Web Savvy: Give Your Browser Special Powers

It never occurred to me that the macro-style scripting I've used to speed up common word processing and spreadsheet tasks might be possible within Web browsers. Then I caught wind of something called a bookmarklet, a combination bookmark and JavaScript that you run from your Favorites menu or a Web page to help speed up surfing chores. Bookmarklets are great for power searching, navigating Web pages, and (for those who enjoy it) Web page design. Will they change the way you use the Web? Not radically, but they can be convenient.

A bookmarklet is essentially a Web link, but instead of a URL, the link contains a short piece of JavaScript. You can try one out simply by clicking it, or you can add the bookmarklet to your Favorites menu by right-clicking the link. Because most Web browsers support JavaScript, you can usually use them in any browser.

I've tried a number of cool and useful bookmarklets. One lets me find out, with a single click, who owns the Web domain I'm visiting. The bookmarklet itself simply automates the job of searching VeriSign's Whois database. Another bookmarklet instantly displays the cookies stored by the Web page I'm currently viewing. And a third lets me highlight words on a Web page and dump them into a variety of search engines automatically. None of this is sliced bread, but a few practical bookmarklets can really make Web surfing better.

To start using these tools, try www.bookmarklets.com, a site operated by Steve Kangas (who's widely regarded as the inventor of the term "bookmarklet"), or check out Bookmarklets for Power Users.

Proceed With Caution

But are bookmarklets safe? Good question, considering the potential security dangers of running JavaScript. When I try to add a bookmarklet to my Favorites menu, Internet Explorer 5. x warns me that it might be unsafe. One bookmarklet I came across reveals passwords that a Web page has remembered but blocked from view. That might be handy at a site where you've forgotten your password (it's safest to follow the site's instructions for getting your password). Still, if a bookmarklet can uncover such information--for good or for bad--there seems to be a risk that another bookmarklet could transmit it to unsavory observers.

Kangas says the chance that a bookmarklet will wreak havoc is relatively slim. For one thing, bookmarkable URLs have a maximum length (just a couple lines of code), which limits what a malicious programmer might do. In addition, you can always see a bookmarklet's underlying code--though that offers little help to people who can't read JavaScript. But longer bookmarklets could be coming, with increased chances they could do harm. In short, while there's little current danger in bookmarklets, you should still be careful when working with them. Learn what you can about the source of each bookmarklet before you bookmark it.