31 July 2008

I want a browser like Mark

Long-time readers will know that Flock is my default web browser. It is based on Firefox, but has a few extra features that I find useful. Today, I deleted my profile and reinstalled everything. This is a log of what I did (for my future reference and also for those who keep asking me about what browser I use).
1. Set Options to the way I like them (Tools|Options)
Privacy: Keep cookies until I close Flock, Security: Do not remember passwords, Advanced: Search for text when I start typing, Network connection.

2. Make Google search the default straight from the location bar
Type about:config into the location bar.
Find keyword.URL.
Change the value to
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=

3. Install addons (Tools|Addons)
Adblock Plus, AI Roboform Toolbar, Customize Google, Grab and Drag, IE Tab, Nuke Anything Enhanced, Zotero.

4. Import Zotero library (Windows Explorer)
Copy Zotero files and folders from backup to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Appication data\Flock\Browser\Profiles\randomstring.default\Zotero.

5. Log in to web services and click Remember Account
del.icio.us, Blogger, Facebook, Youtube, Gmail, Twitter, digg.

6. Customise UI
Add New Tab, Downloads buttons. Remove Roboform Toolbar from
Viewinstead, place Roboform button in between Photo Uploader button and Bookmarks Toolbar. Remove Adblock Plus button from view. Change Zotero button to Z.

7. Customise search engines (Search Preferences)
Wikipedia, Google Scholar, Google Images, Google Maps au, eBay au, Youtube, Amazon.

8. Add favorites to Favorites Toolbar
Gmail, Compose Mail, Scrybe, Flickr, Blogger.
9. Configure RSS Feeds (as specified by RSSFeeds tag in Favorites)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You sound like a Zotero power user. Have you tried WizFolio (www.wizfolio.com)? It has a lot of features which are similar to Zotero like the ability to grab data from webpages. The best part is that you can upload your files and access them everywhere. Unlike Refworks, it has a folder structure which makes it easy to organize things. I haven't tried their cite-as-you-write tool yet but I have a feeling that it will be good.

Mark Antoniou said...

Laura, I have been using Zotero since it was in early beta and have been so happy with it that I look forward to new releases to see what else it can do. As a consequence, I have stopped looking at alternative reference/citation software, and therefore was unfamiliar with Wizfolio. So, I checked it out.

Wizfolio seems to offer some similar functionality to Zotero although there appear to be numerous (and important) differences between the two. The thought of having to use Internet Explorer in order to access Wizfolio's full feature set makes me cringe. In addition, the interface, method of saving citations, and process for inserting citations into Word seem unnecessarily complex.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mark,
WizFolio just launched a new version which you might find very interesting.

You can use its WizAdd tool to collect references from any website. Even collect patents and Youtube vids.

After that click on "Locate PDF" and it goes to the publisher's page and looks for the PDF of your references. If there's a free PDF, it downloads it automatically.

Also if you upload a PDF, it will search for its bibliography on Pubmed and you dun have to type it in manually.

I still use Zotero but I'm beginning to find WizFolio an asset as well. Amazing how these two great software are free.