Bookmarklets

by BlakTornado, April 23, 2009

Recently, I discovered a thing called Bookmarklets. Bookmarklets are useful snippets of Javascript (a web-orientated programming language) that provide additional functionality to your web browser, without needing to install add-ons or plug-ins (like FireFox). Most of the time, they work on all modern web browsers, which makes finding and using them very easy!

Below are a selection of Bookmarklets that I’ve found on the web and thought were fun, interesting or useful. Just drag and drop them onto your browser’s bookmark bar (which you should able to show in the View or Window menu, depending on your browser). From there, you just select them when viewing a page and they should work their magic!

Split In Two – Conveniently splits a webpage into two parts. I’ve found that this works best on Wikipedia, for showing two separate entries in one window (especially useful when researching a topic). The only problem with this is that the browser doesn’t treat the page as two windows, so all the functions of the browser only apply to the address in the address bar (ie. bookmarking a page). But it’s quite useful for low-power tasks (such as viewing a long list of instructions on one page).

Edit Website – This fun little Bookmarklet allows you to edit the text of a website. Great for creating crazy news headlines (as demonstrated above) and sending screenshots to friends. They’ll never know! One thing to note, however, is that the change is only temporary and disappears with a refresh, and doesn’t actually change anything on the website itself. But always good or whiling away the time when you’re bored.

Download Youtube Videos as MP4s – Probably one of the most useful, this bookmarklet allows you to download videos from Youtube in MP4 format, which you can use with iPods and iPhones (I downloaded a music video and it looks great on my iPhone!). This saves the hassle of visiting a website, inserting the Youtube URL and so on, just to get a video that doesn’t even download properly, and includes a virus in order for the site owner to make money at your expense. So I must say, I quite like this one!

Share to Facebook – This bookmarklet gives you the function to share the page that you’re on with Facebook, sending a link to the page that you’re on to your wall and newsfeed. This is useful for sharing a site that a lot of your friends may be interested in (for example, a flash game, or a blog post).

Search With Google – A handy way to search something in Google. Just highlight the word and use the bookmarklet.
Search With Wikipedia – A handy way to search something in Wikipedia. Just highlight the word and use the bookmarklet.
Search With Urban Dictionary – A handy way to search something in Urban Dictionary. Just highlight the word and use the bookmarklet.

That sums up my own personal list of bookmarklets, but there are literally hundreds of Bookmarklets, and you can find them with as little as a Google Search. One little trick I like to perform with Bookmarklets is saving the link location to my USB Drive and taking them to college with me, showing off various different functions (like the Edit Website bookmarklet) to people. It’s all good fun, and very useful too. So get out there (on the web, that is) and start bookmarkletting! Feel free to leave any interesting bookmarklets you find in the comments.

Top 10 Useful Bookmarklets [Lifehacker]
Top 10 Geek Bookmarklets [Lifehacker]
Jesse’s Bookmarklet Site [Squarefree]