TechQuest

Listed below is “10 Useful Blogger Tweaks and Tools To Improve your Reader Experience”. It will help in enhancing your visitors or readers experience. 80% of these list will make your visitors or readers come back for more. Try it to believe it.

“10 Useful Blogger Tweaks and Tools To Improve your Reader Experience”

1) - Respect your readers or visitors

The first thing is respect. When your readers give a straight forward comments, respect them and reply them professionally. Don’t assume and argue with them saying that you are always right. Let your readers win, they will respect you.

2) - Reward your readers or visitors

Reward them with prominence. Create a special link in you blog roll called “Blog I Follow”. Direct your blog traffic to the specific reader’s website. What’s important is that you find an easy way to track their posts. You can also reward them by subscribing to their RSS Feed if you don’t want to miss their post.

You can also highlight them in your blog post that you write. Make sure the post you write link back to their website and make sure your post is relevant. Don’t write about “A” and site is about “Z”. Leave comments on your reader site, they will love to have more comments but don’t spam.

If your readers or visitors doesn’t have a blog or website, reward them with Free E-Books download. You can also reward them if they become your Top Commentator of the month, reward them with online freebies. You can get a lot of them online. Just search for it or go to http://www.freebielist.com.

3) - Add a language translation widget

Some readers can’t understand English, provide them with language translations on your blog. They will sure to come back if you have good article. Read my post on “How to Add language Translation Widget for your website or blog”.

4) - Get in touch with your readers online

Get in touch with them to share new ideas and make your friendship better. You can install some widgets on your site to get in touch. Google Talk Badge will enable site visitors to get in touch with you quickly. They won’t need a Google account and the badge is enabled only when you are online. You can also install Skype buttons on your blog. Read more on How to Add Skype buttons to on your site.

5) - Add “Save Pages as PDF” Button

Add this button on your site to allows your visitors to quickly save useful information in your blogs and websites to PDF files. This will saves your readers time looking for PDF downloader on the net. To install PDF buttons on you blog. Read this post on “How Add “Save Pages as PDF” Button to Your Blogs/Sites”.

6) - Implement Related Post

This related post is only for blogger. Sorry for those on WordPress. This hack enable readers easily integrates with your relevant post. If you are writing about “A” your readers will sure want to finds out more about “A”. It uses relevant keywords on your post Labels. Read this post on “How to Put Related Post On Blogger”.

7) - Add a search box

Well this tip some of you already know what is for right? Just to let your readers search for your articles. No need to browse for each post and saves time. Read here on “How to add search box in your site”.

- Let your readers reward you:- Add a “Rating Star” widget

Now it’s time for your readers or visitors to reward you with something. Ratings add a fun and easy level of interactivity for readers to engage your content. Your readers can give rating on your post. If it’s a good post, they will sure to rate good ‘Duh’. Read more on “How to Add “Start Rating” Widget”.

9) - Let your readers reward you :- Add a Digg button

Let your readers reward you back. Let your readers drive in new traffic and readers to your site.Good story = ‘digg’. Place a real-time Digg count and vote button to every single blog post Digg is a social content website where your readers or you can submit content to. Read more on “How to Add Digg Button”.

10) - Ask your reader to subscribe to your RSS

Lastly. always ask your readers or visitors to subscribe to RSS or by email. Don’t let them miss your most recent post. Always place Subscribing options at the end of the post or place a RSS Feed Icon on your sidebar to make it easier for your readers. You can check it out 43 Awesome Free RSS Icons for Your Blog.

I hope 10 Useful Blogger Tweaks, Tips, Tricks and Tools To Improve your Reader Experience . You are free to duplicate or post this article in your blog BUT remember must link back to me.

Don’t forget to Subscribe to The-Online-Quest via RSS or you can receive daily updates via Email.

Signing off..

Ever been annoyed at the constant use of TinyURL and co. links? Shortened URLs can be very dangerous, you don’t know where the link will direct you to. Maybe a another scam site? or a site with full of viruses? or links to phishing sites, malware sites, rickrolls or spam affiliate pages. You don’t want to fall for that right? Admittedly they are useful when used right.

While there is quite a few methods of finding out the links for a few sites, PrevURL allows you to check or preview the shortened URLs before you click them.

Screen shot

How to use

You can just visit Prevurl.com or you can follow other method below.

Other method

Example your Shortened URL is http://tinyurl.com/6bacjp

You can preview that URL and determine its original URL just by adding the short URL to :-

http://prevurl.com/?url=YOUR SHORTENED URLS

Example:

http://prevurl.com/?url=http://tinyurl.com/6bacjp

I hope this tip will help you a lot. Don’t forget to Subscribe to The-Online-Quest via RSS or you can receive daily updates via Email.

In my old post i wrote about the hidden features in Google search engine such as Google’s built-in calculator function and Currency conversions. Today i will show you some search tricks that you should know when searching something in Google search engine.

1) Searching Musics in Google search engine

Just copy and paste the code in Google search engine and just replace the values in red.

Method 1

“parent directory” NAME OF THE SONG OR ARTIST -xxx
-html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5
-md5sums

Example:

“parent directory” EMINEM -xxx
-html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5
-md5sums

If method 1 doesn’t work try method 2

Method 2

intitle:”index.of” (mp4|mp3|avi) NAME OF THE SONG OR ARTIST -asp -htm -html -cf -jsp

Example:

intitle:”index.of” (mp4|mp3|avi) EMINEM -asp -htm -html -cf -jsp

2) Searching images in Google with “Advanced Image Search”

Just visit this site - http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search

3) Google + Social Networking Sites = Free Stuff

Searching for free stuff online? Such as wallpaper, stock images, WordPress templates, ringtones or icons?

Just copy and paste the code in Google. You can change the values in red if want to search for other stuffs.

site:del.icio.us free “stock images”

site:stumbleupon.com free icons

Example:

site:reddit.com free “wordpress templates”

site:stumbleupon.com free icons

site:digg.com free “desktop wallpaper”

4) Search for Free E-Books

You can also visit this site and request for free E-Books.

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(pdf|doc) “TITLE OF THE E-BOOK″

Example:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(pdf|doc) “COOKING″

Results for Cooking

5) Search for Videos

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(mpg|wmv) “TITLE OF VIDEO”

Example:

-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(mpg|wmv) “SUPERMAN”

Results for Superman

6) Search for Free Anonymous Web Proxies

If you want to search for free proxies, copy the code below. You can also read this tutorial on how to setup on your own proxy on your web browsers.

inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “start using cgiproxy”

inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “Start browsing through this CGI-based proxy”

Example:

inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “start using cgiproxy”

inurl:”nph-proxy.cgi” “Start browsing through this CGI-based proxy”

7) Additionals

• link:URL = lists other pages that link to the URL.
• related:URL = lists other pages that are related to the URL.
• site:domain.com “search term = restricts search results to the given domain.
• allinurl:WORDS = shows only pages with all search terms in the url.
• inurl:WORD = like allinurl: but filters the URL based on the first term only.
• allintitle:WORD = shows only results with terms in title.
• intitle:WORD = similar to allintitle, but only for the next word.
• cache:URL = will show the Google cached version of the URL.
• info:URL = will show a page containing links to related searches, backlinks, and pages containing the url. This is the same as typing the url into the search box.
• filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will restrict searches to that filetype
• -filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will remove that file type from the search.
• site:www.somesite.net “+www.somesite.net” = shows you how many pages of your site are indexed by google
• allintext: = searches only within text of pages, but not in the links or page title
• allinlinks: = searches only within links, not text or title
• WordA OR WordB = search for either the word A or B
• “Word” OR “Phrase” = search exact word or phrase
• WordA -WordB = find word A but filter results that include word B
• WordA +WordB = results much contain both Word A and Word B
• ~WORD = looks up the word and its synonyms
• ~WORD -WORD = looks up only the synonyms to the word

Source : http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

Findind online Webcams

The camera can be easily accesed with an internet browser. The camera image is usually placed in a certain web page. Someone has already done a lot of homework and compiled a list of open cameras. Read More: Finding Online Webcams!

Firefox has tons of extensions that enhance the functionality of the browser. You can saves your time while you are surfing the net. The 11 Firefox Add-ons listed below is my recommendations to help you saves your time that will keep you focused on your time management.

Subscribe to The-Online-Quest for even more Cool Firefox Add-ons list.

1. ObamaFox

Instant access to Barack Obama and US Election ‘08 news, blogs, and campaign updates in your browser. Just click the small Obama icon in the bottom right corner of your browser and get the latest Obama and Election ‘08 news from your favorite news sources. Choose from 18 sources, including the Obama HQ Blog, Google News, CNN, New York Times, Eyes On Obama, Digg, and Twitter. You will also get major campaign updates and action alerts automatically in your browser.

Install ObamaFox

2. URL Fixer

URL Fixer corrects typos in URLs that you enter in the address bar. For example, if you type google.con, it will correct it to google.com (asking first, if you enable confirmation).

It will correct common misspellings of .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil, and all other mainstream TLDs, as well as the protocol (http:, https:).

Install URL Fixer

3. Adsense Notifier

Adsense Notifier displays your Adsense earnings on your Firefox status bar. It allows you to easily see your earnings at a glance instead of logging into the Adsense website multiple times a day.

Install Adsense Notifier

4. ForecastFox

Forecastfox is an extension that brings international weather to your Firefox web browser. You can use your US zip code or you can easily find your town or city by using the built in search tool. It is unobtrusive and lightweight, yet can be customized to display nearly as much data as the leading desktop weather programs.

Install Forecastfox

5. Paste and Go 3

Paste and Go 3 is a Firefox extension that gives you similar functionality in Firefox. It will save you time every day, just copy the link and paste and go immediately.

Install Paste and Go 3

6. AutoCopy

Do you like the content area context menu item? Autocopy is the time saving way of cutting and pasting text from within Firefox, Mozilla, or Thunderbird. Then try the Autocopy Context Menu. Select some text and up pop ups the Autocopy Context Menu.

Install AutoCopy

7. ColorZilla

With ColorZilla you can get the color without having to guess or play around with an image editor to try to match the color, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. This is a good add-on if you are trying to build your own website and trying to blend the colors together.

Install ColorZilla

8. Clear Cache Button

Adds a clear cache toolbar button. After installing the extension, find the clear cache button in the toolbar customization panel.

Install Clear Cache Button

9. FEBE

FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions. In fact, it goes beyondFEBE license plate just backing up — It will actually rebuild your extensions individually into installable .xpi files. Now you can easily synchronize your office and home browsers. FEBE backs up and restores your extensions, themes, and (optionally) your bookmarks, preferences, cookies.

Install FEBE

10. TinyUrl Creator

Easy shrink any long URL or link in the page to something you can email or Twitter using the TinyUrl service with a single click in your browser.

Install TinyUrl Creator

11. Clipboard-Save-As

This extension is useful when you have an URL in your clipboard pointing to a file (for example, a movie clip) you want to save to your hard drive. Many times, just pasting the URL in the address bar will lead to Firefox opening it instead of giving you the option to save it. With Clipboard-Save-As, an option is added to the Tools menu that allows you to save the file to your hard drive. Just make sure the URL to the file is in your clipboard and then select Save File from Clipboard.

Install Clipboard-Save-As

12. SwitchProxy Tool

SwitchProxy lets you manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily. You can also use it as an anonymizer to protect your computer from prying eyes.

Install SwitchProxy Tool

Subscribe to The-Online-Quest for even more Cool Firefox Add-ons list.

A keyboard short cut is a key (or combination of keys) that performs a function within a software program I have come across some excellent keyboard shortcuts for Firefox. This is a list of keyboard shortcuts in Mozilla Firefox (Win/Mac/Linux) and don’t forget to Subscribe and receive more great updates.

Note:Some key uses the same shortcut for (Win/Mac/Linux)

List of shortcut keys for (Windows)

List of shortcut keys for (Mac)

List of shortcut keys for (Linux)

Note:Some key uses the same shortcut for (Win/Mac/Linux)

iPhone Theme Maker is a great online application to create you own iPhone themes online. You can either make your own themes using the images available or you can just upload your own images from your computer.

It takes only minutes to make your own iPhone themes, you can change your icons, dock, wallpaper and status bar. Just choose ready made images from gallery or simply just upload your own images. After you themes is created, download, install and enjoy your new iPhone look.

Ready to make your own iPhone themes? Visit iPhone Theme Maker [at] http://iphonethememaker.com

Docx-converter.com offers a portable solution for your compatibility needs. It will convert a Microsoft Office .docx file into a simple HTML file. It strips out some of the formatting, but now supports bold, italic, and underlined text. Left, right, center, and justified alignment. Unicode characters.

In Office 2007 Microsoft introduced a new file format called the Microsoft Open Office XML Format (.docx). This format is not compatible with older versions of Microsoft Word or with alternative operating systems like Linux or Mac OS X. Nor is it compatible with other word processing applications like OpenOffice, Lotus 123, or NeoOffice.

How to use

You can simply download free widget for your desktop.

The Docx-converter Dashboard Widget allows you to convert files right from your Desktop. Simply drag the .docx file you want to convert into the drop area of the widget (click to drag, push F12, drop) and the widget will automatically convert the file and save it to the location of the original file (with a .htm extension) and (optionally) open it in your web browser. Best of all, any updates or feature additions to the website will automatically be reflected in the widget!

OR

go here to convert online.

1. Click the Browse Button Below
2. Select Your .docx File
3. Enter your email
4. Click “Convert It!”
5. Check your for your converted files.

Shareaholic allows you to quickly share, bookmark, and e-mail web pages via a very wide array of your favorite web 2.0 social networking & bookmarking sites - such as Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Google Reader, MySpace, and StumbleUpon, without cluttering up your browser.

Shareaholic currently supports posting to: digg, delicious, facebook, foxiewire, friendfeed, google bookmarks, google reader, healthranker, kaboodle, magnolia, mixx, myspace, pownce, reddit, simpy, soup.io, stumbleupon, streakr, truemors, tumblr, twine, twitter, yahoo! buzz, ycombinator, bzzster, etc.

Shareaholic also lets you quickly evaluate web page popularity by telling you the number of times the web page you’re on has been dugg or saved to del.icio.us.

It will show you if the item is dugg, how many diggs, and number of comments, clicking on it will either submit a new item (if it is new) or bring you to the page that already exists.

Works with both Windows and Mac.

Download

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5457

Writing a post or an article is like writing a letter. A letter will not complete if you doesn’t add your signature in it. See right for an example signature. That’s mine. You can add it too, just follow the simple instructions below.

Creating you signature
There are many ways to create your own signature online. But i chose the simple one so that you can easily understand.

Go to My Live Signature and just follow the instructions given.

Adding signature to Blogger

So you already got your signature but how do you add it in Blogger after every post? Basically there are two methods. But before you add it in Blogger, you have to host your image first. I used http://imageshack.us/ for mine.

After you have hosted image, replace YOUR IMAGE URL that is in red.

<img src=’YOUR IMAGE URL’/>

Method 1

This is the easiest method. Go to Blogger dashboard, go to Settings -> Formatting -> Post Template.

Add <img src=’YOUR IMAGE URL’/> and Save Settings.

You are done, you signature will display when you post your new article.

Method 2

Method 2 is quite for some people, if you are not sure what you are doing please follow Method 1 but if you insist and you want to try this Method please backup your template first.

Step 1

Find this code :-

<p><data:post.body/></p>

if you can’t find the code, find this :-

<data:post.body/>

After you have found the code, paste <img src=’YOUR IMAGE URL’/> just after <p><data:post.body/></p>

Step 2

Save your template.

Enjoy your new signature.

Google search engine has a hidden feature, you can use this hidden feature as your as your everyday essentials and needs. You can use Google Search Engine as your calculator, unit conversion, check weathers, stock quotes, world time, check your spelling and even trip planning.

Look for Maps for your business needs

Looking for a map? Type in the name or U.S. zip code of a location and the word “map” and we’ll return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps.

Calculation for your homework

To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box.

BASIC ARITHMETIC
OPERATOR		MEANING		TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX
+ or plus		addition		12 + 34 or three plus four
– or minus		subtraction		3.4 - 5.6 or five minus two
* or times		multiplication		56 * 7 or six times nine
/ or divided by		division		7 / 8 or ten divided by two
% of or percent of		percentage of		45% of 39
mod or %		modulo (the remainder after division)		15 mod 9 or 15 % 9
^ or **		raise to a power		2^5 or 2**5
the nth root of		nth root		4th root of 16, sqrt(16), cube root of 109
reciprocal of		multiplicative inverse		reciprocal of 7

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ADVANCED MATH
The following table lists some of the functions built into Google’s calculator.
OPERATOR		FUNCTION		TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX
sin, cos, tan, sec, csc, cot		trig functions (arguments are assumed to be in radians)		cos(pi/3) cosine(pi/3)
arcsin, arccos, arctan, arccsc, etc.		inverse trigonometric functions		arccos(.5)
sinh, cosh, tanh, csch, arsinh, arccsch, etc.		hyperbolic functions		cosh(6)
ln		logarithm base e		ln(16)
log		logarithm base 10		log(16)
lg		logarithm base 2		lg(16)
exp		exponential function		exp(16)
!		factorial		5!
choose		x choose y calculates the number of ways of choosing a set of y elements from a set of x distinct elements		5 choose 3
CONSTANT		MEANING		TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX
e		base of the natural system of logarithms		e
pi		the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle		pi/6
i		imaginary number, which represents one of the two square roots of -1		i^2
gamma		Euler’s constant		e^gamma

This reference source is from http://www.googleguide.com

Currency Conversions

To use our built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you’d like done into the Google search box and we’ll provide your answer directly on the results page.

Plan your holiday trip

To see flight status for arriving and departing U.S. flights, type in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box. You can also see delays at a specific airport by typing in the name of the city or three-letter airport code followed by the word “airport”.

Find your Local shops, stores and restaurants

If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search for the category of business and the location and we’ll return results right on the page, along with a map, reviews, and contact information.

Spelling checker

Google’s spell checking software automatically checks whether your query uses the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?”. Click the suggested spelling to launch a Google search for that term.

Unit Conversion

You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and mass among others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest.

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UNITS OF MEASURE AND CONVERSIONS
Compute expressions involving different units. By default, units are converted to and results expressed in meter-kilogram-second (mks) units. Many units have both long and short names. Use whichever name you prefer.
TYPE OF UNITS		UNIT CONVERSION		EXAMPLES OF UNITS
		old units in new units
Currency (money)		23 USD in Euros		US Dollars (USD), Euros, Britain Pounds (GBP)
Mass		130 lbs in kg		kilogram or kg, grams or g, grains, pounds or lbs, carats, stones, tons, tonnes
Length		3 miles in km		meters or m, miles, feet, Angstroms, cubits, furlongs
Volume		three quarters of a cup in teaspoons		gallons, liters or l, bushels, teaspoons, pints
Area		2 acres in sq km		square kilometers, acres, hectares
Temperature		98.6 Fahrenheit in Celsius or 98.6 f in c		Celsius or c, Fahrenheit or f
Time		1 year in seconds		days, seconds or s, centuries, sidereal years, fortnights
Electricity		100 volts in picovolts		volts or v, picovolts, amps or a, ohms, henrys
Energy		160 lbs * 4000 ft in Calories		Calories, British thermal units (BTU), joules, ergs, foot-pounds (Warning: When your query includes “Calories” with a capital “C,” Google returns kilocalories called “calories” by nutritionists.)
Power		1 hp in watts, 500 V * 3 A in KW		watt or W, kilowatts or KW, megawatts or MW, horsepower or HP
Angle		90 degrees in radians		degrees or radians
Information		2 bytes in bits		bits, bytes, kbytes
Quantity		1 great gross in dozens		dozen, baker’s dozen, gross, great gross, score
Numbering Systems		1500 in hex 64 in binary LVII in decimal		decimal, hexadecimal or hex, octal, binary, roman numerals (Prefix hexadecimal numbers with 0x, octal numbers with 0o and binary numbers with 0b, e.g., 0×7f + 0b100101)
PHYSICAL CONSTANTS
The following table lists just a few of the many commonly used physical constants known to the calculator function.
SHORTHAND NOTATION		LONG NAME		CLICK LINK FOR AN APPROXIMATE VALUE
au		Astronomical Unit		au or astronomical unit
		Avogadro’s number		Avogadro’s number
k		Boltzmann constant		k or Boltzmann constant
		Faraday constant		Faraday constant
G		gravitational constant		G or gravitational constant
		magnetic flux quantum		magnetic flux quantum
		mass of a proton		mass of a proton
m_planet		mass of planet		m_Mars, m_Earth, m_Uranus, m_sun
		molar gas constant		molar gas constant
		permeability of free space		permeability of free space
h		Planck’s constant		h or Planck’s constant
r_planet		radius of planet		r_Earth, r_Pluto, r_sun
c		speed of light in a vacuum		c or speed of light
		speed of sound in air at sea level		speed of sound

This reference source is from http://www.googleguide.com

Check your city or country weather

To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type “weather” followed by the city and state, U.S. zip code, or city and country.

Stock Quotes

To see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance.

Check your country time

To see the time in many cities around the world, type in “time” and the name of the city.