Digital Streets

By creating a bookmark in your toolbar, you can access Compose Mail to quickly send an email from your Gmail account, while never leaving the page you were on. This is because you’d be drafting the email in Firefox’s Sidebar.

First, you need to get the address (URL) of your Compose Mail popout window.

1. Go to Gmail.

2. Click the Compose Mail link on the left of the page.

3. When the Compose Mail page appears, click the popout icon in the upper right corner.

4. A new window will appear, containing the Compose Window page. Go to the address bar of the new window and highlight and copy the address (URL).

5. Close the new window.

You are now ready to create your bookmark.

1. Open Firefox.

2. Go to the menu, click Bookmarks and select Organize Bookmarks.

3. In the right pane, select Bookmarks Menu.

4. Click the Organize button at the top of the window, and select New Bookmark.

5. In the Name textbox, input Compose Mail.

6. In the Location textbox, paste the copied address for the Compose Mail window.

7. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.

8. Click the Add button.

9. Close the Library window.

The next time you need to send out an email while your surfing the web, simply click your new bookmark. Gmail’s Compose Mail will appear in the Sidebar, ready to go.

Related Posts:
Put Twitter in Firefox’s Sidebar
Put de.licio.us in Firefox’s Sidebar
Use Mobile Versions of Web Sites in Firefox’s Sidebar

Firefox’s sidebar is a perfect tool for accessing mobile sites. By using these sites in the sidebar, you can utilize various web apps and sites without having to leave the page you are on. In fact, you can create your own personal Flock-type browser if you take the time to find the necessary sites. I have used both Twitter and del.icio.us in my sidebar and have been quite pleased with the results.

Here’s what Twitter looks like in the Firefox Sidebar:

And here’s del.icio.us in the sidebar:

Other sites with great potential for Sidebar usage:

To add the desired mobile site to your Firefox sidebar:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Go to the menu, click Bookmarks and select Organize Bookmarks.

3. In the right pane, select Bookmarks Menu.

4. Click the Organize button at the top of the window, and select New Bookmark.

5. In the Name textbox, input the name of the mobile site.

6. In the Location textbox, input the url.

7. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.

8. Click the Add button.

9. Close the Library window.

Now go select your newly created bookmark. When the page loads in the sidebar, login to your account and your ready to go.

If you use de.licio.us to store bookmarks to your favorite sites (or you like to use someone else’s de.licio.us links), then placing it in Firefox’s sidebar makes perfect sense. Once they’re in the sidebar, you have instant access to your favorite pages. Placing de.licio.us in Firefox’s sidebar is simple, just follow these steps:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Go to the menu, click Bookmarks and select Organize Bookmarks.

3. In the right pane, select Bookmarks Menu.

4. Click the Organize button at the top of the window, and select New Bookmark.

5. In the Name textbox, input de.licio.us.

6. In the Location textbox, input http://del.icio.us/html/username/?tags=no&rssbutton=no (change username to your de.licio.us username).

7. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.

8. Click the Add button.

9. Close the Library window.

Now go select your newly created bookmark. When the page loads in the sidebar, login to your account and your ready to go. The de.licio.us links will open in the main window of your Firefox browser.

I use Twitter quite a bit to keep up with the rest of the Tech-Recipes crew. Since I always have my Firefox browser open, it is beneficial to run Twitter in my browser’s sidebar. That way I post a quick tweet without having to leave the page that I am on. Placing Twitter in Firefox’s sidebar is simple, just follow these steps:

1. Open Firefox.

2. Go to the menu, click Bookmarks and select Organize Bookmarks.

3. In the right pane, select Bookmarks Menu.

4. Click the Organize button at the top of the window, and select New Bookmark.

5. In the Name textbox, input Twitter.

6. In the Location textbox, input http://m.twitter.com/home.

7. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.

8. Click the Add button.

9. Close the Library window.

Now go select your newly created bookmark. When the page loads in the sidebar, login to your account and your ready to go. Twitter’s page for mobile browsers is an excellent fit in Firefox’s sidebar.

If you’ve been following my last couple of posts on making your own Outlook Today page (Part 1 and Part 2), then you know that you can add a wide range of useful tools to the page. This increases Outlook’s efficiency and keeps you updated and informed.

Today’s installment involves intigrating Microsoft’s NetMeeting into the page. NetMeeting is still a highly used utility, especially on corporate networks. It is a voice and videoconferencing client that also allows for filesharing and desktop viewing. By adding it to your customized Outlook Today page, you are ready to host or join NetMeeting conferences.

Copy and paste the following HTML code into the source of your page:

Tonight, during dinner preparation, my daughter placed a packaged loaf of bread on top of a hot burner on our glass-ceramic stovetop. She quickly realized her error, but not before the plastic from the packaging had melted to the stovetop. Needless to say, we were certain that we would have to drop $300-$400 for a new replacement. Not a good thought to take with you to the dinner table.

Thanks to a simple bottle of rubbing alcohol, our stovetop was rescued. Here’s what I did:

I let the stovetop completely cool. I then poured rubbing alcohol on the stovetop, letting it soak for 3-4 minutes. The top layer of plastic began to separate from the stovetop, I peeled this layer away. I then used a cloth washcloth to begin scrubbing the affected area. To my amazement, the remaining plastic was easily removed with little effort. I then washed the stovetop with soap and water and it was as good as new. The final step was a massive sigh of relief!

If you are making your own Outlook Today page, then these additional snippets of code are sure to be of use to you. You can add the following folders: Sent Items, RSS Feeds, and Search Folders. You can even add some Google Gadgets to spice things up.

Sent Items

RSS Feeds (change Digital Streets to the name of the desired feed)

Search Folders (change Tech-Recipes to the name of the Search Folder)

Search Folders in a Personal Folder (PST)

Another addition you can make to spice up your Outlook Today page is adding Google Gadgets. Simply find the Gadget you want, click the associated Add to your webpage button, adjust the settings to meet your needs and finally copy and paste the generated code into your Outlook Today page. This is an easy way to add clocks, weather, news feeds, etc.

One other thing to keep in mind, you don’t have to use Outlook to access the page, you can open it up in Internet Explorer. This makes for some cool ways to integrate Outlook elements on your intranet. The user has to have Outlook installed and configured on their system to view their email, calendar, etc. in the webpage.

The Outlook Today page is meant to be a summary of your email, appointments, and tasks. While you could make any web page your Outlook Today page (which would defeat the purpose) or customize the existing pages that came with Outlook (which can be rather painful), I recommend creating your own summary page. A simple page will require some basic HTML to create the layout, while an advanced page will require additional coding experience. Here’s some good starting info to create a basic page.

To begin with, you need to decide which parts of Outlook you wish to include on your new summary page. Do you want your Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, and/or Notes all on the same page? Along with this, you need a rough idea of how much available room you have to display the page. This will be decided by what resolution you are running, whether you run the application maximized or not, whether you use the Navigation Bar and To-Do Bar (Outlook 2007) and if you want to utilize scrolling or have everything easily viewable.

To include Outlook elements, you will need to use the following code:

Inbox

Calendar

Tasks

Contacts

Notes

Create an empty HTML document. Copy and paste one of the above chunks of code in the BODY of the new document. Placing any of the above code in the BODY of your web page will display the desired Outlook element. Save the page. Now go to Outlook and do the following:

1. Right-click on your main Mailbox in the Navigation Bar.
2. Select Properties.
3. Select the Home Page tab in the resulting window.
4. Make sure the Show home page by default for this folder checkbox is checked.
5. Click the Browse button and browse to the location of the newly created HTML document.
6. Click OK.
7. Go back to the Navigation Bar and click on the main Mailbox so that it displays Outlook Today.

Note: Each element will be displayed the way it does in Outlook, for example, the Reading Pane will show if it is normally on when viewing the Inbox, the Calendar element will display in Day, Week, or Month mode depending on what the normal selection is, etc.

You can use simple tables or CSS positioning to place the elements in their desired location. Modify the width and height in each OBJECT tag to change the size of the elements. You can add additional items from the web, such as the weather or news, to your Outlook Today page by utilizing iframes to display the content. You can also add links to other web pages, however, I recommend that you have these links open up in your web browser (target=”_blank”) instead of using Oulook’s browser. It will take some experimenting to get the positioning the way you want it, but with a little effort, you will have an ideal starting page for your email client. If you want to go back to the original Outlook Today, just click the Restore Defaults button on the Home Page tab of the Outlook Today properties.

For more code snippets to customize your Outlook Today page, check out Part 2 of this article.

I ran into an unfortunate incident not too long ago. While working on an inkjet printer, I managed to get ink on the carpet in my office. Since the carpet had just been cleaned, I was not a happy camper. I had no idea how I was going to get the ugly stain off of the once unmarked carpet. I then remembered that I had used an alcohol based whiteboard cleaner to remove Sharpy writing on a CD-R, so I decided to give it a shot. I saturated the area with the solution and dabbed it with a paper towel. Almost instantly, the stain was gone. Not just looking better, there was actually no sign of the printer ink to be found. This will only work with an alcohol based cleaner, I don’t recommend using an alcohol free one to remove ink stains.

I now keep a bottle on hand just in case I run into another office based disaster.

Ubuntu is a free Linux based operating system that has become quite popular.   I’ve been quite happy with the OS and am learning more and more as time goes by. Here’s a quick list of the Ubuntu tutorials at Tech-Recipes by seamonkey420, incursor, and myself (so far):

• Ubuntu: Optimize Font Rendering for Viewing on LCDs and Laptop
• Ubuntu: Make Your Laptop Enter Suspend or Hibernate Mode When You Close the Lid
• Ubuntu: Restore Restart and Shut Down to the Log Out Button
• Ubuntu: Restore wireless / bluetooth / battery icon back to Top Panel
• Ubuntu: Dual booting w/XP using Grub bootloader | editing bootloader in Ubuntu
• Ubuntu: Disable the Automatic Playing of CD and DVD Discs
• Ubuntu: Install the Ubuntu Studio Theme
• Ubuntu: How to Change the Computer Name
• Ubuntu: Place Trash Icon on the Desktop
• Ubuntu: Disable the Startup Sound
• Ubuntu: Installing, Removing, and Searching for Packages & Apps from Terminal
• Ubuntu: Add Applications to the Startup Programs
• Ubuntu 7.10: How to Install KDE 4.0
• Ubuntu: How to Remove a User Account
• Ubuntu: Stop sudo Commands from Prompting for a Password
• Ubuntu: How to Mount and Unmount ISO Files
• Ubuntu 7.10: How to Uninstall KDE
• Ubuntu: Install Compiz Config Settings Manager to Configure Desktop Effects
• Ubuntu: Getting KDE 4.0 to Accept Your sudo Password
• Ubuntu: Bypass Trash When Deleting a File
• Ubuntu: Disable the System Beep
• Ubuntu: Enable DVD Playback
• Ubuntu: What Version am I Running?
• Ubuntu: How To Create an ISO Image from a CD or DVD
• Ubuntu: Enable Window Grouping on the Window List
• Ubuntu: Generate a Hardware Profile for Your System
• Ubuntu: Close a Non-Responding App with xkill
• Ubuntu: Switch Between gdm and kdm Display Managers
• Ubuntu: How to Enable Automatic Login
• Ubuntu: How to View Hidden Files and Folders
• Ubuntu: Change How Often Your System Checks for Updates
• Ubuntu: Stop Display from Going to Sleep when Inactive
• Ubuntu: 4 Ways to Install Programs or Packages