Thinking Out Loud

Since userscripts.org has been painfully slow lately, I created a new permanent site at freewebs to download Ma.gnolia Condenser. Once userscripts.org is back up, I will update the userscripts.org directory to reflect the new location.

Download Ma.gnolia Condenser

Wow. userscripts.org has been virtually inaccessible all day. Very frustrating since I had sent the link out to some people. I am in the process of setting up a new site where you can download ma.gnolia condenser. Hopefully by tomorrow it should be set up.

The next feature I would like to add to the Ma.gnolia Condenser would add the privacy action icon (a lock) visible even in Less Detail mode. More exercise for XPath syntax, which I like. I started off making a mental checklist:

• Check to see the Less Detail version of the page is displayed
• Check to see if the script is running on a page of the signed in user
• Use the Greasemonkey function GM_xmlhttpRequest to grab the More Detail version of the page so I will know which links are private
• Get the "shortname" of the link so I can compute the href and the element ID for the privacy options link
• Create the necessary DIV, A, IMG elements to show a lock image

Then it occurs to me there seems to be a simpler, faster, and easier to maintain way to do the same thing.

• Check to see the Less Detail version of the page is displayed
• If so, redirect to the More Detail version of the page, then hide the description and extra action icons using CSS (show the Privacy icon only)
• Change the More Detail link so that it unhides the same on a click
• If the More Detail version of the page is displayed, change the link so that it hides the same on a click

If I write the script the second way, the real Less Detail never appears, only a greased version of the More Detail page. It almost seems unethical!  I am still considering any possible downside to doing it the easier way.

If you use the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox, and are a ma.gnolia user, I wrote a small user script called Ma.gnolia Condenser that might be worth a spin.

The main features so far:

• More ma.gnolia bookmarks fit on a screen
• Lock icon turns red for private bookmarks