Links itself is great. Here is something that will make it an even better killer application!
2000-07-05: New versions! Due to problems with how the different browsers use javascript, I have created browser-specific versions of the bookmarklet. These have a number of bugfixes, as well as a new feature that will grab highlighted text and put it into your Description field (unfortunately, only for non-framed pages). So, if you got the old bookmarklet, delete it, and get the new!
The bookmarklet is a new button on your "links bar" in your browser, see the image below (my browser is Swedish, so my links bar is called "Länkar"):
Now, whenever you visit a website you want in your Links collection, that button will make adding that site much easier than it used to be. Forget about copying-and-pasting the URL etc. Just highlight some descriptive text you want in your Description field, and click on the button. See the image:
(Note: The old version had a dialogue window pop up, where you can add a description; if you for some reason prefer this version, go here)
Of course, you can click directly on the button without highlighting anything.
When clicking on the button, magic happens! See the image:
The bookmarklet opens your Links admin (of course, you should have password-protection, which will then pop up first), and automatically inserts the Title and URL and the description! The Title is taken from the site's <TITLE> tag, the URL is the page you visit, and the Description is the text you just highlighted. You will of course need to do the rest (select category, build pages, etc.) manually.
Note: There is a problem with framed pages - for those, the highlight trick does not work, so you will not get the Description :-(
Got it? OK. Want it? Yeah - now for the goodies:
Installing the bookmarklet is as easy as filling a form! No cgi-editing is needed, although a slight change in your links.def might be necessary (see below); you can install the bookmarklet first, and if it grabs the URL, you don't need to make any changes to your links.def.
Ready? OK, which browser do you use? Click appropriate link and follow the instructions:This Builder requires standard Title, URL and Description fields in your links.def. If you have changed them into something else, you must edit the javascript.
If the bookmarklet works, but doesn't grab the URL, you have to make a small change to your
links.def: In the definition setup for the URL field, the default "http://" which has to be
removed! The definition string should look something like this:
# Database Definition: LINKS
# --------------------------------------------------------
# Definition of your database file.
%db_def = (
...
URL => [2, 'alpha', 40, 175, 1, '', '^http|news|mailto|ftp'],
...
The Builder is made with javascripting. Though (as you see, if it works) javascripts can be very useful, they are famous for being incompatible and inaccessible for some browsers. The Builder works fine in my system (in both MSIE5 and NS4.7), but there has been someone who have problems with the Builder. If there are any problems, you might want to install the bookmarklet manually. It is basically a normal bookmark which instead of a URL contains a small javascript. You might be able to trick your system by adding a normal link to your links bar, and then edit it, and replace the URL with the javascript below.
This is the javascript source the Builder uses (if you want to use it, you must change the path/URL to your admin):
Microsoft Explorer:javascript:Q='';if(top.frames.length==0)Q=document.selection.createRange().text;void(btw=window.open('http://www.yourserver.com/linksadmin/admin.cgi?db=links&add_form=1&URL='+escape(location.href)+'&Title='+document.title+'&Description='+escape(Q),'AddToLinks','menubar=1,location=1,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,status=1,toolbar=1'));btw.focus();
Netscape:
javascript:Q='';if(top.frames.length==0)Q=document.getSelection();void(btw=window.open('http://www.yourserver.com/linksadmin/admin.cgi?db=links&add_form=1&URL='+escape(location.href)+'&Title='+escape(document.title)+'&Description='+escape(Q),'AddToLinks','menubar=1,location=1,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,status=1,toolbar=1'));btw.focus();