Google Sidewiki is a new browser sidebar from Google that lets users annotate or put comments on any web page on the Internet. These comments (Google calls them sidewiki entries) are public and therefore other Google Toolbar users visiting that web page may also read your comments.
For instance, Danny Sullivan left this comment on the Code of Conduct page that other visitors to that page may read and even vote upon if they find the comment useful. Google also maintains a sidewiki leaderboard to highlight the top users of their product.
To learn more about Google Sidewiki, please watch the following screencast videos:
Google Sidewiki without the Google Toolbar
To read or write comments using Google Sidewiki, you need to install Google Toolbar in your browser and that may be deal-breaker for some because Google Toolbar is only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox. That means if you are on Google Chrome, Safari or Opera, you will miss the Sidewiki experience.
There’s however a workaround that will let you read and vote on Sidewiki entries without the Google Toolbar.
Open the Sidewiki reader, type the URL of any webpage and hit Enter. The tool will show you a recent list of Sidewiki comments (if any) made on that page and each comment has a permalink so can you add your vote for that comment without getting the Google toolbar.
Sidewiki Comments – add this bookmarklet to your favorites
Or, if you need something more simple, just install the bookmarklet* above and click on it while you are on any webpage and you’ll be able to read (and rate) the sidewiki comments left by other Google Toolbar users. For instance, here’s what Sidewiki users have to say about TechCrunch. The limitation is that currently you cannot write new Sidewiki entries with this tool.
[*] If you need help, check this bookmarklets guide for a tutorial on how to install bookmarklets in any web browser.
The tool should work on most mobile phone browsers as well. iPhone / iPod touch users may add the above bookmarklet to their Safari browser and then sync it via iTunes.
Demo: Sidewiki Bookmarklet in Google Chrome
Related: Know What People Are Saying about a Web Page
Find this article at: http://www.labnol.org/internet/google-sidewiki-without-google-toolbar/9959/
Tags: Archives, bookmarklets, google sidewiki, google toolbar, hacks, Most Popular, Internet
Reader Comments
Try this…uses your script in a window on the page:
javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement(’script’);e.setAttribute(‘type’,'text/javascript’);e.setAttribute(’src’,'http://www.sixteenseven.com/javascript-gwiki.js’);document.body.appendChild(e)})())
Written by Paul Arterburn on 09.24.09
nice tool. But I guess its a long way ahead for Sidewiki!
Written by avinashsonee on 09.24.09
bookmarklet should really allow you to open it in the sidebar, which it doesn’t. Or, rather, it does, but it pulls the relevant web address from the sidebar address (about:blank), with the result that it doesn’t show the comments from the page you are trying to get sidewiki comments from.
Written by pete on 09.24.09
Make it as TBUZZ bookmarklet , its simple
Written by somenam123 on 09.24.09
OK so this means that now anyone can see the google-hosted comments that anyone else makes for all web sites… So now google will (if they don’t already) know you visited some site and were interested in the comments. More information for them. Whats in it for *us*? Any links you leave are nofollow, so not very interesting…
Hmmm?
Written by Joe118 on 09.24.09
Doesn’t work correctly in Opera.
Worked after I changed the bookmarklet code to
javascript:window.open(‘http://digitalinspiration.com/tools/google/sidewiki/?u=’+document.location.href,’_blank’);void(0);
Written by MAK on 09.24.09
The Bookmarklet you mentioned works well only in Chrome. In Firefox, it forces the page to go blank and opens the Sidebar comments in a new tab. In order to fix it, use this code instead (without quotes): “javascript:(function(){window.open(‘http://digitalinspiration.com/tools/google/sidewiki/?u=’+location.href);})()”. It works fine in both Chrome and Firefox.
Written by Ambuj Saxena on 09.24.09
Try this. It opens a popup:
javascript:(function(){w=open((‘http://digitalinspiration.com/tools/google/sidewiki/?u=’+escape(location)),’w',’location=no,status=yes,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=500,height=400,modal=yes,dependent=yes’);if(w){setTimeout(‘w.focus()’,1000)}else{location=’location.href’+escape(location)}})();
Written by pippozzo on 09.25.09
No matter what URL I put, it says “sorry, no comments found.” Even this very page. Even digg.com and even the link — really??
Written by webhill on 09.26.09
@webhill,
I can see sidewiki comments of all the pages you mentioned.
Written by Ambuj Saxena on 09.27.09