YouTube Center Adds All The Missing Features To YouTube

There are quite a few things that you cannot do on YouTube due to lack of controls. It is for instance not possible to repeat videos automatically or stop videos from automatically playing if you load it on the video hosting site. Most of the annoyances and missing features on YouTube become available through add-ons or userscripts that you can install in the web browser. Some target a specific feature like the ability to download videos from YouTube, others add a bunch of features to the site.

YouTube Center is one of those scripts that add a lot of features to YouTube. It does that in a way that is not overloading the site or changing it significantly.

Google Chrome users can install the userscript right away, while Firefox users need to have the Greasemonkey or Scriptish add-ons installed before they can do the same. There is no mentioning of support for other browsers.

Once you have installed the userscript in your browser, you will notice a new small toolbar attached to the bottom of videos on YouTube.

The three buttons Settings, Repeat and Download are displayed by default. A click on Settings opens the configuration menu where you can make the following changes:

• Enable Auto Resolution – Select a preferred video resolution that videos will be played in if available.
• Enable Download button – Options to set a preferred download quality and format. The down arrow next to the download button lists all available qualities for download.
• Enable Repeat button – Displays the repeat button to automatically repeat videos for as long as you stay on the page. Repeat can be automatically activated in the settings.
• Enable Shortcuts on Page – Enable shortcuts on all of the page, including abilities to go to a specific video position with the 0-9 keys, space to pause the video or left and right arrow to go back and forward ten seconds.
• Prevent Auto-Play and Auto-Buffering – Stops videos before they start to buffer or play automatically.
• Download mp3 – Option to download the audio of videos to the mp3 format.

YouTube Center is a useful userscript for YouTube regularly who wish they had more control on the site.

Google Cache Browser Lets You Browse A Website In Google’s Cache

When you search Google you always have the option to open a linked website directly, or to open a cached page of the selected page instead. Opening the cached version may help you if the website that you want to open is not available temporarily or permanently.

Google recently made changes to the location of the cached links on the search results pages. One of the issues that you may have is that you can only open the Google search results link in the cache. All other links on the site do not link to the cached version. That’s a problem if the entire site is down and you need to open multiple pages on it to retrieve the information you are looking for.

This leaves you with two options. You can copy the original link, paste it into Google Search and open the cached page this way, or modify the webcache url manually. Both options are not really that comfortable, especially if you need to open several pages and not only one.

The free userscript Google Cache Browser automates the process by converting all links on a cached page automatically. This happens behind the scenes and should not have a visual impact on the page rendering time or performance.

When you hover your mouse over a link on a Google cached page, you will notice that it too links to Google Cache and not the original website it was posted on.

The userscript modifies both internal and external links so that they are pointing to their Google Cache location instead.

The userscript can be useful in a number of ways. It first and foremost provides better and direct access to all cached pages of a website. It can also be helpful if you are experiencing connection issues or slow loading pages on a particular website. Connecting to the cached page instead may speed up access significantly.

Google Cache Browser is available on the userscripts website. It has been tested in Firefox with the Scriptish add-on installed. It is likely also compatible with Greasemonkey and Google Chrome, and maybe other browsers like Opera as well.

Customize Google’s New Services Menu

The majority of users visiting the Google homepage or another one of Google’s properties will have noticed that Google made another change to the header area. The company did away with the black bar and replaced it with a menu that is activated with a click on the Google logo. This new menu displays a selection of Google services directly, and additional Google products with a click on the more link.

The menu looks like this when it is fully expanded on the screen. Core Google services like Google+, Google Search, YouTube and Gmail are linked in the main black menu. Secondary services such as Translate, Music, Finance or Wallet in the white menu that is displayed by hoovering the mouse over the More link.

The Even More link opens a page listing additional services. Part of Google’s userbase has criticized the new design, particularly that it now takes longer to access services that were displayed directly in the black bar, and that Google offers no customization options based on the user preferences.

That’s where the userscript Tweak Google Menu comes into play. The userscript adds reordering abilities to the Google menu.

The options are available with a click on the Even More link in the Google menu. The page lists the main and secondary menu entries, and other options that are not linked at all in the standard menu.

Google services can be moved around by dragging and dropping them to another position. It is for instance possible to remove the Google News link from the main menu to replace it with a link to Google Code. New items can be added without removing existing ones. The menu is automatically expanded to make room for the additional menu items.

Tweak Google Menu allows Google users to modify the Google menu to their liking. An option to add custom links, e.g. to Blogspot blogs, would be useful but is currently not available.

The userscript can be installed from the official UserScripts repository.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: Google, google tips, userscript

Delete Facebook Friends In Bulk

Sometimes you may want a clean slate. Maybe you have realized that you are communicating only with a handful of friends on Facebook, and that you have added the majority only to feel good or to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. On Facebook it is only possible to remove one friend at a time. If you want to remove dozens or hundreds of friends, you are in for for a long time. That’s where the userscript Facebook Deletes comes into play. It allows you to unfriend Facebook friends in bulk on the social networking site.

The userscript integrates into the Edit Facebook Friend’s page on Facebook which can you access with a click on this link. You can alternative click on the Friends link on your Facebook profile page to open the same listing.

A click on Facebook Delete Friends at the top displays the selection menu. You will also notice that checkboxes have been placed next to each friend’s name on Facebook. These checkboxes are for friend’s that you do not want to delete. The methodology can be confusing at first, as it would feel natural to select friends that you want deleted this way. I suggest you use the Highlight Only button to test the deletion. This highlights all friends that would be deleted if you’d click on the Delete all button provided by the userscript. The total count of deleted Facebook friends is displayed here as well.

You can use the Select all button to check all boxes before you go through the list and uncheck friends that you want to delete. That’s probably the safest option. I’d still recommend to test the deletion before you start it.

Please note that only visible friends will be deleted. If you want to make sure that everyone is included you need to first scroll down to the very bottom of your friend’s list on Facebook. You can also use it in combination with the Facebook friends checker.

Firefox users need to download and install the Greasemonkey or Scriptish extension for the browser before they can install the userscript.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: facebook friends, facebook friends checker, userscript

Mouseover Popup Image Viewer Userscript

One of the not so comfortable experiences that users can make on the Internet are websites where small images or thumbnails are displayed that reveal little to no information due to their size. Some of those images link to a bigger version, and while that may provide the information the user is looking for, it also means another click and another page load in the browser (unless JavaScript galleries are used that display images on top of the page, the click however still needs to be made).

One solution for the issue are scripts or extensions that automatically display the bigger picture when the mouse hoovers over the image. I have reviewed several extensions and scripts in the past that provide users with that functionality. From Hoover Zoom for the Chrome browser to the Image Search Preview and Zoom Image userscripts.

Mouseover Popup Image Viewer is a new userscript that is compatible with the Firefox and Google Chrome browser (the Chrome functionality is limited though according to the developer as http referrers cannot be faked).

You can simply hoover over an image to see a larger version of that image directly in the browser window.

This works for all images that are directly linked and dozens of image hosting websites including Imagebam, Imagefap, Flickr, Imageearn or Pixhost. Firefox users get the additional benefit that the script can bypass the hotlinking protection of some of the image hosting sites. Instead of having to visit the site to view the image, Firefox users see those images directly in the same browser tab.

The image popup can only be as large as the browser window. This can be a issue if the original image is larger than the browser window. In this case, only part of the image is shown on the screen in the preview.

Firefox and Chrome users can download and install Mouveover Popup Image Viewer from the official Userscripts.org website. (Thanks Vineeth for the tip)

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: image preview, mouse zoom, popups, userscript

Gooverbatim, Add Verbatim Button To Google Search

I have already talked about Google Verbatim, a new search tool that is currently rolled out for all users of the Google Search engine. With Verbatim, users can search for contents that match their search query exactly. This means no interpretations by Google, no adding of synonyms, removal of words or personalization of the search results. Search in its purest form so to speak. Google Verbatim gives search engine users the option to either use Verbatim to find exact matches, or trust Google in interpreting the search terms correctly to find better matches this way.

You can follow the link above to read up on the new search tool. You can access Verbatim with a click on More search tools in the left sidebar of a Google search result’s page, and the selection of Verbatim thereafter. Another possibility is to add the parameter &tbs=li:1 to the end of the query to trigger a verbatim search.

It took less than a day for someone to create a Google Verbatim userscript that places the option more prominently on all Google Search pages. A Yes, really button is added to the Google search form both on the Google homepage and on search result pages. Users can still click on the standard button to perform a search, or they can click on the new Yes, really button to run a verbatim search instead.

The name Yes, really answers the unasked question whether you really want to search for all the words entered in the search form. The userscript works fine under the Firefox web browser with Scriptish installed, and in the Google Chrome web browser. It should run equally fine for users who have the Greasemonkey extension installed instead. I have not tested the Google Verbatim userscript in the Opera browser or other web browsers.

Interested users can download Gooverbatim from the official Userscripts website.

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: googel verbatim, Google, google search, greasemonkey, scriptish, userscript

Google Reader Minimalistic Style

While I have not used my Google Reader account for a long while, thanks to the awesome desktop RSS reader RSS Owl, I have been following recent news with interest. Especially the latest Google Reader update has infuriated part of the service’s user base. The update has been part of a larger scale redesign of all Google products in 2011. Some users have criticized Google for removing share and like buttons from Reader and replacing them with options to +1 favorite news stories. Google in this regard is promoting their own Google+ social networking and sharing service over other services and internal sharing options.

The new design has also been criticized for putting the content second to the interface. Lets take a look at the current implementation of Google Reader on the official site.

Users are greeted with the black Google toolbar at the top and a large area with logos and elements below. The actual news items are placed in large font with lots of whitespace in between, far from ideal for users who want to get quick overviews of new items posted.

The userscript (also available as a Firefox add-on) Google Reader New Style Minimalistic turns Google Reader changes the interface to a minimalistic one that is optimized for using as much screen estate as possible for Google Reader posts. Lets take a look at how Google Reader looks with the userscript installed and activated.

The new interface removes almost all the static elements at the top. The font size has been reduced to display more news items and categories on the screen at the same time. When you click on a news post you will notice that the same font size design is used which means that less scrolling is required (if at all) to read a full post on the Google Reader website.

The userscript is compatible with Firefox, and maybe other browsers as well. Firefox users can alternatively install the Firefox add-on instead

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© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: firefox add-ons, Google, google reader, userscript