A few days ago “d_leaper” commented asking why we haven’t created Microsummaries for Firefox yet. I hadn’t really thought about making a Microsummary before so I started to look into it.
If you’re not familiar with Microsummaries then you shouldn’t feel bad. It is a new feature in the upcoming Firefox 2 that will allow people to stay updated with what’s going on in a particular site. Microsummaries are often referred to as “Live Titles” because that is exactly what they are.
When you create a bookmark for a site that has a Microsummary available you will see a drop-down menu of choices that you can choose for the title of the bookmark. The first (default) choice will be the typical title of the page while the other choices that are offered will be the “Live Titles,” assuming they are available. They will then be periodically updated as the content changes.
With that in mind I created three different types of Microsummaries depending on what type of page you are viewing on CyberNet:
- When you bookmark our homepage the Microsummary option will show you the title of the most recent article that is available:
- When you bookmark an article’s page, for example this one, the Microsummary will show you how many comments the article has received followed by the article’s title. That way you can bookmark multiple articles and still be able to distinguish them from each other.
- The last one is for our registered users (you must be logged in for this to work). It utilizes the Unread Comments feature that we implemented a few weeks ago.
When you bookmark the Management page the Microsummary will either be title of the last article that was commented on or it will display “No Unread Comments” if you are up-to-date on your comment reading.
Here is what it looks like with some unread comments:
Here is what it looks like without any unread comments:
I hope some of you will find those Microsummaries to be useful. All of the screenshots I took were of me creating the bookmark so that it is easy for you to see how to “activate” the Live Title. Remember, these will dynamically change based on the content that is within the page.
Let us know if you have any comments or recommendations.
Sounds good, unfortunately i am using Google bookmarks and not there in-built one in Firefox.
I use Google Bookmarks as well but I do have some of my frequently accessed sites on my Bookmarks Toolbar. So I guess I kinda use both the built-in ones and the Google Bookmarks.
This feature sounds great, but I use the Google Bookmarks extension for firefox (technically, flock) as well. Still, way to stay on the cutting edge Ryan.
Hopefully it wont be long before this feature is implemented into Google bookmarks somehow. I’m still waiting on some nice module for Google customized homepage that can “watch” a web page for changes.
SWEET!!!
thank you very very much Ryan (if i knew it was that easy to convince you, i would have asked for a million bucks or something
you are actually the first comps & internet site i know of that has this feature (and made it on it’s own, unlike Digg). but i think I’ve convinced another site to add micros 2, so will c.
since i am reading too much already, i am using the main micro and the per article one (to see what other people are saying about articles I’ve commented on).
now all i need is some option to have 2 bookmarks toolbars, or some extensions that would scroll around all my micros.
thanks again.
What can I say, I’m a sucker for adding new features.
It would be nice to see Google come out with some feature to “watch” a website but I’m sure they are focused on enough projects right now.
actually, if i am not mistaken or hallucinating , there was such an option inside the bookmarks properties in either netscape or an older firefox. u could set it up to either check for changes in sites, or to reload it on a regular basis.
I’m pretty sure there should be some extensions for this.
Hi Ryan,
any guide on how to create micro summaries?
[developer.mozilla.org] that I used to make my Microsummaries.
Ryan,
i think you should drop a line to the guys at mozilla, so they will put ur site in the list of site using Microsummaries.
the [en-us.www.mozilla.com] a link 2, hasn’t been updated for ages, and i actually don’t think most of the sites their are useful to many ppl (not me anyway).
Okay, I sent them an email. I never thought to do that.
It would be pretty cool to be put on that site especially when the new feature launches.
May be I am missing something here, but I don’t understand this whole ‘microsummaries’ thing.
The Microsummaries are just a typical bookmark to a page but the title that appears constantly updates itself. For instance, if you bookmark this page then you can choose to have the title of the bookmark constantly refresh itself to show how many comments there have been.
Okay, I guess is not something that really interests me.
We’re now on [people.mozilla.com]~myk/microsummaries/sites/…YAY! I am very impressed with how quick they were to respond.
coolness
please send the invitation
I am using “Add Bookmark Here” Firefox extension, thats why I NEVER see any Microsummaries on the Web!
Only now, from this article, I have learned that I have to use standard “Bookmark This Page (Ctrl+D)” window to see Microsummaries. …until “Add Bookmark Here” developers adds Microsummaries support.
Ryan,
I just added Microsummaries to my blog. Thanks for the excellent tips.
What was the address you used to contact the Mozilla people about getting on that page?
Nogg3r5
PS: Ure spam protection is awesome!
Just emailed the address to you…I don’t want the person to get spammed.