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Craig Crossman National Newspaper Computer Columnist Click here to see the index of Craig's columns. |
| PULL WEB DATA
INTO YOUR PERSONAL WEB PAGE
Tired of surfing to web site after web site to collect your daily dose of information? Wouldn't it be nice if your home page automatically displayed all your important data without you having to click on page after page? That's exactly what Clickmarks does and with little effort, you can create a home page that literally pulls data from multiple web sites directly into your home page and displays everything in a concise manner which you define. What happens every time you first log onto the Internet? Your browser presents you with your designated "home page," the first web site to be displayed upon launching the browser. Typically, your home page displays something of value to you or it contains some kind of relevant personal information. For most, it's synonymous to a home's foyer and is merely a place from which the surfing experience begins. Continuing a typical monotonous session from the home page usually requires clicking on any number of bookmarks that you've created or assembled into some sort of order. Browsers let you easily create a bookmark when you see a web site that's of a particular interest. Once a bookmark is created, clicking on it will return you to its associated web page. Another typical home page usually contains lots of links to frequently visited locations. So you have to click on a link, look at that web site, go back to the home page, click on another link, look, go back to the home page again, click on yet another link, etc. So the problem with using all those bookmarks and links is that you have to actually GO to all those web sites to see the data they contain. But with a Clickmarks page, you don't go anywhere. A Clickmarks page PULLS everything from all those different web locations to you and puts all the data onto the page you've created. This process can save you hours of clicking and surfing every day. Creating a home page with Clickmarks is intuitive. You begin with a blank page. Let's say you want to see the headlines from your paper's web site. You enter the address of the newspaper's page that contains the stories. From there, you simply drag and drop the items into a frame you create on the blank page. You can add a "My Local Newspaper" title and some formatting to organize and make things appear pleasing to the eye. To continue, enter the URL of your email like Hotmail. Clickmarks will list the number of messages waiting, whom each email is from and the subject. Add a weather url that displays your forecast, the page that displays your stocks, etc. Wherever your normal surfing routine takes you can now be consolidated and placed on your home page instead. Once created and defined as your home page, the Clickmarks technology pulls the text and graphic information from all those multiple web sites directly into your home page for instant viewing. Imagine the time and clicks you'll save by not having to jump through all those surfing hoops. You can easily view everything from your one home page location. Clickmarks patent pending programmable pull technology works without requiring any partnership agreements on Clickmarks part. This means that you can pull and assemble information from most any web site to which you have access right now. And at any time you can add, delete or edit your Clickmarks home page. Just drag and drop any current or new items on to the page. Clickmarks lets you view, assemble and edit the page as you see it or from a list of associated links and bookmarks. Clickmarks requires no special software or plug-ins. Clickmarks is a free service. You create an account on their web site and design your home page at their location. Clickmarks works with most any modern browser on both Windows and Macintosh computers. |
| Craig Crossman is a McClatchy-Tribune newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on computers and technology, Computer America, heard on both the Business TalkRadio Network® and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network®, weeknights at 10PM Eastern time. Visit his website at http://www.computeramerica.com |
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