Iceweasel – select and search

Launching a search request from within a web page is a very quick way of obtaining additional research to complement what you are reading. Search results are displayed in another tab allowing you to continue to view the current web page and or select further search terms.

To search the Web from a web page, select a word (double-click) or words within a web page and click the right mouse button (right-click) to display (in Firefox/Iceweasel) the workspace[1] menu and choose Search Search Engine for the word(s) you have selected.

For example, from the ABC’s Rare NT fish added to global DNA database web page, I have selected ‘The Barcode of Life’ and clicked the right mouse button to use Google to search for the selected words.

You can change the search engine by selecting another from the drop-down list displayed when you click the Search Engine icon. For example, in the snapshot below I have clicked the Google icon, and selected ‘Creative Commons’ as my new search engine from the drop-down list.

Choose Manage Search Engines … to add, delete, or change the priority of your search engine list.

[1] You may know of the workspace menu as the popup menu, shortcut menu, desktop menu, or right-click menu. Try right-click in other programmes or applications to see menu choices only a click away.

Stitching pictures together

There are many specialised tools available to stitch, mosaic, or create a panorama. But if you just want to create a simple banner for your web site or blog, then you may be able to use your favourite graphics or image manipulation programme.

The following steps are how I created a banner for a web site using images from BurningWell.org and the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).

Create a new background canvas the final size of the banner that you want for your blog or web site. For this example, I chose the “Web banner common 468 x 60″ listed in the template drop-down list. The Create a New Image dialogue allows you to change the dimensions, so I changed the height from 60 pixels to 80 pixels.

Collate the images that you wish to use to create your banner. For example, I downloaded the thumbnails of four images of circus performers from BurningWell.org.

Add the images to your canvas. I aligned my file manager window alongside the GIMP canvas window and dragged the images onto the canvas roughly in the order that I wanted them.

Position the images as you wish. For example, I needed to move the images so that the person or action was centered in the banner.

Most graphics programmes will add new images into what is called a layer. Think of the images as printed photographs that you are spreading out on the table in front of you. You can choose to butt them up hard against each other or overlap them.

To change which image is on top of another, you will need to locate the dialogue or view function that allows you to manipulate the order of the stack of images.

I filled in the gaps by adding the image that has a black background and added it to either side to complete the banner.

How not to waste hours following your nose

Have you ever visited a web page that has lots of juicy looking links for you to follow? The ABC’s Gateway to Science does that for me, or the Google News.

Displaying one link, then going back, following another link, then going back, and so on, is a really slow way of surfing the ‘net. Displaying a web page in a new window is not effective as it places the web page right over and obscures what you were currently reading. Better, that you can open new web pages behind the current web page (in the same window) that you are reading, to look at when you are ready.

Like most activities using your computer and surfing the WWW, there is more than one way of doing things. But this is the fastest, without resorting to key presses.

Point to the link that you wish to “open” and click the right mouse button (RMB) to display a pop-up menu. Note: If you are not pointing to the link, i.e. your mouse cursor is over the link, a different pop-up menu will be displayed.

The function that you are looking for is “Open Link in New Tab”. You can use your left mouse button (LMB) or right mouse button to select this function from the pop-up menu.

Subsequent web pages are downloaded behind your current web page. To view the newly download web page, select the appropriate tab at the top of your browser window. Note: Select is usually equivalent to clicking the LMB once.You can open as many tabs as you feel comfortable with, and closing them is similar to closing a window. Look for the button with the cross alongside the row of tabs.

If no amount of clicking the RMB displays an option to open the link in a new tab, then may I suggest that you download and install the Mozilla Firefox browser.