1. Nick Ramsay Said,

   Wow, I requested those changes last October! You certainly kept your word.

   As you said, there’s an awful lot happening on the J-Web right now, but the fastest way for you to get up to speed would be to join JapanSoc.org, if you haven’t already. In less than a month, we’ve grown to over 200 members and have got some interesting projects happening, or at least being discussed. You should definitely send out an email to the group about your toolbar updates.

2. Nick Ramsay Said,

   Playing around with the toolbar now. Very nice changes!

3. Koichi Said,

   Heyo, very cool - thank you for adding my top 10 list! I’m going to write about it this weekend, so hopefully it’ll get some traffic your way!

   Question though, does it only work on IE right now (as it says in the “requirements” or is it just that I’m using the Firefox Beta that’s making it incompatible?)

4. Nick Ramsay Said,

   Koichi, I’m using it on Firefox 3.0.6 without any problems.

5. Koichi Said,

   hey nick, that’s good to hear then. I’m using 3.1 right now, but I’ll run 3.0.6 to try it out. Glad it works in Firefox

6. The Chemist Said,

   Hi Hi,
   @Nick, I am signed up for JapanSoc.org google group and am receiving the email summaries but just haven’t jumped into the action yet.
   It is just like you said, my dreams for the J-web are really being realised and it makes me very happy. I am glad that they are our dreams. And you have done so much work to make them happen. Thanks Nick. When we j-webbers collaborate we make good things.

   @Koichi, You are more than welcome! Thank you for making the top 10 list. It is really a great one.

7. Nick Ramsay Said,

   Hi Tori, could you double check the “JapanSoc Soc It!” link for me? Whenever I try to submit something using it, I get sent to the login page first, even when I’m already logged in. The url should look like this: “http://www.japansoc.com/submit.php?url=” followed by the url of the page being submitted. Thanks!

8. The Chemist Said,

   @Nick
   Weird…
   I just checked the javascript I am using for it and it is

   javascript:location.href=’http://japansoc.com/submit.php?url=’+(location.href)

   which should be correct…

   I knew that it sent un-logged-in users to that login page but I did not realise it was sending logged in users there too. And I can see how that would be annoying.

   I’m not sure what would fix this problem.

   The url the button renders is http://japansoc.com/submit.php?url=http://THE-SITE-USER-WAS-
   ON WHEN-THEY-PUSHED-THE-BUTTON.com

   but it is being redirected to
   http://japansoc.com/login.php?return=/submit.php?url=http://THE-SITE-USER-WAS-
   ON WHEN-THEY-PUSHED-THE-BUTTON.com

   My uneducated guess is that it has to do with the way swcms recognises logged in users (browser cache?) and for some reason perhaps the toolbar bypasses.
   I don’t know….

   On an unrelated note, I changed the DailyJ feed on the toolbar to a feed that just displays update posts about the toolbar.

   Right now the toolbar is my main focus. I think with your suggestions it is slowly becoming more useful. If you have any other feedback about it please let me know.

9. Nick Ramsay Said,

   I don’t know either. Maybe it’s as simple as adding http://www. to the front of japansoc.com?

   Otherwise, the code used in the bookmarklet is:

   javascript:q=(document.location.href);void(open(’http://www.japansoc.com/submit.php?url=’+escape(q),”,’resizable,location,menubar,toolbar,scrollbars,status’));”

   Don’t know whether that helps at all.

   You know, Tori, it’s been nearly 18 months since we first got connected and so much of what you tried to do then has materialized in other forms. Shane recently said you were “ahead of your time” and she’s right! Your Pligg site exists in the form of JapanSoc. Your list of Japan blogs exists as bloglinkjapan.com and japanblogger.net (which sadly seems to have stagnated). There are rss feeds and opml files full of Japan blogs now. Japan Labs exists in different guises such as the JapanSoc google group and Tokyo 2.0. I’ve even started a wiki similar to Japanopedia at wiki.japansoc.org. Even the Daily J has been mimicked with probably a dozen sites now blogging about web technologies and the J-web community.

   If you want to make the Nipponster Toolbar really special, and before someone else reinvents it, you’ll need to give bloggers exactly what they want by making the toolbar their toolbar, i.e. something that includes everything they want from a Japan-themed toolbar. The best way (only way?) is to create a Wiki Page in the JapanSoc.org Google group titled JapanSoc Toolbar Project. At the top of the page, introduce the Nipponster toolbar as a project for the JapanSoc group to tailor to their needs. They can do that by directly editing the page with requests. The page should list the major categories with current functionality listed in each one. People should be allowed to add items as they wish, and you would need to respond by adding that functionality to the toolbar within days (not weeks or months ). By giving the users a chance to directly influence the development of the toolbar, they will more likely adopt it, use it and promote it.

10. The Chemist Said,

    Hi Nick,

    I really like your idea about the toolbar. The toolbar is my main J-web focus right now (it’s up to 900+ installations). And I plan to do what you’ve mentioned.

    However as far as worrying about someone else making their own or reinventing it, and as far as other ideas that may have been “mine” (if there really is such a thing as ownership in this case) that others have successfully created, here is my opinion:

    Do you remember me mentioning a book (it was quite awhile ago now) called The Starfish and the Spider? It is a good book for anyone interested in open-source movements and it is the basis for what I am about to say.
    I consider myself a catalyst. And I consider the J-web an open-source project. Like any good open-source project it is a bit like “stone soup;” each participant puts in what he/she is able and all enjoy in someway the benefits of everyone’s labour.

    If someone else wants to make a tastier soup and share it with all of us then by all means let him do it! I’d much rather be a user of good tools than the owner the only tool available, especially if it is a poor one.

    I’ve presented many ideas (which is what I see as my main contribution) and others have contributed what they could too. Everyone’s contribution is important and without any the J-web would not be what it is. Each puts in what he can, whether a carrot or potato, etc.

    They say the power in an open source movement comes in connecting people and then letting go. What we are building here is more than any one person can do alone and no one person can control (to control it would be to kill it).

    I’ve started several soups. Some of them did not work out but they gave other people ideas for their soups and those have turned out delicious!
    I’ve abandoned some of my soups to help make sure other soups would come out just right.
    I have come up with little ideas and coined phrases here and there and I’ve asked others to steal them, to run with them, to build on them. Please take my ideas. It seems to me that maybe that is what the J-web is about.

    When I first started looking at the Japan-related tools and sites online I started asking questions like “why isn’t there an easier way to do X?” or “how can a j-blogger get his message out to more people” etc. The j-web is better now (kudos to all you chefs) and I am enjoying the meal.

    So I don’t care if someone else reinvents. But I do love your idea for improving the toolbar in an open-source-style collaborative way. I’ve always wanted and asked for feedback and imput about it. And I even think that a re-naming might be in order (perhaps J-web Community Toolbar, or something). I don’t consider it “mine” completely. I think if it benefits the end-user (the person learning Japanese, the Japan-enthusiast, etc.) that is all that matters and that is the deciding factor in how it should be crafted.
    To a better J-web!

11. Nick Ramsay Said,

    Wow, so much soup! Great comment (would’ve made a great post, too!).

    I look forward to seeing a Toolbar page on JapanSoc.org. Incidentally, the Soc’ it! button problem is now fixed. It was indeed an internal problem.

12. Daily J » Topic » Power to the people - the Japanese Toolbar belongs to you Said,

    [...] goal of this project is also to encourage a “open-source” style of collaboration on Japan-related web projects. (Thanks [...]

Add A Comment