Publishing browser bookmarks
activeRenderer tutorial - part 5
Bookmarks are references or shortcuts to Web pages.
You create them from your browser's menu (Favorites / Add Page to Favorites in Internet Explorer, Bookmarks / Bookmark This Page in Mozilla).
With activeRenderer, you can now publish those bookmarks as an active blogroll.
activeRenderer can even publish your Yahoo bookmarks directly if you are a myYahoo user.
Step 1: Organize your bookmarks.
Web browsers usually provide a bookmarks manager.
Favorites / Organize Favorites in Internet Explorer.
Bookmarks / Manage Bookmarks... in Mozilla.
Using this manager, you can organize your bookmarks within a folder based hierarchy.
You can also rename the individual bookmarks from the default title to something more meaningful.
With some browser versions, you can associate a description property to each bookmark.
Control-click / Get Info with Internet Explorer under MacOS X.
Right-Click (or Control-Click) / Properties with Mozilla.
Mikel Maron has introduced me to Yahoo Bookmarks, a neat bookmarks management module (he most likely authored) for myYahoo users (check the attached screenshot).
Step 2: Find out where your bookmarks are stored.
If you're a myYahoo user, you know where your bookmarks are stored: in your online account, problem solved :-)
But if you are looking for your local browser bookmarks, things vary according to browser model and system.
Internet Explorer for Windows stores its bookmarks in a Favorites folder.
C:\Windows\Favorites on Windows 98 for instance.
Or C:\Winnt\Profiles\marc\Favorites on Windows NT, assuming you logged on as user 'marc'.
Internet Explorer for MacOS X creates a Favorites.html file in the Explorer subfolder of your account's Preferences folder.
Macintosh HD:Users:marc:Library:Preferences:Explorer:Favorites.html, if you logged on as user 'marc'.
Mozilla creates a bookmarks.html file and hides it in a subfolder of your system folder (MacOS X) or user profile folder (Windows)
C:\Windows\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\egee7tjx.slt\bookmarks.html on Windows 98.
Macintosh HD:Users:marc:Library:Mozilla:Profiles:default:ut7elluu.slt:bookmarks.html on MacOS X, if you logged on as user 'marc'.
I'll try to post more samples from different browsers as people forward them.
Step 3: Make sure you have version 1.1 or higher.
activeRenderer's version number is displayed in the Status Center section of the right sidebar in Radio's desktop home page, and in the activeRenderer section of the tools page.
You can also display it by selecting the Tools / activeRenderer / About menu in the Radio application.
As a matter of fact, if you are running a version prior to 2.0, quit Radio and replace the current Tools\activerenderer.root file with a newer version downloaded following these instructions.
Step 4: Set up the activeBoomarks feature.
Access activeRenderer's bookmarks settings page in your browser.
You may also find it from the Bookmarks option in the menu at the top of aR's outline browser.
When the bookmarks page is opened for the first time, the path to the source bookmarks field is left blank, and activeRenderer tries to guess where your bookmarks are hiding, according to what it considers your default browser identification.
If activeRenderer fails to locate any bookmarks file or folder, or if it displays an incorrect one, click on the Browse button to locate the bookmarks file or folder manually (you went through step 2, didn't you :-)
You may also type in the pathname directly of course.
Alternatively, you may check the 'Retrieve bookmarks from Yahoo instead' box.
You then need to provide your myYahoo user id and password.
By default, activeRenderer outlines your bookmarks in a bookmarks.opml file, located in the gems subfolder of Radio's main www folder.
You may change this location by clicking the Browse button, or entering another pathname manually.
If you want to keep your outlined version synchronized with your browser's version, I recommend checking the 'Update in the background when Radio start' box.
It's now time to click the Save button, so that activeRenderer memorizes the new settings.
Optionally, you can create a bookmarks outline at once, by clicking the Update Now button.
Creating a bookmarks outline may take quite a while. Your browser will display a 'Synchronizing bookmarks, please wait...' message in the page, then a 'Synchronization complete.' message if you're still displaying the same page when the process is over.
The synchronization process is run by Radio in the background.
Step 5: Publish your outlined version.
If your bookmarks.opml file is stored in the outlines folder of Radio's www main folder (or one of its own subfolders), then it will be automatically rendered in HTML on the public site every time it is updated (that is every time Radio starts if you've checked the proper box at step 4).
If your bookmarks.opml file is stored in the gems or opml folder of Radio's www main folder (or one of their subfolders), then the OPML version is upstreamed to the public site, without any rendering.
Whatever folder you choose, you may then include your bookmarks in an activeRoll for one of your site's templates.
To learn more about activeRolls, refer to tutorial 4.
Attached is a screenshot of the activeRoll macro I have placed in my weblog's #homeTemplate.txt file.
Making use of your browser or Yahoo bookmarks to publish a blogroll is a fast way to enhance your weblog's content. You can further improve your weblog's readability by activating activeRenderer's 'outline weblog styles', as you will learn in part 6.
