Wicked Cool

Wacky Website: Single Serving Sites

Is This Your Paper on Single Serving Sites? is a long essay on a silly topic—the phenomenon of the "single serving site"—a website that has a dedicated domain name (like www.example.com), a narrowly defined purpose (if any), and only one webpage to express its message or purpose.  The essay itself is sort of amusing, but what pushes it to Wicked Cool status is the author's catalog of 161 known single serving sites.  And the fact that it's apparently a real academic paper (hope it got an A)!

You'll find old friends like webhamster.com, and maybe some new ones, like thebestfortunecookieever.com or dingitsup.com.  Find any favorites?

Print What You Like (not what you don't)

Next time you print from a website that isn't "printer-friendly,"  run the page through PrintWhatYouLike.  It lets you selectively delete pieces of the page before printing—so you save a little paper, save a little ink, and get a cleaner printout.

Goodbye, banner ads, navigation links, and fine print.  I won't miss you in my printouts!

(Thanks to Stef and Jean for the tip!)

Is your cell phone a barcode scanner?

In the future it probably will be (if it isn't already). A new type of helper application (or "app") for the latest crop of cell phones (like the iPhone and the phones that use the Google Android platform) uses the phone's built-in camera to scan barcodes and then find better prices and product reviews.  The most popular so far is called ShopSavvy.  Here's a video of it in action:

A year ago, using cell phones as barcode scanners was on the horizon as something that might become commonplace (see NYT's "New Bar Codes Can Talk to Your Cellphone," 4/1/07).  And here it is, now being used for shopping and boarding passes and all kinds of things!

The most literal library-type application would be a program that can connect a scanned barcode on a cell phone with results from WorldCat and forms to request it from the nearest library.  Hopefully there are some library-loving app-developers reading this? 

Google's Barcode Scanner app is sort of a step in that direction, hooking barcode scans into Google Book Search.

And some librarians are thinking in more social-web-like directions, like putting barcodes on a MySpace page to distribute program information, using barcode stickers to get people to the library website, or linking book exhibits to websites with supplemental info. 

When every cell phone can scan barcodes, how will you use that capability in the library?

Is it OK to use program photos on the library's website?

Photos from your programs can bring lively human faces to your website, but the short answer to whether it is legal to use them is usually "It depends" or "Check with your library's attorney."  Get more familiar with some of the legal issues surrounding library program photos with Bryan Carson's article "Laws for Using Photos You Take at Your Library."  (Thanks to Barbara Huntington for the link!)

Other material from SCLS related to getting and using photos from your programs:

• Photographic Considerations When Planning Events (PDF)
• Taking Better Photographs (PDF)
• Photographic Permissions

What's Hiding in the Right-Click Menu? "Send To"

Most programs have productivity-enhancing commands hiding in the right-click menu.  This week we'll look at the "Send To" command in Windows.  Send To allows you to move a file between directories without having to copy it and then navigate to the folder where you want to paste it.  

How to use the Send To command:  In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click a file, and then point to Send To. On the shortcut menu that appears, click the destination where you want to send your file. The file is sent to the destination that you select.

In Windows XP, the default Send To locations are:

• Compressed (zipped) Folder
• Desktop (create shortcut)
• Mail Recipient
• My Documents
• 3 1/2 Floppy (A:)
• CD Drive

How to personalize it:  If there is another folder where you frequently need to put files, you can also follow these instructions to add it to the Send To menu.  It's a time-saver especially when you need to move files to a deeply-nested folder.

Some examples of what it's good for:

• Copying pictures from a CD/USB drive to My Computer
• Moving downloaded files from the Desktop to a more permanent place
• Backing up files to a CD/DVD
  

Thanks to Kerri for the tip!

Contribute Tip: Give Every Web Page a Meaningful Title

The problem:  Every web page should have a title that describes the page accurately and concisely, but it's not immediately obvious how to set it in Contribute for existing pages on your website.

Why it matters:  Using a proper title will help to make your web pages more professional-looking, more accessible, and more recognizable in search engine results pages.  Web page titles show up in two fairly prominent places:

• At the top of the window when you view the page in a browser:
  
  
  
• And as the link title whenever the page appears in Google's search engine results:
  

The solution:  Check your web pages in a web browser first—does each one have an appropriate title?  Does it use correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization?  (Remember, people can see this!)

If you're not happy with what you find, here's how to change it using Contribute:

1. Open the web page in Contribute and click "Edit Page."
2. Click the "Page Properties" button.  (A dialog window will pop up.)
   
   
3. Type the updated title in the "Title" box and click "OK":
   
   
   
4. Publish your page.

Writing an effective web page title:

• Be as obvious and straightforward as possible.
• Use language that closely matches the title that shows up in the body of the web page.
• Include the most important keywords near the beginning.
• Use proper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.  (Remember, all-caps is harder to read and "sounds like yelling" online.)
• It is ok to include the name of your library/organization at the end.
• Specifying "Home" or "Homepage" in the homepage's title is optional.

Zoom In! How to Increase Text Size in Your Browser

Tired of squinting at websites with too-small text?  Use one of these easy techniques to make the text BIGGER (or smaller, when you want the normal size again) on most websites:

View > Text Size > Increase (or Larger)

• Works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, though they use slightly different terminology

Ctrl and Mouse Scroll-Wheel

If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, hold down the Ctrl key and spin the mouse-wheel.

• Works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer
• Also works in Adobe Reader and the Adobe Reader browser plug-in
• Different browsers may vary in which direction you have to scroll for larger or smaller text
• Internet Explorer 7 zooms in on the entire page for this, not just the text (even images get bigger)

Ctrl and +, Ctrl and -, Ctrl and 0

Hold down the Ctrl key and hit the + key at the same time.  More than once makes it bigger.  Use Ctrl and - for smaller text, or Ctrl and 0 to return to normal size.

• Works in Firefox and Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 7 again zooms in on the entire page for this, not just the text
• Does not work at all in Internet Explorer 6

These options can make browsing the web a better experience by helping to avoid eyestrain.  Tell your patrons, your coworkers, your family, your friends!

Thanks to Greg and Brian at Automation for the tip!

Haunted Libraries -- Wicked and Cool

Is your library a spooky place this time of year?  Some libraries are spooky all year round!  Check out The Haunted Library Series for the many ways libraries can be haunted.

Portable Apps and Patron PCs Don't Mix

Or at least, portable apps shouldn't mix with patron PCs. In the comments, Rob lists the security risks that libraries open themselves up to when patron PCs are allowed to run programs from a USB drive: "keyloggers, spybots, and other hacks that let one patron send all the data from a patron station that doesn't get rebooted all day to an email or web page." Empowering patrons is good, but maybe not that much!

Based on my own test, LINK patron PCs don't allow portable apps to run. Check out the error message I got when I tried to run GIMP Portable on a catalog computer at Madison Public Library:

SLCS-supported non-LINK patron PCs are also similarly locked-down.

If your library manages its own patron PCs, be sure your computers aren't at risk!

Bring Your Own Programs (with a USB drive!)

Last week's topic mentioned portable applications -- programs you can install on a USB drive and use on any computer.  They're handy when your work requires you to move from computer to computer (like from an office, to a ref desk, to a circ desk, to home, and back again... sound familiar?).  There are a lot of different options, but some that might be useful in a library environment include:

• Firefox:  Browser (lots of library computers already have Firefox installed, but your bookmarks can travel with you if you're running the portable version)
• Sage (Firefox extension):  RSS reader
• Opera:  Another browser alternative beloved by techies
• OpenOffice:  Open-source office software
• Pidgin:  Instant-messaging software that works with most chat services
  
• GIMP:  Image editor

Not in the mood to mix-n-match?  Try the PortableApps.com Suite, which starts you off with a selection of the most commonly-used programs. 

Where to find portable apps:  PortableApps.com is the most popular, but PortableFreeware.com and Wikipedia also have monster lists. 

What to watch out for:  USB drives are easy to lose, so be careful about keeping track of yours -- don't forget it when you get up to leave the computer!  For the same reason, remember to back up your USB drive regularly, especially if you have any important data stored on it.

Will this work on patron PCs?  Should we recommend it to patrons?  It seems like portable apps could be useful for patrons who are power-users of the library PCs -- however, lots of libraries have security measures in place to prevent patrons from running programs from a USB drive (for good reason).  I haven't been able to test this on LINK and non-LINK patron PCs yet, but I'll be loading up some portable apps to test-drive on a patron PC soon. 

If you try it:  Give us a field report!  What did you try, and how did it go?