Firefox 5 is out, and with this platform (as well as Chrome, Opera, Safari and even IE…whatever) there are plenty of little tools with which you can increase your efficiency when browsing. First off, there are bookmarklets to consider. These are additions you can add to your bookmarks toolbar which can allow you to do such things as: add content (from the current webpage) to EverNote, Instapaper, Read it Later, and even to such services as Readable (which renders pages into something like an Instapaper view without having to save anything).
There are plenty of note taking tools out there for annotating webpages (Diigo comes to mind) such as Quick Note or even using a short (below) script in Quick Fox (for Firefox only..) which integrates anything you write into Google Docs.
Finally I have some information regarding some of the continuing work over at Mozilla (i.e. Firefox) where it looks like they will soon integrate a native PDF viewer in the browser. In time you won’t have to download and install the Adobe Acrobat reader (a huge resource waster!).
6 Bookmarklets That Will Boost Your Web Surfing Speed & Productivity
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-bookmarklets-boost-web-surfing-speed-productivity
So the speed reader is not for you, but with your regular reading you’re constantly distracted by ads and images and the fonts are always too small? You need a bookmarklet that auto-edits your texts to make it easier to read!
Your solution is Readable. Simply click the bookmarklet and your text will be converted into a format that makes it a delight to read.
Instapaper
Drag and drop this to your bookmarks: Instapaper
If you frequently save articles to read them later, I recommend using Instapaper. Not only will you have access to your ‘read later’ material from anywhere with an Internet connection, you can also speed-bookmark material with the Instapaper bookmarklet.
Evernote
Drag and drop this to your bookmarks: Evernote
Evernote is a fantastic tool for saving anything and everything: notes, ideas, text snippets, videos, pictures etc. One thing that makes it so great is its advanced search functionality. With the Evernote bookmarklet, saving bits and pieces becomes bliss.
Bookmarklet Combiner
Demo: Speed Bookmarklets
Now that you have a little list of great bookmarklets, how about combining them all into one? With Bookmarklet Combiner you can take multiple URLs or bookmarklets and unite them into a single bookmarklet. This is a non-typical bookmarklet, as you have to configure it yourself before you can drag and drop it into your bookmarks bar.
Send Your Notes to Google Docs from Firefox Using the QuickFox Add-on & a Simple Script
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/send-notes-google-docs-firefox-quickfox-addon-simple-script
If you like working from anywhere, then Google Docs is one of the great sink holes you can pour everything into. Google Docs allows us to create and share in the cloud from any location, while keeping our document needs covered. The ‘software as a service’ has really taken off and we are richer for it. You can upload, store, archive, tag, and organize your documents. If you use it efficiently, 1GB of free storage also is adequate for most needs.
Send Notes to Google Docs with QuickFox
You can send all your notes saved on QuickFox to Google Docs by introducing a small script into the QuickFox add-on folder. The script extends the default feature set of QuickFox and enabling its integration with Google Docs. Download the Google Docs script from here (right-click on the script page, and save it as a .js file).
Then proceed to install it in the following directory:
For Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\68u8hfy4.default\qfn-scripts
For Windows Vista and 7:C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\q9z0k4c5.default\qfn-scriptsRestart the browser for the change to take effect.
Quick Note is a Must-Have Browser Extension for Educators
http://jeffthomastech.com/blog/?p=10701
I use Evernote for a lot of things but found that it wasn’t quick enough to simply write down ideas quickly. I wanted some sort of app that was integrated into my browser, supported multiple browsers, and would sync seamlessly so all I had to do was write the note and be done with it.
Yesterday, MakeUseOf.com posted “6 Simple & Stylish Note Taking Browser Apps [Chrome]” and I found and tried Quick Note for Chrome. Since it was a post for Chrome extensions I immediately wondered if Firefox had the same extension. That’s important to me as I use both Firefox and Chrome equally. Fortunately, I found the Firefox Quick Note extension.
The next step was really important. If I wrote a note in Chrome on my laptop, would it have the ability to show up in Firefox on my desktop computer? The answer: YES!!!
How does it do this? The extension is put out by Diigo! Since many educators use Diigo for social bookmarking and you probably already have an account, syncing is a no-brainer! All you have to do is enter your credentials in the extension setup and you’re good to go.
One benefit of the Firefox extension for Quick Note is that you can open the app in the sidebar. Let me show you! As I’m writing this post, I can simply go to the Firefox sidebar and write a note.
Mozilla Working on pdf.js, Will Render PDFs in HTML5
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mozilla_working_on_pdfjs_will_render_pdfs_in_html5.php
Mozilla is working on technology that will allow PDF documents to be rendered within the browser, rather than utilizing a browser plug-in or an external app to open them. On his blog, Mozilla researcher Andreas Gal has described the project to build a PDF reader in HTML5 and JavaScript.
Typically, PDFs are rendered in a browser with a plugin – either with Adobe’s own PDF reader or with another provider’s renderer. These plugins often cannot take full advantage of PDF features. Furthermore, as Gal points out, there is quite a large trusted code base, something that’s forced the Google Chrome browser to have sandbox the PDF renderer in order to avoid code injection attacks. An HTML5 version would be make this more secure, as would the open source nature of the project.
