Sidebars
for Opera and Netscape Web Browsers
Sidebars (aka Panels) are used by Opera and Netscape/Mozilla based browsers to provide quick access to many common reference materials and tools.
Internet Explorer does not provide this functionality (yes you can force it to show one or two, until you restart IE) but that’s OK because you don’t want to use that huge security hole disguised as a browser anyway.
There are two links below for each Sidebar. The first simply shows the page. The second attempts to load it into the browser as a Sidebar (both Opera and Netscape/Mozilla prompt the user for confirmation before following such links).
You are encouraged to download these sidebars (just right click and save them) to your local hard drive if you would like, which will allow you to use them if you or they are offline.
Offline HTML4 and CSS2.1 Sidebars
Rijk was kind enough to point out that my offline version of the CSS2.1 sidebar is out of date.
Rijk's Panelizer is a collection of Sidebars for Opera (may work in Firefox too, but since I don't use it, I can't say for sure).
Most notable in the collection (for me at least) is an updated version of the CSS2.1 Sidebar which points to the CSS2.1 Candidate Recommendation (CR) rather than the older and outdated Working Draft.
Rijk has been nice enough to provide a zip file for offline usage..
See also: Rijk's Tweak Opera page.
Special Note for Mozilla/Netscape Users
Since Netscape’s demise, the machine “dirt.netscape.com” is no longer available. Mozilla has announced plans to copy Opera’s rel="sidebar" method of adding Sidebars, which is much more user-friendly. Since I do not use Mozilla/Netscape myself, I do not know if this functionality has been implemented yet. If not, complain to them.
If someone wants to write the necessary Javascript to let Mozilla/Netscape add these sidebars, I will be happy to implement it here, but until someone sends me one (or points me to one) I do not have plans to develop one on my own.
Finally, if you are trying to add a sidebar to Mozilla/Netscape, you may need to press F9 to open the list of current sidebars before you try to add any additional Sidebars.
(Quite frankly, Opera’s Sidebar management is so much better than Mozilla/Netscape’s, I don’t know why anyone would choose anything else.)
Apple Sidebars
I have recently converted to Mac, and my first Mac sidebar is to search Apple's tech support: Apple Support Sidebar.
Opera-Specific Sidebars
Mouse Gestures in Opera 7
View | Add30 Days to becoming an Opera7 Lover TOC
View | Add30 Days to becoming an Opera6 Lover TOC
View | AddMyOpera Forums
View | Add
Sidebars for Web Designers
Section 508 & WCAG — Web Accessibility Checkpoints
View | AddSelectOracle — Decipher CSS
View | AddTripleColors — Colors by Name and Hex and RGB
View | AddHTML-Codes (aka “Character Entities”)
View | Add
Web Tools
GAGS — Google Advanced Groups Search (Usenet)
View | AddGASP — Google Advanced Search Panel
Sam Spade — Anti-Spam and Network/Internet Tools
View | AddSearchMe
View | AddHotmail Login
View | AddNote: Hotmail panel is more of a “proof of concept” than something I would use on a regular basis. Usually I would suggest integrating this functionality into a larger panel, ala SearchMe, which started as a quick search for Google but grew and grew. WARNING: Microsoft changes the login process on a regular basis, so this will stop working routinely.
Panels Others Have Made
Note: The following links are not hosted on TnTLuoma.com.
Further Panel / Sidebar Resources:
- A fuller discussion of Sidebars is available in Day 16 of 30 Days to Becoming an Opera Lover
- For Mozilla Users: bookmarklet to “Add Current Page as Sidebar”
- Rijk van Geijtenbeek’s Sidebars (Opera employee, excellent resource)
- Netscape’s My Sidebar Directory
- MyOpera.com Panels page
- SearchEngineWorld Guide to Managing Opera Panels
- h2g2 Hotlist