how Buxfer got buxFer1zed - the ad-hoc bookmarklet
the antefact
A couple of days ago I set up an account at Buxfer to keep track of where my money goes. I of course opted to login with my MyOpenId, to keep things simple and fast.
Alas their current login form for OpenID users is not easily accessible. First of all the login form is hidden one click away, secondly Firefox is not remembering the input values for it because the form is generated on the fly, so I’d need to type my login credential in everytime.
EDIT: autocompletion started working somehow. I’ll stick with the bookmarklet anyway :)
the action
After some researches and hacking time, I got to pack up my very special Buxfer Login Enhancing bookmarklet called buxFer1z3 (Firefox only, I guess).
For testing/using it, as usual:
- drag&drop buxFer1z3 to your “Boomkmarks toolbar”
- go to Buxfer
- click on the Bookmark you’ve just created
- sit back and enjoy!
After clicking, the form will automatically appear, my OpenID identity will be filled in and the form will be auto-submitted (making the login process a 1-click process, a 50% clicks improvement from the 2-clicks previous workflow!)
some Post Scripta
For everyone out there: do you frequently visit a site that has something that annoys you? Hidden login forms, repetitive Comment here and I’d love to provide a bookmarklet that makes your life happier!
For the semi-techies Buxfer users out there: you may right-click on the bookmarklet and edit in your values for your confort and pleasure. Just substitute “flevour.myopenid.com” with your OpenID URL. I may provide different bookmarklets for different logins solutions (AOL, Yahoo) on request.
For the techies out there: yes, I am including the Prototype source at a certain point in the bookmarklet code to use original Prototype very-cool $$ function to select form elements in the fastest (for me) way possible. Buxfer developers decided to go with what looks like a hacked Prototype library, that features a ovverridden $$ and misses a lot of helper functions. I myself would have used JQuery, but it was causing conflicts. I am sure there is faster way, but I feel like it’d be surely more verbose. The whole bookmarklet is a hack and a divertissement, so I don’t care about clean or compact code.
For the nerds out there: while I was messing around their JS code, I found that this JS file, features some lovely function naming. Search for “ingDropdowns” inside the document and you’ll see them (first and 4th result are the most representative).
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With all this Web2.0 bubble going on, I just felt like something like Buxfer HAD to exist. It wasn’t really easy to find the service because it’s relatively new, but Google doesn’t forgive nor forget easily :)
I was also tempted to go for the spreadsheet solution, as most GTD freaks suggest all around the globe. But I felt like I wouldn’t have stick to it long enough.
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