The word Bookmarkelet, correctly, has all of the hallmarks of being made up. “Book mark” – fine I use those when reading – sometimes the ones bought for me by family and friends but more often just corners of envelopes or till receipts found quickly when needed. We are also familiar with “bookmarking” web site pages with the co-operation of our browsers so we can find a web resource again without another major search and filter operation. I suppose we have also seen the use of the term “social bookmarking” where we share gems from the web with others. Which certainly brings me along nicely to the Sea Kayak Wales News Page which is just such an Internet resource.
Where though does the “let” bit come from? We at the Sea Kayak Wales project came across the term when we were looking for ways to make it easy for others to post those very web gems (of particular interest to sea kayakers). Turns out that wrapping a line of JavaScript into a smidgeon of HTML creates an object (called a bookmarklet) that can be dragged onto the bookmark bar of a modern web browser. Once there, it can be left in place until the user of this natty little tool comes across a web page or blog post that they would like to add to the Sea Kayak Wales news page. When that happens then all they have to do is click the SKW News bookmarlet and that line of JavaScript will leap into action and take the user to the Sea Kayak Wales news insertion page and pre-load the web page address (URL) and title into the form there ready for submission. An amazing time saving utility. The “let” presumably indicates that this is not yet a complete bookmark but that it will become one as soon as you let it.
Anyone interested, can find the SKW News bookmarklet on the SKW News submissions guide page ( www.seakayakwales.com/WhatToPost.aspx ). If you are using a first class browser such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) then you can make use of this simple but effective widget. You might need to make the bookmark bar visible on your browser, if it has not been previously used, before dragging the SKW News bookmarklet into position.
The bookmark bar can be activated in Firefox from the View/Toolbars menu option list. In Chrome, click the spanner to get the tools menu, click bookmarks and then select the first option “show bookmarks bar”. In IE9, (simple but harder to find) just right click on a space in the browser top area to the right of an opened tab and select the “Favourites bar” option from the pop-up menu.
Happy bookmarking
Where though does the “let” bit come from? We at the Sea Kayak Wales project came across the term when we were looking for ways to make it easy for others to post those very web gems (of particular interest to sea kayakers). Turns out that wrapping a line of JavaScript into a smidgeon of HTML creates an object (called a bookmarklet) that can be dragged onto the bookmark bar of a modern web browser. Once there, it can be left in place until the user of this natty little tool comes across a web page or blog post that they would like to add to the Sea Kayak Wales news page. When that happens then all they have to do is click the SKW News bookmarlet and that line of JavaScript will leap into action and take the user to the Sea Kayak Wales news insertion page and pre-load the web page address (URL) and title into the form there ready for submission. An amazing time saving utility. The “let” presumably indicates that this is not yet a complete bookmark but that it will become one as soon as you let it.
Anyone interested, can find the SKW News bookmarklet on the SKW News submissions guide page ( www.seakayakwales.com/WhatToPost.aspx ). If you are using a first class browser such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) then you can make use of this simple but effective widget. You might need to make the bookmark bar visible on your browser, if it has not been previously used, before dragging the SKW News bookmarklet into position.
The bookmark bar can be activated in Firefox from the View/Toolbars menu option list. In Chrome, click the spanner to get the tools menu, click bookmarks and then select the first option “show bookmarks bar”. In IE9, (simple but harder to find) just right click on a space in the browser top area to the right of an opened tab and select the “Favourites bar” option from the pop-up menu.
Happy bookmarking
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