Firefox Tips - 2. Useful Right-Click Menu Addin

    Sometimes you will find life a lot more easier, if you can search some words by select them and then using your Right-Click menu instead of type them into your search bar yourself!

    DictionarySearch Extension is just the tool you need to do so! First, go and install DictionarySearch extension! After restarting your Firefox, go to Add-ons and click the "Option " for DictionarySearch extension. you would find something like the one below, except that yours are all empty! Fill them with your desired search engine! Dont know how to do it? It is very easy!

1. Go to your  desired search site and type "ok" and do a search!(Example: dictionary.com )
 2. Copy the URL in your address bar (example:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ok) and paste it into the "URL:" text box in your "Option" window, then replace "ok" without the quotation mark.

3. Type "Search XXX for "$""(example:"Search Dictionary for "$""), notice that there are quotation marks this time.

4. Click 'OK", you are done! 

 Here is my "Option" window:

 

Dictionary 1

Text: Search Dictionary for "$"

URL:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/$

Dictionary 2

Text: Search Ciba for "$"

URL: http://www.iciba.com/search?s=$&lang=gb2312&t=word&sourceid=mozilla-search

(This one is a little bit tricky, because it evolves text encoding. btw, ciba.com is a Chinese Online Dictionary provided by Kingsoft ) 

Dictionary 3

Text: Search Wikipedia for "$"

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$ 

Dictionary 4

Text: Go to "$"

URL: $ 

On the above, it is the result!

 

 

Firefox Tips - 1. Squeezed Firefox Interface

    In my opinion , one fundamental principle of Software interface design is: Put only the essential elements on the handy position!

    Although most computer users have big screens like 17# + nowadays, space wasting is still unforgivable! Every time i stare at those large waste space on the right of the Menu bar, i am getting uncomfortable! This is highly due to the poor Windows Interface design,  but can we do something about it? at least in certain application?

    Well, the answer is yes, for Firefox! Right click on the address bar and chose "Customize", you can drag menu bar, address bar around!

    Things dont stop there, let's think a simple question: what is the most used element in a browser? Definitely the Address bar! not those stupid menu bar. Menu bar is even behind the "Search Bar".

    So here is my Firefox Interface, i have been using it for months, find it very convenient!

 

 

     As i have mentioned, this problem is highly due to the poor Windows Interface.  It doesnt exit in Mac OS X, because OS X have a uni-menu bar! and it uses the right side to display all system trays like clock, volume, etc.

 

"The Corporation" DVD Official Download Edition!

    Never think Bit Torrent is absolutely evil! It is just a great technology, just like mp3 format or nuclear energy. If something goes wrong, blame the person who is using it such way!

    So if you hear someone is downloading a movie using BitTorrent, don't take it as granted that he is some kind of "thief"! "Don't judge a person by the technology he is using, but judge him by the content of his downloading"(forgive me, Martin Luther King JR!)  Here is an example of legal movie distribution using BitTorrent! "The Corporation". It is an Canadian award winning documentary about corporation emerge, development and culture. It uncovers and investigates the harm caused by corporations by interviewing dozens of business men , professors, presenting some very graphic footages. It is knowledgeable, but not in a boring way! As mentioned by the DJ in a radio interview of the writer, the caption is very sexy and relaxing. The documentary is organized in a very beautiful manner with different chapters, in which the movie compares corporation with human mental disorder and diagnoses it as psychopath!  

    It is really an up-lifting movie! As mentioned by Michael Moore at the end of the movie:"I am convinced that a few people are going to leave this movie theater or get up off the couch, go and do something, anything that can get this world back in our hands. "

    The download includes a high-quality rip version of the DVD, as well as a radio interview of Joel Bakan, the author of the original book and writer of the film!

"The Corporation" introduction page on Torrentfreak.com 

Direct link for the torrent 

 The official "The Corporation" movie website

User-Driven Web 2.0

原文网址：http://blog.rongchiba.com/?p=6 

---

标题就是我对于荣耻吧网站的总体思路，其一是User-Driven,其二是Web 2.0.

或许有人会说Web 2.0不就已经包含了User-Driven了吗？何必要单独列出来？我的回答：因为太多的人把Web 2.0理解为纯技术层面的概念了，什么ajax之类的。而一个成功的Web 2.0网站，User-Driven是至关重要的!

基于这个原因，从荣耻吧开发设计的一开始，我对于网站的一些理念是十分固执的!这其中最重要的就是：尽量把权力都交给用户，我们不要刻意的去替用户 做任何“想当然的事情” ！那么这表现在技术从面上就是我们尽量只提供给用户最原始的数据，就是Raw Data,比如“荣耻指数”的计算，一开始曾经考虑过把回复数量放进去，但是后来我们放弃了，这是因为我们凭什么擅自决定要把回复数量加进去了？所以我们 决定总的荣耻指数完全根据投票来进行直观数据提交。但是回复数量之类的东西，也是用户关心的，那该怎么办呢？我们于是就决定设立“排序”,就是我们让用户 自己选择按照什么标准对“条目”进行排序!（功能开发中）

同样的，本来我们计划设立三个版面，即：荣版，耻版和吧版!后来我们问了同样一个问题：为什么要这样做？如此一来岂不又是认为的设立框框了吗？为什么不把这个也放进排序里面呢？

User-Driven的第二个坚持就是民主！而在对待网络民主的问题上面，我和Wuvist曾经有过激烈的分歧！这一点突出表现在对“积极用户” 的处理上。我们会根据用户发表条目和投票的多少来给每一个用户进行“经验量化”，就产生了“活跃指数”！那么对于“活跃指数”高的用户，是一定要有奖励或 者鼓励的措施的，这一点我和Wuvist并没有分歧，分歧就出在Wuvist建议活跃指数可以用来换“投票数”，比如“拿200点活跃指数换取对于某一条 目拥有两票的投票权！”。 Wuvist认为这是一个trade-off,就是你必须考虑清楚你是拿自己的”社区可信度“来换取自己对于某个条目强烈表态的机会！他可以不用，但是我 们必须要给他这个选项。但是在我看来，这是不折不扣地反民主，也违背User-Driven的精神！你给了他这样一个选项，实际上就是默认了系统的不平衡 和不公平性！这样，在一个新来的用户看来，自己的投票权利受到了歧视和矮化！这是很严重的一个问题！最后经过一个下午在Burger King的激辩，我终于说服了Wuvist,当然，我的嗓子也哑了！我们可以认为”活跃指数“高的人，他的社区认知度会比较高，但是并不是每一个人都这么 认为，一旦你提供了他们这个多票的选项，就意味着你逼迫其他人接受这个系统了，其他人就没有选项了!我们也完全可以把这个问题用排序进行处理，就是让用户 自己选择自己认为那些用户或者条目应该排在前面，那些是自己信任和关注投票!

由上面可以看得出来，我们的系统里面排序是一个至关重要的功能，也正是因为如此，我们在处理他的是否，十分小心，到我这篇文章发表时，这个功能还没有加上去!

至于Web 2.0，这很大程度上是在谈用户体验的问题，就是界面相关的东西，尽管我负责这个东西，必须说，到目前为止，我还是没有完全定型荣耻吧的界面设计，尽管已 经换了好几次了!主要是第一次做网站界面设计，所以很多东西都是做了–否定–改了–再否定。而且很多东西因为无法设想好，所以必须等到初始页面出来了，我 才意识到问题所在，然后跟上，这一点上，我和Wuvist的合作方式出现了不太咬合的情况，Wuvist是希望在他program之前，页面设计的psd 文件已经摆在他面前了，而我呢，是希望在我设计页面之前，我已经清楚的知道页面里面有什么element了。经过这个经历，我发现我们一开始的时候，我对 于我的工作的认识有些错误，我单纯的理解为graphic design了，那就简单多了，可是我实际上负责的是layout design和graphic design!而前者我完全是外行！只能边做边试了!

Jon Stewart is Back!!!

   After being pulled down from Youtube for around a week and dozens of complains and criticim, Video clips from Comedy Central are back!! Now you can continue your langh with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Seems like that there was some kind of deal going on between Youtube and Comedy Central. But anyway, it is back and that's good for Youtube users!

   Ever since the acquring of Youtube by Google, dozens of so called legal actions are spotted out here and there! It is a bad news for ordinary users, thought both sides have their own reasonable argue. This open letter <Stephen Colbert: Dont Love and Leave Youtube> is among the most important and famous ones, thought i dont agree with it very much. As some Diggers said, it is not upon Stephen's charge and responsibility! He is just a empolyee who's duty is to make his audients laugh, thoughtfully.

  No matter which side you stand for, you can not deny a fact that internet is and will indeed change the current interlectuall property laws, just like MP3 did for Records companies before! So you are going to face it, either going along with it or fighting hard to block its way! iTune store seems to be a good way for record companies and is quite widely accepted! Mostly because of Apple's reputation of copyright protection, but thing doesnt stopped there! It is always a Cat and Mouse catch!

  I still remember the feeling when i first be introduced to Open Source! I thought it is awesome! How can somebody dare to break the long-live fence and stand up to shout for copyleft? It turns out to be very successful! and i think maybe its time to move on to other areas besides of software! Maybe music, or video! who knows? the large corporation? i dont think so, because it seems to me that the trigger is on users' hands, large corporatons are losing their power of dealing with so many Internet Spread Rivals!

  As mentioned in economics lectures, IP will somehow does harm to our economy! We may reach the point that the so called IP Altar is finally been pulled down!!