Anyone can play guitar and make widgets.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 · 19:52 · 0 comments

While waiting for his baby to magically appear (I still don't know where those "things," come from) Lee Kelleher has been updating his blog and playing around on the internet. Lee made a blog post talking about a Mozilla project called Prism. Said post reminded me that I had installed it a while ago, and I haven't tried using it since because it told me that there was no program, only XUL error.

So, I reinstalled it. Now it works.

Mozilla's Prism takes those fancy web sites (or web apps), and lets them run in their own stand-alone window. Lee does a better job explaining what it does, and what he uses it for.

But I found a different use for it.

Prism+iPhone facebook site/Wizardry=Widgets!

Widget/Gadget, whatever. It's basically a small application that runs on your desktop, and just about gives you full access to a sexier version of facebook.

It's neat. Digsby notifies me when something happens on facebook, so I move my mouse over to the "facebook mini," window and check it out. No need to search through tabs, or wait for the monster that is Flock (it's built on Firefox) to respond. There are other pros, and even cons, but I'll let the, "Everything has to be in one window," kiddies argue that for you.

Now, most, but not all, sites have a mobile/iPhone formatted version, so you may check it while you're in the bathroom. Once you have Prism installed, run the the program to turn your favorite website into a, "program." Also remember to create a shortcut so you won't have to go through the set up process again and again.

...and again.

Remember to resize the window so it looks right, and not stretched out.

Name of Site - URL - (mobile version)

Note! Standard Mobile versions are dull and boring.

facebook - http://iphone.facebook.com - (iPhone)
Gmail - http://m.gmail.com - (Standard Mobile)
Google Reader -http://www.google.com/reader/m - (Standard Mobile)
Google Reader - http://www.google/reader/wii - (Wii Edition)
iGoogle - http://www.google.com/ig/i - (iPhone)
iGoogle - http://www.google.com/m - (Standard Mobile)


Oh, you get to set an icon for your new, "program," or you can use the standard globe icon, whatever. I spent hours making a desktop icon for my "facebook mini," Prism app, and I'm making it available for you to download. You have three to choose from (256x256), and you can find them here.

Enjoy.

Labels: cell phones, Digsby, Facebook, Flock, Lee Kelleher, Links, Mozilla, Prizm

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