cScore

If you’re using Firefox 3, try out this extension. I call it cScore. I don’t like having to switch tabs while on firefox if I want to read commentary from cricinfo.com, so I made this thing which puts the commentary along the bottom of the browser window, along with the score. Currently it supports

• CricInfo
• StickCricket
• PlanetRugby
• Rugbyrama

It even includes a GoogleTranslate function if for some reason you want to read CricInfo (etc) commentary in Hindi, or French (Rugbyrama is a french site anyway), or Dutch or even Mandarin.
It’s probably bug-ridden as this is just the initial release, but it’s got no adware or spywayre or anything nasty like that.

( click for larger )

cScore currently only supports those Cricket and Rugby websites at present. Perhaps in later updates I’ll support some other sports. I probably will not be supporting Association Football (soccer) or American sports, but if you know of any score+commentary sites for some other sports or even cricket and rugby, post them here and I’ll look into it. I’d also appreciate suggestions and feedback on this version.

The localisation is not very good. I relied on Google translate for the Hindi, Dutch, French and Mandarin versions. If you’d like to help with translation let me know. Also let me know of cricket and rugby and other sport score+commentary sites in other languages if there are any. Why Hindi, Dutch, French and Mandarin? No real reason apart from cricket is popular with hindi speakers, and rugby is popular with french speakers. The dutch are known to play cricket and mandarin is simply because there’s so many mandarin speakers out there..

Rice-Count

 

Freerice.com is a great site which lets people donate grains of rice through the UN’s World Food Programme, while improving their vocabulary.

You might want to keep a track of how your ‘Vocab Level’ progresses with time and that’s where this extension comes in!

The extension displays a plot of your progress over an hour, day, week or month. You can also export all data to a .csv file for view in a spreadsheet programme such as MS Excel or OOo Calc.

• Available here. (Doesn’t install automatically – open the file in firefox)
• If you are a mozilla registered user, also available in the mozilla sandbox. (safer and recommended)

How to use
When you are at http://www.freerice.com/ an icon appears on your status bar. If you click on this, a dialogue will open which displays a plot of your ‘Vocab Level’ progress. You can choose to display plots of your progress over the current hour, day, week or month. If you wish to check your progress over a longer time, click on the button below the graph to open the data in a spreadsheet programme and use your programme’s chart function to plot a graph. The first time you click the button you will need to select the programme with which to open the file (MS Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc for example).

If you have problems, criticisms, bug reports, post them here!

Cheers, hope you enjoy it!

(I’d really appreciate a review – please include your Operating System name and version and Firefox version, thanks!)

How to access the Mozilla add-ons sandbox

UPDATE: This entry is outdated. The sandbox for addons is no more. Instead there is a checkbox you can check to display ‘experimental’ addons which is the same thing. You may need to register (free) and log in to see the checkbox. Also the checkbox is not visible if there are no experimental extensions that match your search query or are in the category you are browsing.

The add-ons sandbox is a place for un-tested firefox extensions, themes and other add-ons. Users who don’t mind using untested add-ons can try out these extensions and review them. If a particular extension gets enough thorough reviews, that extension can be moved on to the the public add-ons site.

There are some pretty cool extensions in the sandbox, and if you want to try them out there are a few steps you must take.

1. Go to addons.mozilla.com
2. If you haven’t registered with the site, do so now (it’s free). Otherwise log in. Near the top of the page you’ll see a bar with a search box. On the right of the search box are the links for registering or logging in.

   

3. Once yo’ve registered and logged in, have a look on the left side of the search box. If the word ‘Sandbox’ is not visible, click on ‘My Account’ which will be just to the right of the search box. If it is visible, skip the next step.

   

4. On the account settings page, look for ‘Show Sandbox’ and make sure the checkbox is checked. Save.

   

5. The word ‘Sandbox’ is now visible on the left of the search box. Click it. The colour of the grey bar will change to a sand-like background.

   

6. Towards the left of that bar you will see ‘Home > Sandbox > …’ Click on ‘Sandbox’. You’re done!

   

7. If you want to leave the sand box, click on ‘Public’ on the left of the search box. Or, in the location bar, remove the ‘/status:1’ from the end of the url.

Remember! These are add-ons untested and so may not be safe! On the other hand the majority of them are by honest and competent coders who want their work to be made public and needs your help in testing and reviewing them.

If you want a few sandboxed extensions to review that I know are safe try:

• Relink
• ShortStuff
• LookUp!

What is the Mozilla Sandbox?

The sandbox is an area for users to test add-ons before they are reviewed for general public use. In order to access the sandbox, you must register on the mozilla website and enable it in your account settings (step by step instructions). I feel I should tell you that caution should be used when installing sandboxed add-ons, as they have not been tested by a mozilla editor and may harm your computer.

If you like one of my extensions, please help get it out of the sandbox and onto the public mozilla site. How? Simple – write a review either on this blog or on the extension page on the mozilla website (don’t forget to include your firefox and operating system information). If I get enough reviews I can submit it for a review by the mozilla overlords and then it will be available for everyone to search for and download on the mozilla website.

When downloading from the links on this blog, I recommend downloading from the sandbox as the other server is not secure. In general, try not to download firefox extensions from addresses that don’t start with https://

TwisterMc blog entry

Relink

Sometimes people don’t use a url-shortening service and post long urls in messageboards which get broken up. To view this broken link you’d have to copy the link, paste it in the location bar of new tab, remove the spaces, and only then can you press enter. Or you could use this extension! Simply highlight the link, spaces and all, and hit Ctrl+Enter.

• Available here. (Doesn’t install automatically – open the file in firefox)
• If you are a mozilla registered user, also available in the mozilla sandbox. (safer and recommended)

How to use
Simply highlight the link, spaces and all, and hit Ctrl+Enter. Also works with long multi-line urls as can sometimes happen in emails.

If you have problems, criticisms, bug reports, post them here!

Cheers, hope you enjoy it!

(I’d really appreciate a review – please include your Operating System name and version and Firefox version, thanks!)

ShortStuff

 

Sometimes you want to paste a URL on a messageboard or email, but it’s too long. So you use a url shortening service, but that adds an extra step to the copying and pasting process. This add-on eliminates that step.

• Available here. (Doesn’t install automatically – open the file in firefox)
• If you are a mozilla registered user, also available in the mozilla sandbox. (safer and recommended)

How to use
Right click on a page, link or image and select “Shorten this address”. This will shorten the url of the page, link or image location. Watch the icon near the bottom right hand corner of your browser window to know when the conversion process has started and finished. Once it has finished, you may paste as per normal, and the shortened url will be pasted. The icon can also be click to start a page url conversion. Right-click the icon and select “Options…” to choose your url shortening service.

If you have problems, criticisms, bug reports, post them here!

Cheers, hope you enjoy it!

(I’d really appreciate a review – please include your Operating System name and version and Firefox version, thanks!)

LookUp!

Sometimes you want to look up the meaning of a word, but that can be tedious with copying opening new tabs, pasting etc. This extension makes that process quicker! You can use it with Wikpedia, AskOxford.com, whatever!

• Available here. (Doesn’t install automatically – open the file in firefox)
• If you are a mozilla registered user, also available in the mozilla sandbox. (safer and recommended)

How to use
Highlight a word or a group of words and right-click. You will be presented with a list of sites where you can search for the highlighted words! To edit the site list go to Tools > LookUp! > Options… and add, remove or edit the list.

If you have problems, criticisms, bug reports, post them here!

Cheers, hope you enjoy it!

(I’d really appreciate a review – please include your Operating System name and version and Firefox version, thanks!)