Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types

I recently fixed the wp:// link handler so that it goes to wikipedia's search function (which is smart, like PM's Search box, in that it goes directly to the matching page if there's only one).

This led me to thinking about other shortcut types as well. As a result, I'd like to make the following patches to handlelinks settings:

add e2:// which goes to http://www.everything2.org/
add imdb:// which goes to http://www.imdb.com/ (the "internet movie database")
add c2:// which goes to The Wiki
change jargon:// to go to the source, http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/
change dict:// to go to http://www.dict.org/

Some of these are more controversial than others, I suppose. What do y'all think?

Someone in the cb also suggested adding a shortcut type for del.icio.us. Could be fun, but I personally don't see much utility in it. Opinions?

We're building the house of the future together.

Comment on Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types by xdg (Monsignor) on Feb 12, 2006 at 21:41 UTC
As long as we're dreaming... annocpan:// (http://www.annocpan.org/) rt:// (http://rt.cpan.org/Public/) super:// (Super Search) I see myself more likely to use those than to send people off to C2. Dict seems to be a useful change, though. -xdg Code written by xdg and posted on PerlMonks is public domain. It is provided as is with no warranties, express or implied, of any kind. Posted code may not have been tested. Use of posted code is at your own risk.	[reply]
Re: Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types (pending revamp) by tye (Sage) on Feb 13, 2006 at 01:37 UTC
I've revamped handleLinks() to make writing new shortcuts easier and more robust (finding several bugs in existing ones). I'll try to deploy this change in the next few days which will make your work easier. Part of the motivation is to make it so typing, for example, "wp://cucumber" in the PerlMonks search box just takes you to the described place. To be clear, neither of these improvements are available yet. I'll post when they are. - tye	[reply]
Re: Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types by spiritway (Vicar) on Feb 12, 2006 at 23:32 UTC
I like the idea of sending 'jargon' to esr's site, rather than a secondary one. In general I prefer to go to the original source if possible. I'm not sure what the advantage is of using www.dict.org. Is it that dict.org is free (as in speech)?	[reply]
Re: Proposal for some new/improved shortcut types by Fletch (Bishop) on Feb 13, 2006 at 19:19 UTC
Neat ideas, but: How often are they going to get used (I've been a user 5 years today and I've never used any of the existing shortcuts mentioned) You're reimplementing what a lot of modern browsers do in their location bars already (more an argument against the "makes the search box smarter") While you're kitchen sink-ing you'd need `thott://` to lookup World Of Warcraft items on http://www.thottbot.com/ :) </Devil's Advocate>	[reply]