Slashdot Mirror

There is an HTML tag that defines what is the "next" page in a sequence, . Its proponents like to point out that it has been part of specs since HTML 2. Unfortunately, few sites use the tag. When the tag is not present, a browser could guess that a link with the text "next" was a link to the next page in a sequence, or it could guess that incrementing the last number in the url by 1 would go to the "next" page. (The increment bookmarklet uses the latter strategy and is very useful for surfing porn.)

My opinion is that Mozilla should guess based on the number in the URL (32627) when the link tag is not present. Guessing based on link text may not internationalize well, and many sites allow users to post links with text of their choice. I have suggested the keyboard shortcut Alt++ for next (102909 #c17). Pressing space (usually pgdn) at the bottom of a page might also go to the next page (59118).

An image can be malicious without containing executable code. For example, the "goatse" images.

Instead of relying on an antivirus program to protect me from those images (do they even detect those images?), I use a user style sheet to make links to goatse.cx brown and crossed-out instead of blue and underlined. Here's the CSS:

a[href*="goatse.cx/"]
{
text-decoration: line-through ! important;
color: brown ! important;
}

I'm currently using Uptime, Whois, Zoom In/Out, Sort functions, and more all through my Bookmarklets. Terribly useful.

But reading the CNet articles reminds me of why I stopped visiting the site. I don't find it biased, more misinformed. I wish they had done more research prior to posting.

set up nick name for url's. so instead of typing the full url for slashdot I can just set the bookmark slashdot.org to equal "s". Now I can just type "s" in the url and BAM!

Mozilla has the same feature, but it's hard to find because the feature is called "custom keywords". (Opera's "nickname" isn't much more transparent.) Internet Explorer accepts the name of a bookmark in the URL bar, which is better IMO. Unfortunately, in IE this feature only works for bookmarks in the root folder, so you can't stuff the shortcut-bookmarks into a folder called "shortcuts" and still have the shortcuts work.

Look under "Fast keyboard access to bookmarks" on http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/browsers.ht ml.

Opera 6.02 for Windows is missing support for bookmarklets. If you use bookmarklets, skip this release and go back to 6.0 or 6.01.

This is sad because while Opera never supported advanced DOM2 bookmarklets, it supported simpler bookmarklets better than other browsers. For example, clicking a bookmarklet in Opera would not cause the page to stop loading, and changes made by bookmarklets would not be lost after hitting the Back button like they are in other browsers.

Rant: first IE 6 doesn't support bookmarklets longer than 508 characters, and now Opera 6.02 doesn't support them at all. Recent versions of Mozilla have a bug where windows created by bookmarklets end up behind the current window (108394) and a bug that prevents the linked-images bookmarklet from working on porn sites (123293). I'm frustrated. Regressions suck.

Opera 6.02 for Windows is missing support for bookmarklets. If you use bookmarklets, skip this release and go back to 6.0 or 6.01.

This is sad because while Opera never supported advanced DOM2 bookmarklets, it supported simpler bookmarklets better than other browsers. For example, clicking a bookmarklet in Opera would not cause the page to stop loading, and changes made by bookmarklets would not be lost after hitting the Back button like they are in other browsers.

Rant: first IE 6 doesn't support bookmarklets longer than 508 characters, and now Opera 6.02 doesn't support them at all. Recent versions of Mozilla have a bug where windows created by bookmarklets end up behind the current window (108394) and a bug that prevents the linked-images bookmarklet from working on porn sites (123293). I'm frustrated. Regressions suck.

I wouldn't call this a "dumb ass bug". It's subtle, and finding it requires being aware of several things and thinking to combine them:

* javascript: URLs run in the security domain of the page from which they originate. (Or, if they're stored in the user's bookmarks, they run as part of the current page, letting them do cool things like show the HTML source of the selection.)

* If a javascript: URL returns a non-null value, it acts like a data: URL. For example, javascript:1+2;3+4 is equivalent to data:text/html,7. (Most of the time, this is just an annoyance, forcing you to put "void 0" at the end of a javascript: URL unless you're sure that the last calculation always returns null.)

* It is possible to go "forward" from a javascript: URL.

* The Back button incorrectly runs a javascript: URL in the security domain and context the current page instead of running it with no context or with the context of the page that put the URL in session history.

The fact that the bug was present in both IE and Mozilla until Mozilla 0.9.3 is strong evidence that the hole is not an obvious "dumb ass bug". I only discovered the hole because I make bookmarlets (javascript: URLs) in my free time and was being paid by Netscape to work on Mozilla security last summer.

The Mozilla browser is by far the best porn browser, even without the Pornzilla add-ons and the Increment URL bookmarklet.

I just wrote a bookmarklet that shows you the contents of password fields in web pages. It works with passwords remembered by Mozilla, and it works in IE6, so it probably works with passwords remembered by Gator. You'll have to run the bookmarklet on each site you've stored a password on, and you'll probably want a sheet of paper.

Why are you still surfing porn with IE? Mozilla lets you block pop-ups, ignores exit pop-ups by default, and lets you open links quickly with one hand if you have a three-button mouse or a clickable scroll wheel. It even has a command and shortcut to close all Mozilla windows for when someone knocks on your door, which annoys the hell out of people who try to use the browser for anything bug porn and hit Exit accidentally.

Be sure to check out Pornzilla, a set of Mozilla add-ons useful for porning and instructions for doing things like making stealth profiles. We're always looking for new contributors who can write add-ons or fix bugs in Mozilla that affect porning. We also need input from someone who is uses Mozilla's tabbed-browsing feature so we know which tabbed-browsing bugs are most important for Pornzilla users.

I just wrote a pair of bookmarklets that take you to the previous and next numbered image or numbered image gallery. They'll probably be included in the next version of Pornzilla, along with the zoom-images and search-links bookmarklets that are already included.

I think the main thing to keep in mind is that PayPal is not a bank, and not FDIC insured.

FWIW, the new version of Yahoo! PayDirect is FDIC insured. Its fees are similar to the current PayPal fees. I haven't used PayDirect since it switched banks several weeks ago, but I remember that it was possible to contact Yahoo about the service if you were willing to pay for a long-distance phone call. (PayDirect is also the only service that I was able to get a tip bookmarklet to work with, so I'm biased.)

Consider this comparison of tipping services. Would you donate? How much? How often? Which is the best tipping service, does anybody have experience with these? What's better, subscription or tipping?

Don't wait for they to ask for money. Just send them some, along with a note saying you like the program they're working on (so they have some idea why they're suddenly getting money from strangers). I made a personal toolbar button that lets you quickly send money to any e-mail address listed on a web page. It works with Netscape 4, IE5 (but not 6), and Mozilla. You can get it here. You don't even have to install anything, although you do need to get an account at PayDirect if you want to actually send money with it.

By the way, Amazon's boycottable actions aren't the only reason not to use their donation system. It's also one of the most expensive donation systems.

Don't wait for they to ask for money. Just send them some, along with a note saying you like the program they're working on (so they have some idea why they're suddenly getting money from strangers). I made a personal toolbar button that lets you quickly send money to any e-mail address listed on a web page. It works with Netscape 4, IE5 (but not 6), and Mozilla. You can get it here. You don't even have to install anything, although you do need to get an account at PayDirect if you want to actually send money with it.

By the way, Amazon's boycottable actions aren't the only reason not to use their donation system. It's also one of the most expensive donation systems.

Why can't five or six different web sites get together that have common characteristics and charge one rate to access content on all these sites? I would gladly pay one overall bill to access five of my favorite sites rather than having to pay each one less. Say Slashdot gets X% of the total, Kuro5hin gets a slice, bluesnews, etc. Then those who do pay get the sites with no ads plus one general login account for all sites.

Is the problem that it takes too much effort to donate to a single site? I'm trying to help solve that problem by distributing the tip bookmarklet, a button that sits in your personal toolbar and lets you quickly send $5 to any site whose author includes an e-mail address on the site.

Tipping might work better if it was initiated by the tipper (ie the web site didn't ask for the money, but just provided an e-mail address, and the visitor decided to send some money after reading the site).

We estimate that 90% of the web's script work with Konqueror

I went to a Konq IRC channel a few weeks ago to find someone to test how many of my bookmarklets worked in the browser, I don't run KDE. They said that while some of the complex CSS/DOM bookmarklets like "named anchors" worked, many of the simpler bookmarklets (especially the search bookmarklets) didn't work. Since I don't have access to Konq I wasn't able to figure out what part of the other bookmarklets it didn't like.

If someone could test the bookmarklets on Konq and tell me which work, that would be helpful. If someone could figure out why the ones that don't work don't work, that would be even more helpful :)

We estimate that 90% of the web's script work with Konqueror

I went to a Konq IRC channel a few weeks ago to find someone to test how many of my bookmarklets worked in the browser, I don't run KDE. They said that while some of the complex CSS/DOM bookmarklets like "named anchors" worked, many of the simpler bookmarklets (especially the search bookmarklets) didn't work. Since I don't have access to Konq I wasn't able to figure out what part of the other bookmarklets it didn't like.

If someone could test the bookmarklets on Konq and tell me which work, that would be helpful. If someone could figure out why the ones that don't work don't work, that would be even more helpful :)

Send them money even if they don't ask for it through PayPal, Ecount, or Yahoo PayDirect. If you use my <plug>tip bookmarklet</plug>, you can send money to the owner of a website with a few clicks and just typing a password. (The bookmarklet only works with Yahoo PayDirect, since the other services don't provide a URL template to send money to a specified e-mail address).

Send them money even if they don't ask for it through PayPal, Ecount, or Yahoo PayDirect. If you use my <plug>tip bookmarklet</plug>, you can send money to the owner of a website with a few clicks and just typing a password. (The bookmarklet only works with Yahoo PayDirect, since the other services don't provide a URL template to send money to a specified e-mail address).

Why would Amazon use a micropayment system? Their primary business is selling merchandise.

My guess it that they figured they would have an advantage in the donation market because of their brand recognition and because of their "one-click" patent. When I made a compared various donation services last month, one of the things I noticed was that Amazon was the only one that used persistent login cookies (ie, didn't require the user to enter his/her password on each visit). Several other sites (PayPal and PayDirect) used persistent username cookies but session-only login cookies. I'd be interested to know if some of those other services had full login cookies before Amazon entered the financial market, or if they've always used username-only cookies (for security reasons).

I guess the only solution to this problem is the kind of 'tipping' like Mandrake is trying to install in their Mandrakeexpert. If I'm really happy about a site, I wouldn't mind paying a small amount of money (say 2 $), after downloading/reading advice/... if I could do it on an easy way. Something like a central organisation (with a very secure system) that would provide such a service to websites would be ideal. If a site is usefull for you can just 'tip' the webmaster. BTW: Rick: you have a great site, I own you a lot more than 2 $ (problem: I live in Belgium, hard to make donations...)

I think you can send tips using any credit card or debit card (at least through PayDirect), but to recieve a tip you need a US-based credit card or debit card. I'm not sure what US-based means, but I think it's possible to get a US-based credit card in Europe. If you happen to know please tell me :)

On the other hand, (no pun intended) it's yet another friggin' standard we have to code web pages for. We already have Netscape vs. Microsoft, Computer vs. PDA/Portable, and options like XML and Javascript. Now we have something else? Arrgh!

This will make life easier for web developers (or at least for web developers who won't want to bother writing good, structural HTML). To make a site work well with screen-reading software, you have to do things like adding ALT tags for images, labeling column headers in tables, and avoiding using color as the only thing distinguishing two items on the page. This new software works directly from the screen representation of your page, so as long as your page is usable on a non-color monitor, it should work for people using this new mouse in lightness-darkness mode.

I wouldn't throw out the ALT tags and the structural syntax quite yet, though. Many of the same things you might have done to make your site readable through text-to-speech software also makes the site more readable through PDA browsers, text browsers (lynx/links), text-to-braille software, and graphical browsers where the user has disabled stylesheets. For example, PDA browsers may support scrolling the body of a table while leaving the headers visible in order to make it easier to read a table on a small screen. If you neglect to tell the browser that the first row of cells are actually headers, that feature might not work. ALT tags for images are good for giving search engines a chance to figure out image-heavy pages.