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Web Editing and Blogging

Here are two superb scripts that no power blogger should be without.

11. Textarea Backup

You've just finished writing the ultimate blogger's opus, but before you have the chance to hit Submit, your browser crashes and you're back at square one--except this time you don't have the original exhilirating rush of inspiration.

Had you installed the Textarea Backup user script before this catastrophe struck, your masterpiece would have been saved after every new keystroke. It doesn't matter whether your browser crashes or you accidentally close the window before submitting the contents of the text area--everything will be restored to the text field automatically the next time you open the page.

Note: Textarea Backup may cause problems in Gmail because it tends to save the last address you sent to, quietly filling in the cc and bcc fields with that address. You can avoid this problem when using the script by adding mail.google.com to your list of excluded sites.  

12. Textarea Drag Resize

When you have a lot to say but the comment text field on your favorite blog accommodates only a few lines of text without scrollbar intervention, the experience is like trying to pour the ocean into a tea cup. The Textarea Drag Resize Greasemonkey script adds a small resize icon to the corner of every text area on the Web; by clicking the icon, you can easily extend the associated field to dimensions that befit your verbosity.

Social Networking

Use these smart social-site scripts to make your friends' online profiles less annoying.

13. Facebook Profile Cleaner

Facebook used to be the clean, simple alternative to MySpace and its practically seizure-inducing clutter. Then came Facebook applications. For some Facebookies, these applications are the social networking site's greatest innovation; for others, nothing is more irritating than a page littered with SuperPokes and ersatz Scrabble boards. The Facebook Profile Cleaner script removes all custom apps and (optionally) other specific Facebook features you dislike, from the profile pages you look at.

14. MySpace Custom Style Remover

Despite its recent redesign, MySpace remains one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Internet--and one of the messiest. One source of MySpace's appeal is that users can customize the look and feel of their profile page to fit their personality. The problem is that many of your MySpace pals probably have pages that--fairly or not--represent their personalities as loud, ugly, and ridiculous. The MySpace Custom Style Remover returns all MySpace profiles to their clean, default origins.