Digital Streets

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.

Jaiku makes it easy to add updates from web feeds.  This can be quite useful in populating your presence stream with updates from your blog, Facebook status, latest additions to Flickr, Twitter status, etc.

1. Go to Jaiku and sign into your account.
2. Go to the upper right of the page and select Settings.

   

3. Using the vertical menu on the left side, go to Account and select Your web feeds.

   

4. Click one of the blue links listed.

   

5. Input the url to the desired web site.  Jaiku will find the feeds associated with that page.  Click the Find feeds button.

   

6. The feed(s) associated with the web page will be displayed.  If more than  one is displayed, select the desired feed.  Click the Add feed button.