]. be careful, and back-up your registry first. when you click on these .reg links you can select ‘open from current location’, and the merge will happen without fuss. if you require extra peace of mind, select ‘save to disk’ and inspect each one from a plain-text editor, like editpad<\/a>, notetab<\/a>, or windows notepad. then merge, close all instances of IE, restart IE, and voila. \n<\/p>\n \nto remove the changes, use [joeRCremove.reg<\/a>].\n<\/p>\n \nthe menu options each call a different javascript on burgwinkel.com (about 400 bytes each– smaller than the previous paragraph) which forms your query into a url string and opens a new window to display it. i like it. you can get an idea of how each one will work (before installing) here: \n<\/p>\n highlight a word on this page and click one of the following links. for example, highlight Terry’s name and movie above, and click ‘google’… then try it with nothing highlighted. (these links use this window, the menu extension will do the same as these, but in a new window.)\n<\/p>\n \n ..google<\/a>.. ..merriam-webster<\/a>.. ..encyclopedia<\/a>.. \n<\/p>\n \nenjoy. now it’s time to …zzzz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" inspired by blogger’s right-click menu extension, i have written three other tiny little scripts to provide me with that same easy access to a few ‘utility’ sites i use all the time… for web searches, it used to be AltaVista. … Continue reading