Meta Linker
Another update: I’ve disabled the metalinks because I didn’t find them very useful.
Notice all those little [b]’s following links in my weblog? Those are metalinks, created using Meta Linker. Meta Linker is a piece of javascript that creates a small link to the blogdex database after each link you blog. I think it’s a very important step towards creating a more semantic web (see original SciAm article by Tim Berners-Lee or SemanticWeb.org), a way of following conversations between weblogs. Although at first it’s a little distracting to see all those [b]’s, I think webloggers will get used to it.
Plus, it’s a cinch to add to your web page — just cut & paste it into your blog template. It takes less than a minute.
Update: Meta Linker works on Windows and Macs, in Internet Explorer 5+ and Mozilla, but not in Opera. As Graham suggested, I’m sure a less intrusive solution can be found.
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by site admin on Tuesday, May 28th, 2002 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Theory.
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May 28th, 2002 at 4:18 pm
Seems not to work in Opera, but a pretty nifty idea. Surely there’s a less intrusive way to implement it, though.
May 28th, 2002 at 5:14 pm
Yeah, I agree that there must exist a less intrusive implementation.
Perhaps a right-click option to find sources of that link in blogdex, daypop, etc.
But that would require the user to download and install an applet, rather than something the designer can control.
Perhaps there could be a check box to turn them on and off. But webloggers used to use check boxes to open links in new windows, which seemed like a good idea, but never caught on.
I think a right-click applet or a bookmarklet is the best solution, like Blogger’s BlogThis!.
May 28th, 2002 at 7:25 pm
i was just going to say “right click”
May 29th, 2002 at 9:19 pm
Can we just have an asterik (or any other kind of subscript or superscript character) next to the link?
May 29th, 2002 at 9:33 pm
I thought about some other representations, such as an asterik, but thought they would be too ambiguous.
I’m actually waiting to see if metalinks grow on me, that is, if I actually use them. We’ll see in a few days.
June 2nd, 2002 at 8:08 pm
I think a right-click applet or a bookmarklet is the best solution, like Blogger’s BlogThis!.
The rightclick thing has been done by WSH-jockey pb, here, and it’s pretty darn cool.