javascript

Make The Minimalist, Fading Google Homepage Your Default

12:00AM Kevin Purdy | If you saw the single-word, fading-text Google experiment and responded with “I want to go to there,” you’re just a simple JavaScript cut-and-paste tap away from making it your default. More »

TidyRead Brings Readable Text Conversion To Smartphones

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | “Readable” bookmarklets are all the rage right now (amongst browser nerds, at least), and TidyRead is an intriguing multi-platform variation. It streamlines and simplifies text from any browser with a bookmarklet or Firefox extension. More »

Create Smarter Google Translate Keyword Bookmarks

7:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Reader Jerry Lue read our feature on creating smarter keyword bookmarks, and took the initiative to create a set of smart bookmarks that interact with Google Translate. These keyword bookmarks either translate the current page, or even translate a phrase directly from the Firefox location bar. More »

Browser Speed Tests: How Safari 4 Stacks Up

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Safari 4 Beta sprinted from the gate with a claim to being “3x faster than Firefox” at JavaScript rendering. We’re calling Apple’s ante and updating our browser speed tests with the latest builds. More »

Thumbtack Stores Text And Web Pages On A Drag-and-Drop Platform

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Microsoft’s latest release from its Live Labs, Thumbtack, aims at some of the same bookmarking territory covered by Delicious, Google Bookmarks, and other store-and-check-later services. It’s not quite as fleshed out as those services in terms of functionality (or bug testing), but its JavaScript-heavy interface makes for easier, mouse-driven organisation and relatively useful page storage. Select text and hit Thumbtack’s bookmarklet, and everything seems to work fine. Hit the bookmarklet on a fresh web page, however, and any JavaScript or coding on the page seems to confuse the pop-up box, though the page stores in stripped-down text form. The box/”gadget” view of your bookmarks is a nice change from the standard vertical list of links, but dragging and dropping between collections can be a bit problematic. Thumbtacks looks like it will be worth checking out later when it’s had a bit more time in the oven. The service is free to use, requires just a username to get started (so, fair warning, your bookmarks may be public). Thumbtack [Microsoft Live Labs via ReadWriteWeb] More »

Latest Firefox, Chrome Builds In Dead Heat For JavaScript Speed

12:15AM Kevin Purdy | CNET put the just-released Firefox 3.1 beta 2 and its speedy TraceMonkey JavaScript engine up against the most recent developer build of Google Chrome. The results from a SunSpider test were Firefox edging out Chrome by the teeny-tiniest of margins, making it basically a tie if you give any room for error. [Chart and data via WebWare] More »

Etherpad Tracks Group Editing Or Coding With Colours

9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Etherpad, a collaborative-minded text editor forged by a group of ex-Google employees, focuses on making documents live and easy to collaborate on. That means that, at this point, the interface is pretty much straight text on numbered lines, but two or more people can work on a document in real time using a single URL to share, with different colours highlighting their work, a chat function for explanation, and revision-minded saving. For JavaScript coders and teams, there’s also a syntax highlighting function, and, well, that’s about it. If you, like many Lifehacker readers, dig the advanced but back-to-basics style of Notepad++, Etherpad might be right up your alley. No sign-up required. Etherpad [via TechCrunch] More »

‘Are You Sure’ Bookmarklet Fights Web Wandering

10:30PM Kevin Purdy | We’ve all got them—those bookmarks that sit on your toolbar (or on a keyboard shortcut, if , begging you to take just, you know five minutes and see if anything’s new over there. Web developer and author Paul Bausch certainly has a few, so he’s taken to editing them to add a small bit of JavaScript around their URLs, which brings up a prompt asking “Are you sure?” The format is easy to adjust and edit, though, if your procrasti-browsing habits require a more strern warning. Here’s the basic template: More »

Why TraceMonkey Is Going to Blow Your Web Browsing Mind

9:30PM Kevin Purdy | There’s a lot about the next iteration of the open-source Firefox browser to be geeked out about. From private browsing modes to tab preview panels, from punchier colours to really smart session restoring, there’s been a lot of thought put into how people want to use the web. But perhaps the greatest promise in Firefox 3.1 is the one most users won’t see at all—a serious overhaul of the browser’s JavaScript engine, newly christened as TraceMonkey. If you don’t obsessively follow the Mozilla developer’s blogs or read insider tech news, you might have a few questions about TraceMonkey—like, say, what’s different about it, how much faster is it, why that matters, and how you can try it out right now. We’ve compiled a primer on TraceMonkey’s features and uses, as well as how to experience it. Read on to see what’s new under the hood in the upcoming Firefox. Graph via Brendan’s Roadmap Updates. More »