What is a bookmarklet?

A bookmarklet is a small application, or applet, that can be saved and used in the same way as a bookmark. However, unlike a regular bookmark, it does not simply link to a URL, but executes a piece of javascript code.

This code can be used to extract information from a web page, alter the appearance of a page, as well as many other useful functions.

Check out this excerpt from Wikipedia for more usage examples:

> Bookmarklets are saved and used as normal bookmarks. As such, they are simple “one-click” tools which add functionality to the browser. For example, they can:

• Modify the appearance of a web page within the browser (e.g., change font size, background color, etc.)
• Extract data from a web page (e.g., hyperlinks, images, text, etc.).
• Query a search engine, with search term(s) provided by previously selected text, or by a dialog box.
• Submit the current page to a link validation service, or translation service.
• Set commonly chosen configuration options when the page itself provides no way to do this.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmarklet

Now that you have a general idea of what a bookmarklet is, you may be wondering what is special about the iKnow! Bookmarklet?

1. Unlike an ordinary dictionary-enabled bookmarklet, the words identified using the iKnow! bookmarklet are all linked to the iKnow! item bank – not only is there audio for each item, but moreover the item can be added to your personal word lists, turning a reference tool into a powerful learning tool.

2. When a word is looked up, the sentence surrounding the word is used to help the system determine which meaning is being used. This linguistic analysis is described in more detail here by my colleague @dominiekth .

3. When you add a word to one of your lists, the surrounding sentence is automatically added to that item, along with a link back to the original article, which means you can study that item using the context you originally found it in, as well as link back to the article at any time.

4. You can use the bookmarklet to grab snippets of text and create both new journal entries and text lists. All you need to do is highlight some text, and click on one of the create buttons. In fact, I used the bookmarklet to grab the above snippet from Wikipedia!

Finally, I challenge you to find another bookmarklet that has both their own user profile ( @bookmarklet ) and iKnow! item. ;)

Now how about you try out the bookmarklet on this journal entry and add some of the words to your own list!