A new way of getting more out of the same old searches. I like new.
Just saw Widexplorer written up in Mashable and I liked it so much that I had to promote it myself. It’s a simple premise: one search in Widexplorer provides views to potentially 12 sites. In my case (so far) it’s been Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, YouTube, MSN LiveSearch, Scribd, and de.licio.us, but there are many more available. You’re given a much broader view than just one engine’s suggestions, no matter how good it is.
Once you’ve entered your search query into the field you’re presented with a side-scrolling array of results shown in full size, scrollable pages. It’s genius. There have been a few other searches I’ve used that have pulled from many sources, but this is so simple but powerful. The only thing I’d be looking for is the ability to customize my results. There will be some sites I don’t need depending on the search, and there are a few I’d like to appear more than they do. I’m sure that’s in the works, and I’m willing to wait.
What I’ve done to my spare time, and how I’m keeping everything together.
Got a beta invite for Socialthing! the other day. This is good. Anything that allows me to force-feed my mini app feed addiction to myself is a good thing.
The web service links to a bunch of your social stuff and feeds, feeds, feeds! They’re continuously adding more connections but the more common ones are already there. Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Plurk, Pownce, and Brightkite just to name a few are all represented.
This is a good step forward in getting all these random sites we belong to show in one place. You’re also able to post your status to most of them as well. My only complaint is that I’m not able to sign into my multiple accounts. I have 4 Twitter accounts that are very different in content, so it would be nice to update them from one place but separately. Many services are like that though, so not a biggie.
As of today (I know…) I’m feeding Flickr, Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Last.fm, and Facebook with Ping.fm handling most of the updates. It’s a lot, but it’s also a lot of fun!
For anyone interested, I have 2 invites I can give away for the first to contact me.
More reasons to hate on Windows when it comes to web design.
There is always going to be differences between how browsers display your sites when everyone’s ships are sailing in opposite directions. Unfortunately this is exacerbated to another level when viewing your site in different operating systems. Even more infuriating is that the same browser renders different depending on the OS your using.
I’ve been fine tuning my site for Windows after a relaxing development period in OS X. I didn’t even get past the header when I noticed that it was significantly darker than on my MBP. What makes this funny in a sad, I’m an alcoholic clown who lives in a van down by the river kind of way, is that I was viewing the site using the same browser on the same display!
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