Friday, March 13, 2009

Some neat bookmarklets

Would you like to convert a Web page to a PDF file? One way to do that is to install a browser add-on from Pdfdownload.org. The add-on lets you choose to have the converted page emailed, opened, or saved on your hard drive.

Or, instead of using the add-on, you could use the Pdfdownload.org bookmarklet. The bookmarklet does not require installation, works with most browsers, and will not slow your browser down or consume memory. It can even be stored on the Internet for access from any computer. However, it lacks features of the add-on -- it does not offer the option of emailing or saving the PDF file; it just opens it.

Bookmarklets are similar to add-ons, but they may have fewer features. They are small JavaScripts that execute when you click on their icons in the bookmark toolbar. Here is the code of a simple bookmarklet that re-sizes the browser window to 800 by 1,000 pixels (which would be useful if you were preparing a series of same-size screen shots):

javascript:window.resizeTo(800,1000);window.moveTo(0,0);
The Pdfdownload.org script is a bit longer because it calls the PDF conversion service using their API:
javascript:void(window.open('http://www.pdfdownload.org/web2pdf/Default.aspx?left=0&right=0&top=0&bottom=0&page=0&cURL='+document.location.href));
There are tons of useful bookmarklets, and you can see a list of some of the best at this excellent Digital Inspiration post. If you start using bookmarklets, you will also like this post.

What is your favorite browser add-on? What is your favorite bookmarklet?

No comments:

Post a Comment