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Everyone loves a bookmarklet, right? Just in case you aren’t using any, here’s a brief little primer as well as some of the best bookmarklets out there. As always, I’ll try to provide you with an educational spin to things.

What is a bookmarklet? Well, you won’t find it in any dictionary just yet. However, according to the Wikipedia: A bookmarklet is a small JavaScript program that can be stored as a URL within a bookmark in most popular web browsers, or within hyperlinks on a web page… Bookmarklets can be saved and used like normal web page bookmarks. Therefore, they are simple “one-click” tools that can add substantial functionality to the browser. That last sentance is the key to it. Bookmarks take you to a web site, bookmarklets perform a function.

Some sites provide bookmarklets to make their use easier. Del.icio.us and Furl have bookmarklets that allow you to bookmark a site with a single click. Without the bookmarklet, you would have to highlight the URL of a site, go to del.icio.us, log in, go to bookmarks, click on Post, paste the URL into the entry field and click save. The bookmarklet reduces all of those steps to one click.

Nearly every browser has a ‘tool bar’ that is located between the navigation icons and the actual window that displays the web page. Often it is preloaded with sites that the people who create the browser think you might be interested in. However, you can always delete those preloaded ‘favorites’ and replace them with your own. This is a great location for bookmarklets, so you don’t have to go hunting for them through menus.

More often than not, you can delete something off the browser toolbar by right clicking (ctrl-click on the Mac) on the bookmark and choosing delete from the contextual menu that pops up. You can add any bookmarks to the toolbar that you might like! It doesn’t have to be a bookmarklet. To add your own bookmark to the tool bar, you simply click and drag it to the location you want. For example, if you want to add this link to your toolbar, Teach42.com, simply click and drag on it and drag that icon to the toolbar. Let go when your mouse is over the location that you want it to be. That’s it! One click access to my site, which everybody needs, right? No? Alright, do delete it, just follow the directions that are right above here

Now that you know what a Bookmarklet is, and how to add one to the browser toolbar, you probably want to know what you can do with them and where you can find some that will make your browsing experiences more enjoyable. Without further ado, a list of some of my favorite bookmarklets.

Sites submission bookmarklets
Furl: Furl’s bookmarklet allows you to add sites to your Furl account with a single click. After logging in, click on “My Tools”. You will see three different bookmarklets to choose from. Each have a version that doesn’t use popup windows as well.
Del.icio.us: Their bookmarklet is used to provide a one click way to bookmark a site to your del.icio.us account. After you’ve logged in, click on Post (upper left hand corner). There are several listed, but I suggest using the experimental post to del.icio.us as it provides you with all sorts of functionality that the normal one doesn’t have.
Bloglines: The bookmarklet for Bloglines provides you with a one click method of subscribing to any RSS feeds that are being provided by the site you are visiting. Log in to Bloglines, click on My Feeds and scroll all the way to the bottom of your feed list. Click on “Easy Subscribe Bookmarklet”.
PiNet Libary: Pinet Libary is Dave Warlick’s Personal Internet Library tool for teachers. He provides a bookmarklet for easily adding a site to your “Web shelf”.
Connotea: Connotea is an online reference managment service for designed for scientists and researchers. Among the links at the top of the page you will find bookmarklets to provide a wealth of functionality.
CogDogBlog’s Multipost Bookmarklet Tool: Let’s say you use Furl, del.icio.us, and Connotea, and you want to add the same site to each of them. Alan Levine has created an easy tool to create a single bookmarklet that will submit the page you are on to all of your favorite bookmarking tools. You can create a tool that submits to Furl, Del.icio.us, Frassle, Connotea, Bag of URLS, CiteULike, Simpy, Linkroll, Blogmarks, and OpenBM currently. And if you have one that isn’t listed yet, email him and he’ll add it in!

Other bookmarklets
Library Lookup: One of my personal favorites, Jon Udell has a site where you can create a bookmarklet that will allow one click interaction with your local public library. If you see a book you might like on Amazon.com, simply click on the bookmarklet and it will look that book up for you at your local public library and let you know the circulation status of it. It’s a bit complicated to set up, but well worth it. Depending on your school’s library catalogue software you can create one for your school library as well!
Google – Define: Highlight any word on a web page. Click on this bookmarklet to find out the definition of that word. Hmm… Can you think of any educational applications for this?
Search Bookmarklets: What’s your favorite search engine? It’s probably listed here. Simply highlight a few words on a web page and then click one of these bookmarklets to instantly search for those words using your search engine of choice.
Translation Bookmarklets: This page has bookmarklets that provide you with a one click way to convert web pages from another language into English. I bet that you could tinker with the code here to do the reverse. Fantastic tool for language instruction! Convert a popular web page into Spanish or French and have the students navigate it that way!
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