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)

17 July 2008

Configure Zotero to work with Google Scholar

I love Zotero. It is my reference manager of choice. I have Endnote X, but no longer use it.

I just updated to Zotero 1.0.7 and received an error message when trying to import a citation from Google Scholar. I had not received such an error since the early beta releases of Zotero (I think 0.5). Luckily, I came up with a solution.

On the Google Scholar homepage, click on Preferences. Scroll to the bottom and tick Export to Endnote format, then click save. The error was then gone, and Zotero worked beautifully.

Zotero is a free download and is an addon for Mozilla Firefox and Flock.