Going Beyond a Hyperlink: Here Comes Hyperwords

It's nice to be off during the holidays.  It gives me a chance to spend time with family and friends.  It also gives me the chance to set things up on my test machines and play with new tech.  Yesterday I came across a great plug-in for Firefox.  It's called Hyperwords and what it does is it gives you freedom to interact with a web page beyond hyperlinks.  They position it like this.  A hyperlink is something you can click on that a web developer has decided to allow you to click - a hyperword allows you to click on any word you want. 

Today we can navigate the web through the routes others have chosen for us: through web-links. Hyperwords™ allow you to interact with all the words on the web.

It's easy: With the Hyperwords™ Firefox plug-in installed, just select any text and a menu will automatically appear. You can search all the major search engines, look things up in reference sites, check dictionary definitions and much more.

This allows the web to become more of a personalized experience.  It also continues to demonstrate the beauty of what Firefox has set into motion by allowing people to freely develop extensions and plug-ins for their browser.  Check out hyperwords here.

To join the public beta you have to send them an email.

Comments

[Frode Hegland]

Hi.

Thanks for writing about Hyperwords!

Hyperwords for Firefox have been radically updated. Please visit http://www.hyperwords.net to sign up for the next Beta release, due in a week or so :-)

[Frode Hegland]

And again, it's all changed: Hyperwords 1.5 is out!

This is a substantial upgrade, featuring numerous small fixes and additions and a Toolbar.

Now this is very cool: Try Hyperwords with the Toolbar only. Go to Preferences (at the bottom of the menu) and click on the 'Apperance' tab. Then choose the 'Toolbar' mode.

You can now select text on a page, hit 'return' and it will hoist the selected text up to the Toolbar. You may now choose a command with your mouse or use the keyboard shortcuts to rapidly issue commands.

Take a look at the the new User Guide (also at the bottom of the menu) to learn what else is new and a few tips and tricks if you want to.

Install Hyperwords for Firefox at http://www.hyperwords.net